The Yellow Jacket · hputx.edu with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line. News Briefs Campus Howard Payne will celebrate Arbor Day on Friday, Nov. 4, with an educational

The Yellow JacketNovember 3, 2016 Howard Payne University . Brownwood, TX Volume 107, Issue 5

Homecoming TweaksBonfire on the Bayou, fireworks well received

For this year’s home-coming festivities, How-ard Payne had a bon-fire floating on the Pecan Bayou at Riverside Park.

The bonfire took place Friday night and was lit by a flaming arrow shot by HPU senior Ivy Nich-ols. The crowd cheered as the floating fire was lit on Nichols’ second attempt.

“Ivy shooting the flam-ing arrow to light the fire really made the event spe-cial,” said Stephen Sullivan,

director of development and alumni relations at HPU.

When asked about nerves and all eyes being on her, Nichols said, “I’m super excited. I’ve been prac-ticing almost every after-noon this week, including with some flaming arrows. I’m excited and a little bit nervous, but super thank-ful to all of the people who have supported me by help-ing me make the arrows and practicing with me.”

The night then persisted of hot chocolate, coffee, pi-ñatas and bubbles hosted by various Greek organizations. At the end of the night, the HPU Alumni Association

sponsored a fireworks show.The Alumni Association

hopes that the bonfire and fireworks show will become a new tradition for HPU’s Homecoming weekend.

“I hope that it becomes a tradition. Tradition is de-fined as something that is built over several years so we can’t say it’s a tradition after just one year,” Sul-livan said. “But I do hope we can continue this as long as I am in this position.”

MaryClaire Swal-low, senior HPU student and Delta Chi Rho presi-dent expressed apprecia-tion for how HPU focused more on student life this

year during Homecoming.“Stephen Sullivan in the

Alumni Office and Dr. Bu-nyard have both worked re-ally hard to make campus life significantly better this year and make it to where organizations feel like they can stand up, do more activi-ties and really get involved on-campus and off-campus as well,” said Swallow.

The entire event cost about $8,000, but with the help of generous donors, the entire night cost only $320. The event was attended by about 800 people. HPU

Every edition of theYellow Jacket newspaper

is available online at www.hputx.edu/yellowjacket

InsIde thIs

edItIonEditor-in-Chief Column...2

We shouldn’t pray only when we need something.

Unusual War Hero...........3The movie “Hacksaw

Ridge” follows a man of peace and comfort during

the hellish circumstances of World War II.

Always Learning..............5Abraham Cooper figures

his thirst for education will never be satisfied.

Homecoming...............7-12A look back at Homecoming

weekend – in stories and photos.

Tournament Bound........13The Lady Jackets’ volleyball team has qualified for the

ASC tournament for the first time since 2000.

Uncommon Athlete..14-15Football player Taylor

McLeod hopes to be the father figure he never had to

a 2½-year-old girl.

Reagan Grisham

staff writer

Bonfire → Page 16

Photo by Morgan AshmoreIvy Nichols prepares to shoot a flaming arrow to start the float-ing bonfire.

Photo by Andria GarzaThe bonfire set on a raft on the bayou for spectators to safely view from the riverbank.

The purpose of prayer is communion with God

Have you ever had a friend who only came to you to talk when he/she had a prob-lem they wanted you to fix?

The kind of “friend” who only called when they need something? Chances are, you probably didn’t spend too much energy trying to build a meaningful relation-ship with that person. If they were only going to use you to get something, what kind of relationship was that?

While God never gets tired of our asking nor turns away from drawing near to us, how often do we only “call” Him when we need something?

Often, our picture of prayer is something like this: “Hey, God, I just thought I should probably get my 10 minutes in this morning. I have a big test coming up, so I pray I’d do really well on it. Also, how come it’s so hard to make ends meet lately? Can you do something about that, please? And can you make my co-workers stop being so rude all the time? Show them their own hearts. Please show me some answers, too. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about grad school. Can you

make it super obvious, please? Like, a sign or something? Thanks for listening. Amen.”

Obviously this is a bit ex-aggerated. However, it’s true that our prayers can easily lean toward being all about us, only asking for what God can give. Don’t get me wrong, God wants to fulfill our needs. He’s the only one who can. In Ephesians 3:20 it says He is “able to do exceed-ing abundantly above all that we ask or think.” He wants us to ask, and He wants to give.

The problem comes when that’s all we do. Just like the friend who only calls when there’s trouble, if we only go to God when we’re in need, we aren’t building much of a relationship with Him.

The purpose of prayer is communion. In 1 Thessa-lonians 5:17, Paul tells the

church to “pray without ceas-ing,” meaning they should be in a relatively constant state of communicating with God. This doesn’t mean we spend 24/7 on our knees beside our bed with our eyes shut and our heads bowed. This simply means our hearts are so fixed on Christ that our thoughts, moment-to-moment, are di-rected toward speaking to and hearing from the Lord.

Prayer doesn’t have to be a 10-minute slot of time in your morning routine and that’s it for the day. What if you only talked to your best friend once a day? Prayer is almost a state of being, al-lowing your mind’s default “setting” to be in relationship with God. Our initial reaction to the experiences of the day should be to take them to God.

Prayer isn’t just talking,

either. It’s listening. As we go about our day-to-day lives, our hearts should be ready to listen to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Christ said it was better that He should go so that He could leave the Helper in His place. That is only to our benefit if we actually listen to the Spirit.

Rather than constant plead-ing, our prayers should be filled with thanksgiving. In Matthew 6, Jesus begins the Lord’s Prayer with praise to God. God has given us ev-erything. He’s worthy of our affection and gratefulness. Aren’t you excited to hear about all the good things hap-pening in your best friend’s life? God is excited for us to come to Him, a child to the Father, excitedly relay-ing the blessings of our day, thanking Him for His hand of provision in our lives.

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Opinion

What’s the Buzz?To submit items and events to this HPU campus calendar, email [email protected].

Through Nov. 3: Student Led Worship, 9-10 p.m., Grace Chapel

Nov. 8: Ted Talks, 7-8 p.m. Walker Memorial Library

Nov. 10: Talk About It, 3-5 p.m., The Hub

Nov. 10: Powderpuff Game, 10-11 p.m.

