The Yellow JacketOctober 27, 2016 Howard Payne University . Brownwood, TX Volume 107, Issue 4

Homecoming play Bone-Chiller! fits the Halloween mood – in a family friendly way

On Friday the 13th, 13 people gather for the read-ing of the late Josiah Trav-ers’s unusual form of a will – a rebus (puzzle picture) which offers the estate to anyone who can solve it.

Among these 13 think-ers lie hidden connections, motives, and secrets. As the rebus is solved, these inten-tions are revealed, and the play turns out to be a series of connected riddles offered through the humorous per-sonalities of the 13 characters.

Bone-Chiller! – the How-ard Payne Homecoming weekend play presented by the HPU Department of Theatre – is a lighthearted murder mystery with a far-cical who-done-it attitude focused on the puzzle of the rebus. It is a family friendly show, particularly chosen for the upcoming occasion by Dr. Nancy Jo Humfeld, director of theatre at HPU.

“Since Halloween is the day after Homecoming weekend,” Humfeld said, “I thought it would be fun to do a funny murder mys-tery. We wanted it to be fam-ily friendly and not gory or spooky. This script appealed to me because it is as much or more about puzzle solv-ing as it is about murder.”

As head of the Prop com-mittee for the show, it has certainly been interesting to see the development of par-ticular tricks of the stage the show utilizes. The set of the show is elegantly simple to showcase the dominance of the rebus, its promise of re-ward so compelling charac-ters can’t resist the challenge.

The script begs the audi-ence to be involved in the thought process, as Hum-feld noted. “The audience will be able to see the puzzle and hopefully they will en-joy trying to decipher the rebus as the cast is working on it as well. We hope ev-eryone will be intrigued and highly entertained,” she said.

What is most exciting about the show is the debut of many new theatre majors introduced

into the HPU Department of Theatre. The department received many incoming freshmen who declared the-atre as a major or minor, and auditions for the show were, for perhaps the first time in recent HPU fall show his-tory, extremely competitive.

Michael Bell, a sopho-more with an undeniable passion for the stage, felt the audition’s pressure.

“As a new theatre major, I was worried about com-ing into a new atmosphere,” Bell said. “But everyone made it very welcoming and I really enjoyed working with everyone in the show.”

Cast members include Bryce McWhirter as Jerry Delvin, Rachel Lilley as Con-nie Travers, Jake Bowren as Buzzy Burdett, Brooklyn

Britton as Theodosia Trav-ers, Hailey Green as Flame Fondue, Cassia Rose as Zita

Every edition of theYellow Jacket newspaper

is available online at www.hputx.edu/yellowjacket

InsIde thIs

edItIonEditor-in-Chief Column...2

When making social con-nections, don’t overlook

your mentors.

HPU CSI............................3The Howard Payne CSI

teams wins regional compe-tition in first attempt.

Highs and Lows...............6Praise God in both the good

times and bad times.

The Attorney.....................8A look at the new movie

starring Ben Affleck.

Homecoming.............10-15From the Homecoming

Court to the Coming Home Queen.

Unique Combo...............16Ruth Davis combines ath-letic training with being in

the marching band.

Can you dig it?...............18The volleyball team wins on Senior Night and qualifies for the ASC tournament.

Christopher Freeland

staff writer

Bone-Chiller!

Occasion: HPU Homecoming play.

Presented by: HPU Department of Theatre.

Location: HPU Theatre.Performances: 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and

Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $5 for students, $8 for adults.

More Information: 325-649-8516

Cassia RoseHailey Green and Gabrielle McWhirter

Play → Page 10

There are, of course, so many new things that come along with entering college. New classes, a new place to live, new experiences, and new people, to name a few.

While each of our experi-ences coming to college are pretty different, there’s usu-ally one thing they all have in common – we come longing and hoping for connection.

Who will I sit with in the Caf? Will I get along with my roommate? Who will I spend my weekends with when home feels years away?

They say the friendships you make in college often last a life time, so build-ing connections in college is important. These may be the people you ask to be in your wedding, to watch your children, or to help you make tough life decisions down the road. They will be the ones you call when you don’t know who else to turn to.

Actually, these connections impact your future in other ways, too. According to Har-vard Women’s Health Watch, “Social connections . . . not only give us pleasure, they also influence our long-term

health in ways every bit as powerful as adequate sleep, a good diet, and not smoking.”

Having friends around isn’t just to keep you from being bored on Friday night now or to give you a baby-sitter later. Friendships actu-ally improve your health and happiness in the long run.

Friendships with peers aren’t the only connec-tions we should be mak-ing in college, either. The impact of mentor-mentee relationships can be pow-erful and life-changing.

There are tons of “adult” things we are expected to do that as college students we just don’t have a han-dle on yet. That’s when the

advice of a trusted adult can make a world of difference. Maybe your mentor could be a parent, a professor, or a community member. Who-ever it happens to be, hav-ing someone to learn from, confide in, and look up to can be a great resource as you navigate these wobbly years of semi-adulthood.

We’ve probably all real-ized that college is a prime time for networking as well. As you get on the saddle of your future career, there is a lot that you can learn from others who have already mastered the ride. Finding those people with more ex-perience than you can give you an advantage in your

field, and there are tons of ways to network. Conferenc-es, internships, social media, community businesspeople, and even your friends’ par-ents are a few resources for career connections that will launch you into your future a step ahead of the game.

Send an email or make a phone call to ask someone in your field some important questions you might have – or even ask them to have lunch with you. You’ll likely learn a lot more than you expected.

Hint: Your professors probably wouldn’t mind it much, either, if you came in during their office hours with some coffee and asked about their experi-ences. Most like to share what they’ve learned if they have the time. It’s good for them, and it’s good for you.

You’ve probably already made plenty of connections since you came to How-ard Payne. Some may not have been the best for you, and others will positively impact you forever. Find those friendships, make those phone calls, and share those chats over Common Grounds. Connect with peo-ple who will improve your life and be that connection for others. It will likely turn out better than you longed for.

When seeking connections, don’t forget mentors P A G E 2 O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6

OpinionNews Briefs

LocalLocal homeowner’s gruesome Halloween lawn display strikes controversy. The decorations in-clude tombstones, body parts, and one unfortunate mannequin getting run over by a riding lawn mower. A passerby posted photos on Facebook to protest the graphic nature, and over 100 commenters agreed that the scene had taken it too far. In spite of complaints, the man continued to display his dec-orations and even added to them.

StateOf the top 40 newspapers in Tex-as, only one — the 5,000-circula-tion Waxahachie Daily Light — has endorsed Donald Trump for president. Several of the state’s largest papers — including the Dallas Morning News, Hous-ton Chronicle and San Antonio-Express News — have endorsed Hillary Clinton. The Dallas Morning News endorsement drew national attention as the news-paper’s editorial board noted it had not endorsed a Democrat for president in more than 75 years.

National

On Monday, a man in Portland, Maine was arrested for block-ing traffic dressed as a tree. He claimed his main goal was sim-ply to see peoples’ reactions. He was charged with a misdemeanor for obstructing a public way.

CorrectionDanielle Rosborough, In-structor of Voice in HPU’s Pre-College music program, was misidentified as the Director of the Pre-College program in an article in the Oct. 6 edition of the Yellow Jacket. Diane Owens is the Director of the Pre-College pro-gram. We apologize for the error.

lydia heinrichs

Editor In Chief

The 2016-2017 Yellow JackeT

ediTor-in-chiefLydia HeinricHs

PhoTo ediTorandria Garza

Page designersLydia HeinricHs,

Marina sHeets-OcHOa, racHeL HuGHes, eMiLy ViLLarreaL, anGeLica raMirez, danieL Harris,

KiMberLy bOGart

PhoTograPhersandria Garza,

rebeKaH LytLe, aiMee OrOzcO, cHeyenne HiLL, JOsiaH HuGHes

rePorTersrebeKaH LytLe, andrea baLderas, LazHay Winn,

aiMee OrOzcO, cHad anders, MOrGan asHMOre, bOardMan adaMs, cairO attaWay, andria Garza, reaGan GrisHaM, Lauren LOnG, cHris-

tOpHer FreeLand, racHeL HuGHes, LiLLie McdOnaLd

columnisTsLydia HeinricHs, dr. rObert

ManGruM, danieL Harris, JacLyn bOn-ner, adaM JOnes, JiMMy abatieLLO,

carissa crOMer

faculTY adviserMiKe Lee

(325) 649-8112MLee@Hputx.edu

The Yellow Jacket is a student publication of Howard Payne Univer-sity. Letters to the editor are welcome. Please send any feedback to yjacket@hputx.edu with “Letter to the Editor”

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Anticipation grew as the third- and second-place win-ners of the Crime Scene In-vestigation competition were announced. That left only one opportunity to place for Dr. Paul Lilly’s CSI team and Howard Payne’s rep-resentatives at the recent Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice (SWACJ) conference in Oklahoma City.

