Grayson, Let's Go Green
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Grayson College In this Issue Read about the recently auctioned Dada dolls on page 10 (The Art Corner) Read about Grayson’s first alumni event in 50 years on The Viking page 5 Tuesday, May 8, 2018 Volume X, Issue IV Get Involved Viking Deadline Grayson, Let’s Go Green TBA Send all submissions to the By James Gatz, Student editor, Kassandra Garcia at [email protected] This spring, Savannah Rang- son.edu. Remember, anyone er began her academic career can contribute! at Grayson as a biology fresh- man on her way to becoming Student a zoologist. She joined Gray- Leadership Series son’s Science Club to augment TBA her curriculum and interact with like-minded people as she worked hard her first semester. Being that conservation and Student and Employee recycling is vital to the future Spirit Day study of biology and animals, Every Friday Ranger is close to the issue of Wear your GC attire with environmental preservation and blue jeans and celebrate the eliminating litter. Viking spirit. For this reason, she was dis- traught to find out that her new school was distributing such environmentally unfriendly Clubs & Orgs products. Her main complaint was the selling of single-use Savannah Ranger with pages of signatures at Spring Fest straws and Styrofoam cups in Grayson’s cafeteria. Single- Baptist Student use straws are, against common belief, non-recyclable, and To gain support and raise awareness of this issue, Rang- Ministries have a great tendency to end up as litter. They are simply er and the Science Club participated in Spring Fest. They Wednesdays, 11:30 -12:15 wasteful and unnecessary. brought a petition to the event and reported the situation to p.m. However, Ranger was most concerned about the usage their classmates. BSM building of Styrofoam cups. “A few years ago, the Grayson College The petition called for eliminating the use of Styrofoam president announced that the college would no longer be cups and single-use straws, as well as requesting that Gray- Clay Club using Styrofoam cups. So why are we using them again this son investigates transitioning to reusable cups. The petition First Thursdays, 5 - 6 p.m. semester?” she said. was widely received well by Grayson’s students and faculty Ceramic Room, Arts & Styrofoam cups are particularly dangerous for the envi- alike. It had well over fifty signatures in the first two hours Communications ronment because they are non-recyclable, and, more devas- it was shown to students, and students continue to sign. Cosmetology Club tatingly, they are not biodegradable. This means that Sty- At the very least, Ranger hopes to influence that Gray- Mondays bi-weekly rofoam cups that are littered—and even the ones that are son to move toward greener, less-hazardous products in the 3:30 - 4:30 p.m., CTC properly disposed of—will virtually last forever. coming semesters. Of her ideas, she also suggested that Styrofoam is also a concern for human health, as many coffee and drinks be greatly discounted or even free to stu- Cultural Diversity Club of its plastics contain carcinogens. Essentially, distributing dents who bring their own reusable cups and straws to the First and third Wednesdays Styrofoam cups unnecessarily exposes students to cancer- cafeteria—because why not? To her, Grayson’s transition 1 - 2 p.m., Int’l Student Office causing materials and leaves a permanent mark on our toward a green campus sets a precedent to our county and DAAC environment. “We are not happy [straws and Styrofoam cities to help our environment and, thereby, ourselves. And Fridays, 12:45 p.m., HS 202 cups] are being used in the cafeteria. We want to have who knows? Given our new, media-oriented society, this them stopped immediately,” she said with full support from precedence could spread to colleges and businesses state- Delta Phi Delta (Art) members of the Science Club. wide. First Tuesdays, 12:15 p.m. Design Room Arts & Communications Dental Assisting Club 8-Week Classes Are Here, but No Need to Fear Wednesdays, 11:30 - 12 p.m. By Zachary Pletan, Staff Writer HS 205 The echoes of change have been rumbling through Gray- Molly Harris, assistant to the president, said that Odessa’s Electrical son’s campus over the last semester. “Have you heard? Next success had been on Grayson’s radar for a few years. How- Technology Club fall the college is switching to 8-week classes instead of 16- ever, in June of 2017, a group of faculty visited Odessa and TBA week.” These whispers are often accompanied by fear, un- immediately could see the success Odessa was having and Contact Aimee Flynn certainty, and doubt. Will student workload increase? Will how their model might also help Grayson. It was not just 903-463-8684 classes suddenly try to cram sixteen weeks of