Everything Nac

The table was decorated in a baby shower theme with a blue tablecloth and a pastel “Baby” sign draped over the edge. But the bottles, diapers, lotions and other items on display were being gifted to multiple families across the state.

Recently, members of Stephen F. Austin State University’s Jacks Council on Family Relations collected items to donate to the Rainbow Room, which is a 24/7 resource center located within Child Protective Services offices. Items in the Rainbow Room are available for CPS caseworkers to use for children whose lives are in crisis.

“Many of us often take for granted the fact that we grew up in a home where we felt loved, secure and were taken care of,” said Dr. Jennifer Newquist, JCFR advisor and assistant professor in SFA’s School of Human Sciences. “Donating these items was our way of giving back to the community and hopefully impacting a family for the better. It makes me feel good to provide students the opportunity to give families what they need to stay together.”

Donations to the Rainbow Room help CPS caseworkers provide for children who come into their care. Items in the Rainbow Room also are given to families in need so the children can stay in their own homes.

JCFR members presented dozens of items to Ragan Haygood, community engagement specialist for CPS Region 5, who came to SFA’s campus recently to raise awareness for Child Abuse Prevention Month and CPS services. At a recent JCFR meeting, Haygood delivered a presentation on CPS, its services, how to recognize abuse and neglect, CPS’ rights, adoption and more.

“Listening to Ragan was a learning experience because she discussed actual field experience that brought what we talk about in class to life,” said Kelsey Ticer, JCFR president and counseling graduate student from Wolfe City. “We were so thankful Ragan shared her work experience with us, and we hope our contributions to the Rainbow Room will one day make a positive impact on a child’s life.”

JCFR is an SFA student-led organization that works to build networks and help families within the community by learning from each other and professionals within related fields. Currently, there are more than a dozen members.

Experts from across the U.S. will converge May 5 through 7 at the Nacogdoches Exposition Center, located at 3805 Northwest Stallings Drive, as SFA Gardens welcomes the 2017 Texas Pollinator PowWow.

This year’s event will focus on biodiversity and the many ways pollinators, plants and humans depend on one another for survival.

“It’s really an amazing opportunity to have such renowned experts all in one place,” said Dawn Stover, SFA Gardens research associate.

Presenters include Dr. Christopher Comer, associate professor of wildlife in SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture; Dr. Merlin Tuttle, founder of Bat Conservation International; Cliff Shackleford, state non-game ornithologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; David Wolfe, director of conservation strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund; and Dr. Doug Tallamy, professor of entomology at the University of Delaware.

While registration is required to attend lectures and field events, access to the event exhibition hall is free.

The Texas Pollinator PowWow is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide education, resources and networking opportunities to empower natural resource professionals and communities to protect pollinators and their habitats.

Registration information is available at texaspollinatorpowwow.org. Online registration closes Wednesday, April 26. For more information, contact Stover at dawnstover@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-4404.

The Trumpet Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform a diverse concert ranging from traditional fanfares to a newly commissioned work at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 22, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Also known as The Wrecking Crew, the ensemble is a music class, made up of mostly trumpet majors, which meets each spring, according to Stephen Campbell, visiting professor of music in the SFA School of Music and the ensemble’s director. The concert will feature performances by student percussionists, faculty organist Christina Harmon, men’s chorus, and music faculty members Dr. Richard G. Leonberger and Dr. Scott LaGraff.

The men’s chorus, organized by Dr. Tod Fish, associate director of choral activities for the School of Music, will showcase voice faculty members Leonberger, tenor, and LaGraff, bass soloist. In addition to choral students, the chorus includes members of the SFA Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha.

The program also includes G.F. Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks for six trumpets, organ and percussion, along with a premiere of a commissioned work for trumpet ensemble, titled “Glare,” by composer Rusty Banks.

A performance of a portion of Richard Wagner’s Romantic opera “Lohengrin” will feature LaGraff singing the role of King Philip.

An important notation about the Handel and Wagner works is that they are not arrangements, Campbell said.

“The musicians (trumpeters) will perform from the orchestral trumpet parts,” he said. “The organ part is arranged to cover the remainder of the orchestra parts, but for the trumpeters, this is ‘the real deal.’ The Wagner work calls for 15 trumpets. The composer even makes an indication in the score to ‘Lohengrin’ that if you don’t have the means to perform this particular scene, skip it and cut right to the next part. I’ve created an edition of this scene for this particular performance.”