The 2016-2017 Yellow JackeT

ediTor-in-chiefLydia HeinricHs

PhoTo ediTorandria Garza

Page designersLydia HeinricHs,

Marina sHeets-OcHOa, racHeL HuGHes, eMiLy ViLLarreaL, anGeLica raMirez, danieL Harris,

KiMberLy bOGart, LiLLie McdOnaLd

PhoTograPhersandria Garza,

rebeKaH LytLe, aiMee OrOzcO, cHeyenne HiLL, JOsiaH HuGHes

rePorTersrebeKaH LytLe, andrea baLderas, LazHay Winn,

aiMee OrOzcO, cHad anders, MOrGan asHMOre, bOardMan adaMs, cairO attaWay, andria Garza, reaGan GrisHaM, Lauren LOnG, cHris-

tOpHer FreeLand, racHeL HuGHes, LiLLie McdOnaLd

columnisTsLydia HeinricHs, dr. rObert

ManGruM, danieL Harris, JacLyn bOn-ner, adaM JOnes, JiMMy abatieLLO,

carissa crOMer

faculTY adviserMiKe Lee

(325) [email protected]

The Yellow Jacket is a student publication of Howard Payne Univer-sity. Letters to the editor are welcome. Please send any feedback to [email protected] with “Letter to the Editor”

in the subject line.

News Briefs

CampusHoward Payne will celebrate Arbor Day on Friday, Nov. 4, with an educational program and a tree-planting ceremony. The events, which begin at 3 p.m. at the Mabee University Center, are free of charge and open to the public. Nick Har-rison, Texas A&M Forest Ser-vice Firewise coordinator and former Brownwood resident, will lead the training ses-sion on planting and pruning trees. At the activity’s con-clusion, HPU representatives will plant a tree near Mabee in recognition of Arbor Day.

NationalHillary Clinton and Donald Trump are neck-and-neck in the race for the presidency in a new national tracking poll out Tuesday. The latest ABC News/The Washington Post offering showed Trump barely edging Clinton among likely voters, 46 to 45 per-cent, well within the poll’s 3 percentage point margin of error. Although Trump’s single-point advantage over Clinton is statistically negli-gible, it is his first lead in an ABC/Post poll since May.

stateFor some consumers, Obam-acare’s skyrocketing insur-ance premiums will soon morph from a political mess to a pocketbook crisis. As enroll-ment begins Tuesday, the im-pact of an average 22 percent rise in benchmark plan prices will vary wildly depending on where you live. In Texas, the increase is expected to be 18 percent. Meanwhile, the cost is doubling in Arizona and ris-ing 69 percent in Oklahoma.

lydia heinrichs

Editor In Chief

‘Hacksaw Ridge’ shows peace in hellish circumstances N O V E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 3

Entertainment & Features

After “Saving Private Ryan” renewed public interest in the late 1990s, there cer-tainly has not been a shortage of quality movies and mini-series about World War II.

With “Band of Brothers” following the 101st Easy Company and “The Pacific” profiling the lesser discussed theater of war, films and shows usually define hero-ism with common soldiers attempting to fulfill their mission while retaining their humanity. This weekend’s

“Hacksaw Ridge” describes another kind of victory.

“While everybody is taking life I’m going to be saving it, and that’s

going to be my way to serve.”The film stars Andrew Gar-

field (“The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Social Net-work”) as Desmond T. Doss, a historical conscientious ob-jector who refused to carry a weapon or kill in one of the most harrowing locations in the war. Raised as a Seventh Day Adventist, Doss recog-nized the justifications of WWII, but stayed true to his beliefs while still doing ev-erything he could to serve his country and fellow soldiers.

After saving the lives of more than 75 men by carry-ing them to safety during the battle of Okinawa, Doss be-came the first conscientious

objector to receive the Med-al of Honor for his actions.

Also staring Teresa Palm-er, (“Warm Bodies”) Vince Vaughn, (“Wedding Crash-ers”) and Sam Worthing-ton, (“Avatar”) “Hacksaw Ridge” has already been met with widespread criti-cal appreciation, recently receiving a 10-minute stand-ing ovation at Septem-ber’s Venice Film Festival.

The movie also marks a major come back for Oscar-winning (“Braveheart”) direc-tor Mel Gibson, who made it his first project in 10 years. Speaking of his protagonist, Gibson said, “(Doss) was a messenger of love, a bringer

of piece into a situation that absolutely reduced most men to animals. He maintains this kind of higher equilib-rium, even in the worst testing ground. It was like a flower growing in a wasteland.”

In our inescapable haze of negative news about current events, it is so refreshing to remember stories of individu-als who retained their beliefs while doing everything in their power to make a significant difference. Despite the harsh realities of life and the world around us, we can remain the light that we are called to be.

Hacksaw Ridge opens in most theatres around the nation on Friday.

Courtesy PhotosSome of the “spooks” at Friday’s Halloween Party at the Well-ness Center were, from left: Alsatia Jowers, Taylor Davis, Josiah Hughes, Amy Segura, Adam Snyder, Jessica Huckaby, and Aaron Pulley. Segura won the first-place prize of $100, Huckaby won the $50 second-place prize, and Snyder won the $25 third-place prize. The party was sponsored by the Criminal Justice Club and the Spanish Club.

Jimmy Abbatiello

movie columnist

Halloween Spooks

New full-time dean Brad Lemler brings wealth of experience to School of Business

This semester Dr. Brad Lemler, a professor of Ac-counting for Howard Payne University, was named the dean of the School of Busi-ness after the retirement of former dean, Dr. Les Plagens.

Lemler came to HPU in the fall of 2013 from Wi-nona Lake, Indiana, where he taught at Grace College. Along with his faculty duties here, he oversaw the devel-opment and implementation of an online MBA program for students. Being qualified for the position, Lemler ac-cepted the invitation to take over as the dean of Business.

“Receiving the new position as the Dean of Business was very satisfying, but I would have been happy with Dr. Pla-gens being dean for 20 more years and me just being an accounting professor,” Lem-ler said. “I’ve been very busy since I became the interim and full-time dean, but I’ve worked with a lot of interesting people and we’ve done a lot of good things for our students. We’ve been able to streamline and standardize the curriculum in a way that provides a better experience for the students.

“I knew that this was some-thing that I needed to do, but I also knew that it was go-ing to make my life busier. I think it’s good when time goes by fast because you’re so busy being a part of doing good things,” said Lemler.

