Category Archives: News

Laughter and conversation rang throughout Maverick Stadium Wednesday as teams and observers prepared for the annual Bed Races.

The tradition returned to UTA for the first time since 2019 due to COVID-19 precautions, said Drew Barfield, Campus Recreation assistant director.

The event typically has a theme for a costume contest, and this year’s was noticeably Candy Crush as students flooded the stadium in Fun Dip, gumdrop fairy and donut costumes.

The cold air did not deter students and other attendees from filling the stadium to witness the races.

An inflatable slide, inflatable rotating obstacle course, and cornhole filled half the football field, while the other side held the designated bed racing lanes.

Students fell down the slide and jumped in the obstacle course before the races began.

When the races began at 7 p.m. attendees cheered on the sidelines and in the stands for their team.

One girl stood on the sidelines cheering and holding a sign that read, “Kevin’s #1 fan!”

The races were held in subdivisions: women’s, men’s and co-ed.

As teams of five pushed their beds down part of the football field, cheers rang louder with each race becoming more competitive.

Nursing sophomore Myrna Briones competed in this year’s races as a captain of one of the three Orientation Leader teams.

Before the races began, Briones said she hopes her team does well and everyone has fun.

She said her team was influenced to participate in this year’s races by their supervisor, Kelly O’Keefe.

Briones said O’Keefe wanted them to continue the past tradition of Orientation Leaders participating in a group for Bed Races.

Bed Races has been a UTA tradition since 1980 and remains a popular event some students believe is important to continue.

Social work freshman Cassandra Davila attended Bed Races as an observer and said UTA’s lack of a football team and opportunities for school spirit is what makes Bed Race popular.

“This is one of the things that brings UTA students together,” Davila said.

Davila and Briones both said the event is important to UTA because it builds a sense of community or belonging for students and increases school spirit.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas— Grand Prairie resident Jason Claybrook began a 24-hour run at 6 p.m. March 4 and stopped at 6:07 p.m. March 5 to raise money and awareness for PlayGrand Adventures, an expanding inclusive park at EpicCentral in the city.

The inaugural run, “Gigi’s Run”, was named after 17-year-old Abigail “Gigi” Wilson who was born with cerebral palsy and now uses a wheelchair to get around.

Claybrook mentioned the idea of doing a 24-hour run to Grand Prairie City Manager Steve Dye in November 2021. Dye then had the idea to make the event a fundraiser for PlayGrand Adventures.

PlayGrand Adventures is a playground that allows people of all abilities to experience social interaction, creativity and exercise. The park’s inclusive equipment includes wheelchair-accessible swings and sensory walls.

Claybrook is a friend of the Wilson family, and he wanted to dedicate the race to Gigi and other children with different ability levels who don’t get the opportunity to experience swing sets, merry-go-rounds or other common park attractions.

“Ultimately [the run is] to raise money, and it’s to help expand things, so Gigi can get out there and do the things that she really hadn’t been able to do,” Claybrook said.

Duane Strawn, the director of Grand Prairie’s Parks, Arts and Recreation Department, agreed the event would make a good fundraiser and began working with Claybrook to make the idea a reality.

Strawn said his department is working to make the run available to runners and teams to pay to participate in by 2023.

“Gigi’s Run” raised an estimated $15,000, and donations are still being accepted on playgrandadventures.com, Kelly Eddlemon, the Grand Prairie Parks, Arts and Recreation Department marketing supervisor, said.

Donations go to the PlayGrand Adventures Foundation to fund the expansion of the park.

Strawn said the park had opened in January 2020 but closed six weeks later due to COVID-19. It reopened in October 2021 and the department is continuing its expansion process.

The park is occupying 3 acres and consists of two play zones, but it will eventually have nine zones on 10 acres when completed.

“When you see all these people playing together, you can really tell why a project like this is so important and how much of a benefit it will be to the community as we can continue to build,” Eddlemon said.

Aidan Conroy became teary-eyed as he explained the impacts his grandfather and ex-girlfriend have had on his life.

His grandfather, who he called Papa, died when Conroy was 13 years old. The death rattled Conroy, and he wishes he had the opportunity to build a deeper bond with his grandfather.

His mother and grandmother described him and his brother as shadows of their grandfather. The boys were a lot like him.

Conroy wishes he was able to form a bond with his grandfather as a young adult. He almost envied his older brother and cousins for being able to form a more mature connection with their grandfather. 

“I was young so I didn’t really get a chance to connect with him as I would nowadays,” Conroy said.

However, he cherishes the time he did have with him. Conroy still carries his grandfather’s wallet.

His grandfather was an artist and Conroy has his art hanging in his room. Seeing his grandfather’s passion for art drove him to pursue his dream of sports journalism.

Conroy’s ex-girlfriend had a vastly different effect on his life.

When they met and began dating their freshmen year of high school, his ex-girlfriend caused him to develop insecurities and she did not treat him kindly.

The two later disconnected but eventually met again when they fell into the same friend group.

Conroy noticed his ex-girlfriend was much nicer this time around, and he eventually found himself viewing her as a role model.

“I strive to be like her, how she is nowadays at least,” Conroy said.

He referred to his ex-girlfriend as his slightly better equal as he explained how he looks up to her, but also tries to compete with and be better than her.

Conroy said, “Her passion and seeing how she is with things in her life, I try and apply that to a lot of things in my life.”

He said his ex-girlfriend introduced him to the game of bowling, which he now uses as a method of relaxation after difficult college assignments.

