Since fall of 2000 the Student Union has been a haven for campus activities, studying, and hanging out in general. But as the university grows, so will the Union.

The Union hopes to expand within the next two years to accommodate stu-dents, faculty, and student organizations more comfortably. It last underwent re-

furbishment in the spring of 2009.The idea of an expansion originated

with the need for more elbow room for students to congregate and eat, and for faculty and student organizations to be able to use meeting spaces

“The Union really is similar to a liv-ing room. That’s our purpose here, said Union director Edna Zambrano. “We’re that space on campus where students and faculty can come together and have a pleasant one-on-one meeting rather than

in a classroom. Unfortunately, we just don’t have enough space for everyone.”

CHANGESThe folks at the 44,000 square-foot

Union would like more seating space for lunchgoers and students who have long breaks between classes and need a hang-out spot. They would also like to include bigger kitchens for more diver-sity in food product such as bringing in a Chik-fi l-A or Panda Express but also

for meeting areas for not only faculty but for 100-plus student organizations. As it stands now, 170 organizations use the building per week.

“We have student organizations that do not hold their banquets on campus because they don’t fi t or it’s never avail-able,” Zambrano said. “So we have stu-dents holding events at hotels when they could be saving by holding it here or hon-estly just doing things on your campus.”

The Student Government Associa-tion has booked six Valley offi cials for a leadership meeting they hope will help students voice their issues and become aware of new higher educa-tion laws.

The event, called the Valley Lead-ership Summit, is set to take place next Thursday evening, Sept. 17. However, a few schedule and venue changes

have been made.The summit is being moved from

the Student Union to the Engineering Building. The presentation and ques-tion-and-answer session will occur in the Engineering Auditorium, while the reception following will take place in the lobby area of the building. Also, the time of the summit is set at 5 p.m.

The event will start off with an in-troduction by Paul Sale, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, who will start off the legislative dis-

cussion, according to Esther Herrera.After introductions are made, the

leaders present will be allotted 20 minutes each. According to Herrera they will be allowed to speak about whatever legislative issues they feel are important.

The leadership group invited is mainly composed of state representa-tives, including: Ismael “Kino” Flores, Armando Martinez, Ryan Guillen, and Aaron Pena. Also in attendance will be

The University of Texas-Pan American has received much recog-nition for being a Hispanic-serving institution, but recently grabbed big headlines for ranking on the Forbes list of the top American Universities.

UTPA was ranked at No. 32 of the nation’s public schools and No. 218 overall out of 600 four-year schools in Aug. 5’s online Forbes magazine, adding another point of pride. The feat was quickly incorporated into a new commercial for the university.

The people at Forbes used sev-eral indicators in measuring the best schools, including school debt load, evaluations from ratemyprofessor.com, and graduate success based on Who’s Who in America. UTPA was not included in the list last year.

Provost/Vice President for Aca-demic Affairs Paul Sale said the uni-versity has come a long way in recent years and that being named to the Forbes list could help its graduates.

“The university is in a transforma-tional stage,” Sale said. “I believe it will help our graduates be more fa-vorably recognized in the job market and I believe it will give our faculty program more recognition.”

THE PAN AMERICANVolume 66, No. 2 September 10 , 2009

Student Union set to expand By Roxann GarciaThe Pan American

Universityreceives prominent ranking By Ana VillarutiaThe Pan American

Summit off ers higher ed. policy forum

See FORBES || Page 6

By Brian SilvaThe Pan American

BLOCK PARTY - Last Thursday the university held the annual Bucky’s Block Party for students. The event is held to help with organization recruitment.

INDEX OPINION PG. 2 NEWS PG. 3 ARTS & LIFE PG. 10 SPORTS PG. 14

Daniel Flores/The Pan American

See UNION || Page 6

See SUMMIY || Page 6

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THE PAN AMERICANPage 2 September 10 , 2009

This is a call to arms!As the trees have grown so does

the never-ending battle against birds taking roost in them. As they gather on our campus so do the piles of poop they splatter on sidewalks, and indi-viduals.

To fi nd a solution to mitigate the problem is going to take an innova-tive response by all of us. But, fi rst we must explore the issue to fi nd an eco-logically friendly answer to our little bird issue.

Without a doubt, when walking down a sidewalk it isn’t a surprise to see a concentrated area of bird shit abuzz with fl ies and little bugs. The university sidewalks have become a bird sewer.

It’s been pretty awesome that we fi nally have some solid rains to replen-ish the thirst-quenched land. However, the rains enhance tenfold the aroma of the situation. I’m pretty sure it’s al-most a universal opinion that the uni-

versity loses some of its higher educa-tional shine as the crap piles up.

It’s no picnic when a pigeon fl ies into one’s walking path, or when a fi ght breaks out over the walkway and feathers come fl oating down to settle in one’s hair. Sometimes nests plop down, too, along with an egg or two.

The university’s current fi x to this is to place a cannon in the more heav-ily populated bird areas. Offi cials pro-ceed to fi re a blast of air they say is intended to scare the crap out of the birds so that they get frightened and never return.

I must note that I’ve never seen this process in person. However I heard one SGA senator say the birds prompt-ly return after a few hours. Given that the pigeons look rather comfortably nested in the walkways, I’m inclined to believe that the cannons are ineffec-tive.

The other environmentally friend-ly scare tactic the university uses is placement of spikes. However, it is not uncommon to see nests in between these spikes. It is yet another ineffec-tive treatment to the little mess.

It must also be said that environ-mentally friendly options are very few. But, again, we must use our intellec-tual abilities and collectively come up with an innovative idea(s) to solve the foul fowl problem.

The solution may take a united ef-fort by all students, faculty and staff. Together we can clean our campus and mitigate our university being used as a toilet by our bird friends.

An option that may be perceived as silly could be the use of noisemakers as we pass under the walkways. If we keep the pressure on these birds and make this an unpleasant place for them to live it’d be an almost guarantee that the birds would fl ee, permanently.

My solution of noisemakers may not be the best. Thus, I challenge you to come up with an innovative way to keep the birds away. Present the ideas to your SGA senator, their mission is to improve the quality of life and edu-cation of this university.

We’ll all be better off with a little less poop and feathers on our path to class.

Illustration by Oliver Chairez

Brian SilvaEditor in Chief

Opinion

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Brian Silva / basilva1@utpa.edu

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Ana Villaurrutia / alvillaurru@utpa.edu

VIDEO EDITOR

Naxiely Lopez / naxiely@myway.com

ASSISTANT VIDEO EDITOR

Victor Ituarte / victor.ituarte@gmail.com

A&L EDITOR

Isaac Garcia / izek_el@yahoo.com

ASSISTANT A&L EDITOR

Andrielle Figuerroa / j27ig@yahoo.com SPORTS EDITOR

Kevin Stich/ k.stich@gmail.com

DESIGN EDITOR

Gregorio Garza / ggarzaz26@utpa.edu

SENIOR DESIGNER

Roy Bazan / rbazanzz@utpa.edu

ADVISER

Dr. Greg Selber / selberg@utpa.edu

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSOCIATE

Anita Reyes / areyes18@utpa.edu

ADVERTISING MANAGER

Mariel Cantu/ spubs@utpa.edu

WEBMASTER

Jose Villarreal / josemvillarrealcs@gmail.com

The Pan American accepts letters of 300 words or less from students, staff and faculty regarding recent newspaper content, campus concerns or current events. The Pan American reserves the right to edit submissions for grammar and length. The Pan Americancannot publish anonymous letters or submissions containing hate speech or gratuitous personal attacks. Please send all story ideas to thepanamerican@gmail.com.

