Past, future Bears team up to serve Kenyan orphans
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Student life
Updating a previous story… The Waco Tribune-Herald reports that Kristin Elliott, an 18-year-old incoming Baylor freshman, has far surpassed her goal of raising $60,000 for an orphanage in Kenya. As of last week, following her appearance on ABC’s World News Tonight, more than $100,000 had poured in for the orphanage!
Thanks to the generous donations, “Kristin’s Miracle House” will now be joined by “Kristin’s Miracle Clinic for AIDS Orphans” as part of the Tree of LIFE Children’s Village outside the city of Lusaka, Kenya’s capital. The Village will eventually include 25 homes housing over 300 children; Kristin’s Miracle House is home number seven. Tax-deductible donations are still being accepted.
There’s another Baylor connection here, too, that I only just learned about. The Village is coordinated by Family Legacy Missions International — which was founded by 1986 Baylor alum Greer Kendall. As long as Kristin’s cancer doesn’t return, she’ll be headed back to Kenya on another trip with the organization next month. It’s truly awe-inspiring when God works like this — and great to see both past and future Baylor Bears able to work together to serve others so well!
Sic ’em, Kristin and Greer, and Baylor alums serving everywhere!
More faculty moving onto campus to increase interaction with students
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Baylor 2012, Student life
It’s great that Baylor has so many professors who are so eager to get to know their students that they actually want to move in right alongside them, living in the residence halls. Three more professors will soon join the ones already living on campus, bringing Baylor’s total to nine faculty-in-residence.
Dr. Laine Scales and her husband, Dr. Glenn Blalock, will be the first faculty-in-residence in Kokernot Hall, while Steven Pounders will be the first to live at University House in the North Village. They join Drs. Doug and Michele Henry (pictured, in their apartment in Brooks College), Cindy Fry (Heritage House, North Village), Dr. Julie Sweet and Dr. Tom Riley (Texana House, North Village) and Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray (Honors Residential College, Alexander-Memorial).
The combination of these professors’ interactions with students and the growth of the various Living-Learning Centers, I think, have a lot to do the rise in the number of upperclassmen living on campus. The administration reports that that number is up 26 percent over a year ago, with more than 1,700 students already signing up to return to the residence halls next year. About 40 percent of students will live on campus next year — good progress toward Baylor’s goal of having 50 percent of students in the residence halls by 2012.
Sic ’em, faculty-in-residence and Campus Living & Learning staff!
Students learning international relations through model organizations
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Baylor 2012, Academics, Student life, Honors
I was never much for model cars, model airplanes or any other sort of model. I lacked the coordination to keep things together and in the right places, and everything always came out not quite right.
Thankfully, Baylor students involved with a different sort of model aren’t having those troubles. Baylor students have enjoyed success competing in Model United Nations, Model Arab League and Model Organization of American States (MOAS) competitions.
In April, Baylor’s Model UN team received honorable mention at the National Model UN conference in New York, placing among the top 15% of the 290 colleges and universities competing at the prestigious event. Senior Will Masters received the top award in his committee.
Meanwhile, Baylor’s Model Arab League team was honored with one of two Outstanding Delegation awards at the Southwest University Model Arab League competition in Fort Worth. The Secretary General of the conference said afterward, “While I was speaking to Baylor delegates, I felt as if I was speaking to students who had lived in the Arab world and saw the culture, history, and passion of the Arab people first-hand. Their dedication to this competition and their desire to learn about the Arab states makes them one of the most respected and feared teams at the conference.” Four Bears (Tim Semons, Eric Headstream, Ryan Holder and Joji Suzuki) won Outstanding Delegate Awards.
Finally, the Baylor MOAS team’s co-head delegate, Seth Reed, was elected as the general assembly’s president during the Washington MOAS conference in Washington, D.C. Over 30 schools from nine different countries participated, but for the fourth time eight years, it was a Baylor student who was elected president. Three other Bears (Cassidy Ford, Manny Munoz and Joshua Hyles) earned positions of leadership during the competition.
Imperative XI of Baylor’s Vision 2012 recognizes the need to emphasize global education. I think these students have got it.
Sic ’em, model organization participants!
Incoming freshman featured on ABC for her giving heart
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Student life
Last week, we wrote about three exceptional students who will start at Baylor this fall. ABC’s World News Tonight did us one better, featuring another soon-to-be Baylor freshman, Kristin Elliott, as the program’s “Person of the Week” last Friday. (You can watch the segment here.)
Elliott has been fighting a rare, aggressive form of cancer since she was 16, when she had a grapefruit-sized tumor removed from her leg. Even through multiple surgeries and radiation treatment, she hasn’t missed a beat, continuing to play on her high school volleyball team. (Kristin’s sister Mandy is a junior on the Baylor volleyball team.)
Elliott was contacted by the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to young people with life-threatening medical conditions. Most requests are for trips to Disney World, or meeting a celebrity. Kristin, heavily influenced by her experiences on a mission trip to Africa, asked for money to start an orphanage in Zambia for AIDS-stricken orphans. The foundation agreed and donated $2,600 towards the $60,000 Kristin will need to get the orphanage started. (Donations are accepted by mail or through her school’s website.) [May 8 update: ABC news anchor Charles Gibson noted on the air last night that Kristin has now raised the $60,000, though I’m sure additional donations would only further the project.]