information Odessa’s administration touting their success; Dr. Harris into only eight? Above all, why did campus administration said that Grayson faculty randomly asked Odessa students Eta Sigma Delta feel the need to shake things up from a system we seemed to for their thoughts on the 8-week term, and they received First Wednesdays, 2 p.m. have settled comfortably into? similarly glowing opinions. Culinary Arts Building The answers start several years ago at Odessa College. From there, Grayson’s administration and faculty started FCA Odessa’s switch to two 8-week terms in a 16-week semester, thinking about how they could implement an Odessa-type TBA as well as changes to the college, helped students succeed in model here at home. They didn’t have to start from scratch, this new framework and led to astonishing success. The per- however. Dr. Chase Machen, Dean of Academic Instruc- Future Educators centage of first-time students who graduated or transferred tion, said that around 30 percent of the college’s academic Every other Tuesday shot up 7-10 percent from years before. Soon after, Ama- sections are already 8-week courses. Moreover, instructors 12:20 - 12:50 p.m., CIS 200 rillo College and Alamo College both adopted the 8-week have already developed hybrid (classroom and internet) ver- Gamers Guild model, with similar results. sions of many of the courses they teach. First Thursdays, 4:00 p.m. Grayson College’s administration took notice as well. Dr. Design Room, Continued on page 3 Arts & Communications Grayson Nursing Student Association Grayson Foundation’s Cindy Perez Wednesday or Friday 11:30 a.m. Defines “Scrappy” Viking Room, Life Center By Marlea Trevino, English Professor HALO (Hispanic- American Leadership To do her job well for the Grayson College Founda- al patterns with modern fabrics. She loves experimenting Organization) tion, Cindy Perez has to persistently follow up with both with quilting patterns like she does with cooking recipes. Second and fourth Tuesday donors and students. As Executive Administrative Assis- “I’ll wonder, ‘What if I turned those flying geese to where 12:20 - 12:45 p.m., LA 108 tant, she assists in meticulously planning important fund- they’re flying in rather than out,’” she cites as an example. History Club raising events then ensures everyone involved understands Continued on page 3 Wednesdays, 2:30 p.m. their roles and sees them through. She also coordinates LA 207, Liberal Arts hundreds of Grayson College Foundation scholarships, fol- lowing up with students and seeking just the right scholar- Honors College Club ship match. “Scrappy” not only defines Perez’ approach to Thursdays, 12:15 - 1 p.m. her profession, though; it’s also one of the types of quilting Viking Room, Life Center she loves best. HVACR Club Lots of Tears in There First Thursdays Perez first became interested in quilting by watching her 5:30 p.m. grandmother quilt, but she didn’t pursue the craft at that CTC Room 117 time because there were always too many grandchildren around for her grandmother to really teach her. However, LEA the idea of quilting as a hobby was, she says, “always in (Criminal Justice) the back of my mind.” Then after a life transition in 2001, Tuesdays she picked it up but then set it aside again because of the 12:30-1:30 p.m. demands of raising a child. Location TBA In 2006, though, Perez joined the Sherman Quiltmakers and found her passion. She still has the first quilt she made Men of Distinction with all hand-sewn pieces. She “had no clue” about what Thursdays, 12 - 1 p.m. she was doing in creating it beyond the basic concepts of CWL Seminar Room A quilting. “I will never throw it away, though,” she admits. “There were lots of tears in there.” A Niche in the Traditional/Modern Mix When Perez first started quilting, she followed the tradi- tional patchworking her grandmother had done. “I didn’t Continued on Page 2 love what I was producing, so I didn’t think it was for me,” she recalls. But she found her niche when some friends introduced her to a more modern slant of mixing tradition- Please Recycle This Paper! Cynthia Perez’s art quilt of Amy Winehouse was made with layering technique Grayson College Foundation Page 2 Please Recycle This Paper! Student Resources May 8, 2018 Music Club Every other Friday 12 - 1 p.m., Band Hall, The Relevance of Print in the Digital Age: Arts & Communications Print Is Mightier Than the Kindle Phi Theta Kappa By Caitlyn McGee, Student Wednesdays 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. Nearly every reader has faced the question, “Should be a picture of our future if print is eradicated. Viking Room, Life Center I buy the hardback or the e-book?” They ask themselves The solution to this problem is that readers be made which format is better and which is a better price.