Individuals with disabilities wishing to acquire this publication in an alternative format or needing assistance to attend any event listed can contact The Pan American for more details.

The Pan American is the offi cial student newspaper of The University of Texas-Pan American. Views presented are those of the writers and do not necessarily refl ect those of the paper or university.

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1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539Phone: (956) 381-2541

Fax: (956) 316-7122

September 10 , 2009 Vol 66, No. 2

Solving our fowl problem

Ever wonder what it would be like to travel to the moon? Or what a rock from Mars, the Red Planet, would feel and look like? From Sept. 27 to Jan. 10, 2010 one can fathom these questions with the help of a new exhibit at the Visi-tors Center called “Space: A Journey To Our Future.”

This space exhibit was created to awaken the aspiration for discovery and to spark imaginations of new gen-erations, according to Evergreen Exhibi-tions, the creators of the space exhibit.

The exhibit will be shipped from Sac-ramento, Calif., and arrive next week. It will be housed in the Visitors Center and the Student Services lobby near the el-

evators to the Executive Tower. Just like past exhibits, such as Spring 2007’s Re-tablos: The Art of Faith, and Fall 2008’s “A T. Rex Named Sue,” “Space” will be open to all UTPA members and sur-rounding communities. All are encour-aged to visit.

“Hosting exhibits like ‘Space’ pro-vides a service to UTPA students, facul-ty, staff, and to students in the RGV who might not otherwise be able to see exhib-its of this caliber,” said Associate Direc-tor of Special Programs Sally Mendiola.

This 5,000-square-foot interactive exhibit will include the chance to touch rocks from the lunar surface and Mars, and allow visitors to discover space through computer stations. They will also be able to take a spin on a centri-fuge, a machine that creates an artifi cial

gravity force by spinning and can hold three people.

There will also be other stations fea-turing looks at life on Mars and hands-on activities for visitors to learn about space exploration.

Admission to the exhibit will be free and guided tours are available by ap-pointment. To request a tour visit www.utpa.edu and click on the Take the Jour-ney exhibit icon.

With a leasing fee of $80,000, the charge will be paid by a variety of sourc-es such as the national sponsors, General Motors, Lockheed Martin and NASA with additional funds from UTPA, Mc-Donald’s and GEAR UP.

Last fall’s T. Rex exhibit, which had a

The University of Texas-Pan Ameri-can launched a new Web site last week, calling it a “refl ection of the university today.”

According to Vice President for Uni-versity Advancement Janice Odom, UTPA had outgrown its previous site and updating it was designed to benefi t the university, its image, and informational capacity.

“We want everything that the public

sees, and the student sees and future stu-dents see about this university to refl ect who we are,” Odom said. “This is the front door to the campus, so to a lot of people who have never been able to come down here; they judge who we are by that Web site.”

The new site had quite a history before the launch. A Web advisory group was created in April to power the revamping. Under the supervision of Odom, repre-sentatives from all university departments met to conduct research and gather infor-mation to make the site, and the launch,

a success. “It was a really talented and creative

group,” Odom said. “In record time, we had organized ourselves; we had decided what direction we wanted to go.”

With the assistance of the Internet Ser-vices Department at UTPA, the advisory group was able to recreate the Web site with a user-friendly concept in mind.

Kumar Raman, director of Internet services, said analytic data such as most-used search terms on the university’s previous site was used to determine what kind of links would be most helpful for

users. The goal was to organize the content

more effectively and effi ciently for the students, visitors, faculty and staff.

“The easier it is for them to fi nd infor-mation on what they are looking for, the less chance they will call in for support,” Raman explained.

Raman added the university has not seen an entirely new site since the fi rst one was launched back in 2000.

“Every three years we kind of changed it up; it was all the same sort of content but it was all just moved around a little

bit,” Raman said. “If you look at the de-sign now, it’s radically different from what you’ve seen before.”

Social networking sites such as Face-book and Twitter were also integrated into the university’s new Internet presence, al-lowing students, parents, and alumni to stay connected with UTPA.

Increased interactivity is also a fea-ture. Students can suggest improvements to the site’s functions and usability to the advisory group. Raman said they have received lots of feedback from students,

Since 2001 the Hispanic Engineer-ing Science and Technology program has made sure its weeklong fair revolved around science, technology, engineering and math (known collectively as STEM). The goal has been to help future Valley generations get involved in those areas, and the latest version promises more of the same, with some trendy twists.

Last year HESTEC had an estimated 50,000 people attend throughout the week. The event will run Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, and will imple-ment an environ-mental theme, aptly named GreenNova-tion: Footprints to the Future, as stew-ardship of the envi-ronment has become a campus favorite nationwide.

In his 2010 bud-get submitted to Congress, President Barack Obama has allotted about $8 million from Bu-reau of Labor Sta-tistics funding to develop a new series of “Green-Collar” jobs to address the need for qualifi ed personnel in the rap-idly evolving occupations and industries connected with the environment. Some of these include fi elds of renewable en-ergy, green building effi ciency technol-ogy and sustainable agriculture.

As a result, Community Engage-ment, the “outreach” arm at The Univer-sity of Texas-Pan American, decided to merge the promotion of STEM careers with environmental issues for the latest

HESTEC. The HESTEC team, lead by Vice President of Business Affairs James Langabeer is working with all divisions collaboratively to guarantee a campus effort.

“Community Engagement wanted to continue with HESTEC’s focus of promoting higher education and STEM careers, but also wanted to join the country’s sustainability efforts to lessen the earth’s carbon footprint,” said Milly Hernandez, special projects coordinator for the Division of Community Engage-ment.

Executive Direc-tor for Community and Economic De-velopment Jessica Salinas hopes that the entire univer-sity will become in-volved.

“The Division of Community En-gagements wants to encourage all UTPA students to volunteer and help deliver a very criti-cal program to the community,” Said Salinas. “The HES-TEC program staff thanks the campus community for its

continual support and commitment.” HESTEC is bringing in corporations,

government offi cials, and educational speakers who will relate their corporate sustainability efforts. Confi rmed speak-ers include, Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor, Rear Admiral Albert Garcia, III, Civil Engineer Corps, Deputy Com-mander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Deputy Chief of Civil Engi-neers, Admiral Samuel Perez, Deputy

Page 3THE PAN AMERICANSeptember 10 , 2009

Dates to Know:

University relaunches modernized Web site

A FRESH START - On Thursday, Sept. 3, the Class of 2013 was welcomed with the annual Freshman Convocation. Van Reidhead, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, takes time to sit with students during the luncheon, where students had the opportunity to network and ask questions.

Daniel Flores/ The Pan American

HESTEC takes on new theme: Go Green!

