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Reelin' em' in: Angling and Casting Class Lures Students
Rachael Jacobs | Staff Reporter

As the rising sun casts its yellow glow over Lake Arrowhead, crickets serenade a group of students who stand on a rickety pier.  Carrie Vincent draws back her rod and reel and sends a lure flying through the crisp morning air. It plops in the water with an almost silent splash.
Believe it or not, these students are not goofing off. They’re attending class.
Twenty are enrolled in angling and casting, a course in its fourth year.
Shannon Burks, head women’s basketball coach teaches students how to fish.
On this day, the students face a dilemma many fisherman encounter–the finicky crappie are not biting.
Vincent, a senior accounting major, wakes up at 5 a.m. to commute from Bowie to the 7 a.m. class.
 “The best part is learning so much,” Vincent said. “Waking up so early is probably the worst part.”
Burks is the best part of the class because he is very involved, said Dawn Benson, senior biology major.
 “I don’t know if I would call it expertise, but something that I do,” said Burks. “I catch a hard time from the other coaches about them teaching and me taking my class fishing.
Students begin the semester in a regular 8 a.m. classroom setting by learning about different techniques and equipment. When it is still cold outside, students are required to bring articles to class and discuss them. Skills, such as knot tying, are taught, and a written final is given.
It’s not long before old man winter runs away, and off to Lake Arrowhead the students go. Students are required to spend at least six hours fishing with Burks at Lake Arrowhead. Rods and reels are provided courtesy of MSU.
 “We haven’t had anyone fall into the lake, so I guess that’s a positive,” Burks said. 
 “We use public docks most of the time because new regulations don’t require a fishing license to fish in a state park,” Burks said. “We do a lot of crappie fishing. Crappie are smaller fish but probably the best eating fish in this area.”
 “But if that old man down there isn’t catching anything, then we’re not going to.” Burks said pointing to a grandfatherly figure standing in the midst of the students. “He is out here every day.”
 “I teach the students how to use different equipment like a bait caster. Students sometimes don’t have their own equipment to practice with. You can make a mess out of your equipment if you don’t know how to use it or become accustomed to it pretty quick,” Burks said.
Matt Symank, junior management major and experienced fisherman, said the class taught him how to use a spinner reel; before, he always used a bait caster.
Vincent finds it challenging to be one of the few girls in the class. According to Burks, every semester, about 25 percent of the class is female.
 “There are only four of us in the class. One day we practiced casting, and the girls kept getting their lines tangled. The guys were pros and had to untangle the lines for us,” Vincent said. “All of the guys in our class are very helpful.”
If luck is on their side, a couple fish will be snagged, and Burks will teach them how to clean, store and freeze them.
 “The ladies don’t seem to like it when we teach them to filet their fish. It’s a little bloody, and there has been a little screaming and squirming and walking away from the cleaning area,” said Burks with a laugh.
According to Burks, about half the students are experienced fishermen like Symank, who has fished since he was a boy.
“I figured I could get credit for something I liked,” said Ross Jackson, freshman chemistry major and avid fisherman.
Others like Vincent were uneducated about the sport.
 “Before, I would go fishing with my family I wouldn’t fish. I would sit and talk instead,” Vincent said. “For the first time, last night I went fishing with my husband and fished.”



Students Elect SGA Officers
Paige Dickerson | Managing Editor

The officers for next year’s student government have been elected.
Junior international studies major Will Morefield will serve as president. Morefield received 59 percent with 196 students casting a vote in his favor. Although senior Jason Kimbro decided not to campaign and thus withdraw from the race, his name remained on the ballot and he got 41 percent of the vote.
Marvyn Boatswain, senior marketing major, took the vice president position with 238 or 64 percent of the vote. Senior Mark Greer who was running on a ticket with Morefield received only 36 percent of votes.
Lana Vulpita, junior mass communications major, will be the secretary next year with 62 percent of the vote to Crystal Williams’ 38 percent.
“I was very excited that I was elected along with Lana who ran on a ticket with me. I’m very much looking forward to working with Marvyn as well. He has some great leadership qualities,” Morefield said.
Although his entire ticket did not win, since Boatswain defeated Greer, Morefield said it was an opportunity for next year’s administration.
“This is the perfect opportunity to expand all of our leadership abilities by working with someone who was on another ticket,” Morefield said.
Morefield also expressed that he would extend an open door policy to all student organizations.
“We’ve expressed to the student body before that the administration has had an open-door policy, but we want to express that we as well will have an open-door policy toward all organizations on campus. We are looking forward to getting to know everyone on campus on a personal basis,” Morefield said.
Paul Nejtek was elected junior senator and Ray James was named graduate senator during the elections as well. Both were running uncontested.