The five students who par-ticipated – Blake Wynn, Jes-sica Huckaby, Alsatia Jowers, Ami Segura, and Jacob Sala-zar – as well as professors Gina Gibbs and Lynn Humen-iuk, silently sat in suspense and hoped HPU’s name would be called for first place. With high hopes and thanks to great preparation by Lilly and team leader Wynn, HPU won first place in its first-ever appear-ance at SWACJ and against six other teams from Arkan-sas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

After winning the com-petition, Humeniuk showed praise to everyone in-volved in getting this win.

“These were very dedi-cated students who repre-sented HPU in a very profes-sional manner. I am so very proud of these five students, Professor Gibbs for guiding them at the conference, and Dr. Lilly for preparing them in his Criminal Investiga-tion class,” Humeniuk said.

The moments leading up to the announcement were spent preparing for the Crime Scene competition and attend-ing several roundtable panels, lectures, and a meal put on by SWACJ and hotel staff. At these panels, the students and professors attending were privileged to hear about many

important issues and studies related to the criminal jus-tice system and even had the chance to provide insight to other professors on how stu-dents feel about certain classes.

The topics ranged from the dangers of the dark net, in-carcerated women, and the difficulties students have in online classes. Each panel provided valuable knowledge students will carry with them throughout their time working in the criminal justice field.

Gibbs, who traveled along-side the five students to Okla-homa City, was very impressed with how they conducted themselves during the confer-ence and at the competition.

“It is very rewarding to work with such outstanding young men and women. Our students’ professionalism, courteousness, and prepared-ness made a strong impression on the conference attendees. I am very proud to have them

represent HPU,” Gibbs said.At the competition, students

were asked to demonstrate their knowledge in conduct-ing an investigation by secur-ing the crime scene, finding evidence, and creating logs for all information related to the investigation in a span of 40 minutes. Each mem-ber had their own specific task to handle, but continued to work closely together to ensure complete diligence.

For HPU, Wynn ran the en-tire crime scene as the lead investigator, making sure the other four members of the team were following all proce-dures correctly. He also helped with keeping measurements and writing the final report.

Salazar watched over all evidence found by logging down the description of any suspected material related to the investigation. Work-ing closely with Salazar, Segura photographed the

entire scene and helped dis-cover key pieces of evidence.

Jowers took careful mea-surements of the crime scene area and the measurements of all evidence found. These measurements were then

given to Huckaby, who made two sketches – one rough and one final – of the crime scene.

After the initial 40 minutes of working the crime, the team had one hour to prepare a re-port of everything collected during the investigation. The team really shined through their report and showcased the skills they learned from Lilly’s Criminal Investigation class.

Even though he could not attend the conference, Lilly couldn’t hide how proud he was of his students for win-ning their first competition.

“Crime scene and criminal investigations are very dif-ficult subjects to learn, and both fields take a tremendous amount of studying accompa-nied by practical training to master. For these students to have taken first place in the SWACJ competition, and to do so the very first time HPU has ever competed, is simply remarkable. Words cannot ad-equately express how proud I am of them,” Lilly said.

After getting this win, the Howard Payne CSI team is pre-pared and eager to return to the SWACJ conference next year in Fort Worth to defend its title.

Trick-or-Treat so Kids Can Eat

Tau Beta Sigma is hosting a food drive at Trunk n Treat.Where: Southside Baptist ChurchWhen: October 30, 6:30-8 p.m.

Come play “cornhole” and donate canned goods!

CSI team wins regional in first attempt O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 3

News

Photo by HPU Media RelationsThe Howard Payne CSI team that won the recent regional competition in Oklahoma City consisted of, from left: professor Gina Gibbs; students Blake Wynn, Jessica Huckaby, Ami Segura, Alsatia Jowers, and Jacob Salazar; and professor Dr. Paul Lilly.

Alsatia Jowers

guest writer

Clark, Olin top HPU speech and debate performersYJ Submission

The Howard Payne speech and debate team, Student Speaker Bureau, compet-ed at two separate tourna-ments last weekend – the Bayou City Swing held at San Jacinto College North in Houston, and the Southern Colorado Debate Challenge, held at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Braxton Clark, senior so-cial science global studies major from Southlake, won Top Parliamentary Debate Speaker and also won second place in International Public Debate Association (IPDA) style debate at the San Ja-cinto College tournament.

“Braxton has been an un-believable competitor all three years at HPU. His tal-ent and leadership are really shining through this year,” said Dr. Julie Welker, Stu-dent Speaker Bureau team coach and chair of the de-partment of communication.

In September, Clark was named third top speak-er at the Rice Univer-sity debate tournament.

Additionally, Clark and teammate Tyler Olin, soph-omore social science ju-risprudence and Guy D. Newman Honors Academy major from Howe, were quarterfinalists in NPDA debate in the tournament.

HPU won second place overall in debate sweep-stakes at the tournament.

Other team members com-peting at the Bayou City Swing were Erin Haley, freshman communication major from Mason; Mike Hord, freshman; Madison Neal, freshman social sci-ence jurisprudence major from Chandler; Aimee Oro-zco, junior communica-tion major from Shepherd;

Isabelle Stahr Fisher, fresh-man communication major from Fort Worth; and Haylee Williams, freshman commu-nication major from Bellville.

Assistant coach Sidni Kir-by, instructor of communica-tion, traveled with the team.

SSB at Colorado tournament

Students who attended the Colorado College de-bate tournament competed in World Universities Debat-ing Championships (WUDC) style debate in prepara-tion for their trip to Oxford, England, to compete at the third largest WUDC debate tournament in the world.

WUDC debate involves four teams of two debaters

each where each debater pres-ents an eight-minute speech.

“WUDC debate is the stan-dard format of debate on the international circuit. Students debate a different topic each round, and we typically de-bate a minimum of 5-6 rounds per tournament,” said Welker.

Debaters Morgan Ash-more, senior communication major from Weatherford; Christopher Freeland, soph-omore biochemistry major and Guy D. Newman Honors Academy major from Bangs; Reagan Grisham, junior com-munication major from Ar-lington; and Andrea Balderas, junior biology from Lytle all competed in Colorado.

These four students will represent HPU in Novem-ber at one of the most pres-tigious debate tournaments in the world, competing against teams from Oxford, Cam-bridge, Yale, Harvard and many other Tier I U.S. and international universities.

P A G E 4 O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6

News

Courtesy PhotoThe HPU Student Speaker Bureau speech and debate team consists of, from left: Dr. Julie Welker (coach), Morgan Ashmore, Braxton Clark, Aimee Orozco, Isabella Stahr Fisher, Madison Neal, Christopher Freeland, Gabi McWhirter, Erin Haley, Brooklyn Britton, Isaac Sommers, Andrea Bal-deras, Haylee Williams, Reagan Grisham, Tyler Olin, Sidni Kirby (coach).

Braxton Clark

Tyler Olin

HPU has Flu Vaccines

Where: Health Services Office, Veda Hodge first floor

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Friday.

How Much: $15 for students, faculty and staff

Protect yourself from getting the flu!

O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 5

Features

Fall Fling

Photos by Lydia Heinrichs

Praise God in the high times and the low times P A G E 6 O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6

Religion

One of my favorite books of the Bible is the book of Psalms. The Psalms are a col-lection of songs that different people wrote, mostly from David, that express the deep-est longings of the psalter’s soul. This book is unique be-cause it shows the vulnerabil-ity of the writer. For example:

“My God, my God, why

have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from help-ing me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our ancestors trusted; they

trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trust-ed, and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people. All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; ‘Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver — let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’ ”

Psalm 22:1-8

This psalm is a psalm of la-ment. Laments are an outcry of the heart. They are prais-ing God even when some-one cannot feel the presence of God. Many times these Psalms are the most vener-able. They may have a sense of hopelessness, but they give us hope that God is near to us even though we may not

be able to feel his presence. On the flip side, there

are many Psalms that are praises. For example:

“Praise the LORD! O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Who can utter the mighty doings of the LORD, or declare all his praise? Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times.

Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people; help me when you deliver them; that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory in your heritage.”

Psalm 106:1-5

These psalms are praising God and giving him thanks

for when he provides for us. When all is going well, the psalter sings with joy and thanksgiving. These psalms give us hope that God pro-vides and is with us when we have joy and hope of life.

When reading the Psalms, it’s clear to see that the psal-ters are real people with real struggles. They have high times and low times just like everyone else. They were inti-mate with the struggles we hu-mans have. However, through it all, they praised God for all the things he has done.

It can be easy to blame God when we go through times of hardship and don’t feel God’s presence. When someone gets stuck in this mentality, it’s hard for them to give praise to God. It’s OK to be honest with God when we don’t feel his presence just like the psalter

was. God wants to know our struggles when we get stuck in a rut. He wants to hear us out when we are struggling.

At the same time, is can be just as easy to forget to give God praise when things are going in our favor. It’s easy to get comfortable where we are and forget to give God our thanks for the things he has provided for us. People can get self-reliant when this happens and think their blessings aren’t from God, but from themselves.

We should be praising God in all circumstances. In the high times and the low times, the psalms show us we can praise God and be thank-ful for what he has done for us. When we struggle it’s OK to lament, and when we are joyous, we sing ever-more His glory and goodness.

Daniel Harris

Religion Columnist

The news is saturated with election hype, natural disasters and conflicts in the Middle East.

It is easy to become ab-sorbed with or numb to this foreboding broadcasting, yet to be global citizens, it is im-perative to stay informed and become involved. The ca-sualties of conflict include the victims of ignorance.

The politics of popular media sites often neglect to mention a vital human rights issue – religious free-dom – that is affecting peo-ple in global proportions.

Over five billion people – which is more than the conti-nent of Asia’s entire population

and comprises three-quarters of the world’s people – face the reality of religious persecution and discrimination because of their proclamation of faith.

How do we avoid just mut-ing and ignoring these over-whelming numbers? In a violent world diseased with conflict, catastrophe fatigue is not hard to catch. How-ever, the root of catastrophe

fatigue is compassion fatigue.It is time to wake up and

start caring. The issue is closer to home than you might think.

The tumultuous 2016 Presi-dential race coupled with the divide along racial and economic fault lines illu-minates our nation’s polar-ization. In addition to these spotlighted issues, the elusive wars of domestic religious

freedom are being waged. In the vein of the Enlighten-

ment, nineteenth and twentieth century sociologists, political theorists and psychologists have proposed the theory of secularization, espousing the idea that as society industrial-ized and becomes more pro-gressed, the role of religion will fade into non-existence.

While social revolutions

have proven that this theory is not completely unsound, faith still informs the moral fiber of many people and the freedom to choose one’s faith and freely practice religion is something everyone should hold dear.

The atheist or non-religious individual may easily shun this proposal, yet religious free-dom at its core is the freedom of conscious. It is the right to choose one’s world view and live by it, so long as it is not harmful to others. It is a right that needs to be universal.

Compared to the rest of the world, the religion in the U.S. is not suffering se-vere or violent persecution. However, opposing values have created tension and discrimination, and it is not served in a red Starbucks cup.

Religious freedom must be a universal human rightJaclyn Bonner

Staff Writer

Freedom→ Page 7

O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 7

News & Religion

From Page 6: Freedom

The CEO of the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, Dr. James C. Denison, notes there is a rising bias against Christians, giving the example of individuals who had lost their jobs positions or been denied employment because of their religious convictions.

Christian universities, such as Howard Payne University, have been labeled as intolerant because of their faith-based tenants and Title IX exemp-tion. This summer Califor-nia Senate Bill 1146 was de-signed to eliminate LGBTQ discrimination in the state.

However, by attempting to strip away religious liberty exemptions from all higher education institutions except for theological seminaries, the bill would in fact discriminate against religious universities.

SB 1146 was revised and signed into California law at the end of September. Reli-gious institutions can still re-ceive religious exemptions, but it mandates that they must dis-close their exemption status.

Although the result of the bill does not severely violate reli-gious freedom, the legislation has set a pattern of jeopardy for it. It underscores an undercur-rent of conflicting values and foreshadows potential prob-lems for private universities.

Denison speculates about

possible future challenges not-ing that private universities’ credibility and finances will be attacked. Losing federal stu-dent aid such as Pell Grants, NCAA eligibility and accredi-tation would be devastating. Graduates could also be de-nied acceptance to Ivy League schools and prestigious grad school programs, should current trends exacerbate.

Faith-based institutions should be cognizant of this negative attention. Champions of religious freedom should realize that the First Amend-ment needs to be protected.

The battle does not stop here. Religious freedom threats extend well beyond the borders of the U.S. and the Christian faith. International

religious freedom violations are real, rampant and egregious.

Despite UN and other in-ternational documents which espouse religious freedom as well as numerous constitutions that guarantee freedom to prac-tice one’s religion, persecution persists. Fanatical groups, op-pressive regimes and gov-ernments that fail to practice and enforce their own laws have perpetuated this crisis.

In Pakistan, one of the U.S.’s allies, blasphemy laws are used to target religious minorities, acquitting people to prison and even execution. It is a capital crime and it eas-ily committed, considering people can be accused of blas-phemy while doing generally inoffensive tasks from every-

day chores to writing poetry. Other countries, such as

Cuba and Vietnam, impose laws and regulations that close-ly monitor sermons, churches and religious gatherings, over-extending government reach and control and prohibiting the free practice of religion.

In Burma, the government favors the Buddhist majority and systemically discriminates against other faiths. In 1982, a citizenship law was draft-ed that effectively stripped citizenship from the Ro-hingya Muslims, and has left them as stateless, displaced and refugees ever since.

Last year the country passed four laws known as the “Pro-tecting Race and Religion Laws.” They regulate reli-gious conversion and inter-faith marriage, authorize state-based religious discrimination and reinforce a legal frame-work targeting non-Buddhists.

In Nigeria, one of the great-est humanitarian crises is occurring. Attacks by Boko Haram, a radical Islamic ter-rorist group in Northern Africa that has killed more people than ISIS, has targeted Chris-tians and moderate Muslims.

The 21st Century Wilber-force Initiative, an advocacy group that promotes religious freedom as a universal human rights, is focusing its efforts on Nigeria. They reported that between 2000 and 2014, some 11,500 Christians were killed

in religious related violence; 13,000 churches were aban-doned, closed or destroyed; and three million Christians became internally displaced or refugees. From 2014-2015, Nigeria saw a 300 percent increase in terrorist deaths.

The brief descriptions of persecution in Pakistan, Cuba, Vietnam and Nigeria does not even begin to explain in-ternational religious freedom violations or the implications of abridging this human right.

If you are passionate about religious freedom and want to learn more, please consider attending the Speak Freedom Dallas summit on Nov. 4, at Dallas Baptist University or the public rally in Dallas on Nov. 5. International speak-ers will be speaking about religious freedom, and it will provide the opportunity to network with others who are passionate about promoting it.

The 21st Century Wil-berforce Initiative also of-fers opportunities for stu-dents to engage this issue. To find out about their Emerg-ing Leaders Conference and internship programs, visit www.21wi lber force .com.

Additionally, two of the simplest yet best ways to become more involved are through education and prayer. Be willing to take the time to learn more about religious freedom and challenge your-self to pray for the persecuted.

Interested in learning more?

• Visit www.21wilberforce.org/ to learn more about international religious freedom and how to engage these issues.

• For student alliance chapter, conference and in-ternship opportunities, click on the students’ tab

• Attend the Speak Freedom Dallas conference or see it broadcasted live on Facebook at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 and 4 p.m. Nov. 5.

www.facebook.com/21wilberforce/

• To learn more about religious persecution in Nige-ria, check out www.standwithnigeria.org/

• Read the 2016 International Religious Freedom Report and sign up for USCIRF daily mailing list at www.uscirf.gov/

YJ Submission

The Howard Payne Depart-ment of Communication and Department of History have teamed up to offer a World War II Rhetoric & History short-term study abroad trip.

The trip, planned for May 2017, will include visiting locations in Germany, Lon-don, Normandy and Paris.

“We invite current students, former students, alumni, fac-ulty and staff, and friends of the university to join us on this learning excursion,” said Dr. Julie Welker, chair of the De-partment of Communication and trip leader. It’s a great op-portunity for the HPU family to learn and travel together.”