By Jennifer GarzaThe Pan American

See HESTEC || Page 7

Open HouseSept. 11, 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.SBS research and technology resource room

Deadline to fi le application for degreeSept. 18Registrar

See NASA || Page 7

‘Space’ exhibit promotes discovery By Samantha KochThe Pan American

See WEB SITE || Page 7

By Samantha KochThe Pan American

� SEEN AND CAPTURED

“Community Engagement wanted to continue with HESTEC’s focus of promoting higher education and STEM careers, but also wanted to join the country’s sustainability eff orts to lessen the earth’s carbon footprint.”

Milly HernandezSpecial Projects CoordinatorDivision of Comm. Engagement

ADVERTISEMENTS September 10 , 2009Page 4

ADVERTISEMENTS Page 5September 10, 2009

The construction the campus com-munity sees right now is not related to the expansion idea. Canopies are being set up as shade on the patios for stu-dents and faculty to enjoy during lunch or meetings.

UNION OVERVIEWThe union expansion will begin by

the hiring of an architectural fi rm to conduct an expansion survey within the next couple of months.

“Hopefully by October we will have a fi rm come in and study our student body,” Zambrano explained. “That will include what we do, where do we hang out specifi cally, enrollment and traffi c patterns. They also study the square footage you have compared to how many students you have now.”

After studies are conducted, the fi rm will then present a proposal with recommendations on what needs to be done, plus cost. Recommendations may include more eating area, more conference and meeting rooms for or-ganizations and faculty, or even ameni-ties such as a copy shop or rented lock-ers. The study will conclude as to how far the building may be expanded.

The proposal will then viewed by the Student Union advisory board, and it could become a referendum and be proposed to students during town hall meetings individual focus groups. Pic-tures and scenarios will be presented as well as cost, which traditionally is a burden borne largely by tuition and/or student fees.

“Hopefully by spring the referen-

dum will be ready to present to stu-dents,” the director stated. “After that, it’s completely up to the students. Something may get sacrifi ced; students might want different options. It’s going to be up to the students if they will be willing to pay for what they want.”

The current Union fee is $30 each semester. Other universities such as the University of Texas-San Antonio and Texas Tech are paying between $90 and $120. The fee is expected to rise with the expansion but it will all be depending on what will get voted once students view the referendum. Until then the Union is expected to be payed for through bonds once the building is fi nished. The total cost of the expan-sion has not yet been confi gured but it is estimated at a few million.

“The cost will depend on how much needs to be done and since our Union is not that old, we’re not expecting an outrageous number,” said Zambrano.

Construction is not expected to be-gin for another two years.

Sale added that UTPA’s increased retention rates and more stringent ad-missions requirements have contrib-uted to its appearance in the ranking.

In 2005 the university decided to have an SAT/ACT enrollment re-quirement and started the score at 15. UTPA is planning on increasing that score to 18 in 2011. Four-year gradua-tion rates have also been favorable; in the early 2000s the number steadied at 50 percent but has risen to 72 percent, the highest retention rate in the state public school world.

Though enrollment has not risen that much the past three years, the number continues to climb. Vice Pres-ident for Enrollment and Student Ser-vices John Edwards said enrollment has increased slightly at 2 percent to 3 percent, which would put the univer-

sity well over 18,000 students for the fall semester.

Another point of pride is the nearly $8.5 million in research expenditures last year, up from $5 million in 2005, a 44 percent increase. This is in tune with the university goal of achieving enhanced research funding and output.

The university is still inexpensive in comparison to most, another factor that helps to in such rank-ings. Tuition has for years been the lowest among schools in the UT Sys-tem, an estimated $13,794 this fall. However, rates will rise this semester from $87.70 per semester hour to $90

for undergraduates and $101.70 for graduate students.

“We don’t get the reputation we deserve over here, so it’s really great that we have been recognized for our

hard work,” said Gradu-ate Sena-tor Rebekah Sepulveda of the Student Senate. “It’s exciting to be placed not only among public universities but

overall.” This year Forbes weighed stu-

dent debt more heavily than for past lists. About 20 percent of the survey looked at the four-year hit accrued

by students. On a national average, four-year debt for undergraduates amounts to $27,803, while at UTPA student it was just $10,500 in 2007-2008 and $12,190 in 2008-2009.

About 91 percent of students here are on some form of fi nancial aid, 66 percent qualifi ed for federal grants, and 60 percent for state grants. Only 18 percent received loans.

“We (UTPA) do tend to be a little lower than the average debt…it’s lower than the national average,” Executive Dir Student Financial Ser-vices Elaine Rivera said, adding that their efforts have helped keep that number low. “The support services we offer is a real plus as well, we don’t offer loans upfront to students, we try to process other forms of fi -nancial aid.”

State Sen. Eddie Lucio and a repre-sentative from Congressman Ruben Hinojosa’s offi ce.

Herrera, who chairs the SGA public relations committee, said the Offi ce of Student Development has sponsored supplies for the event and the Student Union has taken care of food. The PR committee has spear-headed the effort to put on the sum-mit.

Shaney Flores, SGA vice presi-dent, said last-minute planning of the

event is progressing well and that he hopes students will take advantage of this opportunity to affect their univer-sity community.

After about 7 p.m. the audience will have an opportunity to ask ques-tions. Likely to come up are new state requirements for academic programs. At the conclusion of the legislative session on June 1 several new aca-demic requirements were implement-ed.

“It is imperative that students be

aware of the public policy chang-es occurring in higher education,” Flores said.

He said it’s a chance for students to ask about any questions they have or provide any comments or concerns to their leaders.

“We’re also asking staff and fac-ulty to get involved,” Flores said. “To get a holistic view all of us have to be involved in asking how legislators are shaping higher educational policy.”

Flores said that the issues of the

Texas Grant, which was a hot but-ton issue during the session, and state funding to the institution are likely to come up. State funding to most uni-versities was increased at the conclu-sion of the session, which surprised many offi cials at the state’s higher educational institutions.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for students to openly and actively engage their legislators,” Flores said. “Those interactions will always pro-duce great and effective ideas.”

NEWS Page 6September 10 , 2009

SUMMIT continued from Page 1

FORBES continued from Page 1

“It’s exciting to be placed not

only among public universi-

ties, but overall.”

Rebekah SepulvedaSGA Graduate Representative

UNION continued from Page 1

“We have student organizations

that do not hold their banquets

on campus because they do not

fi t or it’s never available.”

Edna ZambranoStudent Union director

WEB SITE continued from Page 3

Director, Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South, Rear Admiral Mark D. Guadagnini, Chief of Naval Air Training.

Along with the presentational speak-ers the Environmental Awareness Club in collaboration with Marianella Frank-lin, the Director of Sustainability Pro-grams is going to transform Community Day into a “Litter Free” event.

Also the Society of Hispanic Profes-sional Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, Kappa Sigma, and the Envi-ronmental Awareness Club are contribut-ing assistance during HESTEC week.

Other topics will include the Human Health, Global Environmental Change, UTPA’s new “Go Green” initiative, and information on the new Environmental Science Degree.

“It’s very appropriate and timely that HESTEC has chosen its GreenNovation theme this year,” said Robert Edwards, chair of UTPA’s environmental science department. “This is certainly a topic that should concern us all and one which

we all need to do our part, not just for ourselves but for our future generations”.

