The SFA Bowling team came home with a second place finish at the 2022 Stormin’ Blue and White Vegas Classic, as the ‘Jacks notched a 214.3 team average in 61 total games for the entire weekend to lock in the No. 2 spot out of 13 schools. Three Ladyjacks slated spots on the all-tournament team in Carlene Beyer (2nd place – 227.20 average), Chloe Skurzynski (6th – 213.20 average) and Isabel Hughes (10th – 208.20 average) to lead SFA.
CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET RESULTS
SFA 215 – 191 McKendree
McKendree 222 – SFA 214
McKendree 189 – SFA 189
McKendree 210 – SFA 202
SFA 245 – McKendree 238
SFA 202 – McKendree 168
McKendree 299 – SFA 235
Ladyjacks Finish Second at Blue and White Las Vegas Classic
SFA percussionist Meyer to perform works by Kamstra, Mellits, Bellor, others
Dr. Brad Meyer, professor of percussion at Stephen F. Austin State University, will present a faculty recital featuring one of his own compositions at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.
Meyer’s “Seven Images: for Solo Concert Snare Drum” was composed shortly after he returned from a tour in Slovenia where he gave several clinics and performances in the fall of 2012. While there, Meyer sampled as much of the culture and art as he could, spending a majority of his time in the city of Ljubljana. One of the many places he explored was Moderna Galerija (Museum of Modern Art), which is located next to Tivoli, which is a park similar to Manhattan’s Central Park.
“As soon as I entered the museum, I was immediately captivated by several large-scale installations,” Meyer said. “These installations stayed in my memory long after I had left Slovenia. Because of my fascination with the museum and its art, I decided to create seven snare drum solos based off of seven of the most memorable installations and pieces of art I witnessed.”
Other works on the program are by Darin Kamstra, Chad Floyd and Roshanne Etezady, as well as a premiere work by Marc Mellits and a world premiere piece by Jennifer Bellor.
Mellits’ “Silver Mercury” pays homage to the steel pan, a percussion instrument that was traditionally made from 55-gallon industrial drums. “To make something inherently so beautiful from an object not meant for beauty nor music, I find fascinating,” Mellits said. “The shiny silver color of the playing surface of the drum reminds me of the color of mercury and the sound the instrument makes is also a sound that somehow is a liquid that wants to be a solid. This was the starting point for my work ‘Mercury Silver.’ I wanted to let the instrument speak for itself while riding the line between liquid and solid; individual lines create both melody as well as outline the harmony. To me, this is the music weaving a line between liquid and solid, melody and harmony.”
Kamstra’s “Bateria” is inspired by the call/response patterns and grooves of the samba batucada, or an African-influenced Brazilian percussive fast-pace style. The title of the work comes from the Portuguese word for “battery,” or the instruments found in the escolas de samba of Brazil.
Other works include Floyd’s “Triptych Boom,” Etezady’s “Boomslang” and Bellor’s“ Time’s Arrest” (Reflections at Dusk).
Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit finearts.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.
SFA Gardens gears up for spring plant sale
Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host its annual Garden Gala Day Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 9 and 10 at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St.
The sale will feature more than 300 varieties of hard-to-find, “Texas-tough” plants, including Texas natives, edibles, heirlooms, tropicals, perennials, shrubs and trees, with an emphasis on pollinator-friendly selections, as well as exclusive SFA introductions. The featured plants are extensively trialed before being offered to the public and are produced by SFA Gardens staff members and volunteers.
This popular event benefits the SFA Mast Arboretum, PNPC, Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden and Gayla Mize Garden, along with educational programs hosted monthly at the gardens. Educational programs provided at the SFA Gardens reach more than 15,000 participants annually.
Parking will be available at SFA’s Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center, located at 2428 Raguet St. Visitors are encouraged to arrive early and bring a wagon to haul their plants.
For more information, call (936) 468-4404 or visit sfasu.edu/sfagardens. A full list of available plants will be made available two weeks before the sale.
The Value of Setting Meaningful Goals for the Entrepreneur
When it comes to achieving your goals, one of the most important steps is setting meaningful goals. Instead of making vague resolutions like “eat healthier” or “spend less money,” choose specific behaviors that are aligned with your values, and you’ll be more likely to succeed.