The trip will include stops in England, France, and

Germany. The purpose of the trip is to study World War II rhetoric, includ-ing speeches, propaganda, and major historical events.

“One of the most inter-esting places we will visit is Churchill’s War Room. This is an underground bun-ker where Churchill actually lived during the worst part of World War II. We will

also be taking a ferry across the English Channel, where we’ll land at Normandy and the beach that was stormed on D-Day,” Welker said.

Students must enroll in courses with corresponding travel credit. These classes must be completed during the 2017 spring semester and will incorporate different aspects of communication and history.

There is a trip fee of $3,750 for students. The trip fee for non-HPU student travelers is slightly higher.

Dr. Matthew McNiece, director of the Guy D. New-man Honors Program at HPU, will also be one of the sponsors of the trip.

For more informa-tion, contact Welker at jwelker@hputx.edu.

Europe trip to combine history, communication

Ben Affleck shines in the ‘The Accountant’

In the period between summer blockbusters and Christmas Oscar-bait, it al-ways seems that studios re-lease their more generic or “B” material due to a lack of interest from moviegoers.

It is always a pleasant sur-prise when a fall film exceeds these expectations. “The Ac-countant” is such a film as it offers complex drama, real-istic action, and a poignant take on social challenges.

Ben Affleck (“Good Will

Hunting” and “Argo”) stars as Christian Wolff, an ac-countant with social dis-abilities and an incredible gift for numbers, who man-ages a Midwestern farmer’s accounts by day and drug lords by night. The film does not pull any punches – liter-ally and figuratively – as it accurately depicts life with a potentially debilitating condition and one man’s at-tempt to take ownership of it.

Affleck never breaks character and subtlety tele-graphs humanity and an inward struggle through his grim disposition.

Due to the lead’s cold de-meanor, the emotional heavy lifting in response to his ac-

tions is given by actors J.K. Simmons, (“Spider-Man”) Anna Kendrick, (“Pitch Perfect”) and Jon Bern-thal (“Fury”), who all do more than fulfill their roles. Kendrick’s Dana Cum-mings especially facilitates a needed balance as less of a cheap love interest and more of a catalyst to draw Wolff out of his inner self.

The story itself is less in-teresting than the character studies, but still provides an exciting backdrop with very realistic action and sur-prising moments. Because Wolff’s empathy and re-morse are almost entirely removed from the equa-tion, his violent actions are

quick and unfeeling, yet justifiable and create a more complex con-cept of an antihero.

“The Accountant” provides blunt depictions of the dif-ficulties people with social challenges face, how they overcome them, and provides the positive message that the same individuals can achieve anything. This movie is a step in the right direction, and hopefully, it will open the door for more films that will more directly open conversations about autism and other so-cial conditions in our society.

Overall, the movie is best seen with a group of friends, with the intention of discus-sion while leaving the theater.

P A G E 8 O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6

Entertainment

Jimmy Abbatiello

movie columnist

For all students, a new semester brings new chal-lenges and discoveries. We’re given the opportuni-ties to take new classes and try new things, regardless of our major or field of study.

This semester I jumped on the opportunity to participate in the university jazz band.

I chose to join jazz band mainly because of my major – music education. If I want to someday instruct band stu-dents, I need to know how to form and run a jazz band – something I had no experience with prior to this semester.

For the last 10 years I’ve been classically trained as a French horn player – that’s the curvy one. The horn does not participate in most jazz music, and in the 21st century

is usually reserved for solo, orchestral, or band music.

The typical jazz or big band is made up of saxophones, trombones, trumpets, and a rhythm section consisting of a bassist, guitarist, drummer, percussionist, and pianist. Considering that horn and trumpet are both high brass instruments, I decided that playing trumpet would be the safest bet if I wanted to keep up with my fellow musicians.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect as I sat down for day one of rehearsal. I ended up sitting on the back row in a section of three other trumpet play-ers. Stephen Goacher, director of the jazz band, allowed us to pick which parts we’d like to take. I opted for fourth part because I didn’t want to have any solos or play those ste-reotypical trumpet high notes.

I was there to learn. And while fourth part did indeed avoid what I was attempt-ing to avoid, it called for the

performer at times to play flugelhorn – a different type of trumpet – so there was still

an extra challenge involved.As the weeks progressed, I

learned more than I could have hoped for. For example, differ-ent types of jazz, such as bop, swing, cool, blues, and Latin, all require the performers to modify their playing styles. I learned that what might be

considered to be “abnormal rhythms” in classical music are very normal in jazz band. Mr. Goacher often spoke about how something might “look like Mozart on the page, but can’t be played like Mozart.”

About two months after classes began, we had our first jazz concert of the school year last week in Mims Audi-torium. We played eight tunes of varying styles. My personal favorite was “All In,” com-posed by Lennie Niehaus. Bassist Dr. Tarik Hassan was also featured on our program, and he was great to work with. The concert had a great turn-out and was incredibly fun.

If there were one thing that I had to pull from my expe-rience thus far in jazz band, it would be the camaraderie that performing in a small ensemble generates. I was able to grow closer with fel-low musicians and learn a lot about something practical for my career in the process.

A swingin’ experience in the HPU Jazz BandCarissa Cromer

Music columnist

Photos by Lydia HeinrichsRyan Contreras played a saxophone solo at the jazz band concert on Oct. 20.

Although her primary instrument is clarinet, Katelyn Zimmer played the saxophone in the jazz band concert.

Jazz Band

O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 9

Entertainment

IMPORTANT FINANCIAL AID INFORMATIONStudents who want to apply for financial aid for

2017-2018 will be able to complete the Free Appli-cation for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) beginning

on Oct. 1.

In past years, students had to wait until January to sub-mit the FAFSA for the next academic year. In order to

accommodate this earlier filing schedule, the FAFSA will collect income information from two years prior to the

academic year for which the aid is intended, rather than the previous year. This means that for the academic year

2017-2018, the FAFSA will collect income information for 2015. This is the same tax year information that was

used to complete the 2016-2017 FAFSA.

It is important that families use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) that is available in the FAFSA to

report their 2015 income.

Students need to complete the FAFSA as soon as pos-sible, so that any inconsistencies between information

reported for 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 can be resolved early. Students may complete the FAFSA

at www.fafsa.gov.

Students are encouraged to contact the Financial Aid Office if they have questions on this new procedure or if

they need help filing the FAFSA.

The Financial Aid Office is located in Room 109 of the Packer Administration Building. Students can also con-tact the Financial Aid Office by calling 325/649-8015 or

by e-mail at financial-aid@hputx.edu

Photos by Josiah Hughes

and Lydia Heinrichs

From Page 1: PlayVan Zok, Nathan Brockett

as Mauvins, Hayden Jacobs as Adler Sheridan, Ashleigh Moss as Kissy Travers, Ga-brielle McWhirter as Eloise Ainsley, Katie Cravey as Pip-pi, Deejay Moses as Lucre-tia, and Bell as Dan Denton.

What is most enjoyable about the HPU theatre expe-rience is the family oriented approach to the show, direc-torially and in cast relation-ships. The talent and on-stage synergy observed Thursday night will be well received by the audiences to come. And as in every show, the cast and crew drew closer as a family.

P A G E 1 0 O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6

Homecoming

Bone-Chiller!

O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 1

Homecoming

Photos by Reagan Grisham

The family reunion no one will dread

Homecoming is an op-portunity to invite alumni back to campus to con-nect with their pasts and to the current students.

Howard Payne Uni-versity’s Homecoming is this week, starting Thurs-day night continuing through Sunday afternoon.

This year’s Homecoming theme is “The HPU Family Tree” and as Assistant Direc-tor of Alumni Relations Laura Benoit said, “This theme per-fectly displays one of the core values of Howard Payne, we are one big happy family.”

Activities and events will kick off at 8 p.m. Thursday with the Homecoming play “Bone-Chiller!,” at the HPU Theater. The play will be shown Friday and Saturday evenings at the same time and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Official registration will be from noon to 6 p.m. Friday in front of the Mabee Uni-versity Center. Class gather-ings and events will be scat-tered throughout the day in various locations, therefore it is important to properly register in order to be di-rected to the events that will be most important to you.

The Homecoming Convoca-tion will be at 2 p.m. Friday in Mims Auditorium. The Con-vocation will honor the Home-coming court and crown the Homecoming queen, which has to be a senior student, and princess, a junior student.