Roberts will be introducing some of the major groups making up the natural environment of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, including plants, birds, snakes and fi shes.

“I would hope that Environmental Science majors would have a desire to make the earth and its environment a bet-ter place for future generations and for the life-sustaining elements within it,” commented Roberts.

Above all, HESTEC’s main focus has always been to educate participants about the benefi ts that higher education and STEM can provide, and to increase the local community’s knowledge of how the world is changing.

This year the normal push in these ar-eas will be joined by a week of education about sustainability initiatives to make Earth a better place for future genera-tions to come.

For more information on HESTEC,

call (956) 381-3361 or log on to the Web site at http://hestec.utpa.edu/.

The latest HESTEC starts Sept. 27 with the usual series of daily events like Educators Day, Latinas Day and the Ca-reer Expo. The popular Community Day comes Oct 3 this year. The ninth annual event will showcase exhibits from part-ners like NASA, TERRI the Robot from State Farm, and the traveling STEM ex-hibit FutureLab Expo. TERRI the Robot is a fully interactive robot who is a Na-tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-istration project and helps make science fun. TERRI can listen to questions asked and actually answer the question, tell jokes. FutureLab Expo is interactive ex-hibit that includes touching actual rocks from the lunar surface and the Red Plan-et, discovering space through computer stations and taking a spin on a centrifuge.

A yearly feature is back again in the form of live entertainment, with a per-formance by Angel y Khriz, a reggaeton duo from Puerto Rico.

record-breaking number of 23,094 visi-tors in the fi rst 30 days. Mendiola hopes “Space” will exceed these numbers.

“Exhibits hosted by UTPA have been successful in bringing educational op-portunities to students in the commu-nity,” said Mendiola. “We hope all stu-

dents in the RGV get a chance to visit this exhibit.”

So far Space has been to the Aero-space Museum of California Sacra-mento and will be going to Portland Or-egon’s Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) after visiting UTPA.

NEWSPage 7 September 10 , 2009

NASA continue from Page 3

faculty and staff. Small glitches such as links not working properly have been reported to the Internet Services Depart-ment, however Raman noted that minor issues like those are easy to fi x.

According to Odom, the university’s new Web site is the fi rst project to refl ect UTPA today, and other developments are under way.

“The Web site is one part of what we want to do in University Advancement,” said Odom, who returned to the universi-ty in 2008 after previous service as UTSA

associate vice president for advancement services. “We are creating a new Market-ing and Creative Services division, and what we are going to do is have our own in-house advertising agency.”

Odom added this department will con-sist of writers, designers, and media buy-ers to make sure all university’s publica-tions and commercials are consistent with UTPA’s image.

There are already billboards, ads in Texas Monthly, and other outreach efforts in place from the new division.

HESTEC continued from Page 3

Veronica Gonzalez / The Pan AmericanCELEBRATION - Carol Rausch, assistant to the president, talks with UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa on Sept. 3 at an event honoring him. The event was sponsored by the Harlingen Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and was held at the Rancho Viejo resort south of Harlingen. (Above right) Cigarroa presents his keynote speech to Chamber members, dignitaries from several UT schools, and elected leaders. (Lower right) Cigarroa is congratulated after receiving the Chamber’s 2009 Person of Honor Award.

Chancellor Cigarroa honored by Harlingen leadership

Last Thursday evening, a hallway in-side the COAS building at The Univer-sity of Texas-Pan American was infested with a group of about 30 wandering men and a handful of women, all speaking to themselves and each other in a way not heard of since the 1930s. Relax. Marty McFly is not to blame. It was the fi rst night of auditions for the upcoming play “Of Mice and Men.”

The play, written by American author John Steinbeck, tells the Depression-era tale of buddies George Milton and Len-nie Small and their aspirations of own-ing their own land. Trouble occurs when the mentally disabled Small’s infatuation with touching soft things leads him to a young woman’s dress. He is accused of attempted rape so the pair fl ees from their job.

Brian Warren, a children’s theater and creative drama specialist and newly minted assistant professor in the theater department, is helming the project. Although the cast has already been selected, he shared what he seeks

during auditions.“We look at them in combination of

other people: sizes, heights, how they react to each other…those things,” War-ren explained. “We look to see if they’ve done some research. If they’ve looked at what this play is about and what kind of people these are. If they do that sort of thing, they often do very well.”

Danielle Bran-don, an 18-year-old UTPA psychology major from Harlin-gen, auditioned for the only female role.

“I don’t want to say that I did any better because I’m pretty sure they all tried just as hard, but I think they all saw my passion for it,” said the sophomore. “They know I was there for a purpose and I understand the character.”

Despite feeling pressured to do her best to nab the only female role in “Of Mice and Men,” she said surprisingly she wasn’t nervous.

“I think regardless of whether or not I get the part I think it’s going to be an amazing produc-tion,” Brandon had shared before the au-dition. “The director and the stage manag-er and all the people that are going to be involved are going to do an amazing job and I’m not going to be bitter. I’m going to see the play.”

Auditioning for one of the 10 avail-able male roles was theater graduate stu-dent John Riggs.

“I’d consider any of the characters. It’s a great play. It’s a

huge classic. I’d be happy to get any role to participate in it,” the 34-year-old said.

“It would just be a joy to do it and I hope that enjoyment would spread to the stage in my performance.”

Riggs said he is not dreading the casting decision because he enjoys auditioning.

“During auditioning, you pretty much have free rein on what you do,” he explained. “As opposed to after you get cast, then there’s more director in-volvement.”

The selected cast has already met to read through the script. As the director and actors grow into their roles through-out future rehearsals, the costumes and set design will also begin to take shape.

“We’re trying to be really true to the realism of the 1937 Depression Era that the play is set in,” Warren said. “Stein-beck wrote this play with the intent of turning it into a novel, which he even-tually did. So in all of his descriptions he’s true to life, because he worked on a ranch when he was younger, and had all these details we want to try to capture on stage.”

Look for the second part of the “Of Mice and Men” series where we will take you backstage with a peek at cos-tumes and set designs.

THE PAN AMERICAN September 10, 2009Page 10

Dates to Know:Greek RushSept. 10, noonNorth Quad

Cinesol Film FestivalSept. 11, 8:30 p.m. TSTC Th eater, Harlingen

UTPA brings to stage Steinbeck’s classic taleBy Victor ItuarteThe Pan American

MAKING THE CUT - Director Brian Warren and stage manager Dulce Navar oversee auditions, last week.

Daniel Flores /The Pan AmericanNNavarr ccann

“We’re trying to be really true to the realism of the 1937 Depression Era that the play is set in. ... So in all the descriptions he’s true to life, because he worked on a ranch when he was younger, and had all these details we wanted to try to capture on stage.”

Brian WarrenDirector

OF MICE AND MEN CAST LIST

George - RICK ROSALESLennie - JORGE CHAPACurley’s wife - MAEGAN DE LA ROSACurley - LUIS MORENOSlim - NOEL REYNAWhit - BRANDON GARCIACarlson - DANIEL LOPEZCandy - GUS KENNEDYBoss - ROMEO CANTUCrooks - TBA

Follow panamericanonline.com as we continue cover-age of the production.

