Alive Campaign hits California!
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Student life
It’s been a month since the five Baylor students who make up the Alive Campaign team began their 4,312-mile, 72-day journey from Waco to Anchorage — on bicycle — and they’re still going strong! The team spent the weekend in San Francisco, seeing the sights during a much-needed rest day before hitting the road again.
Along the way, the team has done exactly what it hoped to do with this bike ride — draw attention to suicide prevention. Along their journey, the Alive Campaign has been featured on the local news in Abilene (KTAB-TV) and Lubbock (KAMC-TV and KJTV-TV), with newspaper features running in the Waco Tribune-Herald, Brownwood Bulletin, Hillsboro Reporter, Gatesville Messenger, Clovis (New Mexico) News Journal (including video), Lake Powell (Arizona) Chronicle, and Manteca (California) Bulletin. Even K-LOVE Christian radio ran an interview with the group on its nationwide radio network.
A side effect has been that the team has also drawn attention to Baylor as its members exemplify the kind of student Baylor attracts. The group is also doing an excellent job keeping their blog updated daily with news and pictures from their trip. A number of Baylor alumni are helping host the students at many of their stops; if you live on the West Coast and are interested in assisting the group, here’s how you can help.
Sic ’em, Alive Campaign!
Bears excel at fishing
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Athletics, Honors
I’ve never been much of a fisherman — too impatient, I suppose — but I’ve got enough outdoorsman in my blood to understand those who do. Two Baylor alums have made the news this year for their fishing exploits: Alton Jones won the Bassmaster Classic in February, while Charlie Pack was inducted into the Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame earlier this month.
Jones (pictured at right) claimed the title at the world’s biggest bass-fishing tournament this spring, earning with it the $500,000 prize. Jones, who is very outgoing about his Christian faith, attended Baylor in the mid 1980s before beginning his career as a professional fisherman. His triumph even led Baylor men’s basketball coach Scott Drew — himself an avid fisher — to add Jones’ picture to a “wall of fame” at the Ferrell Center.
Pack, a 1960 graduate and three-year basketball letterwinner, hosts a weekly half-hour television show (“Fishing Country with Charlie Pack”) that airs in eastern and central Texas and western Louisiana. He also started the Tadpole Foundation, an organization aimed at giving every child a chance to go fishing. (The Waco Tribune-Herald ran a nice feature on Pack in May.)
Interestingly, after Jones won the Bassmaster Classic this year, he was invited by President George W. Bush to the White House, where the President noted that he had previously been introduced to Jones by none other than Charlie Pack. Small world!
Sic ’em, Baylor fishermen!
Researchers at Baylor looking for ways to reduce fuel costs
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Academics, Research
With gas prices soaring ever higher — nearing $4.00 a gallon for even regular unleaded here in Waco, and even higher in other parts of the country — researchers at Baylor are investigating ways to make at least one alternative fuel cheaper to produce.
Dr. Kevin Chambliss, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, is leading a study of the by-products created during the production of ethanol. Those by-products are largely to blame for the high cost of ethanol, which in turn is one of the main things keeping ethanol from being a legitimate alternative fuel option.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently recognized the importance of this research by awarding Chambliss’ team a $492,000 grant to further their study.
Sic ’em, Baylor researchers!
Five Bears selected in 2008 Major League Baseball draft
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics, Honors
For the 18th straight season, Major League Baseball has dipped into the Baylor baseball program to select players in the annual First-Year Player Draft. Five Bears were drafted this season, led by junior shortstop Beamer Weems, who went in the eighth round to the San Diego Padres with the 255th overall pick.
The other Baylor players selected were all pitchers: Mace Thurman (Cincinnati Reds, 17th round), Tim Matthews (Colorado Rockies, 27th round), Randall Linebaugh (Reds, 37th round) and Nick Cassavechia (Detroit Tigers, 37th round).
Weems and Thurman could return to Baylor for another year if they do not sign pro contracts; the other three Bears each completed their eligibility this spring. In head coach Steve Smith’s 14 seasons at Baylor, he has seen 57 of his players drafted a total of 65 times (juniors who do not sign can be drafted again as seniors). Four Baylor alums are currently playing in the big leagues: David Murphy and Jason Jennings for the Texas Rangers, Kip Wells with the Colorado Rockies and Kelly Shoppach with the Cleveland Indians.
Sic ’em, Baylor baseball!
Young alum no Cry-Baby over role in Broadway musical
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni
One of my favorite movies growing up was The Muppets Take Manhattan, in which Kermit the Frog and his friends head for New York and the bright lights of Broadway after graduating college.
