Juan Carlos Reyes new editor of South Texan

Juan Carlos Reyes, senior communications/journalism major from Corpus Christi has been appointed editor-in-chief of The South Texan student newspaper for Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Reyes joined the student newspaper Spring 2007 but has been involved in other student publications and media prior to arriving at TAMUK. He has served as Associate Editor ad Sports Editor for The South Texan and has covered several university events including sporting events, entertainment, features and news. He was alson on the staff of The Foghorn at Del Mar College and has worked as a reporter and columnist for the Nueces County Record*Star in Robstown.
“I’ve gained enough experience and diversified myself as more than just a sports writer,” Reyes said. “I want the student body to understand that.”
Reyes received associate degrees in radio/TV and journalism from Del Mar College.
His interest in journalism began when he was asked to write a column for an advertising course while at Del Mar College. Soon after that he was asked to join the staff of The Foghorn, the award-winning student newspaper at DMC.
“I realized this is my future and this is what I want to do,” Reyes said.
Reyes said he intends on making the student newspaper at TAMUK even more student-oriented by adding more music and band reviews, features on student and faculty members and web blogs to the student newspaper’s web site.
“I think that everybody including students and faculty have something special about them,” Reyes said.
Reyes also said he intends on working well with Campus Activities, Student Activities, Dean of Students office, Student Government Association president and the TAMUK community.
“I think I have the personality to do something like that,” Reyes said, giggling.

Special News, special editions

In this era of instant communication and technology, the "extra" or "special edition" in print journalism has become a thing of the past. It takes very special circumstances for a newspaper staff to come together and produce a special issue. The news event must be of major consequence to the readers of that newspaper and it can't be just another story that will be on the evening news or can be announced on the internet. Texas A&M University-Kingsville had two such stories this past week. The first was the tuberculois (TB) scare. When it was announced that a TAMUK student had the disease and that others may have been infected, no amount of press coverage from Corpus Christi TV stations and newspapers 50 miles away would suffice. Also, in spite of the university's excellent effort communicate with students, some students continued to have questions and natural concerns. It was natural for the university's student newspaper to step forward. When the students at The South Texan saw a line of more than 50 students at the Life Wellness Center for the TB test, the staff decided it was time for a "speical edition" just to get some clarity to the situation. It wasn't enough, but seeing a university or local newspaper cover an event openly adds calm to a crisis. It's been that way since the 19th century when responsible journalists saw that adding interpretation and meaning to an event was the ethical and correct way of reporting a news event. So, the first page of a special tabloid edition of the South Texan was in the works. The second significant event happened miles away in Abilene, Texas, where the TAMUK baseball team was making some big news of its own. The Javelinas, ranked 6th going into the Lone Star Conference baseball tournament, surprised every one in the nation and won the LSC title! Problem is, it was so far away from home and the coverage was so minimal that few realized this historic athletic event had happened. The sports guys on the staff took over and thanks to the work of Sports Information Director Sean Johnson and others, page 2 of the "special edition" was planned out. The special edition was printed in the office printer at The South Texan, to save money. The students distributed the paper to the different areas. Only 1,000 copies were printed (the normal run for our paper is 4,000) and distribution was limited. The first place the paper was distributed was at Mesquite Groove, the annual end-of-year bash, and it was met with enthusiasm from students and some negative remarks from administrators and teachers. Still, it was picked up and read and a sense of calm and pride (because of the different issues covered) ensued from holding the newspaper. The South Texan staff is there for the students, and saw producing this issue as a right and a privilege. The fact that most of this students volunteered for this while we are in finals week is inspiring. No, they didn't miss out on their work. So, as a result, the "Speical Edition" is out. It came about because of special circumstances. It is significant because it is as rare as mosquitoes on a frigid night in the South Texas Brush Country. Congratulations to The South Texan staff, its new editor Juan Carlos Reyes, reporters Rubi Reyes, Kristie Vela and Jaime Gonzalez and Publications Lab Assistant Adriana Garza. KUDOs to Carlos Alvarado, Sabrina Salinas, Kiki Ausbie, Ellie Tamez, Bob Pena and Edwin Vasquez for helping with various areas of production, printing and distribution. Thanks. It's a good way to "finish" the year. We made it, finally.

Journalism graduate courses to be offered

For the first time since the 1980s, the Communications Theatre Arts Department will offer graduate courses in journalism. Offered this Summer I is COMJ 5303 - Mass Communications Research. Students will be expected to complete research projects on a variety of media topics. Among the possible research projects are viewership, listenership or readership surveys of area media. Offered this Fall 2008 will be COMJ 5303 - Hispanics in the Media. The course will revolve around doing research on the impact of Hispanics on U.S. media. Students interested in these courses can register on line, after completing admissison requirements. They are also encouraged to visit Dr. Manuel Flores, associate professor of journalism/communications, at TAMUK. Please contact Dr. Flores at ext. 3401 or cell phone 361-813-7808.

KUDOs April 29 issue

The last issue of the 2007-208 school year is out and distributed. There will be no more South Texans until the 2008 Fall Semester in September. Summer is a time for training and keeping up with the news via The South Texan Online at tamuk.edu/southtexan. We encourage all journalism students and Javelina Journalism fans to keep up with the TAMUK news via the website and to continue to contact us if there are news to report.

It's been quite a year, but for right now let us review the issue at hand - April 29. First, The South Texan made a bit of history this week. For the first time in the history of the journalism program at TAMUK, A&I, South Texas State Teachers College or whatever this university has been called, the university's student newspaper published in two sections. There was an 8-page Section A and a 4-page Section B, completing a 12-pager full of information and data pertinent to the university's student body, faculty and staff. To Dominique Garcia, editor-in-chief, and her staff, congratulations.