LINE PLEASE - Student Marcos Martinez (left) goes over lines with potential cast member Jorge Chapa at the “Of Mice and Men” auditions.

BREAK A LEG- Luis Moreno (left) and Danielle Brandon team up dur-ing auditions. The role of Curly went to Moreno.

The chants of young men and wom-en have been heard echoing through the North Quad this week, and some entering freshman may wonder why. Sept. 8 kicked off the beginning of Greek Rush where the groups sign up fresh meat for this academic year.

By looking at movies like “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “Revenge of the Nerds,” and “Old School,” people have gathered their own ideas of what a fraternity or sorority should look like and be.

Partying, sex and hazing are the so-called essentials to Greek life, accord-ing to popular culture productions. The vice president of Kappa Sigma fraternity would like to change this misconception.

Fabian Trevino, 21, has been in Kappa Sigma since spring 2008. The McAllen native believes that movies have tainted the idea of Greeks, so he explained what new rushees can look forward to on the Kappa Sig agenda.

“We offer many things like ‘Lead-ership in the Classroom,” intramural sports, and we are a social group,” Trevino stated. “That [stereotypical] idea is demolished by what we do.”

‘Leadership in the Classroom’ is the term used by the older brothers for their pushing of participation and studying in the rushees classes. In-volvement and attendance are usually large parts of final grades, Trevino stated there is no room for slacking off in the Kappa Sigma brotherhood.

Trevino explained that Kappa Sigma bases itself on four pillars, which in-clude fellowship, leadership, scholar-ship and service.

Kappa Sigma is one of seven fra-ternities on campus, along with six so-rorities. Kappa Sigma has been around nationally since 1869, but originally

began at the University of Texas Pan American in 1967.

Greek Rush has begun and as in the movies one might assume hazing is in-volved. Trevino explains that is anoth-er thing of the past. Instead of harass-ing would-be members, the group uses community and campus involvement

as its way of welcoming new people.“If you take a look at community

hours, actually any Greek house on campus, we are very involved.” Tre-vino added, “We feel that by being involved builds better men and strong character.”

Kappa Sigma’s are involved with

local food banks, painting homes in McAllen and the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Kappa Sig joins hands with ADA in biking to the coast where the frat jumps on bikes and ride from UTPA to Corpus Christi to raise awareness and funds for the cause.

Still, Greek life may not be for ev-eryone, and 24-year-old psychology major Sylvia Morales explains how she feels about Greeks.

“A social network is always a good idea, however, I believe frats/sororities can encourage negative behavior, like binge drinking or risky sexual behav-ior,” Morales explained. “When they are formed to help the community, rather than damage their livers, I believe they can make a positive impact.”

One new rushee for Kappa Sigma is Justin Quintanilla, an 18-year-old ki-nesiology and sports marketing major. He explained why he decided to join the group.

“I just wanted to find people I could hang out with, everyone has been very welcoming,” Quintanilla said.

Originally from Corpus Christi, the 18-year-old was ready for the frater-nity and what he would take from the experience.

“Partying is definitely not what they are all about; it’s about preparing people for life after college.”

Students who would like to get in-volved can attend Greek Rush events during the next two weeks. To learn more about the fraternities visit www.utpa.edu or visit www.panamericanon-line.com to check out exclusive videos from Greek Rush week.

Page 11THE PAN AMERICANSeptember 10, 2009

Kappa Sigma rush to break Greek stereotypeBy Andrielle FigueroaThe Pan American

RUSHING THE STANDS - The Kappa Sigma clan shows spirit on Sept. 2 at the volleyball game against University of Texas at Brownsville.

Hector J. Garcia/The Pan American

Greek RushNorth Quad, Noon-1 p.m.

Pool Party BBQWRSC Pool, 5-8 p.m.

Cinesol Film FestivalTSTC Theater, 8:30 p.m. 1902 N. Loop 499Harlingen, TX

Sundaes on MondaysStudent Union, Noon-1 p.m.

Album ReleaseMuse - The Resistance

Album ReleasesMegadeath - EndgameUncle Cracker - Happy Hour

TV Show PremieresBones - FOX, 7 p.m.Fringe - FOX 8 p.m.

Confi de w/ AgracefulThe Incubator, 6 p.m.

Faculty RecitalFC-103, 3 p.m.

TV Show PremiereHouse - FOX, 7 p.m.

Eric “Smooth-E” SchwartzSU Theater, 7-9:30 p.m.

Album ReleaseMadonna - Iconography

Poker TournamentStudent Union, 4-7 p.m.

Slick-Track Go KartsChapel Lawn, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.Guitar Hero World TournamentSU, 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Guest Rectal Mark CarlsonFine Arts Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.

TV Show PremiereDollhouse - FOX, 8 p.m.

Saul WilliamsCine El Rey, 8 p.m.

TV Show PremiereFamily GuyFOX 8 p.m.

August Burns Red w/ Acacia StrainThe Incubator, 6 p.m.

Guys Night: Night FootballStudent Union, 6-10 p.m.

Album ReleasesParamore - Brand New EyesMariah Carey - Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel

Air Hockey TournamentStudent Union, 3:30-5 p.m.

ShowbreadThe Incubator, 8 p.m.

ENTERTAINMENT AT A GLANCE

Before explaining the synopsis of the latest movie he has written, McAl-len native and now Los Angeles resi-dent Jose “JoJo” Henrickson gave a disclaimer: big high-budget Hollywood fl icks can be summed up in one sen-tence, but indie fi lms take a little more than just 10 words at the bottom of a movie poster to describe.

“I fi nd it diffi cult to express what I’m trying to do in fi lm in one line,” the 42-year-old said. “It’s a fi lm that Holly-wood would never make, that they could never make, mainly because there’s all Latinos in the cast and it’s an all-Latino story. I have the fi rm belief based on my own experience that the reason you don’t have a lot of good fi lms that come out of Hollywood that are Latino-based is because you have non-Latinos with the money, and they’re the ones calling the shots.”

The futuristic fi lm “GB: 2525” takes place in a Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles where several gangs have man-aged to live peacefully by a truce. When the assassination of the 54th Street gang leader threatens to usher in an all-out war, three members set out to fi nd the

murderer and navigate a labyrinth of rival gang territory under a hail of la-ser gun fi re before stumbling upon a conspiracy that goes beyond the hazy boundaries of their barrio.

“To me the fi lm stands alone,” Hen-rickson said. “It’s a futuristic Latino movie, but it’s what I like to say is a very thought-provoking time bomb be-cause it has a lot of social commentary between the lines.”

Henrickson’s most recently pro-duced fi lm is the 2007 Spanish-lan-guage “La Ladrón que Roba a Ladrón,” which was distributed by Lions Gate. If his body of work as a writer and di-rector showcases anything, it is a move away from typecasting by portraying Latinos in fi lms more realistically.

“You’re hearing me talk right now and I’m not like, ‘Well, ese. Que no, homes.’ But that’s the perception of the people in Hollywood who are not Latino but who have the money, and whoever has the money has the fi nal say,” Henrickson said. “That comes out of personal experience, especially with ‘Ladrón.’ That was a huge, eye-opening moment for me. When you do indie fi lms, you get to control that.”

