One of Huntsville Main Street’s many successful programs each year is the “Downtown Christmas Festival,” and this year was no exception, attracting some 2,000 people to the downtown square. Ten of those 2,000 included the LEAP Ambassadors (and a few friends) to help with the festivities.
The LEAP Center students set up shop just across from the beautiful Roche Building…
…and we handled all the ticketed attractions at the Festival, under the direction of Lindsay Lauher (Main Street Manager), Jazmin Perez (Main Street Intern), and Rylee Henson.
The festival offered a moonwalk, numerous vendors for shopping, food, a train for kids, pictures with Santa, and–the star attraction–snow on the downtown square. Of course, as an event for kids, the children found their own way to have fun, including an impromptu “balloon parade.”
Even with the onset of Christmas, children seemed to have a mixed reaction to sitting with Santa Claus. Some seemed to suffer from parental separation anxiety…
…while others fully enjoyed the Christmas spirit.
For Beatriz and Brian, the latter spirit ruled the day…
…and even without the presence of Santa, the LEAP Volunteers had fun…
For the attendees, the train was also a big hit, with families having fun on the two-block trip provided by the engineer.
As previously mentioned, though, it is the snow that attracts the youngsters.
In between busy periods, the students ate at Farmhouse Eats and Sweets–several for the first time–and had fun around their volunteer posts, with Professor Yawn even getting in on the action.
Although the LEAP Center has several more events this semester, this is one of the last three for which all the members will be together, and we enjoyed it.
As the began to set and the day came to a close…
…we took one last picture of the square at sunset, and went home to prepare for finals, thankful for activities such as “Downtown Christmas Festival,” which makes the community a nicer place to live.
Here’s a riddle: What makes goblins and dentists both frightened and gleeful? The Answer?…. Yep that’s right you guessed it, its Halloween!!!!
Of course the LEAP Ambassadors and Pre-Law Cohort would come together to help the local community of Huntsville at the annual Scare on the Square event. Scare on the Square is an event sponsored by the City of Huntsville (by Huntsville Main Street) where local business, community groups, and even high school and college students come together to throw a safe but frightful and fun event for local children.
The LEAP Ambassadors and the Pre-Law Cohort decided to provide two games for the children. The first, is one that we named “Place the Bow on Mr. Bones”! This game gave children the opportunity to earn candy by correctly placing the bow on our honorary LEAP Ambassador member, Mr. Bones, while blindfolded.
The best part of the game is that before the children can be allowed to properly find Mr. Bones they must first be spun around five times; this was hilarious!
Our second game a bowling game with our googly-eyed bowling pins!
Surprisingly the bowling pins scared a lot of the children; especially when they eyes began to pop off of the pins from the beating they were receiving! The kids, however, were willing to overlook these eyes for a scoop of precious candy!
Austin of course came dressed for the affair as a farmer! What we all didn’t expect was for him to have a twin there as well!
As the Scare on the Square came to an end we were all very happy that we could put some smiles on children’s faces.
…and on the LEAP Ambassadors’ faces…
In thinking of this we were all reminded of the joy that the LEAP Team can bring to people of all ages in the Huntsville Community.
Aat the same time we were also reminded of the reason why too much candy can be a bad thing. However there are some things that we can never outgrow!
To help commemorate Veteran’s Day, the LEAP Center volunteered at the HEARTS Veteran’s Museum 16th annual Veteran’s Day Dinner to honor and thank Huntsville’s local Veterans on November 11, 2015.
The event honored veterans from all military branches with dinner, a silent auction fundraiser, and many thanks. This year, the LEAP Center assisted in greeting guests, among which many were familiar faces.
The event began with the posting of colors and pledges of allegiance along with a welcome from the HEARTS Museum Director, Mark Robinson. Following the welcome, a video of the Armed Forces Medley played where each branch of military stood while their anthem played. The medley was a wonderful way to recognize all the veterans in attendance and something guests look forward to each year.
This year, dinner was catered by City Hall Café and Pie Bar providing a tasty treat for all.
Feeling satisfied, LEAP students headed to assist with the silent auction. Many items were up for auction such as picnic baskets, jewelry, paintings, and many delicious desserts. To conclude the program, the silent auction was closed, awards were distributed
Charlotte gives award to the Fordyces
and the clean-up began.
