Pine Log, 2012-09-27

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Volume 93
Issue 6
Next Publication:
Monday, October 1, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
PINE LOG The
The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University
Page 6
SFA to play UCA in
Southland Conference
for Parents Day on
Saturday.
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By Bronwyn Pegues
Contributing Writer
At 4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 24, the Cole Concert Hall was
filled with chatter and laughter as the band set up on stage
in preparation for its concert. The Lumberjack Marching
Band held a program in the Cole Concert Hall in honor of
the visit from Queen’s representatives, Robert Bone, his
wife Geraldine Bone and Lord and Mayor Roger Bramble,
who is the deputy lieutenant of Greater London.
Dr. David Campo, SFA associte director of bands, began
the program by welcoming the guests. He also provide
more information to the band students on the upcom-ing
trip to London, where the band will be playing in the
London New Year’s Day Parade.
“It’ll be the most amazing trip you’ve taken,” Campo
said. His statement was met with a round of applause by the
students. After giving his opening remarks, he introduced
Robert Bone, the director of the London New Year’s Day
Parade.
Bone interacted with the students and made several
jokes that were met with laughter. He then announced that
the LMB will be the first band to perform in the parade
which will consist of about 10,000 performers. The parade
will be shown live on television. He also said that the LMB
will be playing in the preview show at Trafalgar Square.
“If you haven’t considered coming along, it’s worth the
effort,” Bone said.
He then introduced Lord Mayor Roger Bramble, the
founder of the parade who also represents the queen of
England for the parade. Bramble presented and read a
large, framed invitation that invited the LMB to perform in
the parade. Bramble also presented a glass trinket that was
etched with images of some of London’s famous buildings
and places.
Before the band played a selection from their British
Invasion set, which included music by artists such as The
Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Phil Collins and
One Direction, Campo introduced Anne Philips, wife of a
former SFA professor, who had a scrapbook from a former
music teacher. The teacher had collected news clips from
when Queen Elizabeth II had first taken the crown at the
turn of the century. The scrapbook was presented to the
representatives who would take the scrapbook back to
London.
The band played, ending the presentation with the
school song.
The 27th London New Year’s Day Parade will start at 11:45
a.m. on Piccadilly at the junction with Berkeley Street out-side
the Ritz Hotel, and it will finish around 3 p.m. at
Parliament Street. There will be more than 10,000 perform-ers
who will be representing 20 countries world-wide that
will assemble for the 2013 parade. About three hours of Live
Satellite Coverage can be seen on several channels. The
channels that are expected to cover the event include the
BBC, CNN, Fox News, SKY and CBS.
“All of you are tremendously important to us,” Bone said.
“You all will have an absolutely fantastic time in London.
It’s the trip of a lifetime.”
More information can be found about the parade at
lnydp.com or through the London New Year’s Day Parade
Facebook page.
bpegues@thepinelog.com
Big Dip tradition hits 10th year
By Katelynn Wiggins
Staff Writers
Students with more than 60 hours
have the opportunity to partici-pate
in the Big Dip. During the
ceremony, students walk across a stage
dip their hand in a purple dye, shake
President Baker Pattillo’s hand and re-ceive
their class ring.
Family and friends are invited to attend
the Big Dip to support their SFA student.
This ceremony occurs at the end of each
semester.
“I think it is a great growing tradition
on campus,” Katy Crawford, assistant to
the executive director of alumni affairs,
said. “We are excited about it and hope
that students want to continue.”
The Big Dip is coordinated by the alum-ni
association. It originated in the spring
of 2002 as a way to build school spirit.
Students must purchase a ring in order
to participate in the Big Dip. Previously
known as the “Mentor Ring,” SFA’s official
class ring is now known as the “SFA Ring.”
Previously, students had to purchase a
ring in order to participate in the mentor-ship
program offered by the alumni as-sociation.
“(The mentorship program) is just a
good way to connect,” Crawford said. “We
match a student with an alum that shared
the same major or who is in the field the
student wants to work. It can be as great or
as little as (the student) wants. They can
help with resumes, job hunting or simple
networking.”
Now, any student is able to participate
in the program. They do not need to pur-chase
a ring to get those benefits. They no
longer coexist, Crawford said.
