Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present its annual SFA Holiday Celebration at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

A highlight of the program will be a performance of “Christmas Cantata,” or “Sinfonia Sacra,” by Daniel Pinkham. The concert will also feature works by Dominick Argento, Felix Mendelssohn, George Frideric Handel, Eric Edward Whitacre and Giuseppe Verdi, along with seasonal favorites.

The celebration will showcase the SFA A Cappella Choir, Men’s Choir, Women’s Choir and SFA Brass ensemble. Conductors will be Dr. Michael Murphy, director of choral activities at SFA; Dr. Tod Fish, associate director of choral activities; and graduate conductors Jacob Rivas of The Colony and David Zielke of Albany, Oregon. Accompanists will be SFA collaborative pianists Dr. Ron Petti, Dr. Thomas Nixon and Hyun Ji Oh.

“American composer Daniel Pinkham composed his ‘Christmas Cantata’ as a 20th century homage to the Venetian School of choir and brass,” Murphy explained. “This style was particularly embodied in the works of Giovanni Gabrieli. The work is comprised of three movements and features a double brass choir.”

The SFA Women’s Choir will present Verdi’s “Laudi alla Vergine Maria” from his famous “Quattro pezzi sacri” (Four Sacred Pieces). The work is scored for four-part women’s choir. This year’s SFA Women’s Choir has been invited to sing in March at the Southwest Division of the American Choral Directors Association Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Men’s Chorus will present Whitacre’s “Lux Arumque,” arranged for mixed choirs, men’s choirs and wind band. The work was inspired by Edward Esch’s poem, “Light and Gold.”

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

Around 100 Stephen F. Austin State University preservice teachers helped 900 local fourth graders investigate ecosystems, soil particles and tree functions at the second-annual Wild About Science learning excursion Nov. 5 through 7 at SFA’s Pineywoods Native Plant Center.

The preservice teachers, who are earning degrees through both online completer and face-to-face, campus-based SFA education programs, worked together to show fourth graders how to connect the science they’ve learned in the classroom to real-life situations at the native plant center.

Andrea Garcia, an elementary education senior from Waco, enjoyed seeing the fourth graders’ reactions to the experiments. “This is such a rare opportunity for us to work with students outside the classroom.”

Preservice teachers co-taught in groups to develop their collaborative skills and flexibility. For preservice teachers taking courses online as part of completer programs, Wild About Science also offered a chance to work with classmates in person and feel more included.

“We got to build connections and network, co-teach and teach outdoors,” said Chelsie Wilson, a senior from Baytown who is completing a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies with an early childhood through sixth grade certification online. “This opportunity gave us a chance to observe each other and understand our strengths and weaknesses. It also gave us a sense of real inclusion.”

Wild About Science is one of eight grade-level-specific learning excursions hosted by SFA Gardens staff during the year. This particular fourth-grade excursion was a collaboration between the SFA Gardens staff, SFA’s Department of Elementary Education, the Texas A&M Forest Service and Texas Project Learning Tree. Based on environmental education curriculum designed by Project Learning Tree, Wild About Science features stations where fourth graders create a food web; observe and collect data from soil particles; and learn about the structure, function and adaptations of trees.

“These science lessons align to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills state standards,” said Dr. Paula Griffin, associate professor in the Department of Elementary Education and one of the faculty advisors for Wild About Science. “Fourth graders who attend the event have the opportunity to make authentic scientific connections while learning in the outdoor classroom.”

Students from Carpenter, Fredonia and Raguet elementary schools; Christ Episcopal School; Regents Academy; and SFA Charter School in Nacogdoches participated in the event. Wild About Science also hosted fourth graders from Chapel Hill, Cushing, Garrison and Woden.

For more information on these learning excursions, contact Elyce Rodewald, SFA Gardens education coordinator, at (936) 468-1832 or erodewald@sfasu.edu.

By Jo Gilmore, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Dr. David Creech, Stephen F. Austin State University professor emeritus of agriculture and director of SFA Gardens, received the Charles Leonard Weddle Award for lifetime achievement in the field of Texas native plants from the Native Plant Society of Texas during its 2019 banquet in League City.

“Dr. Creech has spent the better part of the past 30 years including native plants in his classroom material at SFA, encouraging nursery professionals to include native plants and counseling landscape professionals to do the same,” said Kim Conrow, president-elect of the state board of the Native Plant Society of Texas.

Creech joined SFA as an assistant professor of horticulture in 1978 and was instrumental in the development of the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, SFA’s Mast Arboretum and the Ruby and Gayla Mize Azalea Gardens, as well as Jimmy Hinds Park. Creech’s dedication to the horticulture profession has been recognized through numerous other awards, including Honorary Membership Award for Lifetime Achievement through the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association and the Sidney Meadows Award for Distinguished Achievement from the Southern Region of the International Plant Propagator’s Society.

“This is really an award for all of SFA,” Creech said. “Our work with native plants at SFA Gardens goes back to the 1980s with our original focus on three endangered species — the Neches river rose mallow, Texas trailing phlox and Texas white firewheel. These three are still precariously hanging on in the wild but are quite secure in garden collections across the South due much in part to our work at SFA.”

In addition to Creech’s focus on the growth and sustainability of SFA’s 60 acres of campus gardens, he also is invested in a number of research initiatives, including the evaluation of new woody ornamental plants for the landscape industry, viability of kiwifruit production in East Texas, and salt and hurricane-tolerant plant materials for the Gulf Coast.

“Dr. Creech is the consummate professional plantsman. His internationally recognized leadership in the conservation of native plant species is a significant complement to our teaching, research and outreach on the sustainable management of our natural resources,” said Dr. Hans Williams, dean of SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture.

The award is named in honor of Dr. Charles Leonard Weddle, an internationally recognized plant hybridizer and plant breeder. His interests included the development of native plants and wildflowers for seed production and growth throughout the world.

Cutline: Dr. David Creech, Stephen F. Austin State University professor emeritus of agriculture and director of SFA Gardens, received the Charles Leonard Weddle Award for lifetime achievement in the field of Texas native plants from the Native Plant Society of Texas. The award recognizes Creech’s more than three decades of native plant research, outreach and conservation.

Story by Sarah Fuller, outreach coordinator for Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture. Contact information: (936) 468-1185 or fullersa@sfasu.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of the documentary “The Music of Silence” at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Directed by Michael Radford, “The Music of Silence” is based on the life of Italian opera tenor Andrea Bocelli, who was born with an eye condition that eventually leads to blindness. The film, starring Antonio Banderas and Toby Sebastian, chronicles Bocelli’s life from his childhood to becoming one of the world’s most renowned opera singers. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Bocelli and Anna Pavignano.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Film Series and is sponsored in part by William Arscott, Nacogdoches Film Festival, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, David Kulhavy, John and Kristen Heath, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens, Jim and Mary Neal, Richard Orton and the Nacogdoches Junior Forum.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.