The annual Veteran’s Day Dinner provided the opportunity for the community to show appreciation for Huntsville’s own local veterans and to raise awareness for the HEARTS Veteran’s Museum.
The LEAP Center would like to thank the HEARTS Museum for the opportunity to volunteer each year and to all veterans for their selfless service and dedication to protecting our freedom.
Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican tradition that celebrates lost loved ones in a an intimate way, and it is celebrated at the Wynne Home Arts Center annually. For each individual lost loved one, family and friends build an altar that reflects the life they lived. The altar is composed of favorite foods, flowers, candles, and objects that they cherished. Those who celebrate this holiday believe that during the night the deceased will come and enjoy what they have left for them.
Similarly, the Wynne Home built two altars for the lost loved ones that made a great impact in Huntsville, Texas: Jesus Moroles and Barbara Tyson. The two artists have both done work for the Wynne Home as well as in the community. With both of the artists passing this year, the Wynne Home wanted to honor and commemorate their lives by building them altars. The altars will be on exhibit until November 12, 2015.
The Wynne Home provided tamales, traditional rice, and charro beans—foods that are popular for this holiday. There was also face-painting…
…coloring and art activities…
…and a showing of “The Book of Life” for children.
LEAP is very proud to volunteer at They Wynne Home—a place that advocates cultural diversity and art. It was a joy to see so many locals take part in this tradition that is cherished by many!
If you signed up for an event called the Great Muddy Escape, why would you care if it rained?! You wouldn’t! The mud and rain are part of the fun, and fun it was at the 5th annual “Great Muddy Escape.”
The Great Muddy Escape is a partnership between the YMCA and the Huntsville Memorial Hospital, with a threefold mission: (1) to increase awareness of fitness and health, (2) to offer a fun, healthy family activity, and (3) to raise funds for two organizations that promote healthy communities–the YMCA and the Huntsville Memorial Hospital Auxiliary.
The LEAP Center has been peripherally involved in this fundraiser since its inception, offering volunteers and participants. So, while some of the LEAP Ambassadors competed at the Moot Court competition in Lubbock this weekend, a few members and friends endured the rain and mud at the fifth annual Great Muddy Escape 5K in Huntsville on Saturday morning. Arriving before sunrise and smiling…
…LEAP Center students checked in volunteers, set up tables and snacks, and made sure packets were ready for when runners arrived. Amidst volunteers from different student organizations and community groups–all led by the indomitable Margaret Gulledge– LEAP students worked hard to make sure everything was perfect before all 250 competitors arrived and began to tackle the course’s dozen obstacles.
Once snacks and packets were prepared, volunteers headed down to the starting point to see runners stretching…
…eager to begin the race. Twelve obstacles awaited them, including walls, slides, and huge mud pits, and from the looks on their faces, it appeared that LEAP Center student Bella Abril was much more excited about this than this than POLS major Paul Oliver…
After a few minutes of anticipation and a pep talk by Mayor Mac Woodward…
…runners began with the sound of the blow horn.
As the runners sprinted past the starting line…
…all one could see were the teams…
…in a blur of tutus, tennis shoes, and tight pants on athletes enthusiastically running towards what could end up being their demise.
Paul Oliver (Orange Shirt) Dashes Onward
Would they escape? One could only hope to see an equal number participants cross the finish line after withstanding all that the obstacle course had to throw at them.
LEAP students Megan Chapa and Brian Aldaco had the opportunity to photograph runners as they climbed walls…
…trucked through the mire, and swung across perilous pits of doom, or simply mugged for the camera.
Meanwhile, Constance Gabel and Karla Rosales checked runners in as they crossed the finish line, covered in mud, making sure to count the amount of wristbands they acquired at each accomplished obstacle. Little did we know, runners took their effort very seriously and much competition made our jobs difficult to say the least. Students Bella Abril and Paul Oliver ran the race with fierceness and completed with all wristbands intact. In fact, Bella even videoed herself with a gopro camera!
Meanwhile LEAP President Megan Chapa trudged with her boyfriend, Taylor Martin…
…through the mud…
…where even superheroes fear to go…
Even more fun was the waterslide, where some tried to traverse by running…
…some by sit-sliding…
…some by diving head-first…
…actually, a lot of people diving head first!