Baylor alum Christopher J. Hanke’s life story might not include frogs or bears or pigs, but it does follow the general plotline, as he was starring on Broadway just a few years out of college. Hanke debuted in 2005 as the lead in In My Life, then took over the role of Mark in Rent. Today, he plays the villain in the Tony Award-nominated musical Cry-Baby, based on the 1990 movie that starred Johnny Depp. (The Dallas Morning News ran a nice feature on the Metroplex native here.)
Those who saw Hanke perform while at Baylor would not be surprised that he’s starring in musicals. As a student, he was a member of the Baylor Religious Hour Choir and Men’s Chorus and served as Sing Chairman.
Sic ’em on the Great White Way, Christopher!
Softball’s Reagan earns third straight All-America honor
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics, Honors
Junior third baseman Brette Reagan became the Baylor softball program’s first-ever three-time all-American when she was named to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I third team in May.
The Lady Bears have had at least one All-American each of the last four years. Reagan earned the honor after leading Baylor in average (.385), runs (35), hits (50), doubles (11), home runs (10) and RBI (36) this season. She was earlier named first team all-Big 12 and first team all-region.
With another year yet to go, Reagan already holds the Baylor record for career walks; she also ranks among the school’s career leaders in RBI (2nd), home runs (3rd), runs (4th), doubles (4th), total bases (4th), hits (8th), and triples (10th).
Sic ’em, Brette!
Mamadou honored by Big 12 for sportsmanship and service
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Athletics, Honors
Seven-foot center Mamadou Diene is a favorite around campus, nicknamed “The Mayor” for his friendly nature, and he has finished among the top three in the Big 12 Conference in blocks per game in each of his first three seasons. But it was his off-the-court activity that earned him the title of 2008 Big 12 Male Sportsperson of the Year from the conference last week.
Since arriving from Senegal, Mamadou has been an active participant in community service projects and has served on Baylor’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council. He does not own a car or cell phone so that he can send money home to help support his family (his parents died when he was a teenager). The first member of his family to attend college, Mamadou is set to graduate this August after just three and a half years. The Waco Tribune-Herald reports that he does plan to stick around for his senior year, though, after which he hopes to get a shot at the NBA.
Mamadou is the second Baylor student-athlete to win the award since it was started in 2000-01; women’s basketball favorite Jessika Stratton was so honored in 2004.
[June 6 update: Along these same lines, Mamadou was also one of five to receive the 2008 Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award from the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics. The award honors “student-athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics.”]
Sic ’em, Mamadou!
Baylor’s leaders of tomorrow studying in Russia today
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Baylor 2012, Academics, Honors
Russia is an important actor on the world stage in just about every arena, one of a few key players that will help direct international happenings for the foreseeable future. For that reason, it’s good to see today’s Baylor students — tomorrow’s leaders — studying Russian language and culture.
Three Bears were selected to receive Critical Language Scholarships from the U.S. Department of State to study in Russia during an intensive two-month program this summer. Seniors Gary Guadagnolo and Sara Garrett and junior Ross Irons were three of the 525 scholarship recipients selected from more than 6,000 applicants.
As Baylor works to “prepare its graduates to enter a pluralistic and global society,” programs like these help students dive into the culture they are studying, preparing our leaders of the future for the world stage.
Sic ’em, Gary, Sara and Ross!
Two law students among top three scorers on Texas bar exam
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Academics, Honors
Baylor Law students regularly have the top pass rate on the Texas State Bar Exam, but this tidbit is the icing on the cake: A pair of Baylor students were among the top three individual scorers on the February exam.
Dallas native Thomas Keane earned the second highest score on the exam, while Ashley DeForest of Houston received the third highest score. (A Harvard law student claimed the top spot.)
Sic ’em yet again, Baylor law students!
New study ranks Baylor among the nation’s most successful universities
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Academics, Honors
When colleges and universities talk about rankings, they’re usually referring to the ones annually released by U.S. News and World Report. The publication’s lists make a big splash when they are released every year and have come to be the most relied-upon evaluation of a school’s academic standing.
But at the end of the day, that’s only one method. Forbes magazine ran a story recently on another ranking compiled by the Center for College Affordability & Productivity (CCAP) that focuses on results. Do students like their courses while in school? Are they graduating? How successful are they after they graduate?
Based on their study, Baylor came in at No. 34 in the nation, right between Vanderbilt and NYU — two schools annually recognized as “top-tier.” Baylor fared better in the study than a number of other notable schools — prestigious universities such as UCLA, Michigan, USC, Florida and Texas. In fact, Baylor ranked ahead of every other school in the Big 12 Conference.
In the end, it is the results that matters; everyone involved with the University wants to see Baylor graduates succeeding in every facet of life after graduating. We know Baylor to be successful in that regard, but it’s good to see the University’s track record validated by outside organizations as well.
Sic ’em, Bears!