Some favorite traditions of the weekend are going to be Cobbler on the Campus, which will be held from 7:30-9 p.m. at Old Main Park on Friday, the beloved communi-ty parade will begin promptly at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Coliseum and will end near the Packer Administration building, the Pep-Rally will follow right after from 11-11:30 a.m. also at Old Main.

This year HPU is excited to present a new event, Bon-fire on the Bayou with a fire-work show at 9 p.m. Friday at Riverside Park, located at 320 Riverside Park Dr.

The Homecoming football game against McMurry will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, with an all class tailgate starting at 2 p.m. at Gordon Wood Stadium.

The Homecoming festivi-ties will come to a close on Sunday morning with the

Renewal of Vows in Grace Chapel. This is a unique op-portunity that we offer every other year for HPU alumni to renew their vows. It is a beau-tiful and beloved tradition.

Benoit also wants to stress that “Homecoming is for ev-eryone, not just alumni.” Cur-rent students are encouraged to volunteer to help at Home-coming events or even just come out to have a good time.

Families are made up of

multiple generations and the same goes for the HPU Family, so Homecoming is planned for both current stu-dents and alumni alike to have a wonderful weekend full of fellowship, faith, and fun.

For more information and complete schedule of activi-ties and events visit hputx.edu and click on “Family Tree” logo on the lower right hand side of the webpage, and then click Homecoming Schedule.

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Homecoming

Gabriella Diazdeleon

staff writer

You’re invited to participate in the HPU short-term academic study abroad trip to Europe.

Travel May 7-May 18, 2017, to Germany, London and France to study World War II Rhetoric and History.

Register by Tuesday, Oct. 4 and receive a $100 discount.

The program price is evaluated each month, so be sure to lock in your spot now with the lowest program price available.

HPU students, alumni, and friends of the university are welcome to go on the trip.

HPU Students Register here:www.efcst.com/1910178RS

Questions? Email Dr. Julie Welker at jwelker@hputx.edu to discuss how you may take advantage of this opportunity.

By HPU Media Relations

Howard Payne’s Home-coming parade will be the longest in known history at HPU, with more than 40 floats featuring entrants from campus and the com-munity. The parade is sched-uled for 10 a.m. Saturday.

“HPU is extremely grate-ful for the support we’ve re-ceived from the Brownwood community throughout the years,” said Stephen Sullivan, HPU director of development and alumni relations. “The entire community is invited to attend these events as we cel-ebrate Homecoming 2016.”

The Homecoming parade

will follow the same route as last year. Beginning at Brownwood Coliseum, the parade will travel north on Baker St., turn left onto Cen-ter Ave., move across Austin Ave. and enter the HPU cam-pus. The procession will end in front of HPU’s Doakie Day Art Center on Center Ave.

The best areas to view the parade are downtown and on campus along Cen-ter Ave. Rick Phelps of Vic-tory Life Church in Brown-wood helped coordinate the parade which is sponsored by Bruner Auto Group.

Parade to be HPU’s longest

Queen and princess will be crowned Friday O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 3

HOMECOMING

By HPU Media Relations

Howard Payne Univer-sity has announced its 2016 Homecoming Court. The Homecoming queen and prin-cess will be crowned during the Homecoming Convoca-tion, scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday in Mims Auditorium.

Homecoming queen nomi-nees are seniors Jaclyn Bonner of Lytle, Elizabeth Rainey of Poolville and Sydney Spen-cer of Georgetown. Princess nominees are juniors Camila Cotter of San Antonio, Ma-rissa Godbey of Austin and Adriana Mata of San Angelo.

Bonner is a communication major and sociology minor. She is the senior presiding sena-tor of the Student Government Association, a leader within the Baptist Student Ministry and a columnist for the Yel-low Jacket student newspaper.Additionally, she serves as a resident advisor, as a member of Gamma Beta Phi National Honor Society and as a vol-unteer intern for Genuine Col-lege Ministry. Upon graduating from HPU, she would like to work with marginalized people groups abroad then return to the United States to begin a career in advocacy and government

relations.Rainey, an elementary education major, is an honorary member of Pi Theta Chi, a local sorority founded at HPU last spring. After graduating from the university, Rainey aspires to become an elementary read-ing specialist.Spencer is a stu-dent in HPU’s Guy D. Newman Honors Academy majoring in social work and global stud-ies. She is the Student Govern-ment Association President and president of Gamma Beta Phi National Honor Society. Ad-ditionally, she is an honorary

member of Delta Chi Rho and is involved with Model United Nations, Pi Gamma Mu and the Social Work Club.Her ca-reer aspiration is to become an ambassador to the United Na-tions Human Rights Council.

Cotter, a music education major, is a member of the Cha-pel worship band, Pi Theta Chi, Gamma Beta Phi, Heri-tage Singers and the Concert Choir. Additionally, she serves as a resident assistant. Upon graduating from HPU, she as-pires to become a high school

choir teacher.Godbey majors in church music and music educa-tion with a minor in youth min-istry. She serves on the Baptist Student Ministry leadership team and as president of new membership education and re-cruiting for Pi Theta Chi. She is a resident assistant, a mem-ber of the Heritage Singers and a section leader in HPU’s Concert Choir.After graduat-ing from HPU, she would like to teach music in a low-income area while serving in a church. She also plans to earn a doc-

toral degree in choral con-ducting. Mata, an elementary education major minoring in music performance is a mem-ber of the Student Activities Council and an honorary mem-ber of Sigma Theta Phi. She aspires to become an elemen-tary teacher to share her love of music with the next generation of musicians. The Homecom-ing Court will be featured dur-ing the halftime show of the football game as HPU takes on McMurry at 4 p.m. Satur-day at Gordon Wood Stadium.

Photo by HPU Media RelationsMembers of the Howard Payne 2016 Homecoming Court are, left to right, Sydney Spencer, Elizabeth Rainey, Jaclyn Bonner, Adri-ana Mata, Marissa Godbey and Camila Cotter.

This year’s HPU Fam-ily Tree Coming Home Queen for Homecoming is Class of ’71 graduate Martha [Beene] Dufresne.

“I was president of the alumni association for three years, and always admired the wonderful women we named

as coming home queens,” said Dufresne. “It’s a huge honor, and a very special feel-ing to now be named this year’s Coming Home Queen.”

Growing up, Dufresne was actively involved with Youth Women’s Auxiliary and knew she’d attend Hardin Simmons because of it. However, after a campus visit to Howard Payne with some friends, that deci-sion would quickly change.

“The moment I stepped on campus, I immediately knew

that this [Howard Payne] is where the Lord was guiding my path all along,” said Dufresne.

While at Howard Payne, Dufresne was involved with organizations such as the Bap-tist Student Union, Sigma Alpha Sigma and the Orato-rio Chorus. She served as a summer missionary to Michi-gan with the Home Mission Board and was named to the Who’s Who in American Col-leges and Universities list.

It was through BSU [Bap-

tist Student Union] and sum-mer mission work in Michigan where she met Thomas Du-fresne, her husband of 46 years. Thomas Dufresne graduated from Howard Payne in 1972.

Dufresne graduated with a degree in business education and a minor in music educa-tion. She later pursued an as-sociate’s degree in nursing from Midland College in 1985.

Both Dufresne and her husband have traveled to various places, serving in

mission trips in places like Africa, India, Mexico, and served 22 years in Honduras.

In addition, Dufresne has also been an educator in both public and private schools.

She now resides in San An-gelo where she has lived with her family for the last 30 years.

Dufresne and her husband are proud parents to two daugh-ters Christy ’94 and Alicia ‘98 who are alumni of HPU. Du-fresne and her husband also have eight grandchildren.

Aimee Orozco

staff writer

Coming Home Queen chose HP over HSU

Football-turned-track star joins sports hall

In the fall of 2005, Howard Payne University received a transfer athlete named Greg Nixon. What HPU did not know was that he would end up being one of the most deco-rated athletes in school history.

Nixon discovered HPU when he decided to leave Grambling State University.

“Since we were D1 (Divi-sion I), I knew I was going to have to drop down to D2 for the following year, so I made a list of D2 schools, and somehow HPU was on that list. When I found out that HPU was D3, I had to make a choice so I just took it into great faith that I would be OK going there,” Nixon said during a recent interview.

Nixon transferred to HPU from Grambling to continue his football career, but when the track coach took notice of his natural speed, he suggested he run for the track team as well.

“I had heard it from vari-ous coaches (about run-ning track). I knew it came natural, but I never knew it was an option,” Nixon said.

He began running track part-time at HPU to main-tain his speed for football.