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Some by being pushed…
…but mostly by falling!
But always smiling while doing so…
The smiles reflect the event’s mission, to “test your resilience, strength, stamina, quick decision making skills, and ability to laugh in the face of adversity.”
The smiles did, in fact, reflect the immense fun of the event, but perhaps no photo captures the fun better than Bella’s gopro video.
Despite holding a gopro camera for the duration of the event, Bella managed to finish the 3.2 mile event, through mud, rain and obstacles, in about an hour. Paul Oliver finished 7th in the men’s category, completing the course in under 40 minutes. Megan Chapa and Taylor Martin opted for the untimed event.
Overall, the male winners in the 5K were Will Butler (27:26), Ty Stubblefield (28:20), and Bryan Cruz (29:50). The female winners in the 5K were Angelina Santos (33:16), Stephanie Brock (33:24), and Angie Pecina (33:29).
Win or lose, though, it was a great day for both the participants…
…the super participants…
…and the volunteers…
…and for the Huntsville Memorial Hospital Auxiliary and the YMCA, the recipients of the money raised. Over the past five years, more than $40,000 has been raised for these worthy causes, and the LEAP Center has been proud to be a part of the program over this span.
About Huntsville Family YMCA
The Huntsville Family YMCA strives to provide families a safe outlet for their children with special needs where they can experience the joy and benefits of participating in sports and physical activities. Programs are available for youth ages 4 and up in baseball, volleyball, basketball, flag football and soccer.
About Huntsville Memorial Hospital
Huntsville Memorial Hospital is a 123-bed, private, non-profit community hospital, providing health care services for the residents of Walker County and the surrounding area since 1927. We are devoted to the health and well-being of our regional communities by providing exceptional care to every patient every day with a spirit of warmth, compassion and personal pride.
Twenty-five SHSU students just moved closer to enrolling in law school, thanks to an appearance by Ricky Kaplan at the LEAP Center’s first-ever “law-school workshop.” Kaplan, a consultant and instructor for Kaplan Testing, also served as Legislative Counsel for the state of Oregon, Assistant Attorney General for the state of Illinois, and Assistant Attorney General for the state of Texas. He also has a BA from U of Minnesota, a Masters from Northwestern, and a law degree from U of Minnesota. He knows about law.
And he shared it with SHSU students last week, kicking off the workshop with the major factors that law schools look at when deciding whether to admit a student. The factors are:
LSAT
GPA
Personal Statement
Letters of Recommendation
Resume
Background
He purposefully led with LSAT because, whatever its flaws, “it is the only measure the law schools have that is consistent across every student in the US, and it does a pretty good job of predicting first-year law school success.”
The LSAT and GPA guide students in which law schools to apply. If a law school, say Texas Tech, has a mean LSAT of 155 and a mean GPA of 3.4, then a student with a 156 and 3.5 is probably going to get in. A student with a 149 and a 2.9 probably won’t.
While the numbers for schools vary from year to year, the following numbers generally reflect the law-school “means” of Texas law schools:
While these two measures (LSAT and GPA) are the most important factors in getting into law school, the personal statements, letters of recommendation, and the resume can also make a difference in a close case. His advice for the personal statement was to be genuine, to emphasize narratives, and to emphasize the positives about yourself. When stuck with writer’s block, he encourages students to forget they are writing a personal statement and write four-five stories about their life. These often reveal something meaningful about the person and can subsequently form the basis of a compelling personal statement.
For personal statements, go with people who know you and your work. Professors are probably best, but for people out of college for several years, employers can write the letters. Avoid “friends of the family” or folks you think are important but aren’t directly familiar with your critical thinking, writing, and communication.
After arming us with advice, Kaplan took a break and then worked with individual students on their personal statements, answering questions about addenda to the applications, and how best to prepare for the LSAT.
Such advice may not get students into the University of Minnesota or Northwestern, but it will maximize the chances they have of getting into the best law school available to them.
This morning started earlier than usual, but that was just fine because we were headed to Austin City Hall.
