KUDOS for April 15 issue

As former editor of The South Texan Paul Martinez would say - "We are printing a 10-page extravaganza!" Paul is now with the Beaumont Enterprise, but he would have been very proud of the 10-page issue The South Texan staff produced for the week of April 15. The paper had solid news on pi and lifestyles with the controversial Miss TAMUK story, A good page2 layout and question, features on a variety of people and subjects (including STDs), an informative entertainment page, good sports and opinion pages and a solid page en Espanol. Well done. The only weakness was art - or the lack of powerful photos. All students did an excellent job this week, from the Spanish story on the zarzuela by Edwin Vasquez to features by Pam Hinojosa, Angela Palacios, Patrick Desmond and Jami Rash and Jaime Gonzalea, the ready was easy and entertaining. However, there were several standout performance. No. 1 this week was the performance by Jaime Gonzalez, who had five stories in this issue. Rubi Reyes and Roberta Flores (they are pictured at the top) each covered controversial stories with integrity and news savvy. Rubi tackled the controversial A&I/A&M name change issue. Her research led to the development of a series - the first for this year. Roberta covered the breaking story on the Miss TAMUK mix up which had the university crowning the wrong young women as the winner. She received several phone calls asking her not to publish the story, but she persisted and came up with a solid news story with quotes. Well done. Both Rubi's and Roberta's stories got at least regional attention. More importantly, The South Texan, thanks to them. . . got the scoop. They're in the pot for the $100. Good luck.

TAMUK Students Compete in AAF National Student Advertising Competition

DALLAS - Members of the COMM 4306 Advanced Advertising class, the Graphic Arts Club and the Javelina Press Club participated in the American Advertising Federation's National Student Advertising Competition, April 16-19.
The Texas A&M University-Kingsville students had been preparing for this competition all semester and competed against some of the most established university advertising programs in the 10th district of the American Advertising Federation. Among the competitors was Texas State University, a former national champion. Other top universities in the competition were Louisiana State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Houston, Texas Christian University, Southern Methodist University, UT-Pan American, Angelo State, West Texas-A&M and others. All schools had the same project - to complete a advertising/marketing plan and strategy to help American On Line (AOL)improve their share of the online market by 15 percent. AOL representatives and judges from other sections of the country helped judge the competition.
The TAMUK team placed 13th out of 16 universities competing and created a buzz as a returning school that had not competed since 2001. "Most long-time observers felt we wound finish last or not even complete our 20-minute presentation," Todd Lucas, TAMUK art professor and sponsor of the Graphic Arts Club, said. "It is not unusual for the non-traditional participants to just not complete their program and finish last. We completed our performance, did well and learned what we need to do to improve our performance in the coming years."
TAMUK finished ahead of the University of Texas at Arlington, Hardin Simmons University and West Texas A&M. Texas State won the competition, marking the 8th time in 11 years it advanced to nationals. Last year's champ, TCU, finished second. Other top performers were SMU and OSU.
Lucas said that the presentation by the TAMUK students also generated some interest from advisers who sought him and the students out to offer graduate school opportunities.
"This was great. Our students got noticed as individuals, even though we performed as a team," Lucas said.
Lucas added that extra pressure was put on the team when senior political science and journalism major J.R. Quintanilla was chosen to represent the TAMUK Ad Team in choosing the order of the 16 presentations. Each team sent a representative to the front of the auditorium and each would ask to turn on a light bulb, representing the conference's theme - The Big Idea. As the light turned on, it would display a number that was inside the bulb. The TAMUK light bulb showed "No. 1."
"Well, that meant we were the first of 16 teams to go. We had to be ready to present at 7 a.m. We worked all night - many of us got only an hour or a little more of sleep that night - and were at the presentation room by 6 a.m. for one final rehearsal. Going first is always extra pressure, but our students were ready. They did a great job."
The class and club raised most of the money for the trip and also had help from the Student Engagement Funds and Students Services Fees.
"We thank everyone for their support, but most of all thank the students for their hard work," Lucas said.
Dr. Manuel Flores, associate professor of communications/journalism, is the lead professor in the class with Lucas assisting as a co-teacher.
"There are many improvements we can do to the class," Flores said. "It was our first time in a long while and I personally was hoping for a Top 10 finish. We didn't quite make that, but the competition is ferocious. The students who compete in this are dead serious about their opportunity and their future career. In the long run, it was a good experience for our students. It's as real-world as it gets and they met some of the people they will be competing with for jobs as they head out into the job market."
The TAMUK presenters included (pictured l to r) J.R. Quintanilla, Catherine Myers, Nereida Anaya, Vanessa Arellano and Roberta Flores. Students who helped with the props, research and technical aspects of the presentation who accompanied the team to Dallas were Carlos Alvarado, Veronica Arellano, Jeremy Martinez, Ashley Sanders, Ellie Tamez, Katherine Robinette, Ozzy Vela, Bob Pena and Diane Torres. Students who were in the class and helped with the preparations but were unable to attend were: Emily Lane Morin, Jacqueline Hutton, Carolyn Heatley, Angela Palacios, Rebecca Gutierrez, Michelle Leal, Alitrinette Scott, Mario Ramirez, Lorraine Rodriguez, Patrick Desmond, Valeri Earwood, Katrina Alejandro and Adrian Gamboa