Setting meaningful goals is something that can be difficult for many people to do. They may not know what kind of goals they want, or how to set them. Sometimes they are too afraid to even set goals because they don’t want to disappoint themselves if they don’t achieve them.
Look Beyond Business: What work/life balance do you want to have?
If you want to be motivated to achieve your goals, you must first dive into the reasons why. You need to ask yourself “why” so many times that it becomes ingrained in your mind. If you are struggling to find the “why,” try asking yourself these questions: Why do I want this? What will happen if I don’t have this goal? What would I look like if I achieved this goal?
Consider goals around family, community life, service, spirituality and fitness. Once you have found your “why,” then you can develop a plan of action. Think about what’s important to you.
What to Know About Different Types of Goals
Short-Term Goals: These include any type of goal that has a minimal time frame and is often used to help you stay motivated.
Lifestyle Goals: These are personal goals that typically require more effort or longer periods of time to accomplish. They represent changes in your lifestyle and may be related to hobby, fitness, culinary, etc.
Medium-Term Goals: This type of goal can take as long as six months to accomplish and is more about self-improvement. These goals might become the foundation for you to build upon and help you reach your life ambitions.
Long-Term Goals: This type of goal typically entails a change in your life like moving across the country, getting married or starting a new business.
Best Practices in Goal Setting
Setting meaningful goals is not just about the goal itself, but also the process that leads to it. For example, there are many benefits to setting incremental goals and celebrating your achievements along the way. The easiest way to set incremental goals is by doing a monthly review of your progress. You can also break down weekly or daily tasks into smaller, manageable ones that add up to the larger goal.
Get it Done!
Setting goals doesn’t have to feel like a chore! Let yourself dream. Imagine your best, most satisfying life. What do you do each day? What would your perfect day be like? What are you feeling? Who are you with? These are your inspirational goals.
Then, determine specific actions you can take that will lead you to these goals.
Lastly, follow your plan and enjoy the results!
(Photo Credit: Lee Miller, The Arch of Cabo San Lucas at Sunset)
Human Trafficking Awareness Event – Family Crisis Center of East Texas
January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. To commemorate the month and educate the community about the incidence of human trafficking locally, the Family Crisis Center of East Texas is hosting a free awareness event at Louis Bronaugh Park.
Please join us, along with agency staff and select partner agency guests at 12 p.m., Tuesday, January 11, at Louis Bronaugh Park located at 310 Charlton St. in Lufkin. Lunch will be served.
True Grit: Lady Roadrunners Sign Hudson Standout Davis
Of all the positions on a softball field, catcher has to be the least glamorous. Catchers never leave the field with clean uniforms after spending all day crouching in the dirt.
But catching is where the action is, which is exactly why Hudson High School standout Brynn Davis loves her place behind the plate.
“I love everything about catching,” Davis said. “It’s such an important position on the field, and it’s great to have such a big role on the team. I get to see everything. I get to see where the ball goes every play.
“One of my favorite things to do is throw out opposing runners. It’s awful for them, but it’s a great feeling for me. And there’s something about blocking balls in the dirt I just love.”
Beginning in the fall of 2022, Davis will wear dirt from the softball field at Angelina College after signing her letter of intent on Friday. Davis said she plans to major in Education while at AC.
“I’ve never really wanted to get too far away from home, and I know Angelina College is such a great school,” Davis said. “From what I saw of the Lady Roadrunner softball team, they’re a very strong team, and I’m excited to be a part of it.
“Way back when I was a freshman, they’d hand out these papers asking us what we wanted to do after high school. On every one of them, I wrote that I wanted to play college softball. This is all I’ve ever wanted.”
Davis said one of her stronger attributes when it comes to team play is her leadership skills learned over her time with Hudson head coach Wes Capps.
“I feel I’m good at lifting others when they’re struggling,” Davis said. “I think it’s important to help keep your teammates’ spirits up when they get down.
“Coach Capps has always shown me I can do something even when I thought I couldn’t. He’s told me I have no reason to doubt my abilities. I definitely couldn’t have done this without him.”