Conroy chose to become a journalism major to have a range of career options, mostly relating to sports journalism or analytics; however, he hates writing. 

“I don’t think I find myself being happy as just, like, a common journalist at a news organization,” Conroy said.

He copes with the endless writing assignments and journaling exercises his major requires by going to the lanes.

Conroy said after finishing a writing assignment he looks forward to treating himself to a trip to the bowling alley to unwind and relax.

Though other individuals have had an impact on his life, Conroy is working to focus more on himself.

Conroy said, “It’s finding that balance of being hospitable to people, but also you know, worrying and taking care of yourself. Once I find that I’ll be good and confident in whatever I do.”

Conroy is learning and growing from his past experiences. He is looking to the future and hoping for a plan to fall in place.

“Don’t get caught up in the past. When you hold onto the past, you don’t allow yourself to make change in yourself and to grow,” Conroy said.

Some of Conroy’s personal future goals include settling down with a partner in his late 20s, being proactive in obtaining his sports journalism career, and getting to know his parents on an adult level.

Conroy is a UTA journalism junior and only chose to attend UTA for financial reasons. His first choices were Texas Tech or Texas State.

However, he believes it was the right choice for him and thinks he would be overwhelmed at any other college.

“I don’t think I would go back and change anything,” Conroy said.

PBS American Portrait is a national storytelling project that asked people all over the country to submit their stories by responding to thought-provoking prompts, according to the PBS website.

American Portrait is an intriguing project. It allows everyone to come together, tell pieces of their stories and be heard. I encourage people to partake in it.

I chose to answer a prompt, whether it would lead to feelings of pride, sadness, tragedy, or success. However, browsing through the 25 prompts proved that choosing one to answer would be difficult.

The ones that stuck out most to me were “Now is the time…”, “My greatest challenge is…”, “I never expected…”, “My life right now…” and “What keeps me up at night is…”. The prompt I chose to answer is “My life right now…”.

This prompt resonated with me most because my life at the moment is much different than I ever anticipated.

I think young people don’t see themselves accomplishing anything substantial by the time they are 19 years old. I have learned that even small goals and achievements should be praised because they all lead to bigger milestones.

When I sat back and observed my life as an outsider, I realized how much I have grown in just a few years. I should be proud of what I have accomplished, and instead of expecting more from myself, I need to remember the small goals I have already reached.

Sharing a small piece of my current life and things I have accomplished on the internet is intimidating, but it is important for others to see how much can be achieved with determination.

My advice to any teenager would be to expect more from yourself after graduation, after you move out and into your 20s. Age should not determine what you accomplish or when you do it.

Below is my entry for the American Portrait prompt “My life right now…”.

Feb. 2, 2022 – GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas

Justin Dean is a 19-year-old TAMUC student, P.E. Paraprofessional, coach, and baseball fanatic. Dean has played baseball nearly his entire life and has a strong passion for the sport. He began high school at Palmer High School and played on the junior varsity baseball team; however, Dean wanted more out of his high school experience than what Palmer had to offer. He eventually enrolled at Avalon High School and greatly benefited from this new experience. When his high school athletic career was cut short due to COVID-19, like many other 2020 seniors, Dean looked to higher education to continue his baseball playing. However, after a few months working with the DBU baseball team, he was offered a chance to coach his own team. He began his coaching career in March 2021 as the head coach of a select baseball team, and he transferred from DBU to TAMUC. He now coaches two teams for the TBT Texas Baseball program. Plus, he is back in Palmer ISD as the elementary P.E. Paraprofessional.

THE WEATHER CHANGE

         Multiple signs of climate change occurred in 2017, including record temperatures. The National Weather Service website shows in November 2017 extreme temperatures were reached. Examples of the record heat index for 2017 include 94 degrees on November 2, 90 degrees on November 4, and 94 degrees on November 5.

         Texas Observer writer Naveena Sadasivam reported examples of extreme weather events in 2017 that could be linked to climate change. These include softball-sized hail, an increase in wildfires, and the Category 4 hurricane known as Hurricane Harvey. According to the Texas Observer, Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast and stalled for several days over Houston, then dumped about 60 inches of rain.

         “The amount of rainfall produced by any given storm is increasing because of climate change,” said Sadasivam.

RECENT SIGNS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

         A more recent example of climate change in Texas was the winter storm that occurred in February 2021, which proved Texas is not prepared for these extreme changes in weather. Power outages and deaths across the state demonstrated Texans’ lack of understanding of climate change. Gov. Greg Abbott has created no policy on the risks of these extreme weather conditions or how to reduce them, according to Schechter and Horner.

         Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon is a climatologist and a professor at Texas A&M University’s department of atmospheric sciences who has been researching the risks of climate change for years. He has warned policymakers about the harmful effects of climate change and his research shows Texas will endure more extreme weather conditions in the future.

         “It’s all tied together. Everybody has to worry about everything,” said Nielsen-Gammon.

Nielson-Gammon’s statement refers to the price everyone must pay if climate change continues to cause these weather crises.

STEPS TO PREVENT CLIMATE CHANGE

No Texas agencies or departments have created any policies on climate change yet. The state is threatened with droughts and more extreme weather in the future, according to WFAA News. Residents of the state should take part in climate control prevention to lessen these extreme weather changes.

         A few ways to prevent climate change according to AIDA, a regional organization of environmental legal experts, include supporting small agricultural producers, combating short-lived pollutants, and promoting green energy.

Sources Used: Normals, Means, and Extremes

2017 Was Texas’ Second-Warmest Year on Record

Texas and Climate Change