The storyline of “GB: 2525” weaves in themes of racism and exploitation

throughout, and the writer said the strong focus on Latino characters got a reaction from audiences in Los Angeles early on.

“With ‘GB,’ in the early rough cuts, what I noticed when we showed it to non-Latinos, they shut down right off the bat, wouldn’t even give it a chance to get beyond the visual,” he said, add-ing that even friends of his tuned out in reaction to the setting and makeup of the cast. “They pop in ‘GB: 2525’ and they see gang members and cholos and imme-diately they think, ‘That’s not my life.’”

Henrickson made the decision to go back to the footage and digitally drain the brown color from the movie. The fi lm now contains mostly shades of grey and blue.

“I drained the brown from the col-or for two reasons. One, so that non-Latinos can accept it more. It’s not so blatantly brown. Two, it gives it an air of sci-fi ,” he said. “I actually like the way [director of photography Kieron Estrada] shot it, period. I wouldn’t have changed to color at all. I laugh at that because I feel like ‘Wow, I had to drain the brown.’ And now you have non-Latinos reacting positively to the movie right off the bat.”

Henrickson is well aware that, while

trying to break down stereotypes of Latinos in fi lm, he has in fact written a movie utilizes those typecasts. He him-self plays the role of Spider, a smack-talking tech junkie.

“You have to play the game, you have to play the Hollywood system,” he said. “If those are the fi lms that are making money, then my goal and my advice to anyone else is to give them what they’re used to, just make it cre-ative, and make it intelligent. You have to be somewhat subversive.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCEThough Henrickson would like to

think of himself as an artist, the former stand-up comedian said that writing an entertaining fi lm and giving exposure to Latino actors were priorities before con-sciously expressing his social criticisms.

“My primary focus is to help my La-tino friends showcase our talent and get us out there, so it’s very presumptuous of me to say, ‘Oh, this is what I was go-ing for,’” he said. “For me it’s always 20/20 hindsight. It’s very visceral, it’s about a gut feeling.”

Though he has lived and worked in Los Angeles for over 20 years, Hen-rickson grew up in McAllen and got his start in making short movies in broad-

casting class at McAllen High School. After a stint at TSTC in Harlingen, he moved to Austin and worked at McDon-ald’s until he saved up enough money to move to the West Coast with a friend.

“As a writer/fi lmmaker, I learned to write what I know, and what I know is people of the Latino culture,” he said. “You’ll hear that mantra constantly in Hollywood.”

Henrickson, along with brothers Ki-eron Estrada, director of photography, and John Estrada, producer, put fi ve years and $50,000 of their own money into the making of the fi lm. The next challenge for the trio is getting “GB: 2525” the attention of a distribution company, but Henrickson is sure that the movie would not have been the same had it been produced by a large studio from the beginning.

“If the script had been submitted to a Hollywood executive, they would have asked for a name. ‘Can we get Flavor Flav? Can we get your next Eminem?’” he said. “My goal to push forward La-tino talent would be pushed to the way-side because, frankly, there is no big Latino talent. Jimmy Smits and Edward James Olmos are too old to play any parts in this fi lm. It’s too big.”

By Nadia Tamez-RobledoThe Pan American

ARTS AND LIFEPage 12 September 10, 2009

Give any Hollywood director a bud-get of $500 and one would have to ex-pect absolutely nothing. But give fi rst-time director Roberto Collado Anzaldua the same budget and he is sure to pro-duce a full-length feature fi lm.

Anzaldua, 24, a senior and theatre/ fi lm major who previously worked on the local fi lm “The Red Queen,” is set to test-screen his debut feature, “11 Years of Nightmares and a Wasted Lifetime,” at the Student Union Theater, Saturday at 6 p. m.

The fi lm follows the life of a young girl who goes “psychologically deaf,” making the unconscious decision to close herself off from sound after she hears her mother being shot to death in the room next door. Trying to move past her emotional trauma, she embarks on a journey in an attempt to regain her hear-ing through the aid of music. One inter-esting aspect of the fi lm is that the lead actress doesn’t have any lines.

“The fact that the main character is ‘psychologically deaf’ is a social com-mentary and a metaphor about women’s roles in society,” said the Reynosa na-tive. “We also tackle the infl uence of money, drugs and obesity, but at the same time we are very subtle about these

themes. They aren’t that obvious and it takes some analysis to see the themes.”

Another aspect of the fi lm is that the main cast speaks entirely in Eng-lish while the extras speak Spanish. The group is a mix of cultures.

“We didn’t want to be obvious about the location of the fi lm nor did we cast specifi c people for each role,” Anzaldua said. “We even cast a French girl and never during the writing process did we say, ‘Let’s cast a French girl for this part.’ The rest of the cast is 50/50 and it’s important to stay multi cultural in an evolving place like the Valley.”

Helping Anzaldua in his cinematic en-deavor is 22-year-old senior and theatre/ fi lm major Dulce Navar, who served as production manager for the fi lm.

“We couldn’t have been more pre-pared going into the production of the fi lm, even though the crew was small,” Navar said. “Pre-production started in 2008 and post production wrapped the fi rst week of September in 2009.”

Although the budget for his fi lm was tiny and the cast worked for free, Anzald-ua is happy with the outcome; he didn’t experience any problems during produc-tion thanks to the efforts of his crew.

“One of the scenes called for police cars and ambulances and Dulce was able to get them free of charge,” he reported.

“We were also able to make a rain ma-chine for a scene that called for rain.”

Ultimately Anzaldua and Navar pro-duced this feature so that the community could see that feature fi lms do not need a big budget to be able to tell a good story.

“We want people to see it and to leave

thinking that it doesn’t take millions of dollars to make a good feature,” Anzald-ua said. “It’s also a thank-you for all the people that helped us along the way.”

After the screening Anzaldua and Na-var will host a public forum where they will encourage the audience to share

opinions of the fi lm. They also plan on submitting the feature to fi lm festivals.

“Right now we are looking into en-tering the fi lm at Sundance and a fi lm festival in France - basically we’re going to show the fi lm to as many people as possible,” Navar said.

Futuristic fi lm breaks Latino boundaries

By Isaac GarciaThe Pan American

First-time local director to test-screen feature fi lm

CAN YOU HEAR IT? - Casandra Dean, 20, plays the lead role of “psychologically deaf” Veronica who is trying to regain her hearing after a traumatic childhood experience.

Roberto Anzaldua

Page 13ADVERTISEMENTSSeptember 10, 2009

Wednesday night the Lady Broncs found themselves on the wrong end of volleyball fate once again as the team suffered a 3-0 defeat (25-15, 28-26, 25-14) to Cal-State Bakersfi eld (3-4), dropping their fi fth straight home game. Junior Rita Gonzalez had nine assists to accompany Marci Logan’s nine kills, for a team total of 24. But it did little to match the Roadrunner scoring, as they accumulated 41 kills of their own.

It has been a rough beginning for the team, now 1-6. The anti-climactic dis-appointment was ap-parent Sept. 2 when the Lady Broncs faced cross-valley rival University of Texas-Brownsville (6-1), which resulted in a 3-0 loss. The UTPA Field House had teemed early on as The University of Texas-Pan American volleyball team faced a showdown with the Lady Scorpions in a neighborhood bout touted as the “Battle of the Orange.”