Capps lauded Davis’ overall skills, especially her ability to knock dents in the walls. Davis’ ability to rip line drives to all parts of the field, along with her speed, make her a threat to reach base in every at-bat.
Mostly, Capps said, Davis just has that down-and-dirty quality is what makes her special as a softball player.
“She’s just one of those gritty players who wants to do whatever it takes to win,” Lady Hornet head coach Wes Capps said. “She gets after the ball every play, and she really drives the ball well when she’s at the plate.
“Brynn hit 1.000 for almost all of our fall season. She’s definitely got what it takes to compete at the next level.”
Davis is the daughter of Julie and Gerald Davis.
The email address for AC’s Sports Information Director is gstallard@angelina.edu.
Gearing Up for Spring
If you are reading this, it is obvious that piqued an interest in your garden or landscape. Be it your lawn, flower beds, or vegetable garden, you can’t wait for nice days to get outside and work.
It was a week ago that, at last, our region had its first killing frost. Now, I’ve heard many say that we had a “frost” at the beginning of December. While that is true that we saw ice crystals on the windshields of our vehicles as well as some on the ground, rest assured that our tropical plants saw none of this.
It was this past weekend, fully into the new year, that temperatures got low enough to kill tomato plants that were still producing, as well as knock back tropical plants like banana trees, Canna lilies, and more.
Now while agricultural producers watch and discuss the weather, they don’t have any control over it. However, what we can affect is our soil.
So, for the purpose of gearing up for spring planting, let us focus on your soil. Preparing your ground to grow vegetables can be an intimidating task. The soil you walk upon and dig in is full of minerals, nutrients, microbial activity, living organisms, and more.
Good garden soil needs to be well drained, amended with organic matter, and possibly limed.
First, well-drained soil has everything to do with how quickly water will percolate through the soil. Many homeowners think that a sloping ground area that sheds water is “well drained”. Not so. Water must be allowed to move into the soil and then move throughout it.
A deep sandy soil, by nature, is very well drained. Shallow topsoil over clay subsoil will often hold water for a while.
The question is often asked, “Can I just dig out a deep hole, fill it full of good soil and create a well-drained soil that way?” Digging a hole like that will only create a big bowl of clay that will still hold water quite well.
The solution is a raised bed. Whether in rows down your garden or landscape beds edged with timber, stone, or other items, raising the level of the soil, in which the desired plants will grow, should aid greatly.
Secondly, gardens always benefit from the addition of organic matter. That is so important that it bears repeating. All gardens benefit from the addition of organic matter.
Organic matter should be composted material. This compost can be from manures, lawn clippings, leaves, or anything natural you can find. Many seasoned gardeners will till in leaves, pine straw, or other raw material into the soil months before it is to be used. This allows the soil to create its own compost. At this writing, I would advise new gardeners not to till in a batch of oak leaves as they may not have enough time to break down before your early planted crops.
Organic matter really is the miracle cure for bad soils. Is your soil too sandy? Add organic matter. Is it nothing but clay? Add organic matter. The benefits of organic matter to soil are too numerous to extol here. Suffice it to say, composted organic matter adds nutrients, increases water holding capacity, improves soil structure, has numerous beneficial microbes, and prevents erosion.
Earlier this week I was visiting with my buddy Robert. He has a nearly three-acre garden in which he wanted to build up the organic matter. He asked me first about where he could cheaply purchase quality organic material by the 18-wheeler load. I countered that for a site that large he needed chicken litter and then simply grow a cover crop that he could till in.
First, chicken litter is a locally sourced, nutrient rich, recycled, and natural product that could be used to build the nutrient levels in any soil. Honestly, any “manure” would work but savvy agricultural producers know that they can purchase chicken litter by the ton and have it applied to their land for a very reasonable price.
Second, planting a cover crop, at this time of year, implies planting a winter hardy crop such as mustard greens, radishes, turnips, spinach, Austrian winter pea, or some other freeze tolerant crop. The purpose of a cover crop is to grow a crop that is meant to be turned into the soil. This process simply takes the mineral nutrients that are present, converting them into organic matter, and then incorporating them back into the soil, thus building the organic matter in the soil.