The inside of the building was just as beautiful as the outside! The modern architecture combined with the intricate art pieces made City Hall an enjoyable place to spend the day. As we began to shuffle inside the building we were led to a meeting room. Here we were served a light breakfast that consisted of breakfast tacos, fruit, and coffee. We ate quickly because the Women in Leadership panel was only a few minutes from starting. The panel began with the introductions of the panelists. Present was Austin’s Fire Chief, Rhoda Kerr; Law Department Division Chief, Deborah Thomas; Director of Small and Minority Business Resource Department, Veronica Lara; Elena Ball, VP for Power Production at Austin Energy; and lastly SHSU alumni Margo Fraiser, Austin Police Monitor. The panel spoke about dynamics of their careers, experiences that have shaped them, and gender inequalities (the latter dynamic was overly emphasized, we felt).
Following the panel was a tour of City Hall by Ms. Melodye Foust.
We learned interesting facts about the infrastructure and history. The building began its planning and renovation is 1999 and was completed in 2004. Austin City Hall is four stories high and was structure to capture nature. Each floor includes double-sided balconies that overlook the city, and on the fourth floor, Lady Bird Lake.
Ms. Foust also informed us about the partnership made with an art gallery that allowed them to house their art work. This makes City Hall not only community center, but a museum.
In conclusion of the tour, we loaded on the bus for lunch at Scholz Garten. Lunch was delicious and meaningful because this is a restaurant where “politicians” frequent!
The most exciting part of the day was the tour of the Capitol. Each time I go to the capitol I learn something new.
My favorite fact during this tour was that funds for the capitol building were raised by selling off 3,000,000 acres of land! After the wonderful tour, we gathered in the House Committee Room and awaited our guest speakers. They were an assortment of representatives, legislative directors, and policy analysts. We also gained insight of the work done at the capitol in and out of session for policy and legislation. Most policy work is done during the session and most constituent work is done immediately following session.
After a long day of learning and exploring we made our way back to our temporary residence. We jumped into comfy clothes and left for dinner. Dinner was quieter than usual because we were all exhausted from the long day of exploration.
To end the night, we made last minute touches to our HB5 presentations that we would deliver first thing the next morning in the mock hearing. I was anxious to hear everyone’s provisions of the bill!
Wednesday began with our normal quick, yet nutritious breakfast before our morning session of classes began. Our first speaker, Rebecca Sive, is a lecturer and academic director at the University of Chicago where she teaches Women in Public Leadership. Ms. Sive is also the author of Every Day is Election Day: A Women’s guide to Winning Any Office, from the PTA to the White House. During Ms. Sive’s lecture, she stressed turning on our own internal GPS and creating our own paths. Essential to her discussion, she reinforced the fact that everyone has their own path in life. For some, that may be to public office, but sometimes it isn’t.
Ms. Sive’s discussed her six “easy” steps to run and win for office which provided helpful guidelines for NLT participants to think about. In addition, Ms. Sive was nice enough to sign copies of her books for everyone. Personally I found the session extremely helpful because it laid out concrete steps to help candidates run for office.
After Ms. Sive’s presentation, we paused for lunch. Unsurprisingly, lunch time is everyone’s favorite time of the day because it gives us the opportunities to continue our discussions about controversial topics, our common experiences as college students, and about our career goals.
Following lunch, we had the opportunity to work our political action project and prepare for the HB5 panel of experts. The panel consisted of experts from various perspectives concerning HB5. The distinguished panel included the current High School Director from Austin Independent School District…
…an attorney previously in the Texas Legislature who assisted in writing the bill for various House Representatives, a Texas Tribune Education Reporter, and an Educational Administration Professor from UT. Each provided a unique perspective and helped prepare NLT participants for our mock committee hearing on Friday by answering questions and addressing concerns on the specific details of HB5.
The last presentation of the day focused on managing your message as a candidate. Marjorie Clifton, CEO of Clifton Consulting, provided extremely helpful advice on effective communication and how to achieve it. She provided us with three key components to address while speaking: who is your audience? What is your message? How are you going to deliver it? Ms. Clifton noted that personal experience helps make you more credible and gives the candidate the opportunity to connect with voters. Ms. Clifton’s presentation was engaging and an upbeat way to end our sessions for the day.
The evening was devoted to dinner and finishing up our political action project. Tomorrow is an exciting day because we get to tour the capitol and meet with influential women within the Texas Legislature. In preparation of an eventful day, and mentally drained from learning an extensive amount knowledge in such a short time, we headed up to our rooms to end the evening.
Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics 