NEWS

Astronomy Week to display Star-Gazing Exhibits
Nicole Ford | Opinion Editor

To celebrate Astronomy Week, the Department of Physics will be hosting NASA exhibits and presentations in the Clark Student Center on April 11-12. 
NASA exhibits will displayed in the Comanche Suits from 9 am-8 pm and include information about the space station, America’s space shuttle, Antarctic meteorites, “preserving our planet,” and “spin-offs,” according to Assistant Professor John Rhoads.
“The spin-offs exhibit is about things used on Earth as a result of space exploration,” Rhoads said. “The Antarctic meteorites are rocks from space that are dug up from the Antarctic periodically, some of which have the same chemical composition as rocks on Mars. It is postulated that they are rocks from Mars, as well as the moon. So, things that go bump in the night on Mars end up as debris that is collected here.”
Though Rhoads has never seen the “preserving our planet” display, he said it should be about the weather, earth’s changes and the environment.
Telescopes and imaging equipment used by local amateur astronomers will also be available, courtesy of the Starlight Observers League and the Three Rivers Foundation. The Starlight Observers League will also have solar telescopes set up in Sunwatcher Plaza for the public to view the sun from 11 am-2 pm.
The white light telescopes allow observers to see sun spots, while hydrogen-alpha wavelength telescopes allow viewers to see filaments, prominences, sun spots, solar flares and coronal loops, Rhoads said.
“Coronal loops like quite a bit like beautiful, curving arches,” Rhoads said. “It is matter from burning of the sun arching like the great arch of St. Louis, following magnetic field lines. It originates on one point of the sun, and loops out and back to another point.”
Presentations by NASA solar ambassadors will be given at Shawnee Theater on Monday at 2 pm and Tuesday at 9 am -2 pm. According to Rhoads, the presentations will be about the interaction of the sun and earth and the sun’s effect on weather and the outer reaches of the atmosphere. A NASA official will also give a lecture at Akin Auditorium at 8 pm on Monday.
Rhoads said the purpose of Astronomy Week is to celebrate the universe, the study of astronomy, and the telescopes built in the last 100 years. He hopes the events will promote interest and excitement about science at Midwestern students and at local schools. 
“Science pushes us all ahead.  It improves our standard of living,” Rhoads said. “It makes the air conditioning work in summer and the heat come on in winter and gets pharmaceuticals to grandma and grandpa.”
Astronomy has helped advance many studies on earth, including physics, Rhoads said.
“Astronomy offers exposure to science in the universe. There are many things in space, outside the biosphere we live in, that can’t be replicated here on earth.”
The Starlight Observers League will have a follow-up session on Saturday in the Kiowa Ex-Students room in the Clark Student Center.


Health Fair to Screen Community for Disease
Nicole Ford | Opionion Editor

The Community Health Fair 2005 will be held on Friday, April 8, from 8 am - 3 pm in J.S. Bridwell Hall.
The College of Health Sciences sponsors the free, annual event, which is in its fifth year and is made possible by an unrestricted grant from Pfizer Inc.
“The purpose of the fair is to showcase the health sciences and human services and is a gift to the community, because everything is free to the community,” Betty Bowles, assistant professor of the Nursing Department, said.  “It adds years to our lives as well as life to our years.”
More than 70 community organizations and health care providers will have exhibits and will provide a variety of free educational services and screenings, including screenings for high blood pressure, body fat and cholesterol, stress, depression and skin cancer.
Bowles said that screenings help students keep track of their health and make positive lifestyle changes.
Educational activities at the fair will include drug and crime prevention, fire safety, nutrition, diabetic food care, sleep disorders, wound care, driver’s safety and drug and alcohol treatment. Some specific diseases that will be addressed include Alzheimer’s, breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease and leukemia.
Hourly speakers will talk about various health topics, including nutrition, relaxation, child protection and home health. Continuing education will be offered to nurses for sessions on methamphetamines, osteoporosis and bioterrorism. 
To help students improve their health, demonstrations will be offered on several health-promotion activities, including Tai Chi, yoga, massage therapy and pilates.
The American Red Cross Blood Drive will also be at the fair, and Bowles encourages participants to donate.
Door prizes, including massages, memberships at gyms and meals at restaurants, will be handed out. The grand prize is a one-year membership to the YMCA.