TAMUK students win 22 awards at TIPA

TAMUK journalism, RTV and graphic art students won 22 awards - including a school record nine first place awards - in Texas Intercollegiate Press Association competition. The awards were presented at the TIPA annual convention and workshop in College Station April 3-5. The awards included a HM (5th place) recognition among Division 3 schools that includes A&M-Commerce, Midwestern State, Angelo State and A&M-Corpus Christi, among others. The South Texan Staff also earned an honorable mention (4th place) for "Best of Show" in the weekly newspaper division that included 30 universities for its Feb. 26 issue that featured coverage of the Barack Obama visit to South Texas. The South Texan Online was also rated the third best student produced website among Texas universities and colleges. Attached is a list of awards received by the staff. Thank you for your support. Below is the complete list of winners:

Catherine Myers
3rd Newpaper Ad Design
3rd Infographic
HM Online Breaking News
Angela Palacios
1st Feature Photo
South Texan Staff
1st Special Edition
(Javelina Crossing)
2nd In-Depth Reporting
(Tejano History)
1st Single-Subject (Rangel)
HM Overall Excellence
HM Best of Show

Jaime Gonzalez
3rd General Column
1st Sports Column
Dominique Garcia
HM News Story
1st Page One Design
Edwin Vasquez
1st Spanish Newswriting
HM Feature Page Design
HM On-Site Spanish News
Ellie Tamez
3rd On-Site Advertising
Jeremy Martinez
1st On-Site Cartoon
Juan Carlos Reyes
1st On-Site TV Sports News
2nd On-Site Radio Sports
Bob Peña, ST Staff
3rd Student Online Site
Kirk Notarianni
1st Radio PSA

KUDOs April 8

The April 8 issue had much good work and some good reporting, considering that the majority of our staffers were busy with the annual Texas Intercollegiate Press Association convention in College Station, April 3-6. That being said, the issue is very good. Good work on the Legacy Ball feature on the back page. The story is solid. The photos could have been stronger, but they work. Page 7 had an excellent feature story by Jami Rash on Dr. Sonny Davis. Well done Jami. Thanks. I would have liked to have seen a current photo of Dr. Davis. We assigned this. Why didn't we run it? Nice sports page. Much better from the previous week. Jav-a-stats strong again. The editorial page had two strong opinion pieces and two good columns. Good job, Kristie Vela and Michelle Leal. Page 4 had two good stories and nice modular layout. Mary Beth Cleavin and Emily Lane wrote the stories. The Chicken Wire art layout is "cute." I don't like "cute." Who did this? Page 3 is solid campus news. I'm sorry that they were all staff reports, but it works. Page 2 has a quaint layout on Miss TAMUK. I would have liked something bigger. The Who's Your Daddy layout could have been better and the question should focus more on campus news. Still, it's functional. Good job on the layout. Page 1 was a nice try. The Atterberry/Blue Angels story "clear for take off" is well thought out and the article is well done. Emily Morin and Patrick Desmond had good hard-breaking news stories on this page. That being said, Patrick Desmond gets KUDOs for this week. Patrick had a front page lead story, wrote a column for the Sports Page and designed Page 2. Great job, Patrick. You're in the pot for the $100 KUDOs scholalrship to be awarded at the "-30- Banquet."

KUDOs for April 1

It's been a hectic month, but the staff of The South Texan continues to work hard and the last two issues continue to show the progress we have made during the year. The April 1st issue, our April Fool's sorta edition, was solid with but for one mistake. We did not have a folio on pi. Was it intentional to "fool" our readers. Only our editor, Dominique Garcia, knows for sure. Nevertheless, the newspaper was solid with good strong news on the front page and a decent modular layout. Page 2 continue to be entertaining and Page 3 had solid campus news articles, all done by staffers or publications lab students. Well done. Page 4 had a solid lead photo but the University Concert stand alone photo was lost without a story. It was buried among ads. We should avoid this. Page 5 had a solid editorial, one "cute" column on Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition and a serious column on the cost of gasoline. Also, it was nice to see a letter-to-the-editor. The sports pages this week were our weakest elements, designwise. It's great info but we can do much better. There were solid stories on spring football and also the feature on Ruben Cantu (pictured here top right). Well done Claves Charles. Jaime also had a good column. Sports pages should be exciting. These two are not. These two are as functional as my old 1999 Dodge Ram pickup. Finally, Page 8 is a solid photospread on Spring Break 2008. The only thing missing here is a BAP and, perhaps, a scene setter. All the photos compete for attention and the "student element" is missing. This layout could have been better. But, hey, it's functional. In other words, like my old 1999 Dodge Ram pickup, it still works. Having said this, KUDOs this week goes to Clavens Charles (pictured here top left), our chief photographer, who wrote a solid feature for the sports page. Clavens had to do three rewrites before his feature was accepted, but he kept working at it and got it done. Well done, Clavens, your in the pot for the $100 KUDOs award. Good luck.