Faculty working along-side Lemler had positive comments to make about the new Dean of Business.

“Dr. Lemler brings a prob-lem-solving attitude to our

meetings. His contributions usually analyze a problem and present an array of possible solutions. He’s a valuable part of the Deans Council,” said Dr. Millard Kimery, dean of the School of Humanities and chair and professor of English.

Mary Hill, administrative assistant of the School of Busi-ness, also thought thinks that HPU made the right choice in choosing Lemler to hold the position of dean of Business.

“I believe that Dr. Lemler was a good choice for the po-sition. He’s very experienced in teaching and he was instru-mental in getting the MBA pro-gram off the ground,” Hill said.

“Also, I think that he is a big asset to the School of Business because of his experience and accounting background. He’s been able to take our curricu-lum and mold it to where it is cost-effective. He also brings his wealth of knowledge to the classroom as a professor.”

Lemler got his experience in business education after earn-ing many degrees from several of universities. He received his Bachelors of Science de-gree in his Business/Account-ing major and then went on to earn a Master’s degrees in Ac-counting at Indiana University

in1986. Also, he earned a Mas-ter’s of Arts degree in Theolog-ical Studies and a Master’s of Ministry degree at Bethel Col-lege in Mishawaka, Indiana.

Additionally, Lemler ac-quired a Master’s of Art in Economics at the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies degree at Texas Tech. He has a Ph.D. in Business with a major in Accounting acquired from Indiana Univer-sity in 1990, and he obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.

Born and raised in Indiana, Lemler left home to teach at several universities in Texas like LeTourneau in Longview, Hardin-Simmons in Abilene, and Texas Tech in Lubbock, before coming to Howard Payne to help with starting the MBA program here. The MBA program was created to help students to gain a mas-ter’s degree in business ad-ministration or management.

Lemler’s goal for the MBA program and the School of Business is to provide an op-portunity for HPU students to get an education while finding themselves in God.

“In the School of Business, I want us to provide the best opportunity possible for the students that God sends our way to learn, grow and de-velop,” he said. “We hope that they will take full advan-tage of the opportunity, but that is up to them. We want to look at the business discipline from a biblical perspective and, because of our small-er classes, we get to know our students and what their strengths and weakness are so we can attend to them more personally as their instructors.

“Our goal is to train up Christ-followers so that when

they leave here, they will live lives of service. We want to see our graduates live out their faith in a way that glo-rifies and honors God in the workplace,” said Lemler.

He expects to keep his posi-tion here for as long as possible.

“I plan on staying here un-til the school tells me that it does not want me anymore.

This a really good school with really good people. Brown-wood is a nice place. This is a nice place to participate in helping young adults to pre-pare for lives of Christian service. I’m very happy here and I’m going to continue to do my best here for as long as the university wants me to stick around,” Lemler said.

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Features

lazhay winn

staff writer

IMPORTANT FINANCIAL AID INFORMATIONStudents who want to apply for financial aid for

2017-2018 will be able to complete the Free Appli-cation for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) beginning

on Oct. 1.

In past years, students had to wait until January to sub-mit the FAFSA for the next academic year. In order to

accommodate this earlier filing schedule, the FAFSA will collect income information from two years prior to the

academic year for which the aid is intended, rather than the previous year. This means that for the academic year

2017-2018, the FAFSA will collect income information for 2015. This is the same tax year information that was

used to complete the 2016-2017 FAFSA.

It is important that families use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) that is available in the FAFSA to

report their 2015 income.

Students need to complete the FAFSA as soon as pos-sible, so that any inconsistencies between information

reported for 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 can be resolved early. Students may complete the FAFSA

at www.fafsa.gov.

Students are encouraged to contact the Financial Aid Office if they have questions on this new procedure or if

they need help filing the FAFSA.

The Financial Aid Office is located in Room 109 of the Packer Administration Building. Students can also contact

the Financial Aid Office by calling 325/649-8015 or by e-mail at [email protected]

Brad Lemler

‘I’ll likely never be satisfied’ Abraham Cooper wants to continually further his education

N O V E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 5

Features

There are many extraor-dinary members of How-ard Payne’s student body. One who particularly stands out is music/science student Abraham “Abe” Cooper.

Cooper, who is from neighboring Early, is a dou-ble major, working toward a Bachelor of Music de-gree in Piano Performance and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry/Biochemistry.

He has been studying pia-no for 12 years, and cites his parents as first getting him interested in music. He is able to play the piano, violin, cello, guitar, percussion, and saxophone. At age 6 he en-rolled in piano lessons with the HPU precollege program, first studying with HPU alum-ni and now world-renowned pianist Dennis Lambert. Since then, Cooper has stud-ied with Mrs. Pattie Dunlap, Mrs. Deanna Erxleben, Mrs. Judith Dingar, and currently with Dr. Elizabeth Wallace.

In the fall of 2013, at age 15, Cooper began taking college classes at HPU. Three years later, at age 18, he has already accumulated 139 hours to-wards his degrees by taking advantage of dual credit op-portunities through Early High School with HPU, Ranger College, and online classes at Western Central College. Cooper also has accumu-lated credit hours through his work as a full-time student at HPU since the fall of 2015.

Cooper’s chosen fields of study are unique because they differ so greatly. He said sci-ence intrigues him because of the constant advances being

made. In an interview about why he has chosen to pursue science, Cooper said, “There are always new discoveries to be made and research to be done. Science textbooks are always a year or two be-hind current information.”

Cooper said he plans to con-tinue in music because he loves it so much, but he has broad horizons ahead of him. After graduating, he plans to enroll in the MBA program at HPU as well as the Master of Mu-sic Program at Tarleton State University in Stephenville. Following graduate work,

Cooper would like to earn a professional degree in sci-ence – be it medical, re-search, or pharmaceutical – while continuing to play piano in church settings.

When asked about his over-all life goals and philosophy, Cooper said much of it cen-tered on learning. “Even in old age, we can continue to learn,” he said. “I’ll likely never be satisfied. I want to be always furthering my education.”

When asked about the things he loves about HPU, Cooper said the “family-like and God-centered atmosphere created

by the faculty, staff and admin-istrators,” as well as “the per-sonalized focus each professor gives” stand out above all else.

On campus, Cooper is in-volved in the Gamma Beta Phi Society, piano ensembles, and University Singers, al-though he is currently study-ing saxophone with Mr. Ste-

phen Goacher and teaching one student in the precollege program. He also plays piano at Sunday services for Saint Mary’s Catholic Church and May First Baptist Church.

You can catch Cooper per-forming a piano duet recital with Jimmy Abbatiello at 7 p.m. Nov. 29 in Grace Chapel.

Student SpotlightName: Abraham “Abe” Cooper.Majors: Bachelor of Music in Piano Perfor-mance, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry.Hometown: Early.Plans for future: MBA program at How-ard Payne, Master of Music Program at Tarleton State, plus a professional degree in science.

Carissa Cromer

Music columnist

YJ File PhotosAbraham Cooper being recognized at the 2016 Acedemic Awards Convocation.

Cooper performing at a Jazz Band concert.

Southside Village Apartments$100 Discount upon move-in for HPU

students, faculty or staff!

Call: (325)603-3359 or (325)646-1749Check out our website at: southsidevillage.net

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HPU to host display of ancient Hebrew scrollsBy HPU Media Relations

Howard Payne University’s School of Christian Studies is partnering with the Christian Heritage Foundation of Cle-burne to present “The Tanakh,” a program and display of the scrolls of the Hebrew Bible.

There are two opportunities to attend the program – 6 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3.

The program, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Rich-ard and Wanda Jackson Con-ference Room of HPU’s Paul and Jane Meyer Faith and Life Leadership Center.

The discussion, led by Charles Garrett,

executive director of the An-cient Hebrew Scroll Project, is part of HPU’s Lectures in Christian Scriptures series.

The display contains 16 scrolls which Jewish people

refer to as the Hebrew Scrip-tures (Tanakh) and which Christians call the 39 books of the Old Testament. The Tanakh is an acronym which stands for Torah (instruction),

Neviim (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings). The scrolls are from Poland, Iraq, Morocco, Russia and other countries around the globe. Each is more than 250 years old, with the exception

of six scrolls commissioned by the Christian Heritage Foundation when a worldwide search failed to discover those needed to complete the set.

“Those interested in the study of the Bible might find this program to be very infor-mative and of great signifi-cance,” said Dr. Donnie Auven-shine, dean of HPU’s School of Christian Studies. “HPU is proud to host this display and we look forward to welcoming members of the community.”

For more information, visit www.ancienthebrews-crollproject.org or contact HPU’s School of Christian Studies at (325) 649-8403.

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Religion & Features

Courtesy PhotoHPU’s School of Christian Studies will present “The Tanakh,” a program and display of the scrolls of the Hebrew Bible.

HP’s 75th anniversary was dampened by JFK assassination

The following is an excerpt from FOR HOWARD PAYNE

MY ALL: 125 YEARS OF CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDU-

CATION AND SERVICE 1889-2015, AN ENCYCLOPE-DIA by Robert G. Mangrum,

Ph.D.

Howard Payne’s 75th Anni-versary Homecoming (“Sev-enty five years of Christian education”) was scheduled for Friday-Saturday, Nov. 22-23. Spotlighted were the classes of 1903, 1913, 1923, 1943, 1953 and 1963.

The festivities were opened with a bonfire and pep ral-ly at Cap Shelton Track on Thursday night at 9 p.m. Fri-day’s first activity was at 4 p.m. when Jennings Hall was dedicated and opened for in-spection by the exes. The Man-of-the-Year Banquet, hon-oring John Maguire, executive

secretary of the Florida Baptist Convention, was scheduled for 7 p.m. in Veda Hodge Cafete-ria. Maguire, having recently suffered a heart attack, was unable to attend and Annie Shelton accepted the award for him. Also to be honored at that time were all retired faculty.

The retired faculty included: Miss Mary Etta Hall instructor of English 1953-62, Miss An-nie Shelton professor of his-tory 1917-1953, Mrs. Helen W. Albertson assistant pro-fessor of sociology 1915-17 & 1948-57, Dr. T. R. Havins chair of the Division of So-cial Sciences and professor of history 1923-1961, Dr. Z. T. Huff academic dean and vice president and professor of psychology 1938-1962, Dr. Cleo McChristy co-chair of the Division of Humanities and head and professor of English 1919-62, Dr. W. A. Todd chair of the Division of Religion and professor of Bible and Greek 1929-30 & 1932-57, Mrs. Lu-cretia Davis Weaver assistant professor of modern languages 1918-20, 1922-24 & 1933-63,

Miss Eula Haskew associate professor of English 1920-64, Mrs. Irene Adams Trapp presi-dent emeritus of Daniel Baker College 1922-49, and Dr. B. O. Herring professor of Religion and head Department of Bible 1955-63 . Mrs. Thomas Taylor, widow of Dr. Taylor, was also honored at the homecoming.

The master of ceremonies for the banquet was Jimmy Al-len, Director of the Christian Life Commission of the BGCT. The main address was to be given by J. Watt Hornburg of Austin, Director of Nursing and Convalescent Homes, Tex-as State Health Department.

Crowning of the Homecom-ing Queen, La Nell Hibdon, senior psychology major from LaPryor, was slated for 8:45 p.m. in Mims. This was fol-lowed by a pep rally under the leadership of Groner Pitts and other ex- cheerleaders.

Saturday morning a break-fast for ex-cheerleaders was planned. The Homecoming Pa-rade, with the theme, “Memo-ries are made of this” would leave from the Center Avenue

side of campus at 9:30 a.m. The alumni association would have its annual meeting in Mims at 11 a.m., with a barbe-cue following between Yellow Jacket Gym and Winebrenner.

The Homecoming Queen would be crowned at 1:45 im-mediately before the Lone Star Conference football game between HPC and Sul Ross. Festivities would end Saturday night with a presentation of the musical “Brigadoon” at the new Brownwood Coliseum.

As with many Americans on that Friday in November, all plans changed after the news from Dallas reached the cam-pus that President John F. Ken-nedy had been assassinated. Although the Homecoming schedule continued to be ob-served, there was a subdued mood enveloping the festivities.

Dr. Don Newbury, former HPU president, related his ex-perience concerning this week-end in an oral history interview. At the time Newbury was the Sports Information Director for Sul Ross. He traveled ahead of the team and arrived mid day

in Brownwood. The Sul Ross football team departed Alpine about 11 p.m. Thursday and, only stopping for sandwiches, etc., arrived at the hotel around 5:00 p.m. Friday. It was then that they were informed of the tragic news from Dallas.

Friday evening was eerie and exaggerated in length, with both schools’ officials trying to determine what to do about the game. Although the foot-ball game was played, New-bury observed “there was an empty feeling with the players going through the motions.”

The Jackets had to come from behind beginning in the third quarter to defeat Sul Ross 26-22. Grayson Wetzel recovered a SRSU fumble on HP’s 35-yard line to start the comeback. Moving 65 yards in nine plays they scored the first of three touchdowns, with the last coming in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.

The Jackets’ record that sea-son was 3-7, with the three wins coming against Texas Lutheran, Sul Ross and Hardin-Simmons.

Dr. Robert Mangrum

university historian

N O V E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 7

Homecoming

Homecoming Photos by:

Lillie McDonaldJosiah HughesAndria Garza

Lydia HeinrichsRachel HughesRebekah Lytle

Parade

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Homecoming

FootballGame

Yellow Jackets fall to McMurry War Hawks N O V E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 9

homecoming

Homecoming is a huge college tradition. It’s a mini-holiday for schools across the nation smack dab in the middle of the fall semester. Homecoming is about much more than bonfires, parades, and alumni returning.It’s also about football. Unfor-tunately, the Howard Payne football team learned you can’t always win your Home-coming game as the Yellow Jackets fell to the McMurry War Hawks 41-6 Saturday at Gordon Wood Stadum. In a game that was actually closer

than the score depicts, a few miscues and minor mistakes ended up costing HPU a vic-tory in front of their larg-est home crowd this season.HPU fell to 0-8 overall and 0-5 in American Southwest Conference games. Sul Ross improved to 4-4 and 2-2.

Defensively, this was the Jackets’ second-best game as far as yards allowed. The de-fense allowed 362 total yards, 151 of those coming through the air and the other 211 on the ground. Austin Kilgore led HPU on the defensive side with 11 tackles, followed by Jason Disney, Kris Mack, and Dylan Hudson, who all had seven tackles. Darron Perry and Zach Reed both had interceptions for the Jackets

as well. “We just made a lot of little mistakes and didn’t communicate, and that’s what cost us the game,” said soph-omore linebacker Isaac San-chez, who had three tackles Saturday.The HPU offense managed only 180 totals yards and found the end zone just once on a Justin Acosta 2-yard run with 6:48 left in the fourth quarter. Acosta finished with a team-high 35 yards on the ground.“It doesn’t matter how I did on a personal level. All that matters is how my team did,” Acosta said. “I know we are kind of in a slump right now, but I will never give up on these guys.”

Cassion Montieth and Trey Potter each saw time at quar-

terback. Montieth finished 3-of-8 for 29 yards and one interception that was returned for a score. Potter ended 4-of-14 for 26 yards.McMurry’s quarterback, B.J. Ross, fin-ished 13-of-25 passing for 106 yards and one score, matched by his backup Kevin Hurley Jr., who passed for 40 yards and one touchdown. Ross also added 91 yards and one score rushing.“Football is one of those things where it can sometimes line up with baseball,” HPU head coach Hunter Sims said. “Timely plays in football is like timely hitting in baseball – they’re critical. Trey had a few good ones, and Cassion had a few good ones as well. They did a good job of balancing each

other out.“We just need to play harder, play smarter, and play a little bit more together. The biggest thing is just our confi-dence right now.”Confidence will be needed as the Jackets gear up to take a trip into the desert this weekend to take on Sul Ross State in a 6 p.m. game at Alpine. Coming off a loss to Mary-Hardin Bay-lor, Sul Ross will be looking to rebound against HPU in a hostile home environment.

Follow the game on 99.3 KPSM-FM radio or online at www.HPUSports.com.

Staff Writers Tanner Donathan and Austin

Upchurch contributed to this game report.

chad anders

sports columnist

Snapshots

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Homecoming

Bonner, Mata crowned queen and princess N O V E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 1

Homecoming

By HPU Media Relations

Jaclyn Bonner, senior from Lytle, and Adriana Mata, ju-nior from San Angelo, were crowned Howard Payne University’s Homecoming Queen and Princess, respec-tively, during the Homecom-ing Convocation held on Friday in Mims Auditorium.

The princess is a junior female student at HPU, and the queen is a senior female student. They are chosen by a vote of the student body.

Bonner, the daughter of Rosemary and James Bonner, is a communication major and sociology minor. She is the senior presiding senator of the Student Government As-sociation, a leader within the Baptist Student Ministry and a columnist for the Yellow Jacket student newspaper.

Additionally, Bonner as a resident adviser, as a member of Gamma Beta Phi National Honor Society and as a volun-teer intern for Genuine Col-lege Ministry. Upon graduat-ing from HPU, she would like to work with marginalized people groups abroad then return to the United States to begin a career in advocacy and government relations.

Bonner also was the Home-coming princess last year.

Mata, an elementary edu-cation major minoring in music performance, is the daughter of Gloria and Lupe Mata. She is a member of the Student Activities Coun-cil and an honorary member of Sigma Theta Phi. She as-pires to become an elemen-tary teacher to share her love of music with the next generation of musicians.

Photo by HPU Media RelationsAdriana Mata, left, and Jaclyn Bonner, right, were recently crowned Howard Payne’s Homecom-ing Princess and Queen, respectively. They are pictured with HPU’s 2016 Coming Home Queen, Martha Dufresne ’71.

HomecomingChoir

Concert

Beating the Freshman Drums is a worthwhile tradition and rite of passage

One of Howard Payne’s great – and loudest – Homecoming traditions is the Freshman Drum.

If anyone didn’t under-stand what was happening while students in front of the Bell Towers were smacking oil drums Friday and Satur-day, here is what was going down. The idea behind this tradition is that the fresh-man class has to drum for 24 hours before kickoff to keep the Homecoming spirit alive. If they stop drumming at any point, the football team will lose the Homecoming game.

So starting at 4 p.m. Friday, the freshman started beating on oil drums with metal bats and didn’t stop until the game began at 4 p.m. Saturday.

If anyone noticed dur-ing the weekend, they may

have seen that the drum wasn’t only at the Bell Tow-ers. The Freshman Drum made appearances at the homecoming bonfire, the pa-rade, and the tailgate party.

This presents the ques-tion of how the drums were transported back and forth if they needed to be drummed

on the entire time. The an-swer to that question is ex-actly what you might think.

With a firsthand experience to the events, I was able to watch as the freshman sena-tors, Mike Hord, and Justin Hughes, made sure that as they moved the drums, some-one was constantly beating on

them. From lifting them into a truck, driving down the high-way, and unloading them, there wasn’t a moment those drums weren’t being hit.

Apart from the freshman senators who were responsi-ble to stay there for the whole 24 hours, different freshmen took hour-long shifts to hit the drum. I signed up to go out there at 2 a.m. It was cra-zy. I had a great time, beating on the oil drums, coming up with songs and meeting new people, and just the idea of sitting in a circle with base-ball bats in the middle of the night and smacking a metal barrel was hilarious to us.

However, I did not stay up for the whole 24 hours un-like our incredibly commit-ted freshman senators. When I woke up the next morning for the parade, I went out to see them much less en-ergetically hitting those oil cans. I stayed with them for the afternoon, and it was al-most sad watching as they

could barely keep their eyes open. But they managed to still keep hitting the drum.

The alumni loved com-ing up and encouraging the students and told us their stories of what their drums looked like at the end of Freshman Drum, or how long they managed to stay out. It was really cool to see how something so random could connect alumni with stu-dents throughout the years.

Madison Thames comment-ed, “I learned how to doze off and continue to hit the drum.”

This bunch was exhausted but determined. Right un-til the opening kickoff, the drumming didn’t stop. When it did, there was a sigh of relief as the freshman were finally free of their responsibility.

Overall, this experience was great. Even though the freshmen are relieved that it’s over, it’s a fun rite of pas-sage that will be something I can talk to future HPU fresh-men about for years to come.

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Homecoming

Lillie McDonald

staff writer

Photo by Lillie McDonaldSGA Freshman Senator Mike Hord and Madisynn Thames beating the Freshman Drum late into the night.

Marching Band

Lady Jackets headed to ASC tournament N O V E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 3

SportsHPU SPORTS UPDATE

Football

Record: 0-8, 0-5 in ASC

Oct. 29: McMurry 41, HPU 6Nov. 5: HPU at Sul Ross, 6 p.m.Nov. 12: Belhaven at HPU, 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer

Final Record: 3-9-3, 2-5-3 in ASC

Oct. 27: HPU 2, Louisiana College 0Oct. 29: Belhaven 3, HPU 2

Women’s Soccer

Final Record: 5-11-1, 3-7-1 in ASC

Oct. 27: HPU 3, Louisiana College 1Oct. 29: Belhaven 3, HPU 2 (OT)

Volleyball

Record: 11-14, 5-8 in ASC

McMurry Tournament:

Oct. 28: HPU 3, Jarvis Christian 1Oct. 28: HPU 3, McMurry 1Oct. 29: HPU 3, Univ. of Dallas 1

ASU Tournament:At UMHB, Belton

First RoundThursday, Nov. 3

HSU vs. ETBU, 12 p.m.HPU vs. UT Tyler, 2:30 p.m.Women’s Tennis

Note: Division winners UT Dal-las and Mary Hardin-Baylor have a bye to the Nov. 3 second round. The tournament is double elimina-tion. Check www.hpusports.com to follow HPU in the tournament.

The Howard Payne volleyball team qualified for the American Southwest Conference tourna-ment for the first time since 2000.

The Lady Jackets will start off the double-elimination tournament by facing the University of Texas at Ty-ler at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Belton. HPU qualified for the tournament by finishing third in the ASC West Di-vision with a 5-8 conference record.

The Lady Jackets, 11-14 overall, have great momentum going in to the conference tournament as they have won five of their previous seven games. The Lady Jackets have had great success so far this season, one of which was beating Hardin-Sim-mons for the first time since 2010.

Colleen Westfall, third-year head coach for the Lady Jackets, comment-ed on the Hardin-Simmons victory.

“Beating Hardin Simmons early this year helped the girls to realize that they are capable of competing and winning against teams that are ranked higher than they are. That game was the turning point for our

season. It was a big confidence boost-er that helped the girls to push past different adversities,” said Westfall.

Since the Hardin-Simmons game, the Lady Jackets have continued to win a total of six games. Westfall ex-pressed that the support from fans and the community have played a huge role in the success of the team this season.

Senior Briana Williams is more than excited to head to the conference tournament.

“We’re preparing for the tournament by focusing on all the little things and perfecting them in practice. We’ve played everyone that’s going to be in the tournament so we know what to expect from them. Playing them pre-viously helps us truly prepare for the match against them,” said Williams.

Williams was only a tod-dler the last time the Lady Jack-ets made it to the conference tournament nearly 17 years ago.

The Lady Jackets will start off the tournament facing the University of Texas at Tyler at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Belton.

“The girls are working hard in preparation for the conference tour-nament,” Westfall said. “Our main focus for this week is to turn our weaknesses into strengths for the games to come. The team and coach-ing staff are very poised and self-as-sured for the conference tournament.”

Morgan Ashmore

STAFF WRITER

Three Lady Jackets make All-ASC West Division Team

by YJ Staff

Howard Payne middle hit-ter Zhartaezia Bradley was voted Newcomer of the Year on the 2016 All-American Southwest Con-ference West Division Volley-ball Team announced Wednesday.

Bradley, a 5-foot-10 sophomore who played one year in junior college before transferring to HPU, posted 203 kills and 91 blocks (combined solos and assists) during the regular season.

Bradley also was voted first-team All-West Division.

Cheyanne Lovelady, a 5-7 ju-nior setter, was voted to the sec-ond-team All-West Division after finishing the regular season with a team-high 767 assists. She also had 217 digs and 29 service aces.

Shelbie Harry, a 5-9 senior outside hitter, made the All-West Division honorable men-tion list after finishing the regular year with a team-high 254 kills.

Photos by Josiah HughesZhartaezia Bradley

Alyssa Beasley

Much more than a football player

Failure is a destination pos-sibility for anyone. Some fall victim to circumstances, but when people can con-quer the struggles in life, it surely is something special.

For Taylor McLeod, it looks like he’s leaving his circumstances in the dust.

“Challenges come every day,” said McLeod, a Howard Payne student and member of the Yellow Jackets’ foot-ball team. “I wake up every morning with a smile on my face just because I’m happy to be alive. I have the oppor-tunity to make the world dif-ferent, and I get to make a difference. I can walk into a room and be a room changer. If you look at things nega-tively, then you’re only go-ing to have negative results.”

Growing up without a fa-ther, McLeod experienced those challenges and disap-pointments earlier in life than most. What seemed like a fairy tale story early in their rela-tionship, McLeod’s mother learned that his father wasn’t planning to stick around. That was proven true when he refused to sign the birth certificate, and was absent most of McLeod’s young life.

“I felt like life wasn’t fair. It’s not because I was jealous for not getting the same things as others. It was more like I was always trying to catch up,” McLeod said. “So many other people have their dads in their lives and they had those certain people to guide them and give them a head start.

“Basically I did everything myself. I had my mom, but she was always working. Not

taking any credit away from my mom, she motivated me. But I had to teach myself to be my own man,” McLeod continued.

“My dad signed his rights over to my grandma, and as a son, that kind of hurts. It makes you think, wow, am I not good enough? I always had that thought in my head, and it’s taken a lot to get that out of my mind. I just real-ize all the things I’ve done like graduating from high school, I’m going to college, with all these things I’ve re-ally had to teach myself to be man because I didn’t have a true father figure.”

Even without a father fig-ure, McLeod still was able to find some positive influences.

“I had to find role models in my coaches. Mainly because there were so many people in

my neighborhood who could have been great and could have gotten out, but they let drugs, alcohol, sex and all those distractions affect them. It’s like watching the Blind Side (the movie) with no happy ending,” McLeod said.

That was just the begin-ning of struggles for McLeod. He has also fell victim, as so many do, to profiling. That can really alter one’s ability to make an impact.

“People look at me as a huge guy like, ‘Oh, he’s a football player, maybe he’s a jock. Oh, he has tattoos on his skin, maybe he’s a bad guy. Oh, he has long hair. Look at the color of his skin.’ There’s so much profiling that people don’t really get to know you, they just judge you for how you look,” McLeod said.

A high school football ca-reer as McLeod compared to the popular football film, “Friday Night Lights,” he has always been used to a high intensity, both on and off the field. He had to deal with the pressures of preforming in games and practice, along with keeping a good social profile in front of coaches and faculty, while also keeping friends happy by participating in the high school party scene.

“There was a seriousness of trying to be great and trying to keep all the stresses in life to a minimum,” he said. “In high school it was stressful. I had to keep up with my grades, keep a good social profile, because you know people love to talk. With football you only get so many chances, and if you miss one, then that’s a missed op-portunity, and you want to keep those to a minimum be-cause that could be a way out.”

While he didn’t feel highly recruited, McLeod had plenty of opportunities to go play college football out of Abilene Cooper High School. He had received interest from school such as Midwestern State, North Texas, and even from nationally ranked Division III schools Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor.

“I didn’t feel highly re-cruited because there were so many other people at Abilene Cooper who were getting letters every day from top colleges like Texas, BYU, TCU, Baylor,” McLeod said.

When asked if he got a chip on his shoulder be-cause of that, he responded:

“Yeah I had a huge chip on my shoulder. I just had a lot to handle with homework, and working, all those steps to be a great athlete I did on my own while mostly everyone else had

their dad to help them along.“My mom told me, ‘I’m

going to be happy wherever you go – as long as you’re happy with what you’re do-ing and you’re allowed to do what you love to do. As long as you’re going to continue to chase your dreams, pray to the Lord, and He will let you know where you should go.’

“And so I took that to heart,” McLeod continued. “I went to bed that night and took a knee, leaned over my bed and put my head in my hands and I closed my eyes and said, ‘Lord, I’m struggling, life is hard, send me to a place that feels like home. Send me to a place where I can do great things, where I can make a difference.’ ”

The next day in the mid-dle of McLeod’s much-hat-ed algebra class, a knock came on the classroom door. Coach Hunter Sims of How-ard Payne peeked his head in, covered in HPU apparel, and asked to talk to McLeod.

“I saw Howard Payne on his jacket and thought, ‘Huh, I ain’t ever heard of Howard Payne.’ Then he asked to talk to me. I was shocked,” McLeod said. “So we went walking and we met up with some other guys on my team, then headed to the library. He gave us the whole recruitment speech like, ‘Let’s make a difference,’ and all that. I asked him where Howard Payne was and he told me Brownwood. I was like, ‘Oh, Brownwood isn’t too far. I could drive down there.’

“So we went ahead and scheduled a visit, then he wouldn’t leave me alone. Call-ing me day after day and I had had to tell him, ‘Hey Coach I got to eat with my family! We’ve

P A G E 1 4 N O V E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6

Sports

A look at the determined, caring and warm sides of Taylor McLeodchad anders

sports columnist

YJ PhotoTaylor McLeod in the classroom at Howard Payne.

McLeod → Page 15

N O V E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 5

SportsFrom Page 14:

McLeodgot to pray and eat and I’ll call you back. My mom doesn’t let me use the phone at the table.’ ”

The details of McLeod’s visit to the HPU campus are still fresh in the mind of the now- junior defensive end.

“So we finally get a visit set up and it was a cold night in like, late January or something like that,” McLeod said. “The sky was blue, the trees didn’t have any leaves on them, and I’m driving down here by myself, heater doesn’t really work so I’m really freezing.

“I tried to dress nice because my mom was like, ‘Oh my God, first impressions are ev-erything!’ It was only an hour drive, but it felt like it took forever. I get into town and on the water tower, it’s crazy, it says ‘Feels Like Home.’ I was like, ‘OK, let’s continue this.’ ”

An excited McLeod loved his visit and the aspect of how welcoming the HPU coach-ing staff and players were. From Sims giving his truck a jump-start after it had died to his potential jersey hanging in its potential locker, McLeod knew he wanted to be a Yellow Jacket. It excited him and gave him a vison of what he could have and what he could do.

“It felt like a dream that I did not wake up from, but it was reality,” McLeod said. “The coaches knew that I was cold and made some chili. That was some good chili, I think coach (Lance) Unger made it. I watched the play-ers before me work out like Victor Gonzales, Desmond Williams, and Jason Disney.