This fun concert will give the audience and performers new musical experiences, Campbell said.

“I know for the musicians, it’ll be a unique experience,” he said. “The majority of trumpet ensemble concerts typically consist of arrangements of other pieces, which end up being a rehash of something that wasn’t that great to begin with. None of the selections on our program are arrangements, at least as far as the musicians are concerned.”

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 (888) 240-ARTS or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts will recognize four students during the presentation of the annual Dean’s Awards at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 21, at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Sarah Jentsch, art major from Etoile; Tyler Thormählen, music performance major from Kyle; Arjang Abrarpour, music education major from Katy; and Margaret “Maggie” Strain, theatre major from Port Aransas, were selected by the faculty of their respective schools on the basis of their potential to further develop their artistic goals and serve as role models, according to Dr. A.C. “Buddy” Himes, dean of the College of Fine Arts.

The Dean’s Awards not only recognize the recipients for what they have already accomplished, but the awards are also designed to inspire them to reach deep from within to aspire for the ideal, Himes explained. The awards were established by the Dean’s Circle, an external support organization of community members founded in 2008 and “dedicated, in part, to nurturing potential young artists within the College of Fine Arts,” Himes said.

Jentsch, who will receive the Ed and Gwen Cole Dean’s Award in Art, came to SFA in the spring of 2016 to study printmaking and painting. She is interested in the natural sciences and fell in love with the avian world at an early age while bird watching with her father. Growing up, she could often be found with her nose buried in a bird guide. She now focuses her work on the natural world and especially avian life, which continues to fascinate her. She uses her art as a means to research and study the specimens she chooses, communicating the essence of each to her audience. Sarah also holds a position as a gallery assistant at the Cole Art Center, which has given her many opportunities to view and handle great works of art. This position has allowed her to have more personal relationships with her professors and learn valuable skills in art handling and gallery installation. Jentsch says that studying at SFA has been an incredibly enriching experience. She plans to continue on to graduate school and eventually become a professor herself, guiding students as her own mentors have done for her.

Thormählen, who will receive the Jack and Naioma Ledbetter Dean’s Award in Music, is a junior music performance major with a concentration in orchestral horn performance. He is a three-year member of the SFA Wind Ensemble, a two-year member of the Orchestra of the Pines and SFA Opera Orchestra, and serves as principle horn of each. Thormählen has participated in various chamber ensembles such as the SFA Horn Choir, the Ax’em Brass Quintet, and the Transmute Brass Quintet. He frequently performs with the Lufkin Community Band and East Texas Wind Symphony. Thormählen has been named to either the President’s List or Dean’s List each semester during his time at SFA and has received multiple merit-based scholarships. He was selected as runner-up in the 2016 TMTA Young Artist Brass Competition, and he plans to continue participating in solo and small ensemble competitions. He is also a member of Kappa Kappa Psi, in which he serves the SFA band program as well as the East Texas band community. This summer, Thormählen will attend the Sewanee Summer Music Festival at The University of the South in Tennessee where he will perform in weekly concerts and learn from highly esteemed conductors and pedagogues.

Abrarpour, who will receive the Dr. Robert G. Sidnell Memorial Dean’s Award in Music Education, is a junior music education major from Katy. During his time at SFA, he has been a member of the Wind Ensemble, the Swingin’ Axes and The Lumberjack Marching Band, and he is a former member of the Orchestra of the Pines. Abrarpour is a member of the Empyrean Trumpet Ensemble, a small competitive ensemble comprised of the top players within the trumpet studio. The ensemble competed in the semi-final round of the 2017 National Trumpet Competition. He is also a part of the Boundless Quintet, a small jazz combo that performs at community events, including Nacogdoches’ 300th birthday celebration. He is a member of the School of Honors and has been on both the Dean’s and President’s lists. Abrarpour has been presented with the Academic Excellence Scholarship, a band scholarship, the Gary Wurtz Jazz Scholarship, and the Lumberjack Leverage Award. While at SFA, Abrarpour has learned not only music, but also the value of time management, leadership responsibilities, professional behavior and many other virtues. SFA has helped him grow into a more prepared leader and music educator.