Annual Chili Cook-Off draws about 1,500
August Schumann | Staff Reporter

The secrets to the perfect bowl of chili were revealed at the 7th Annual Chi Omega Chili Cook-off. The smell of chili drifted across the MSU campus on Saturday, April 2, 2005, from the Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center. 
Mirand Zepeda, mass communication major and chili cook-off volunteer, explained that the cook-off is all about raising money for a good cause.
“People can come out and have fun Texas-style,” Zepeda said. “It does not get any better than the Make-a-Wish foundation for charities.”
There were about 40 cookers, and about 1,500 people attended the event. Chi Omega raised about $25,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The cook-off included games and live bands starting at 11and ended around 5 pm.
The winner of Chili Cook-off was Stephen Santellana, who received a little help from four of his MSU alumni friends. They have been coming out to cook-off for over seven years now. They had always said they would continue coming until they won, and now they finally have. He explained their secret recipe came from his great-grandmother Lukert back in the 1800’s. 
“We came out here today to cook the best chili we could for the cook-off,” Santellana said. 
The group of winners donated the $200 back to the Make-a-Wish foundation.
 Miranda Baxley, a dental hygiene student, said the secret to the best chili is all about the fresh onions and jalapeños.
“It is a beautiful day. I am out here supporting my school and the charity,” Baxley said.
Roy Clingman, a Chi Omega dad, said there were a couple of secrets that go in the perfect bowl on chili.
“Chocolate, a little bit of cigar ashes and way too much Cajun pepper is the secret,” he said.
Alpha Phi sorority also had a group of cooks helping to raise money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Their secret ingredients were pineapple, honey and love.
Chi Omega will have their cook-off again next April, and hope to raise even more money than they did this year.

 
 
Midwestern Embraces Dance with new Team of 20
Stacy Good | For the Wichitan

     MSU’s first dance team hopes the campus will “Embrace” its unique style as its members pop and lock their way into college life. The Embrace dance team has organized in the spring of 2004. It now has 20 members and hopes its number will increase as it receives more recognition.
     Junior Minerva Bediako is the founder, coordinator and president of the troupe. She hopes the team will bring cultural variety to the student body.
     Bediako has conducted two tryouts in which 42 girls displayed their talents, hoping to make the cut. Unfortunately, not all of them succeeded. Currently, all team members are female, but Bediako looks forward to adding males in the future.
     ”I want to have some boys try out also,” she said. “The boys would add a different style that would work well with the girls.”
     Bediako looks for leadership and creativity skills in a team candidate. The candidates should be energetic and should work well with others.
The team performed at one basketball game halftime show and plans to perform at football games in the fall.
     The dancers practice about twice a week when they aren’t performing. During the season, the group practices every day at the YMCA, around campus, or at local dance studios willing to donate a room.
     They have completed four main routines and are working on new ones with a choreographer. The team focuses on modern hip-hop dance styles. As the group grows and becomes more diverse, they plan to add Latin and other multicultural routines to there performances. Bediako came up with the name “Embrace” with help from her cousin. They asked themselves, “What do we want the campus to feel about us?”
     Embrace will hold a recital, “Red Light Special,” every February, and hopes that the entire campus will get involved. Bediako wanted to start the team because she felt the campus needed more social interaction. “I wanted to give students a new outlet to express themselves,” she said. “We really want to promote campus involvement.”
     Many team members come from high schools with dance teams and have had no other place to express their talents other than cheerleading.
     Junior Shalaundria Anderson is a dancer on the team.
     ”I joined because it gives me the opportunity to express myself through music and dance,” she said.
The Embrace dance team may be a new organization on campus, but it hopes to keep growing as it gains support from MSU.