“The greatest part was everyone already knew my name, coming up to me like, ‘What’s up, McLeod?’ I felt loved and like I was already a part of the team. I loved that. They took me serious, which I loved because I take myself serious. I’m not going to do anything that I don’t put 100

percent into, so that’s how I came to Howard Payne.”

Most people go through a visit and just head straight home, but McLeod wanted to observe a little bit more.

“After the visit I went and hung out at the field house. I did not want to drive home, it was cold.” McLeod said, laugh-ing. “I was dreading the drive back, it was freezing! But it was warm in that field house.”

McLeod observed all the details of the field house. From the longing for a spot on the HPU Hall of Fame, to just wanting to earn his own locker and playing time. A lot of realizations have hap-pened for him since coming here, and a lot has changed in his life since that cold day in January of 2014.

“I went from being a boy

who thought he was a man, to striving toward becoming one. You have to put in the work, you have to put in the hours, you have to do all these things you don’t want to do so that you can do the things you really enjoy,” said McLeod.

Priorities have changed, and life has been spun around since his decision to come to HPU. It’s no longer just himself, football and his family he has to worry about, but also a lit-tle special someone in his life.

“Now, I have more than just my family. I have a girlfriend (Gabby) who loves me, I have a little 2½-year-old daughter named Sophia that I love to death. They remind me that you don’t have to go to parties, you don’t have to drink, you don’t have to smoke. These things put you a step behind

when you always need to be a step ahead,” McLeod said.

“I’m not her (Sophia’s) biological father, but that’s my daughter. She calls me dad and gives me hugs. We’ve gone from her hid-ing behind her mom’s leg, scared of me, to her now coming up to me randomly giving me hugs and kisses.

“It makes a big guy like me feel so warm. I feel like the Grinch at the end of the mov-ie, where his heart grows 10 times the size. So I went from being in such a cold world, struggle, struggle, struggle, push, push, push, that my heart started to go cold. I stopped being a nice guy, stopped laughing, stopped smiling, started getting de-pressed,” McLeod continued.

“I went from that to be-ing warm, to feeling loved, to having purpose another reason to just keep going.”

Now McLeod feels like he needs to set the standard for his little brother, his cousins, his mom, his daughter, and his

girlfriend because there are a lot of people who he believes has doubt in not only him – but in themselves as well.

“I want them to look at me and think, ‘If he can do it, I can do it,’ ” McLeod said.

McLeod has been through so much, that he now knows what truly requires his focus. He’s gone from a cold drive from Abilene to Brownwood, those cold times in life, to feeling warm. He believes he has grown as a person from a boy to a man, from cold hearted to warm hearted, and from not so wise to a little bit wiser than prior to college.

“I’ve been through so much that I have to realize, there’s always more coming,” he said. “But now I know I’m not the only one dealing with stuff. Life isn’t fair, and it’s never going to be fair. So the more you look at the sunshine and rainbows, the less you’re go-ing to focus on the cold rain.

“Then you’ll start to look forward to the fun you can have in the puddles.”

Courtesy PhotoTaylor McLeod (62) on the football field as a Howard Payne Yel-low Jackets’ lineman.

HPU has Flu Vaccines

Where: Health Services Office, Veda Hodge first floor

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Friday.

How Much: $15 for students, faculty and staff

Protect yourself from getting the flu!

HPU’s Internet and Game Programing class learns about Virtual Reality

N O V E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 6

Features

It’s not every day you get to leave your current reality and step into a new one. How-ever, with the technology of Virtual Reality, or VR, it is only a click of a mouse away.

VR has been around since the late 1930s, but the tech-nology to immerse a per-son into a new world is a new feature. In 2013, VR really started to take off. Howard Payne University has the HTC Vive, which is one of the best VR systems currently on the market.

Some of the other systems on the market are, Sony Play-Station VR, Samsung Gear VR, and Oculus Rift. The HTC Vive uses LED to track where in the room a person is, and the headset has front-facing cameras that will track any obstacles in the room.

Every Friday after-noon in Winebrenner, Dr. Lester Towell sets up the VR equipment for his

student’s to play and learn.“It’s not so much that I’m

trying to teach my students how to use this type of tech-nology, but how do you take the latest technology and im-prove it,” said Towell, chair of the Department of Computer Information Systems at HPU.

Towell also mentioned that

VR could be used to help people in any field. From do-ing VR surgeries for the Biol-ogy majors to teaching pro-grammers how games work, VR serves many purposes.

Towell was kind enough to let me try the VR system. I was given the headset and con-trols and started playing. I put

on the headset and couldn’t see anything, and before I knew what was going on, I was in a completely white room with a friendly robot.

Towell and his students guided me through the room so I wouldn’t run into any walls or tables. I had no idea where in the room I was

standing. All I knew was that I was in a laboratory playing fetch with a robot dog. Then, I was in what looked like a space ship and was shoot-ing at laser beams. I played for about 10 minutes before giving someone else a turn.

It was truly an unforget-table experience and one that everyone should experience at least once because when you put on the headset, you can’t see your own hands or feet. You are completely engulfed in a new world.

After I took the headset off, I was facing a different direc-tion then when I started and more people had shown up. Because this is new technol-ogy many of the professors in Winebrenner are amazed at how the technology works and wanted a turn as well.

VR will continue to change as more program-mers and technicians use and create new technology. It is a great way for our pro-gramming and science ma-jors to learn about the lat-est and greatest technology.

Reagan Grisham

staff writer

Photos by Reagan GrishamLeft: Dr. Lester Towell sets up the Virtual Reality program.Right: Corey Ash, associated professor of music at HPU, gives the Virtual Reality program a try.

From Page 1:Bonfire

students and alumni were in attendance, but also peo-ple around the Brownwood and Early communities.

“I heard nothing but com-pliments from the commu-nity, alumni and students,” Sullivan said. “I think for the first year, the bonfire was very well put together. I re-ceived text messages late at night from people who were unable to attend the bonfire, but could see the fireworks

from their houses miles away.“This was my third home-

coming to do and every year students asked for more stu-dent involved activities, par-ticularly a bonfire. We started on it early this year, so it was easier to pull it off. My whole goal was for the students and community to feel like they had ownership in Homecom-ing and be able to come out and support HPU while having fun doing it,” Sullivan said.

Staff Writer Morgan Ashmore contributed to this article.

Photos by Andria Garza and Lydia Heinrichs