Strain, who will receive the George and Peggy Schmidbauer Dean’s Award in Theatre, is a junior from Port Aransas earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts with an All-Level Teaching Certification. This is her second year at SFA. Her Mainstage credits include “By the Bog of Cats” and Jack Heifner’s new play “Bury Me in This,” and she is currently playing Sabina in Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth.” Strain was also featured in the Downstage performance of “Bobby Gould in Hell.” She was runner-up for the Wanda Cochran Scholarship and has been recognized on the Dean’s List each semester at SFA. For the coming year, Strain has been elected president of the Beta Phi cast of Alpha Psi Omega, the National Theatre Honor Society, and is on the Student Productions Advisory Committee (SPAC). Most of Strain’s experiences, however, can be attributed to volunteer work. She has volunteered for light-hang crews, taught workshops, or simply lent a hand when it was needed – from painting props to moving furniture.

The awards are made possible because the Dean’s Circle believes in investing in the future and is willing to contribute and raise the money needed to fund these awards each year, Himes said. As a result, this year, Dean’s Circle sponsors decided to increase these awards from $2,000 to $3,000 each.

Dr. Jared Barnes, assistant professor of horticulture for Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, received the 2017 Sustainability Award from Keep Nacogdoches Beautiful during the SFA Earth Day Celebration, April 1.

The award recognizes community members who make a concerted effort to promote the role of sustainability throughout the Nacogdoches community.

Since joining SFA in 2014, Barnes has made great strides in reaching his goal of doubling the enrollment of SFA’s horticulture program. Two years into his five-year time frame, the program lacks only two students to achieve this goal.

“I focused on developing programs with edibles and reinvigorating the gardens around the Agriculture Building that would make the horticulture program more attractive and relevant to potential students,” Barnes said.

The expanded-and-redesigned garden, dubbed Sprout at SFA, provides student-grown produce for a weekly market located behind the Agriculture Building.

Through this endeavor, Barnes also has increased the visibility of SFA’s horticulture students. These students have been featured on the covers of Sawdust, SFA’s alumni magazine, and Nursery Management, a national trade publication.

In addition to having taught more than 400 students in nine separate courses, Barnes currently serves as a major professor for two graduate students, as the faculty advisor for SFA’s Horticulture Club, and he conducts his own academic research.

“I have always been a very curious person and strive to answer questions about the natural world,” Barnes said. “I bring that curiosity into my research program at SFA.”

In 2016, the Perennial Plant Association named Barnes the 2016 Young Professional of the Year, and Greenhouse Product News recognized him as one of the top 40 horticulture professionals under 40 years old.

Students working for Stephen F. Austin State University’s campus media outlets were recognized with a combined 46 awards for journalistic excellence at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association’s annual convention and competition earlier this month in Dallas.

The Pine Log, SFA’s student newspaper, earned 20 awards for content produced during the 2016 calendar year, while the Stone Fort yearbook received 17 separate honors for its 2016 edition. In addition, SFA TV-2 was recognized with four awards for previously published content, while KSAU radio received one award. In the previously published contests, SFA students compete against their peers at institutions with similar enrollment and program size.

Eleven SFA students attended the conference and participated in on-site contests where they competed head-to-head with journalism students from other TIPA member institutions, regardless of size. In these “live” events, four awards were presented to SFA students, including Tyler Fisher, Stone Fort yearbook editor-in-chief and The Pine Log ad manager, first place in yearbook design and third place in print advertising design; Joanna Armstrong, The Pine Log editor-in-chief, second place in feature writing; and Cynthia Cogan, The Pine Log webmaster and social media manager, honorable mention in public relations crisis management.

In addition, Parastoo Nikravesh, managing editor for The Pine Log, received TIPA’s prestigious Jeff Henderson Scholarship for Journalism Excellence, which is awarded annually during the conference.

“The TIPA convention and competition is an opportunity to showcase the work our talented mass communication students produce throughout the year as they are gaining real-world experience contributing to our on-campus media outlets,” said Amy Roquemore, SFA director of student publications and divisional media and adjunct faculty member in the mass communication department. Roquemore accompanied the students to the convention along with Rachel Clark, SFA student publications coordinator and yearbook advisor.