UTPA and UTB fans alike had fi lled the stands, banners fl ying with the hopes that their team would take home brag-ging rights. But the Lady Broncs could not muster the fi repower to thwart the Lady Scorpion defense. Head coach An-gela Hubbard said that the team was suf-fering from fatigue.

“UTB is a great team, they play great

volleyball and we just didn’t respond like we should have,” she said. “We’re tired, we played all last weekend, we had a seven-hour trip and then we came and played back-to-back matches.”

RECAPPING THE ACTIONComing off a loss in the home opener

to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (4-4) the night before, despite a 49-kill perfor-mance, this only added to the disappoint-ment. The ladies looked good early play-ing with energy and handing the Lady Islanders a 25-15 loss.

The teams would split the next two games (22-25, 25-20), and in the fi nal

game, after tying the game 20-20, UTPA lost fi ve of the next seven points to force a fi fth game. The fi -nal game would be a one-sided affair as the girls dropped the match 15-7.

Against the Scorpions, the Lady

Broncs had trouble to say the least. UTB had nine blocks to UTPA’s one, and 33 kills to the Lady Broncs’ lackluster 22. The Scorpions also managed six service aces in their victory.

If the statistics weren’t evident of the Lady Broncs frustration, veteran outside hitter Marci Logan (two kills), sat out most of the second game, blaming poor execution as the culprit.

“I wasn’t doing my job. Everyone needs to go in and do their job, and I

wasn’t doing it,” she said.But it wasn’t just Logan who was

off her game, as the whole team looked inconsistent. The outside hitter parlayed some ideas as to how the team could sus-tain momentum.

“We didn’t play our game. If we had

played like we played them last time, then we would’ve beat them,” Logan said after the UTB match. “It’s a team effort. If the front row feels like the back row is going to take care of them when they go up to hit, they’re going to cover them. Then we gain momentum in the

front row. If the back row gets a dig and we make a good set and get a kill, then the back row gets more confi dent. And we just didn’t have that.”

The Lady Broncs will go on the road to face Louisiana-Lafayette Friday. They will return home Oct. 8 to face North Dakota.

SPORTS September 10, 2009Page 14

By Kevin StichThe Pan American

Dates to Know:VolleyballMcNeese State InvitationalSept. 11-Sept. 12Lake Charles, LA

Cross CountryTexas A&M InvitationalSept. 12College Station

Hector J. Garcia/The Pan AmericanPULL TOGETHER - Lady Broncs try to hold steady after suffering three home losses, including one to rival UTB. They return home to redeem themselves Oct. 8 against North Dakota.

Lady Broncs drop three straight at home; ‘Battle of the Orange’ goes to UTB

“I wasn’t doing my job. Everyone needs to go in and do their job, and I wasn’t doing it.”

Marci LoganOutside Hitter

As the 2009 University of Texas Pan-American men’s cross country season nears, a clear set of goals has been laid out. And as is true with every commenc-ing season, there is a high level of op-timism among the Broncs, giving them hope of achieving those goals.

Defending their Great West Confer-ence Championship, placing high at regionals, and trying to qualify to the NCAA Championships are the objec-tives that the second (men) and fourth (women) ranked Broncs will have to meet this season, given their talent and expectations.

And it won’t be easy duplicating last year’s great performance, perhaps the school’s best team showing. The Broncs will lack their top two runners from last season in J.J. Hernandez (San Juan/PSJA North) and Luis Nava (La Joya/ La Joya HS) who both graduated. Nava and Hernandez each attained two top fi ve fi nishes last season at the New Bal-ance Islander Splash, HBU/Puma Cross Country Invitational and the Great West Conference Championships, maintain-ing stability for the Broncs.

Their prowess helped the team win the Great West Conference Champion-ship and the pair got into program record books by fi nishing sixth place at region-als – the second best fi nishes in school history.

Although Bronc head coach Dave Hartman knows he will be hard-pressed to replace his top dogs, he believes there is enough talent on the team to compen-

sate for the key losses.“It’s tough losing those guys. We

were kind of looking at this year for us as being decent but some of our new ad-ditions are looking pretty good. There’s defi nitely a sense of excitement on the men’s side for this season,” said fi rst-year coach Hartman, who was last year’s track and fi eld coach. “I’m trying to raise expectations here so I’m excited to get it going already.”

Senior Wally Gonzalez and graduate student Omar Doria will step into Her-nandez and Nava’s places, becoming the team’s pillars this campaign.

“I think we’re going to do very well and surprise a lot of people,” Doria said. “We have the same capabilities of be-ing as strong as last year or even better. I’m going to try and motivate the guys and be as much of a leader as I can, but I think all of us com-bined will help each other better than one person can.”

Gonzalez, the team captain and like Doria a grad of Edinburg North High School, be-lieves the Broncs will be in good enough shape, considering the losses, to at least duplicate last year’s accomplish-ments.

“We lost talent and experience com-

ing in this year. It‘s going to take a lot of effort from the team to replace them,” said Gonzalez, whose work in the 800 last year also got him a spot in program history. “Even with key guys gone our goal is to again win conference and do well in regionals. It’s very diffi cult but not impossible.”

Newcomer Edcouch native Frank Garcia and sophomore Rolando Vela, a third North ex, are two up-and-comers who will also try and assume responsi-bility for the Bronc squad.

WOMENWith only one athlete returning from

the 2008 group, it’s safe to say the wom-en will be in rebuild-ing mode this season.

“It’s going to be interesting this year for the women,” Hartman admitted. “We’re going to take some licks but that’s just part of it. I think they’re going to build momentum as the season progresses. There’s a lot of mid-distance girls that have great strength from track. Some of them will surprise themselves by the end of the year and

turn into cross country runners.”A few bumps on the road are the fi rst

steps on the way to achieving their goals, Hartman believes. Promising freshmen

Cinthia Adame (San Benito) and Judith Chumba (Eldoret, Kenya) will try and smooth out that ride this year as new-comers.

“These girls are going to continue to get better and better,” the coach pre-dicted. “In a couple of years I want the women’s team in a position to qualify for the national championships.”

The Broncs will run in four meets before competing in the big races at the conference championship in the Bronx on Halloween and a week later in the South Central Regional Championship in Waco. The season starts for both the men and the women this Saturday at College Station as they compete in the Texas A&M Invitational.

Page 15SPORTSSeptember 10, 2009

Broncs to keep stride; men second, women fourth in GW poll By Alvaro BalderasThe Pan American

“We lost talent and experience coming in this year. It’s going to take a lot of eff ort from the team to replace them. Even with key guys gone our goal is to again win conference and do well in regionals. It’s very diffi cult but not impossible.”Wally GonzalezMen’s cross-country team capt.