Nixon joined the HPU track team in 2005, and with just a few months’ training, claimed the 200 meters national title in Division III track and field. The following year in 2006, he won national titles in the 100 and 200 meters. He also was named the American Southwest Conference Ath-lete of the Year and captain of the HPU football team.

Once he was done at HPU, Nixon attended a NFL Pro Day, and didn’t really want to pursue professional track. “I felt God calling me to the give the sport (track) a chance,” Nixon said.

He decided to move to Arizona to pursue a pro-fessional track career. He

trained with Dion Miler, and made it to the 2007 U.S. In-door National Championship Where he won the U.S. In-door championship in the 400 meters – even though he had run the race only four times.

In 2008, Nixon continued his success, winning a U.S.

Indoor silver medal and the World Indoor Championship as a member of the U.S. 4x400 relay. He also finished seventh in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 400 meters with a 45.20.

In 2009, he led the world in the 400 meters, 200 me-ters, and 300 meters during the indoor season. In the out-door season, he sustained an injury and took the summer off to heal. In 2010, things started back off like normal, when he made another Indoor World Team, and won another gold medal in the 4x400 relay.

Later in 2010, Nixon won first in the U.S. Outdoor 400 meters race, running a 44.61 and becoming the first Asics athlete in history to win a U.S. 400 meters title. Nixon ended the 2010 season winning gold in the Continental Cup 4x400, and gold in the 400 meters at the Decanations meet.

In 2011, he ran for the U.S. on the 2011 World Outdoor 4x400 meters team that won gold with a time of 2:59.31.

Nixon retired from profes-sional track in 2014. He now owns his own sports apparel

business named Nix Elite based in Los Angeles, Cali-fornia. Nix Elite’s main focus is on their new design of zip compression tights for track.

He is still active in the track and football to this day. He helps local athletes of all ages maintain and build speed in his off time. He also helped Devontae Booker, a running back from the Uni-versity of Utah, maintain his speed before his NFL pro day.

Nixon had a very successful professional career and is hap-py with his accomplishments.

“I’m pretty happy, and I really don’t have any re-grets about my career. I don’t have any regrets because most people in the sport get burnt out and I never had that problem,” he said.

Nixon will be inducted into the HPU Sports Hall of Fame on Friday. Unfortunately, he will not be able to attend the celebration due to prior busi-ness obligations, but does plan on making a trip to Brownwood in the spring to donate some of his memorabilia to HPU.

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Homecoming

2016 Homecoming Honorees

• Coming Home Queen: Martha Dufresne ’71• Grand Marshal: Stephen Haynes• Medal of Service: Dwain Bruner• Outstanding Young Graduate: Dr. Brad Collins

’01, Emily Gore ’09• Distinguished Alumni: Dr. Vernon Holleman

’53, Robert Morrison ’82• Dr. José Rivas Distinguished Service: Dr. Adrian Gil• Sports Hall of Fame: Dan McGhee ’71, Greg

Nixon ’06Induction banquet scheduled for 6 p.m.

Friday in Beadel Dining Hall.

Austin upchurch

Staff writer

Courtesy Photo Greg Nixon running the 4x400 relay for the United States at the 2011 World Track & Field Championships.

Courtesy Photo Greg Nixon was a three-time national champion sprinter at Howard Payne.

A look at the history of Homecoming

The following is an ex-cerpt from FOR HOWARD

PAYNE MY ALL: 125 YEARS OF CHRISTIAN HIGHER

EDUCATION AND SERVICE 1889-2015, AN ENCYCLO-PEDIA by Robert G. Man-

grum, Ph.D.

This week we examine the history of Homecoming. Ac-cording to Dr. T. R. Havins, professor of history at Howard Payne from 1923-1961, the first organized homecoming was held in the fall of 1931, when the Ex-Student Associa-tion was formally organized.

Prior to that date, some meetings of classes had oc-curred and, from time to time, efforts had been made to bring

former students back to campus annually. Those alumni meet-ings during the 1920s were, as often as not, held some-time other than during football season with graduation being the time most often chosen.

With the creation of the Ex-Student Association, Home-coming football games were established utilizing a more permanent date. The very first official homecoming spot-lighted the classes of 1903, 1913 and 1923. The first two classes, 1903 and 1913, rep-resented the time period in which HPC was still a junior college. Throughout the 1930s several classes were high-lighted each Homecoming.

As a result of World War II, no athletic program was fielded during the years 1943-46. Thus, no formal home-comings were held. Resum-ing after the war, an annual

Homecoming coupled to a football game has continued uninterrupted to the present.

In the early post-war years, a schedule was adopted which dictated that when it was an even year, the opponent was McMurry, while in odd years at Thanksgiving it was Abilene Christian. In the pre-war years, the home football game with Hardin-Simmons was al-ways the Homecoming game and always played on Thanks-giving Day. On the years when that game was in Abilene, the Homecoming opponent varied and, according to Dr. Havins, “little effort was made to bring the ex-students back.”

It should be noted that be-fore the war, Howard Payne conducted a six-day class week with classes on Saturday.

Also, there was no holiday on Thanksgiving and students remained on campus. In lieu

of traveling home for that holiday as is the case today, when the game was in Brown-wood, the morning was filled with Homecoming activities followed by lunch and an af-ternoon football game, usually with H-SU. Friday saw a return to the regular class schedule.

Perhaps the largest and best-attended Homecoming to date was in 1989, when HPU celebrated its centennial. As a member of the Texas Inter-collegiate Athletic Conference [now the American Southwest Conference], HPU entered the fray tied with Tarleton for the lead for the conference championship. The Texans were HP’s opponent and Gor-don Wood Stadium was com-pletely filled. HPU’s overflow crowd not only filled a third of the visitor’s stands but was standing on the track as well.

Tarleton, located only an

hour away, brought a large crowd as well as its band. The contest was one of high energy and drama. Within the TIAA at that time the sched-ule called for a home-and-home format. HP had lost a close game at Stephenville, 26-20, earlier that year. But on Homecoming Saturday, HPU completely dominated the Texans, winning 44-7.

HP won two of the three final games of the season to finish 8-3 (8-2 in conference) and earned a tie as co-champs with Tarleton. The most suc-cessful football season to that date since HPU finished 10-2 in 1973, when the Jackets were ranked No. 23 in the final NAIA Division II poll of 1989. Senior quarterback Jerrod Summers was named TIAA of-fensive player of the year while tailback Josh Morrow was named freshman of the year.

O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 5

Homecoming

Thursday8 p.m. – Homecoming Musical – Bone Chiller! HPU The-atre.

Friday9 a.m.-4 p.m. – Julie Wallace Mize ’96 – Art Show at Do-akie Day Art Center.10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – Daniel Baker College Ex-Students Gathering, Girling Center.12-6 p.m. – Registration, Mabee University Center.12-1:30 p.m. – Golden Graduates Luncheon, Class of 1966, Jackson Room.2 p.m. – Homecoming Convocation, Mims Auditorium.3-4 p.m. – 1950’s Gathering, Fambrough’s.4-5:30 p.m. – Class of 1966 Reception, Maybe Center Bal-cony.6-7:30 p.m. – Alumni and Sport Hall of Fame Banquet, Be-adel Dining Hall.7-9 p.m. – Class of 1976 Alumni and Friends Reception, Mabee Center Balcony.7:30-9 p.m. – Cobbler on the Campus, Muse Plaza and Mall.8 p.m. – Homecoming Musical – Bone Chiller! HPU The-atre.9 p.m. – Bonfire on the Bayou, Riverside Park.

Saturday7:30 a.m. – Alumni Association Remembrance and Reflec-tion, Muse Plaza by the statue.8 a.m.-1 p.m. – Registration, Mabee University Center.8-9:30 a.m. – Hispanic Alumni Breakfast - Mabee Center, Bullion Suite B&C.9-10 a.m. – Author’s Reception and Archival Display, Walk-er Memorial Library.9 a.m.-4 p.m. – Julie Wallace Mize ’96 – Art Show at Do-akie Day Art Center.10-11 a.m. – Library Open House, Walker Memorial Li-brary.10 a.m. – Parade, Brownwood Coliseum to Packer.10:45 a.m. – Marching Band Exhibition, Old Main Park.11 a.m. – Pep Rally, Old Main Park.11 a.m. – Alumni Baseball Game, Don Shepard Park.11 a.m. – Alumni Women’s Basketball Game, Brownwood Coliseum.11:30 a.m. – Alumni Tennis, Nabors Tennis Center.11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. – Little Jackets’ Nest, Muse Plaza and Mall.11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. – Library Booksaw Mural, Muse Plaza and Mall.11:30 a.m. – Homecoming “Family” Photo, Muse Plaza and Mall.

