The Pine Log

              CMYK
By Jessica Gilligan
Managing Editor
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s week-long visit made history at SFA.
The Grand Ballroom filled up with students and community members
for Townsend’s interview Tuesday night. This
was the first time SFA hosted a Woodrow Wilson
Visiting Fellow—something Dr. Janice Pattillo,
SFA’s first lady, has worked on for several years.
Dr. Richard Berry, provost and vice president for
academic affairs introduced Townsend and her
interviewer, Judy McDonald, former Nacogdoches
mayor and wife of the late Dr. Archie McDonald.
Townsend, the eldest daughter of Ethel and the late Robert Kennedy’s
11 children, at first shared funny family stories to break the ice before
she moved on to more serious topics. When asked about what it was
like to grow up in the Kennedy family, Townsend set the scene at
Hickory Hill where she grew up. She shared about the animals and
touch football games her family placed so much importance on when
politics and social issues weren’t in the limelight.
McDonald asked about how the assassinations of both her uncle
and father affected her. Townsend was quick to share that the letter
RFK wrote to her after JFK’s death was highly influential. She was chal-lenged
to “work for her country.”
“I’m glad my parents made us look forward in-stead
of having anger and revenge.”
Townsend, a little girl during the Cuban Missile
Crisis, noted, “That crisis showed us a lot of things.”
JFK and RFK kept their families in Washington
during the crisis.
Another tragedy Townsend recalled was right before her wedding.
“Two nights before my wedding I went by my mother’s bathroom
and saw her crying,” she said. Her mother informed her that her cous-in,
Ted Kennedy’s son, had cancer and his leg needed to be amputated.
“I am so enthusiastic
about America’s future”
—Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
TODAY
H 76 L FRIDAY
65 L 64 L 57
Visit us online at
www.thepinelog.com
Volume 94
Issue 5
Next Publication:
Monday February 11, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
PINE LOG The
The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University
45
SATURDAY
H
Page 6
Harper
highlights
class for SFA
52
H
Throughout the next several weeks the
SFA Student United Way will be holding a
“Flamingo Flocking” fundraiser.
The idea is simple, yet incredibly fun: for
a donation of $10, a flock of plastic or paper
flamingos will “migrate” to the “victim” of
your choice’s lawn or residence hall door
during the night, where they will “roost” for
the whole day. They will then migrate to the
next location the following night.
Flamingo Flocking is a fundraising tactic
that is catching on with churches, organi-zations
and non-profits across the country.
The SFAUW philanthropy chair, Danielle
Waite, is the one who brought the idea up to
the organization.
“Danielle really stepped up to the plate
on this one,” SFAUW president Raquel
Madkins said. “Every officer was asked to
come up with a unique and catchy fund-raising
event, and she did just that.”
While people might expect that only in-dividuals
with yards can become “victims”
of flamingo flocking, SFAUW has added
a bit of a twist to include on-campus resi-dents
and students who live in apartments.
“We are working on getting paper fla-mingos
to hang on on-campus resident’s
doors now,” Madkins said. “This event is for
everyone! We want to make sure no one is
left out of the fun.”
Madkins said she thinks the Nacogdoches
and SFA communities will love this unique
fundraiser.
“It is a way for Nacogdoches’ close-knit
community to become even closer through
a harmless prank. It is sure to cause a chain
reaction of flocking.”
“We have already begun taking ‘victim’
orders. As of now, the event will go on
throughout the months of February and
March. If we continue to get orders we will
extend the date as needed,” Madkins said.
The event is already receiving some buzz
on the Nacogdoches County United Way
Facebook page. To help promote this event,
NCUW is raffling off a free “flamingo flock-ing”
to anyone who likes the NCUW page
(www.facebook.com/unitedwaynac) and
then shares the photo of the flier on their
timeline.
“We are excited about the flamingo flock-ing
event, as well as the students them-selves.
SFAUW has become a recognized
student organization, not only at SFA, but
also by United Way Worldwide and United
Ways across the country. These young lead-ers
are making an impact in our com-munity
by working hard to help people in
need, both young and old alike,” Gary Lee
Ashcraft, NCUW president and CEO.
To order a flamingo flocking for some-one,
or if you have any questions, email
flamingoflocknac@yahoo.com.
SFAUW became a student organization in
2011, and has grown to have a roster of over
40 active members. Members of SFAUW
work with local United Way agencies and
other non-profits, as well as other student
organizations, to serve the Nacogdoches
and SFA communities. The organization’s
goals are to help members and other stu-dents
grow as leaders and connect to the
community and to build lasting relation-ships
amongst members and with the
United Way movement.
For more information about SFAUW, fol-low
them on Twitter, @SFAUnitedWay, or
“Like” their Facebook page, SFA Student
United Way.
For more information on how to give,
advocate or volunteer with Nacogdoches
County United Way, or how to receive help
if you are in need, please visit www.united-waynac.
com or call (936) 564-5869.
The Nacogdoches County United Way
is a non-profit organization that works to
match resources to needs in order to em-power
the people of Nacogdoches County
to make a difference. NCUW partners with
several local agencies that deal with is-sues
in the areas of health, financial stabil-ity,
education and crisis management. For
more information on NCUW, its agencies or
to make a donation, please visit www.unit-edwaynac.
com, call (936) 564-5869 or “like”
NCUW on Facebook at www.facebook.com/
unitedwaynac.
Plastic flamingos to flock
to SFA, Nacogdoches
By Katelynn Wiggins
Staff Writer
A physician using an iPad
instead of a clipboard is just
one of the changes students
will see this summer at SFA’s
health clinic. The biggest
change is that the clinic will
now accept insurance, much
like a regular doctor’s office.
The only difference is students
will not have to pay a co-pay
like they would normally.
“I don’t want people to be-lieve
they have to have health
insurance to go to the clinic,”
Dr. Adam Peck, dean of stu-dent
affairs, said. “If someone
is sick, (physicians) will treat
them at the health clinic re-gardless
of whether they have
insurance or not.”
It is anticipated the clinic
will accept 80 percent of in-surance
providers. But rest as-sured,
if a student’s particu-lar
insurance company is not
accepted or “if the insurance
company denies the charge,
students will never pay,” Peck
said.
Currently, there are a few
services provided by the
health clinic that cost money,
like lab tests and some vac-cines.
Because health insur-ance
is billed, students who
have insurance may not have
to pay for certain services.
After researching other uni-versities,
Peck made the deci-sion
to launch the request for
proposals to companies that
provide billing support to uni-versities
last fall. The Board of
Regents voted Jan. 29 to select
Vivature to provide billing ser-vices
for the health clinic.
“Some of the money that
funds the health clinic comes
from designated tuition,” Peck
said. “We are able to take less
money from that, and even-tually
(billing insurance) may
reduce our reliance on the
student service fee,” allowing
more money for things stu-dents
enjoy.
The new system is sched-uled
to launch this summer to
be running full-speed for fall
and flu season. To make an ap-pointment
at the health clinic
call (936) 468-4008.
SFA clinic
to accept
health
insurance
this summer
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend visit
makes history at SFA
Courtney Schmidt/The Pine Log
Former Nacogdoches mayor Judy McDonald interviewed Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Tuesday evening. Townsend also spoke to several classes on campus this week.
Woodrow Wilson Fellow, daughter of Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy tells
students, community about succeeding in her famous political family
Townsend, page 5
new recruiting