MSU alum Jump-Start Native American Club
Josh Mujica | For the Wichitan

A new special-interest organization has settled on MSU soil to promote diversity and equality.
The Native American Student Association (NASA) was founded on campus in Novermber 2004 by 1974 alum Jim Moore.
Marlena Hanna, junior psychology major and president of NASA, said the organization’s aim is to teach members about the American Indian culture. The way American Indians once hunted, cooked and traveled and the way they live now are discussed in meetings, which are held every Wednesday at 2p.m. in the atrium of the Clark Student Center.
“It’s amazing that we didn’t have an organization committed to represent and teach the ways of Native Americans before,” Hanna said. “I learn something new every meeting.”
Hanna said the most interesting American Indian story she has heard involved the story of the dreamcatcher, a piece of jewelry. She had always wondered why they were called dreamcatchers.
“A grandmother was watching a spider make a web and admired the spider’s hard work,” Hanna said. “Then one day, she was watching her grandson, and he tried to kill the spider and destroy the web. The grandmother intervened, and the spider was so thankful that he gave her a dream.”
Hanna said the spider’s dream revealed to the grandmother that the spider would catch all bad dreams in his web and only let the good ones through.
“That story, as well as others, is very compelling,” Hanna said.
The NASA sold dreamcatchers in the first week of March in order to pay for a trip to the 10th annual NASA-AIS Honors Scholarship Benefit Powwow at the University of Texas in Arlington. A Native American powwow is a time of meeting together to join in dancing, singing, visiting and renewing and making friendships.
NASA currently has 12 members and is looking for more.
“You don’t have to be Native American to join, just intrigued with the Native American culture,” Hanna said.
According to the NASA constitution, membership is open to all currently registered students, faculty and staff of MSU. A tribal affiliation or degree of Native American blood is not required, but interest in promoting fellowship among all students is important. Members are required to pay dues of $10 for every academic year. Members must have a 2.0 GPA to run for an office in the organization.
“We are trying to inform people about the lives of Indians, our mascot,” Hanna said. “We should all be proud to be Indians.”
In the 1960s MSU’s use of an “Indian” as mascot was respected and blessed by the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
“NASA is a reflection of Native American culture,” Hanna said. “Native Americans might live different or seem different, but everyone is the same. If we take the time to learn about the customs of others, we will understand each other as people more.”
“We are all in the tribe called human beings,” Hanna said.
A current MSU student or staff member need only attend a meeting if he or she is interested in joining NASA.



How about another Round? 4 more one-act plays to showcase this week
Paige Dickerson | Staff Reporter

The second set of student-directed one-act plays is in store for MSU’s theater Friday and Saturday.
The first play of the evening, directed by Stephanie Kramer, is “What is it?”
Although Kramer is a theater major, stage lights are not in her dreams. She plans to use her knowledge of human nature to pursue a career in the FBI.
“Theater is the study of humans and why we move the way we do – the motivation for what we do, and that is the field of the FBI that I want to go into,” she said.
 “What is it?” is about a grandmother teaching the lessons of life to her grandchildren.
“I think it is very close to family situations that most people can relate to,” Kramer said.
Kramer cast Daniel Holloway, Charisma Thrash and Bridget L. Young to play the parts.
“What is it?” is the only play of the evening appropriate for children.
The second play, “Kissing Scene,” is directed by Tasha Casey and tells the story of two college students rehearsing for an acting class. They have difficulties getting through the scene because of differences in opinion.
“I like this not only because it is comedic but relates to what we do in the department in a comedic way,” Casey said.
Casey wants to enter costume design after graduating and said her experience directing has been enlightening.
“It helps understand a different perspective. It helps me to understand the director so I can communicate with less stress,” Casey said.
Chad Crowley and Meghan Mitchell will star in the play.
The third play, directed by Brette Paglierani, will bring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to MSU’s stage.
The real ones, of course, will remain in Hollywood, but theater students Natalie Young and Kaylie Noles will be Matt and Ben’s MSU counterparts, respectively.
The play shows the Hollywood duo’s friendship and their rise to fame after the movie “Good Will Hunting.”
“It seemed like fun, but I admit I didn’t realize how much it entailed with a lot of sound queues, and I had to cut it down quite a bit,” Paglierani said.
The last play will be “Lone Star,” directed by Joe Jordan. Two brothers sit at a bar and discuss everything from “Viet Nam,” (as they pronounce it) to marriage and life in general.
“It’s funny. It has seriousness with underlying comedy,” Jordan said.
Jordan plans to take this experience to the professional world and direct for the stage professionally.
“This is my first full-length one-act that I’ve done. It has been a good experience learning how to deal with the stress that comes with directing,” he said.