12-1:30 p.m. – Family Picnic, Beadel Dining Hall.1:30 p.m. – Choir Concert, Grace Chapel.1:30-3 p.m. – Departmental & Student Organization Re-ceptions, Jackson Room.1:30-3 p.m. – ESS and School of Education Receptions, Wellness Center.1:30-3 p.m. – Departmental of Music Reception, DMC Band Hall.2-3 p.m. – Sigma Alpha Sigma (Jacket Co-Eds) Gathering, Mabee Center Balcony.3 -4 p.m. – All Classes Tailgate, Gordon Wood Stadium.3-4 p.m. – Guy D. Newman Honors Academy Tailgate, Gor-don Wood Stadium.3-4 p.m. – African American Alumni Tailgate, Gordon Wood Stadium.4 p.m. – Football Game: McMurry vs. HPU, Gordon Wood Stadium.8 p.m. – Homecoming Musical – Bone Chiller! HPU The-atre.

Sunday9 a.m. – Renew Your Vows, Grace Chapel.2:30 p.m. – Homecoming Musical – Bone Chiller! HPU Theatre.

Homecoming 2016 Schedule of Events

Dr. Robert Mangrum

university historian

HPU senior mixes unique combinationDavis juggles athletic training with being in the HPU marching band

The coming of fall brings thoughts of stadium lights, cheering crowds, face paint, and school spirit. It’s football season.

For the players and coach-es this means long hours of hard work and sore muscles. There’s drill to learn and en-durance to build. For fans, this means a chance to rally together to cheer on the team. There are faces to paint and cheers to yell. For a handful, this means the marching band.

For senior Ruth Da-vis, football season means all of that and more.

Davis, an Athletic Train-ing major and Health Sci-ence minor, spends her Sat-urdays not only assisting football players and coaches on the sidelines, but also representing the Yellow Jacket band during the half-time marching performance.

From San Antonio, Da-vis came to Howard Payne as a freshman in 2013 and will graduate in December.

Davis said of Howard Payne that it was just the small-town atmosphere she was look-ing for, a place where “ev-erybody knows everybody.”

She began her studies in ath-letic training to stay involved in sports in a hands-on way, something she has always been passionate about. While attending First Baptist Acad-emy in Universal City, Davis participated in cross country, soccer, and track. Since com-ing to Howard Payne, she has played intramural soc-cer and been involved with athletic training for foot-ball, soccer, and softball.

“[Athletic training] in-volves taking care of the athlete’s physical and men-tal wellbeing,” Davis said. “We’re able to gain hands-on experience and knowledge on how to properly diagnose an injury and take the proper pre-cautions to form a plan of ac-tion for treatment and rehab.

“To me it’s more than just taking care of them,” she continued. “It’s about form-ing that bond where [ath-letes] can place their trust in you and have faith that you’ll be there for them, whether that’s being a listening ear or providing encouragement and moral support – not only on the field but off in every day life outside of athletics.”

Though it may seem like a totally different world, band has held a similar place in Davis’s heart, as well. Da-vis has been playing clarinet in the Yellow Jacket band since she arrived at HPU.

“Band basically was never not an option,” she said. “My family has always played mu-sic in some way, so when it was time for me to choose in fifth or sixth grade whether or not to be in band, the choice was pretty much made. If it was between study hall and band, why wouldn’t I pick music? I’ve always en-joyed it, and in spite of the struggle in balancing ath-letic training and band, I’d do it all over again for sure.”

And the balance is cer-tainly a juggling act. Davis travels with the football team on the weekends, plays with the band at home games and exhibitions, and participates in campus organizations like FCA and Tau Beta Sigma.

“I have to miss band prac-tices sometimes and even couldn’t do it at all one

semester, but I enjoy both a lot. I wouldn’t have the connections and experi-ences that I’ve had with-out either side,” Davis said.

Just around the corner, Davis will be walking the stage of the Brownwood Coliseum to receive her di-ploma. After that, she will be returning to HPU to continue assisting with the softball team as an athletic trainer in the spring semester.

From there, she hopes to go to graduate school to pursue a degree in Physical Therapy. Wherever her career takes her, there’s no doubt that music and sports will both continue to play a part in her life in some way, shape, or form long after her success-ful balancing act at HPU.

P A G E 1 6 O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6

Features

lydia heinrichs

Staff writer

Photo by Andria GarzaRuth Davis wears her athletic training uniform while march-ing with the Yellow Jacket band during halftime of a recent home game.

Courtesy PhotoDavis participates in an inter-view about athletic training on 99.3 KPSM “The Rock.”

Southside Village Apartments$100 Discount upon move-in for HPU students,

faculty or staff!

Call: (325)603-3359 or (325)646-1749Check out our website at: southsidevillage.net

2801 4th Street, Brownwood

O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 7

Sports

The HPU men’s soccer players recognized on Senior Day Saturday were Julio Lazo, Derek Anderson, Andrew Stevenson, Alex Sanchez, Brent Ulmer, and Brandon McGibney.

Taylor Bicknell

Darbi Frazier

Photos by Andria GarzaJulio Lazo (5) controls the ball.

Alex Sanchez (17) battles for control of the ball.

Shelby Spaulding

Soccer Senior Day

The Howard Payne volleyball team celebrated a victory last week against the Sul Ross State Lobos, and equally important, the Lady Jackets recognized their seniors.

The Lady Jackets defeated the Lo-bos 3-1 (25-10, 25-16, 23-25, 25-14) on Oct. 18, giving them their second win in a row. The evening started off with celebrating the three seniors – Briana Williams, Shelbie Harry, and Callie Molloy. All three seniors were accompanied by their families, pub-licly recognized by HPU and were given a plaque with their HPU letters.

Williams was the star of Senior Night with numerous critical plays, in-cluding leading her team with 11 digs.

“It being my Senior Night, I want-ed to give my team and my school everything I had for the last home game of the season,” Williams said. “Looking at film and having lost to Sul Ross the first time we played them, there were some things we as a team needed to key in on, and that included picking up tips and having good serve receive passes so our hit-ters could put the ball away.

“The goal for the rest of the sea-son is to make it to conference tour-nament. Volleyball hasn’t made it since 2000, so for my last year to make it and compete there would be amazing. This team has the pos-sibility of beating anyone we come across especially when we all show up and play to the best of our ability.”

Williams is originally from Hemet, California, and will gradu-ate with a bachelor degree in Forensic Science and History.

Molloy is also a huge asset to the team, ranking fourth on the team in 2015 with 171 digs and col-lected 31 assists and 33 kills. Mol-loy was also recognized by the ASC as an Academic All-American Southwest Conference selection.

When asked about her college expe-rience and expectations, Molloy said,

“Honestly the biggest thing I will miss about HPU volleyball is my coaches. They have influenced my life so much in the two short years I have been here.

“As for beating Sul Ross, it was a great feeling. We needed that win to give us an edge on Concordia, who we are fighting for third-place slot with for ASC tournament. The fact that it was senior night and our last home game was just the cherry on top.”

Molloy is from Memphis, Texas, and will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology with the goal of becom-ing a volleyball coach in the future.

Harry has made big accomplish-ments at HPU ranking second on the team in 2015 with 191 kills and led the Lady Jackets in attack percentage at .171. Also in 2015, she had 98 digs, 19 blocks and 12 service aces on the year.

“It was bittersweet. I really wanted

to win on Senior Night, that’s a given, but it’s just bittersweet. I’ve played my whole life so, it’s just hard,” Harry said.

She is from Brownwood and will graduate with a bachelor’s de-gree in Kinesiology and wants to coach volleyball professionally.

HPU head coach Colleen Westfall is surely going to miss the graduating seniors. “A team cannot accomplish goals without brave leaders. Briana Williams, Shelbie Jo Harry and Cal-lie Molloy each bring different gifts and talents as our only seniors who command this team,” said Westfall.

“Briana is our brave heart with calculated strategies. Shelbie Jo is the commander of the weight room, and power of the floor. Cal-lie’s strength is her heart to serve the Lord as our devotion leader and en-gineer of the court,” the coach said.