Men’s Cross Country Roster

Colton Bosler FR Pharr, TXOmar Doria GS Edinburg, TXFrank Garcia FR Edcouch, TXWally Gonzalez SR Edinburg, TXAndrew Lopez SO McAllen, TXGilroy Martinez Jr. SR McAllen, TXM. Angel Ramirez JR McAllen, TXVidal Ruiz, Jr. SR La Joya, TXRolando Vela SO Edinburg, TX

Women’s Cross Country RosterCinthia Adame FR San Benito, TXJudith Chumba FR Eldoret, KenyaMekka Edwards White JR West Hills, CADiana Galloso JR Edinburg, TXHilda Galloso FR Edinburg, TXShayna Parker SO Inglewood, CADaphne Payton FR Giddings, TXMichelle Zamora FR San Antonio, TX

SPORTS

For many 12-year-old boys, sports mean everything, whether it be play-ing at recess, being part of their school team, or supporting their team of choice on TV. But the Guadalupe Trevino Kelly Little League Baseball team from Reynosa took all that to the next level.

Boys such as 13-year-old Marcelo Martinez became national idols for the Mexican community when they played at the famous Little League Baseball World Series last month, earning third place after defeating Texas neighbor San Antonio 5-4 in the consolation game.

Martinez, who started playing base-ball eight years ago, said that the most exciting part of attending the cham-pionship at Williamsport, Penn., was meeting new people from all across the globe, and getting to measure his play-ing level on the fi eld with other teams.

“The thing I liked the most was hav-ing the experience of hanging out with people from other places of the world, from China, Japan, the United States,” he said. “The best part were the games because there was demonstrated how good we were compared to other teams.”

But the ninth-grader from Instituto Tamaulipas didn’t take it easy. In his fi rst game as pitcher against China-Tai-pei, the Asia/Pacifi c team, he allowed no hits or runs and struck out 12 batters. When Reynosa faced that same team in a later contest, Martinez fanned eight opponents and allowed only four hits,

though the Mexicans lost.“As a pitcher, the game depends on

you, whatever you do or stop doing is going to show in the result, and it’s very exciting,” he said, in Spanish.

Altogether, Martinez pitched 8 2/3 innings, struck out 20 batters, and al-lowed only four runs.

In order to protect young pitching arms, the Little League has regu-lations allowing pitchers in his di-vision a maximum of 85 throws per game. Moreover, a pitcher who throws 61 or more times must rest three cal-endar days and a game; two calendar days and a game for 41 to 60 throws; one calendar day for 21 to 40 throws; with no mandatory rest if pitching less than 20 balls.

The division includes boys 11 and 12, or players who turned 13 after March of the current year.

Reynosa Manager Agustin Montoya said he was very proud of the accom-plishment of a group who became “his kids for 14 days.”

“I’m very happy for putting the name of our league, our city, and our country so high,” he said, in Spanish. “I expected them to do well at the local level, maybe

in Mexico, but I didn’t expect this much at the international level, so I feel very proud of what these boys were able to do and their performance and effort in Williamsport.”

The tournament was comprised of two pools, the United States and the International, both made up by eight re-gions. The winner of each pool earned

the United States or International Cham-pionship, and played the World Series Championship game in order to defi ne the ultimate titleholder. The eventual winner of the whole tourney was the team from Chula Vista Calif., representing the West.

The Reynosa team went undefeat-ed in the fi rst round, beating Canada 2-1, dominating the Ger-man team represent-ing Europe 13-0, and winning a tight one

against the Asia-Pacifi c team 3-2. In the international semifi nals, they

defeated Japan 6-0, but were challenged by the Asian team they had already de-feated in the International Champion-ship game, losing 9-4.

“That’s the way sports are – some-times you win and other times you lose – but you must always fi ght until the end,” Montoya said.

And they did. Los Peloteritos, as they are known as in Mexico (it means “little ballers” in Spanish) came back and de-feated the United States Southwest team from San Antonio 5-4 with a two-run home run by Raymundo Berrones in the sixth and last inning. The players have many favorite memories of their time in the global youth sports spotlight.

“Going to Williamsport was my dream, and we did it,” said 13-year-old pitcher Raul Rojas, who closed the fi -nal inning of the fi rst game against the Asians, preventing the opponent from equaling the score. “Now it’s a new step.”

However, Montoya said that the coaching staff wants to have a different type of continuity with these players in the next age division they’ll move to, which includes athletes 13 and 14 years old. The staff wants to keep the group together to try to look for a better future as baseball players for those who have the talent to strive for that.

No matter what the future holds, Reynosa can bask in the glow of a re-markable season. It was perhaps per-sonifi ed by the focused look on the face of Martinez while he pitched in Wil-liamsport; his demeanor was interrupted by sporadic smiles when the game went well, and despite his mature appearance on the fi eld, this rather shy youngster’s eyes are now fi lled with pride, happi-ness, and still some disbelief about what happened some days ago.

“It feels good and I’m proud because we fi nished third in the entire world,” he concluded.

By Sara HernandezThe Pan American

September 10, 2009Page 16

SportsCommentary

Little League World Series; Sandlot hopefuls By Sara HernandezThe Pan American

There’s a point in every player’s life when they realize it’s too late. As they follow the athletic discipline religiously, there’s always the hope that they will be able to make it to the big time. But when they see people their age succeeding in the professional world and eventually start cheering for athletes younger than them, they come to the conclusion that it is, in fact, too late. Players become fans when their fi eld days are over.

But watching the boys from Reynosa succeed in the Little League World Se-ries brings some of the locals a feeling that it may not be too late for some of them. These kids are actually living the dream many grown-ups never got to ex-perience.

And it feels good, especially because one can see a different kind of satisfac-tion in their faces than one is used to see-ing when watching professionals do well on a competition.

They were having a blast. Even be-tween competing teams, one could tell that there was some kind of bond among players, who comforted their rivals even when defeating them. Sure, there were some tears but they were surpassed by smiles of fulfi llment, just for being there.

The kids didn’t seem to have any goal besides enjoying the moment, which many of us could learn from.

Back at home, the boys gladly posed for pictures and gave autographs to people who approached them, but an environment of childhood could still be sensed in their gathering to appear in a local TV broadcast. One could see them joking around praising what took them there in the fi rst place --the team.

There was also the feeling that the best is yet to come for these talented group of young players who can con-sider this achievement as the fi rst step towards a greater goal.

Still, the fact that the Mexican play-ers were able to do well in this interna-tional tournament doesn’t mean they will become professionals and will end up as the stars of some big-time Major League team. Hopefully they will at least get a chance. If given the opportunity, it would be nice to hear about a couple of them in some years as they follow the steps of the Florida Marlins’ Jorge Cantu, who is native from Reynosa, and Cardinal pitcher Jaime Garcia, from Mission.

Hopefully, these boys will continue playing and having fun with baseball, and although certainly some of them might realize that “it’s too late” at a point, they all know today that it’s nev-er too early…at least for making their dream come true.

Come what might, they will hold the memory of that summer when the little were great and the great wore green.

Sara Hernandez/The Pan American

FIELD OF DREAMS - The Little League team from Reynosa, Mex-ico, celebrates at its homecoming from the Little League Baseball World Series. The team placed third at the championship.

“I expected them to do well at the local level, maybe in Mexico, but I didn’t expect this much at the international level, so I feel very proud of what these boys were able to do and their performance and eff ort in Williamsport.”

Agustin MontoyaReynosa manager