If that doesn’t challenge us to think about our priorities, I don’t know what will. I’m certainly glad that we’ll soon be able to call Kristin a fellow Baylor Bear.
Sic ’em, Kristin!
Baylor’s first Relay for Life raises $100,000 for cancer research
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Photo Galleries, Student life
When Baylor first got involved with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life last fall, the University was challenged to raise $25,000 for the cause.
When the donations were totaled up from April’s student-organized event, the inaugural All University Baylor Relay for Life had raised over $100,000. Nationwide, more than 4,000 similar events collected a total of over $400 million for cancer research.
With a theme of “Bear Down: All Paws for a Cure,” the all-night event on the fields outside the Baylor Sciences Building rallied more than 800 participants, including women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey, who led a 6 a.m. pep rally and donated funds that pushed Baylor’s total over the six-figure mark. Click here for a photo gallery from the event.
Sic ’em to Zeta Tau Alpha, Baylor University Medical Ethics Discussion Society and Alpha Phi Omega for organizing the event, and sic ’em to all the participants!
Recycling efforts making Baylor even more green
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Student life
Thanks to expanded recycling efforts, Baylor more than doubled the amount of recycled material it collected during a 10-week span this spring compared to last year. The numbers were measured for a national competition among colleges and universities called Recyclemania.
That jump in recycling leaped Baylor to No. 65 out of the 200 universities that participated (and third among Big 12 schools). Baylor collected more than 96 tons of recyclables during the competition — items that otherwise likely would have ended up in a landfill. Besides the positive environmental impact, the changes also help Baylor save money; in fact, by selling the recycled materials, Baylor actually will end up saving more than $27,000 a year.
Of course, environmental efforts aren’t just about recycling — reducing waste is important, too. To that end, moves like changing public printers to double-sided printing are saving even more trees.
Sic ’em, Baylor conservationists!
A look ahead at this fall’s freshman class
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Baylor 2012, Academics, Student life
Part of Baylor’s Vision 2012 has been to attract a top-tier student body by “recruiting students with strong academic records and characters consistent with Baylor’s mission” — outstanding students like Alana Akers, Miriam Garcia and Andrew McCleskey. These three students have each chosen Baylor and are just a sampling of the 3,000-plus students who will begin classes this fall.
* Akers, an incoming freshman from Beaumont, Texas, is a National Merit finalist and an aspiring doctor who has already been shadowing a pediatrician on a weekly basis (pictured at right). The Beaumont Enterprise profiled her here.
* Garcia is one of four El Paso-area students who received Gates Millennium Scholarships, given to top minority students with financial need. Garcia is the No. 2 student in her class and chose Baylor over schools like Notre Dame, Texas Tech and TCU. The El Paso Times wrote about her and the other local Gates Millennium Scholars.
* McCleskey, a Richardson, Texas, native, was highlighted by The Dallas Morning News in their ongoing series of “Good Kids.” An Eagle Scout and mission work volunteer, McCleskey plans to major in film and digital media at Baylor.
We are truly blessed at Baylor to have student after student with backgrounds like these entering year after year.
Sic ’em, incoming freshmen!
UIL regionals, Premiere serve as introductions to Baylor for high school students
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Student life
Over 2,000 of the state’s brightest high school students flooded Baylor’s campus this month for the University Interscholastic League (UIL) regional finals. The academic and theatrical competitions were held April 11-12, followed by the athletic contests this past week.
This weekend was also Spring Premiere; prospective students and their families (totaling over 3,500 guests) visited campus to learn about Baylor as they prepare to decide which college to attend.
I love that so many of the state’s best students get such a great exposure to Baylor and its campus. We have such a beautiful campus and such great people that it makes a world of difference in students’ opinions when they actually get to come visit.
Sic ’em, future Baylor students and the faculty/staff who help host these events!
Baylor senior beats the odds in earning Goldwater Scholarship
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Student life, Honors
Baylor senior Juan Yaquian’s life story could easily have turned out differently. At age 9, Juan’s father left the family, forcing his mother to work multiple jobs. But instead of following the easy path to trouble, Juan dedicated himself to his studies.
His hard work paid off, as Yaquian will graduate next May with a degree in electrical and computer engineering. Last week, he got some more good news — he received the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the top undergrad award in the country for math, the natural sciences and engineering.
As a Goldwater Scholar, Yaquian’s award will cover tuition, fees, books, room and board up to $7,500 for one year as he continues his education. His long list of honors is impressive, but I’m even more impressed by his attitude. Here’s what he had to say after winning the award:
“I feel that I have been blessed just to have the opportunity to attend college because a college education was never guaranteed to me, so I never forget to thank the Lord for everything I accomplish in college and in life.”
Sic ’em, Juan!
Diadeloso 2008
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Photo Galleries, Just for Fun, Student life
Baylor students, faculty and staff celebrated Diadeloso 2008 on Thursday with the usual tournament games, but also with increased community involvement from on-campus student organizations and Waco-area businesses.
This year’s event marked the 74th annual Diadeloso, as the tradition dates back to the first “play day” in the spring of 1934. To put that in perspective, that same spring, Bonnie and Clyde were still on the run, and Shirley Temple was just preparing for her first starring film role.
Click here for a photo gallery from this year’s Diadeloso, covering everything from tug of war to the Dia Dog Show. And don’t forget to find the Dia events being held in your city in the coming weeks!
Sic ’em, Bears!