P A G E 1 8 O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6

Sports

HPU SPORTS UPDATEFootball

Record: 0-7, 0-4 in ASCOct. 15: HSU 54, HPU 15Oct. 22: ETBU 76, HPU 14Oct. 29: McMurry at HPU, 4 p.m.Nov. 5: HPU at Sul Ross, 6 p.m.Nov. 12: Belhaven at HPU, 1 p.m.

Men’s SoccerRecord: 2-8-3, 1-5-3 in ASC

Oct. 15: HPU 3, LeTourneau 2 (OT)Oct. 20: HPU 0, Ozarks 0 (2OT)Oct. 22: HPU 1, UT Tyler 1 (2OT)Oct. 27: HPU at Louisiana Coll., 6:30 p.m.Oct. 29: HPU at Belhaven, 7 p.m.

Women’s SoccerRecord: 4-10-1, 2-7-1 in ASC

Oct. 14: HPU 0, ETBU 0Oct. 15: LeTourneau 2, HPU 0Oct. 20: HPU 1, Ozarks 0Oct. 22: UT Tyler 3, HPU 0Oct. 27: HPU at Louisiana Coll., 4 p.m.Oct. 29: HPU at Belhaven, 5 p.m.

VolleyballRecord: 8-14, 5-8 in ASC

Oct. 14: UT Tyler 3, HPU 0Oct. 14: ETBU 3, HPU 0Oct. 15: HPU 3, LeTourneau 1Oct. 18: HPU 3, Sul Ross 1Oct. 21: McMurry 3, HPU 1Oct. 22: HSU 3, HPU 1McMurry Tournament:Oct. 28: HPU vs. McMurry, 1 p.m.Oct. 28: HPU vs. Jarvis Christian, 5 p.m.Oct. 29: HPU vs. Texas College, 9 a.m.Oct. 29: HPU vs. Univ. Dallas, 3 p.m.ASU Tournament:Nov. 3: HPU vs. UT Tyler, 2:30 p.m.

Volleyball team tops Sul Ross on Senior NightMorgan Ashmore

STAFF WRITER

The Howard Payne vol-leyball team qualified for the American Southwest Conference tournament for the first time since 2000.

HPU (8-14 overall, 5-9 in con-ference) finished third in the ASC West Division and will play UT Tyler (17-5, 7-4), the No. 2 seed from the East Division, in the tournament’s opening round

at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3.The tournament, sched-

uled for Nov. 3-5, will be played at Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Other teams in the tourna-ment are UT Dallas and East Texas Baptist from the East, along with UMHB and Hardin-Simmons from the West. The top three finishers in each division qualified for the tournament.

Photo by HPU Sports Information Howard Payne’s Briana Williams, Shelbie Harry and Callie Malloy (left to right) were recognized at Senior Night last week.

Lady Jackets qualify for ASC tournament

Jackets seek first win of 2016 for Homecoming O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 9

Sports

The Howard Payne Yel-low Jackets will seek their first win of the football sea-son during Saturday’s 4 p.m. Homecoming game against the McMurry War Hawks.

HPU enters the game 0-7 for the season and 0-4 in American Southwest Confer-ence games. The War Hawks from Abilene are 2-4 and 0-3.

The Jackets just completed a three-game gauntlet against the three top teams in the ASC – Mary Hardin-Baylor, Har-din-Simmons and East Texas Baptist. Those three teams have combined for a 19-2 re-cord this season, and HPU lost to all three by lopsided scores. In this week’s D3foot-ball.com rankings of NCAA Division III teams, Mary Hardin-Baylor is ranked No. 3, Hardin-Simmons No. 10,

and East Texas Baptist No. 18.HPU linebacker Jason Dis-

ney continues to lead the con-ference in tackles with 87 this season. Safety Patrick Hunt is second on the Jackets’ de-fense with 59 tackles. Defen-sive back JT Estes leads the team in interceptions with two.

Offensively, HPU quarter-back Caisson Montieth ranks fifth in the ASC in rushing with 449 yards. He also has passed for 950 yards and

seven touchdowns against 10 interceptions. Receiv-ers Derrick Williams, Adrian Finley and Shannon Warren have combined for 37 catches for 627 yards. Williams has three touchdown receptions.

The Jackets are averaging 17.3 points per game, which ranks last in the ASC. They are allowing 44.3 points per game. While they are close to their op-ponents in rushing yardage this season, opponents have passed

for 2,217 yards compared to 1,098 passing yards for HPU.

HPU has a minus-eight turnover margin this season.

McMurry averages 31.8 points per game and allows 34.2. Their defense is allow-ing 408 yards per game, which ranks third-best in the ASC.

HPU will have one remain-ing home game after today – Nov. 12 against Belhaven, a new conference member lo-cated in Jackson, Mississippi.

by YJ staff

Photos by Andria Garza and Josiah

Hughes

A New Twist P A G E 2 0 O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 1 6

Features

If you have gone to a football game and watched the half-time performance, you may have noticed the new twirler for Howard Payne this year.

Meet Faith Ingracia, a fresh-man majoring in elementary education. She wants to ei-ther be a school counselor or continue her schooling and become a speech language pathologist to help kids over-come speech disorders.

Ingracia started twirl-ing when she was in sixth grade. “I got a baton at a re-sale shop for a dollar. I just thought it looked cool and I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted to find out,” she said.

It may have been the best dol-lar she ever spent, considering she did figure out what it was and decided to take lessons.

“I ended up taking lessons, just for fun, but my coach, Belinda Finn, who is still with me to this day, encour-aged me to try out for sev-enth grade twirler,” Ignacia said. “I was nervous because I had only taken lessons for a month, but I made it and it has just taken off since then.”

Once in high school, she started performing with the band during its halftime show, and for the past three years she has been very involved in com-petitive and pageant twirling.

Ingracia has been very in-volved in competitive twirl-ing, and has made first divi-sion since she started. She now holds titles for regional, state and national Two Ba-ton and Flag champion.

When asked what all is involved with competitive

twirling, Ingracia said, “You can compete in several differ-ent events. There is one ba-ton, two batons, three batons, strut, modeling, interview, UIL routine, and pageant.”

All of these events have dif-ferent routines, and Ingracia competes in all of them. She works on her routines while coming up with her own rou-tine for the football games.

When asked about the dif-ference between field and com-petition, Ingracia said, “Field work is entertaining. You want

to add to the show and blend in which means pretty, high toss-es. For competition you want to win, so you focus instead on being fast and accurate.”

Even though there are so many aspects of twirl-ing, Ingracia said she loves all of it. “I love entertaining people and performing on field, but I am really com-petitive and like to win with contest season,” she said.

Even though she is ranked a national champion, In-gracia said twirling is a

challenge. If she doesn’t stretch correctly, she could se-riously injure herself, and she has a hard time not mentally comparing herself to other girls during competitions.

There are multiple as-pects she has to practice, including her flexibility, footwork, posture, coming up with routines, tosses, ac-curacy and speed. She prac-tices about 18 hours a week.

When your mind is on all of those things, sometimes it’s hard not to drop the baton once

in awhile, but Ingracia doesn’t get embarrassed. “Not at all, it happens. World champions even drop sometimes. You just pick it up and keep going; it’s all about recovery,” she said.

Not worrying about a drop or two during the show makes it more fun for In-gracia. “It’s more fun when you don’t care what people think. I just do it for myself and for my family,” she said.

Ingracia talked about how much her family has in-vested in her and how her mother is her No. 1 supporter.

“My mom is so freaking amazing. Every competition she carries all my bags for me, and she’s been doing my hair and makeup since I was in sixth grade,” Ingracia said.

So how did this national champion find her way to Howard Payne? Through-out the years she has crossed paths with Corey Ash, HPU’s director of bands.

“Mr. Ash has been a judge for my UIL competitions since seventh grade, and he asked me and my coach to instruct baton twirlers for his summer band camp,” Ingracia said.

“But when my senior year came around and I was looking at colleges, I got a letter from Mr. Ash telling me he had seen me twirl and thought I was amazing. He asked if I wanted to come and twirl for him. I didn’t even have to audition.

“I was so honored, and after tons of prayer, I decided this is where I needed to be. I’m glad I did because this is a great school, a great band, and Mr. Ash is amazing,” Ingracia said.

She starts competi-tions in February and won’t finish until July.

Twirler Faith Ingracia added to marching band’s halftime showLillie McDonald

staff writer

Photos by Josiah Hughes and Andria GarzaFeature twirler Faith Ingracia demonstrated good showmanship at Howard Payne University’s marching band halftime show.