“As is their tradition, our students represented the university extremely well, not only with impressive submissions for the canned competition but also with award-winning work they produced under deadline pressure in the highly competitive live contests,” Roquemore said. “These accolades are a testament to the skill and determination of SFA students preparing to enter the mass communication field, and it is a joy and privilege to work with them every day.”

Fisher, a senior mass communication major from Spring, attended the conference for the second consecutive year, and said it was exciting to see SFA student media recognized as being among the best in Texas. Fisher will graduate in May and has been accepted into the university’s Master of Business Administration program beginning this fall.

“I find a lot of joy being able to represent SFA and competing in something I love,” Fisher said. “I am so proud of myself and my peers for all of the hard work we do to represent SFA in the best light possible. I think bringing home this many awards really shows how passionate we are about our jobs and making our school proud.”

Established in 1909 at Baylor University, TIPA is the largest and oldest collegiate press association in the U.S. The organization works to recognize excellence in campus media and open channels of communication and cooperation among student media programs at two- and four-year colleges and universities in Texas. More than 440 students representing 45 of TIPA’s more than 50 member institutions attended the 2017 conference in Dallas.

The following is a complete listing of TIPA awards SFA students earned for work produced during the 2016 calendar year:

The Pine Log

First place, sports news story — Devin Brooks, sports editor

First place, headline — Taylor Raglin, editor-in-chief

First place, editorial cartoon — Olivia Boan, illustrator

Second place, sports page design — Devin Brooks, sports editor

Second place, sports column — Devin Brooks, sports editor

Second place, special edition/section — staff members

Second place, page one design — Joanna Armstrong, editor-in-chief

Second place, editorial — Anna Clarke, opinions editor

Third place, advertising design — Olivia Boan, designer

Third place, sports action photo — Cara Campbell, photographer

Third place, sports feature photo — Derek Hall, photographer

Third place, news photo — Jackie Conde, photo editor

Third place, picture story — Hannah Russell and Cara Campbell, photographers

Third place, news feature story — Joanna Armstrong, news editor

Honorable Mention, single subject presentation design — Taylor Raglin, editor-in-chief

Honorable Mention, news story — Joanna Armstrong, news editor

Honorable Mention, opinion/editorial page design — Anna Clarke, opinions editor

Honorable Mention, headline — Devin Brooks, sports editor

Honorable Mention, feature photo — Audra Bridges, photographer

Honorable Mention, advertising design — Tyler Fisher, designer

Stone Fort

Second place, sports action photo — Jacy Watson, photographer

Second place, sports copy — Belen Casillas, writer

Third place, information graphic — Tyler Fisher, section editor

Third place, organizations package — Stephanie Branch, section editor

Honorable mention, sports copy — Juwan Lee, writer

Honorable mention, sports package — Cara Campbell, Carley Carpenter, Jackie Conde, Julia Irwin, Taylor Raglin, Rae Thompson and Hannah Russell, writers/photographers

Honorable mention, student life copy — Parastoo Nikravesh, writer

Honorable mention, title page — Julia Irwin, editor-in-chief

Honorable mention, photo story — Tyler Fisher, Delilah Gonzalez, Whitney Hicks and Hannah Russell, writers/photographers

Honorable mention, opening spread — Julia Irwin, editor-in-chief

Honorable mention, organizations copy — Tyler Fisher, section editor

Honorable mention, cover design — Julia Irwin, editor-in-chief

Honorable mention, end sheets — Julia Irwin, editor-in-chief

Honorable mention, feature/student life package — Carley Carpenter, Tyler Fisher, Derek Hall and Hannah Russell, writers/photographers

Honorable mention, academics copy — Mackenzie Tarter, section editor

Honorable mention, feature photo — Jackie Conde, photographer

Honorable mention, overall excellence — staff members

SFA TV-2

Second place, sports non-feature story — Kirby Hilderbrand, Jasper Football Stadium

Second place, sportscast — Josh Green, SFA TV-2 NacEdition

Second place, spot commercial/PSA/promo — Cami Henz, Anti-Smoking PSA

Third place, news feature story — Brooke Alverson, VW Club

KSAU

Honorable mention, spot commercial/PSA/promo — Dylan Hensley, KSAU Promo