Few gardeners have a three-acre garden, but the principles still apply. Build up the nutrients and organic matter. Then always keep something growing in your soil, regardless of if you even plan on harvesting it.
And let’s get outside and start messing in the dirt this new year.
Cary Sims is the County Extension Agent for agriculture and natural resources for Angelina County. His email address is cw-sims@tamu.edu.
Educational programs of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, national origin, genetic information or veteran status. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating
SFA’s first Montgomery Professorship presentation scheduled for Jan. 27 with Dr. Chitra Golestani
Dr. Chitra Golestani, associate director of the Wilmette Institute, will present “Having Skin in the Game: Humane Education and Social Justice” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27, via Zoom.
The Wilmette Institute, located in Evanston, Illinois, is an educational institution that draws upon the principles of the Baháʼí faith to inspire sustained social change for the common good. It is a relatively new religion that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people.
In addition to her administrative role with the institute, Golestani serves as an adjunct faculty member at the Institute for Humane Education and as a consortial faculty member at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She also works as an educational consultant, guest lecturer and qualitative researcher, and she is cofounder of the Paulo Freire Institute at the University of California – Los Angeles, which aims to transform community-based learning.
Her areas of interests, lectures and research involve human rights, social justice and global citizenship education, conflict resolution and restorative justice, youth activism in extended education, conscious living and social action.
Golestani’s presentation will introduce humane education concepts to novices and demonstrate how individuals must play a role in accomplishing a more compassionate world. During the presentation, she will explore how concepts from humane education can conceptualize current events, and she will share her personal experiences.
Golestani’s work is inspired by her persecution experiences in her birth country, Iran, where members of the Baháʼí faith are not allowed to practice their religion and are prohibited from accessing higher education and denied other rights. During her childhood, Golestani’s family escaped Iran and fled to the United States in search of religious freedom, equality between women and men and human rights.
“Dr. Golestani comes to SFA with a wealth of experiences that can connect with our students, faculty and staff on so many levels,” said Dr. Sarah Straub, SFA assistant professor of educational studies. “Her areas of interest and research apply to many fields. I truly believe Dr. Golestani’s presentation will resonate with the larger Lumberjack community.”
The presentation is the first to be hosted by the Montgomery Professorship, an award Straub received in October 2020. It was established by the late Charlotte Baker Montgomery in memory of her husband, Roger, to encourage and perpetuate the teaching of humane education concepts and methods in public and private elementary and secondary schools through the support of teacher preparation in humane education.
The presentation is free and open to everyone. Register to attend at bit.ly/3q6W9TU.
For more information, contact Straub at straubsm@sfasu.edu.
Mark Wilson, Louisiana extension agent, to be SFA Gardens’ January lecture series speaker
Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St.
Mark Wilson, assistant extension agent of horticulture for the Louisiana State University AgCenter, will present “Garden Adventures in the Land of Crawfish and Creole.”
Born and raised in Southern Louisiana and as the son of an LSU professor whose office was located in the horticulture building, Wilson was immersed in horticulture from a young age. Wilson went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in environmental horticulture in 2012 then a Master of Science in horticulture in 2017, both from LSU. He then worked as a landscaper until being hired as a regional irrigation salesperson and designer.
Shortly after completing his master’s degree, Wilson began working in his current position with the AgCenter.
The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month. It is preceded by an attendee social at 6:30 p.m. and a rare plant raffle after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.
Parking is available at the PNPC and Raguet Elementary School, located at 2428 Raguet St.
For more information, call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.
Ladyjack Basketball Schedule Change
Due to COVID-19 protocols, the Western Athletic Conference matchup between Stephen F. Austin and ACU that was originally scheduled for tomorrow will be moved to a later date at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
Mobile Season Ticket Holders will find updated tickets in your online accounts. Feel free to add the new tickets to your mobile wallets or scan directly from your online account on gameday.
Printed Season Ticket Holders will be able to use the previous ACU printed tickets to gain admission as those barcodes are still valid.
For results, updates and a complete schedule for all SFA Athletics, visit sfajacks.com.Print Friendly Version