Spring Break Fever - or is it just another day in the classroom?

Spring Break 2008 is almost over. Again, it was too short. For professors Spring Break usually means an opportunity to catch up on grading, keep up to date with readings and work on any special projects the university assigns. For university administrators, it's a time to concentrate on all those projects without the constant interruption of students and faculty. For students, it's an opportunity to head to the beach, 6th St. in Austin, the Riverwalk in San Antonio, the Hill Country or even Mexico. Right? Not so fast, Sherlock. Increasingly, students are finding that some, in some cases most, of their Spring Break must be relegated to study. Students use this time to also catch up on their reading or assignments and to put that little something extra into the research paper or assignment that is due at the end of the semester. This is the case for many journalism and RTV students at TAMUK. For example, students in the Advanced Reporting case spent much of Spring Break working on their South Texas feature. Those in Editorial writing are working on specialized columns due in April. The Editing and Design students are starting work on their final projects as they hone their newfound desktop publishing skils. With the time off, many of the Advanced Reporting students have time to travel to destinations they could not fit into their schedules during a regular school day and actually complete their South Texas feature story assignment. Others spent time doing research, writing scripts, planning graphics, doing storyboards for TV commercials and running primary research data through a computer as they prepared for the National Advertising Student Competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. One student lamented, "I don't have a Spring Break!" But, then, the realization that students at other universities are doing the same thing. Why? Ironically, most of the work these students do during Spring Break has more to do with the future than the present. The extra hours they spend on their education will mean they will be prepared to compete with others for the limited amount of "good" jobs, in their areas of interest, with others from throughout the state and nation. Why, that dedication is enough to inspire an ol' prof to make it through the end of the year. Oh, I know. I know. Somehow most students found time to squeeze in a couple days at the beach and a night out with some friends. That's "The Way of the Student." Heck, they'd find that time during a school week, any way. Ha. But, this Spring Break I know that many of our TAMUK students actually spent time working on school projects. Congratulations to them. The job market is fierce. This will prepare you for the future more than you will ever realize. Oh, and for more "excellent" reading on this issue please visit http://www.caller.com/news/2008/mar/21/no-break-just-time-to-cram-for-exams/ on the Corpus Christi Caller-Times website caller/com. There you will find TAMUK journalism graduate Adriana Garza's very timely column on Spring Break 2008. Well, enjoy the rest of the "break." See you Monday.

The role of the critic

One of the jobs that a newspaper has is to serve as the eyes and ears of people when it comes to things such as drama productions, musical performances, movies and eateries (restaurants). It is not uncommon for staffers of The South Texan to attend one of the university's drama productions and write a "review." Also, from time-to-time, the reporters will review a university concert or a new album a group has released. It is at this time that many ask, "What qualifies these students as experts?" Well, they are not "experts." They represent the common citizen or student who is being subjected to the performances and they often review the action from a layman's point of view. This is especially true at the collegiate level where student reviewers (critics) are just honing their skills. As they progress into the professional ranks, they become more familiar with what makes a good drama production, good music or even good custom-making and scenery. Reviewing drama or musical productions is just part of the work we do at The South Texan and our students regularly look forward to these assignments. Having said that, it is important to note that the students who are chosen usually have a background in the area they have been picked to review or have been doing this for some time. The Advanced Reporting class offers a section of "critical reviews" for students and prepares them for this chore. In addition, the Structure of the Arts class gives students a background in many areas. Once on staff, students are coached as to what to look for when assigned to do a review. The reviews, while critical, are not intended to be personal assaults on any one and never should reflect that character. From time-to-time student reviewers will assert things such as a certain actor should speak louder or the scenery was not appropriate. Other times the review will ask why sound systems were not improved. All are done in a positive manner, supposedly. The reviews are not supposed to offend, and we hope none have. Also, we have learned that the reviews often help the student actors get better and improve their skills. Whether this happened because of the review or because the student just improved, we can't tell. Also, the reviews serve as a learning experience for the drama students who must get used to "critical reviews." Pictured with this blog is a scene from the Drama Program's last play, "Somewhere in the Middle."
Having said, the last drama production of the season - "Steel Magnolias" - was awesome. It was one of the best that I (Dr. Manuel Flores) have ever since at this university, dating back to the 1950s when I saw a King Lear production. Congratulations to all the cast members.

Let us know what you think of the reviews by our South Texan reporters. And, are you interested in joining our staff to do this type of story? Call. That's all.