There were many good stories in this issue. Last start with pi, page one. A newsy front page is a must for college journalism and this one did not disappoint. The death of a university official is always sad to report, but this story on the top strip was done with class and dignity. Our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Trudy Anderson. She will be missed. The article on the students at the students at the University Family Housing Unit being asked to vacate the buildings was touching and well done as well. It was accompanied by a solid photo of a father picking up his child's tricycle. I would have liked to have seen more quotes here, but I know the story was done on deadline. The story on the TAMUK/A&I conflict brought to conclusion a 3-part series by Rubi Reyes. Good job, Rubi. But we missed something. We needed an accompanying editorial reaching our own conclusion on the debate. It was written and it didn't run. This was a mistake from the editorial page editors. At the very least, a column was needed.

A2 is solid. The final exam schedule is always a "must run" on the last issue of the semester. Page A3 had some solid campus news with a review of the visit by the Chancelor, a story on a retiring associate vice president and news stories on The South Texan's website and on Earth Day at TAUMK. Well done. A4 was a pleasant surprise. Sunnie Odom's story on drinking and driving and the accompanying layout provided a solid page. The opinions page had two solid columns and a solid editorial on the presidential search. This is where the TAMUK editorial should have run. It was ready, but I guess news judgment, or lack thereof, got in the way. Page A6 included a review of several editorial and a farewell column by Dominique. It was solid. Page 7 featured sports and had good stories. We still need to use bigger photos and more attractive layout on sports. Maybe this will come next year. Page 7 was the last Spanish page for the year and it included some solid photographs and stories from Edwin Vasquez, The story on Dolores Huerta is very well done. Now, for the B Section. While B1 stands along as a section front, it is not as strong as I would want it to be. I was glad to see the article on the new SGA president and the story on Mesquite Groove. The story on the University Police adding two new cars was also well done but I was disappointed with the photo. We need our UPD patrol officers in the photos boasting and showing pride about about the new cars. B2 as the entertainment page featured a review of Big Love, the final drama production of the season, and a story on the senior art exhibit. But, we save the best for last, Page B4, the lifestyles page and final page of Section B and th newspaper were excellent. Kristie Vela's "My Iraq" was very sell done and the photographs brought the story to the forefront. Kristie's last page was a great way to end the first two-sectioned newspaper in Javelina Journalism history. It was a great way to end a long and trying semester and a good way to allow me to say "well done" to the staff. Thanks, staff, for a great job this year. You've helped maintain the standard and we will work to make it even better. Kristie, (pictured at top) by the way, gets the last KUDOs of the year. She's in the pot for the $100. Well done, Kristie. Thanks.

KUDOS for April 22 issue

The "Lock-down" issue proved to be a good one, but with few exceptions. The articles by the lock-down staff were done very well under very trying circumstances. I was impressed with the "command center" attitude to the students when they discovered we had a big story on campus. Most reacted like professional journalists and through cell phone or internet were busy compiling data for their stories even while the lock-down was being enforced. We even got a photo of the empty campus (don't ask how). My disappointment, however, does revolve around quality photos or lack of news photos. The front page had excellent news articles, from part 2 of "A&I/A&MK name change" controversy, to the lock-down story, Miss TAMUK saga and the death of a graduate student. These were all solid stories. Page 2 focused on student issues with the "question of the week" and had a good review on a current move. Page 3 had a good variety of campus news issues. Page 4 was a solid editorial page, with the exception of no letter to the editor. We had several sent to us but we didn't use them. Page 5 and good lead art and a solid "Christians Profess" story. Page 7 had a solid "enterprise" story on the high price of gas. Good graphics, solid story make this a winner. Design was a little weak because the graphics get lost but there was lots of effort here. Good job. Page 8 had another "enterprise" story (by the way, these are stories outside of the regular beat system for a newspaper or reporter) Page 8 had a good art head and solid big photo....I would have like to have seen the story in bold face of bigger. Sports page was newsy and had solid local stories...always a good sign. Again, here I would have liked for our photos to have been stronger. The one photo-op that I wish we could have done better with was the Javelina football team visit to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi. I wish the picture would have shown the boy who was in for a tonsillectomy. Still, well done. Now, there were several very good individual efforts for this issue. Rubi Reyes did part two of her series and teamed with Juan Carlos Reyes for a report on the lock-down. She also had a photo of students stranded in the cafeteria during the lock-down. Well done. She also designed one of the campus news pages. Kristie Vela had a good folo-up on the Miss TAMUK controversy as well as an article on how the alert system worked during the campus emergency. Kristie's Miss TAMUK story, unfortunately, was responsible for our newspapers disappearing from our news stands. Someone, didn't like the fact we wrote the truth, I guess. Still, there were plenty of papers to go around so, it didn't matter. Dominique Garcia, Kiki Ausbie and Patrick Desmond all had excellent column on the campus emergency and the staff had a good editorial on how the alerty stystem worked. In addition, Krystal Burgess had a solid column on hunger and Robert Pena continued his excellent series on TAMUK's computer system operations. So, there is plenty of praise to go around. The lock-down staff led by lab assistant Adriana Garza while most of us were away to the AAF meeting did well. But, as always, when the pressure is on, at least one person rises to the top. While this is very difficult, KUDOs this week goes to Rubi Reyes (pictured here). She is in the pot for the $100. Good luck to her and thanks to all for another good issue. It's another good 10-page extravaganza.

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