This year’s Big Dip ceremony is sched-uled
for Friday, Nov. 30.
SFA offers the opportunity for people
other than students to receive the SFA
Ring. The option of buying a graduate ring
or a friend ring is available.
The graduate ring is reserved for stu-dents
who will graduate from SFA. That
ring will sport the degree and graduation
date in addition to the university’s name.
The friend ring is designed for those
who did not receive a degree from SFA
but are loyal friends and supporters of the
university.
“Sandy Miller just retired from SFA. He
is a great friend and has a friend ring,”
Crawford said.” Miller is a two-time Hall
of Fame athletics trainer. He retired after
dedicating 31 years to SFA. While he did
not receive a degree from SFA, he still got
the SFA Ring.
“(The SFA Ring) has pine cones in place
of degree and grad year,” Crawford said.
Parents and friends are also welcome
to purchase an SFA Ring to show support.
Rings can be customized with a variety of
metals, stones and finishes.
Balfour will have a ring sales event on
campus from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 2 and 3.
The SFA Ring must be purchased by Oct.
5 in order for the purchaser to participate
in this fall’s Big Dip ceremony, Crawford
said. Students may also purchase the SFA
Ring in the alumni office.
“The Big Dip ceremony is growing every
semester. Each year we have a larger num-ber
of students than before,” Crawford
said. “We love to see alums and student
swwearing their rings to symbolize their
school spirit.”
By Mackenzie Herring
Contributing Writer
After almost a month of recruit-ing
and interviewing, Driving Jacks
welcomed 41 new members this past
weekend with heartfelt and honor-ary
traditions.
Driving Jacks is a nonjudgmental
organization where “whoever needs
a safe ride has access to one,” said
Vice President Christian Gonzales.
“To me, the traditions of our organi-zation,
such as training and initia-tion,
are what make being a member
so special.”
The process for new member ini-tiation
is tedious to ensure the most
suitable applicants get to be a part of
the organization. It starts with two
weeks of recruitment from a table
outside the student center, where ap-plications
and more information are
available. This is followed by a week
of interviews, conducted by certain
officers to get to know the appli-cants’
personality, values, attitudes,
and availability.
After several meetings and discus-sions
between the officers, the new
members are chosen and must at-tend
an all-day training to learn the
history and become familiar with
every aspect of the organization.
The traditions continue the fol-lowing
night with a new member
scavenger hunt, the painting of the
SFA Spirit Rock and the candle-light-ing
ceremony. The candle-lighting
ceremony is in honor of Amy Shields,
the creator of Driving Jacks, who was
killed by a drunk driver before the
organization officially started.
Once the new members light their
candles, they’re given their lime
green Driving Jack shirt, signifying
their official membership.
“When I first joined Driving Jacks
it was too young to have these tradi-tions
established, so to be able to see
these traditions start, grow and im-pact
each batch of new members is
very heartwarming,” Gonzales said.
The process of admitting new
members with interviews is still rel-atively
new, with changes evolving
from the increased interest of stu-dents
wanting to join.
“Getting to show new members
how passionate we officers are about
being active in Driving Jacks and
teaching them what it means to be
one just makes us so proud that we
have our hand in helping the fu-ture
leaders of Driving Jacks grow,”
Gonzales said.
Driving Jacks traditions help
welcome 41 new members
Lumberjack Band
hosts Queen’s
representatives
The newest Lumberjack tradition, Jacks’ Charge, gives
SFA students the opportunity to run onto the football
field with the team before SFA home games. Students
wear purple and bring their axe handles to Spirit Rock
(near Hall 20) at 5:30 p.m. before the game and then
cheer SFA to victory from the Purple Haze section in
the stands. The Jacks’ Charge at all remaining home
games will be open to currently enrolled SFA students
wearing purple and waving an axe handle. More than
1,000 freshmen participated in the inaugural charge
on Sept. 1 and received a Jacks' Charge axe band to
commemorate the event. At the game on Saturday
the first 500 students at Spirit Rock will receive a Jacks'
Charge t-shirt.
Cody Derouen/Pine Log File Photo
Jennifer Rogers/Pine Log Photo
Jacks’ Charge to contine throughout season