SWOSU@Sayre Newsletter Volume 11 Issue 5 April 15,

Student Government Presents

End of the Year Bash! By Daniel Essary:

The End of the Year Bash has been slated for April 22! This is a Friday you won’t want to skip. Some awesome prizes will be given away!

The event will last from 12-2, here on the Sayre campus.

The Student Government Association asks everyone to join them in celebration, for free food, ice cream, a computer, 32” TV,

Keurig Coffee System, & 8 Yeti travel mugs to give away!. For more information please see page 7.

Two Receive ScholarshipsBy Katina Nichols

Every year, the SWOSU Foundation awards scholarships to Sayre students. This year, $3,000 was awarded to two Sayre students: Brandy Sanders who won a $1,500 Interbank Foundation Scholarship, and Paul Gieswien who won a $1,500 Interbank Foundation Scholarship. Congratulations to our winners! These students are glad they applied. Next year, watch for information in your e-mail, or signs posted around campus telling you about the deadlines and other qualifying information. If you could use an extra $1,500, don’t forget to see Nancy Sanders to apply next March.

Brandy Sanders and Paul Gieswein

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THE WATCHDAWG

SWOSU-Sayre is Hosting a

Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre is giving away information, sweets and college treats at its first annual College Fair. The public is invited to two informal, come-and-go sessions Tuesday, April 26 from 2 to 4 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. in the SWOSU-Sayre Administration Building Conference Room. “We’re putting on this event to make the public aware of college

opportunities available at the Sayre campus,” said SWOSU-Sayre Dean, Sherron Manning. Faculty and staff members will be on hand to meet the public and answer questions. Manning said that attendees can get information about admissions and degree programs. “They can also get financial aid help, and eligible attendees can even enroll in classes,” Manning

said. Free T-shirts and refreshments will be available, while supplies last. Two $500 scholarships will be awarded, one at each session.

“The event is free, and everyone is welcome,” Manning said. For more information, call 580-928-5533. See page 8 for the flyer.

Get Your New Student ID NowAfter a lot of work (writing databases, building forms, hardware setup, etc.) the ID card printer is online and ready

for work. Our IDs have been redesigned to look like the ones that Weatherford issues. Our Information Technology Technician, Michael Brinkley, added an additional field to our ID cards. This field is a "Special Studies" field, which is used to designate a student as a MLT or Rad Tech student. Students in those programs will need to let the operator know that they are in one of those programs.

The IDs will still be made in the library. Students will still have to present a printed schedule or access MySWOSU to prove they are a student. Brinkley has worked with Librarian, April Miller, and her staff, and they are now ready for students.

“Should the library be closed, I will be available to help students, as well. If anyone has questions please let me know,” Brinkley said.

The IDs allow access to shows, events, and the library on the Weatherford campus, and can even help you receive student discounts at many stores and vendors.

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You Need to Vote!

By Zandalee PlummerThe 45th President of the

United States will be elected on November 8, 2016.

According to David Brooks, lawyer and instructor on the Sayre campus, early voting in Beckham County can be done from 7 A.M to 7 P.M. on Thursdays and Fridays at the Beckham County Election Board, located behind the Beckham County Court House, and from 7 A.M to Noon on Saturdays.

On Election Day, voting can only take place at the precinct voting place, which is listed on the voter registration card, from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M.

If you haven’t registered to vote, you can find a complete list of dates and times of deadlines to register to vote for specific elections at mytimetovote.com. You can register at the county election board or a tag agent’s office.The 2016 Presidential Candidates for the Republican Party are as follows: Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Donald Trump. The 2016 Presidential

Candidates for the Democratic Party are the following: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

The current President of the United States, Barack Obama, is not eligible for re-election according to “term limits” which are now outlined in the amended U.S. Constitution, according to ballotpedia.org.

Originally,the Constitution had no limit on presidential terms. George Washington, the United States’ first President, turned down the opportunity to run for a third Presidential term, thus setting the stage for a two-term limit. Constitutioncenter.org states, “Washington’s voluntary two-term limit became the unwritten rule for all Presidents until 1940.”

In 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, won a third term as President of the United States. In 1944, Roosevelt was elected for a fourth presidential term. In April of 1945, President Roosevelt died, and members of the Republican Party advocated

for Amendment XXII. President Roosevelt was the only president who served more than two terms.

The Twenty-Second Amendment limits the President to two presidential terms, which is a total of eight years. It is possible for a President to serve up to 10 years, given the right circumstances. If a vice president takes over a term for a president who cannot complete the term, then he or she may serve two years or less of the former president’s term, plus his or her own two complete four-year terms. If more than two years remain in the former president’s term then the vice president who takes over may then only serve one additional presidential term.

These are the fascinating facts about our Presidency. Be proud of our democracy and show it by taking part in the process—learn all you can about the candidates, register to vote, then get out to the polls on Nov. 8th.

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What is Earth Day? By Sydney Street

Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and celebrated in more than 192 countries each year. In 1969, at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to

first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a Proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.

A month later, a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in recognition of his

work. While this April 22 Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations. Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues.

Instructors at the Sayre campus traditionally plant flowers on campus and exchange plants from home with one another.

Wildfires Tear across Western OK & TX Panhandle

By Ron HamOn the afternoon of March

23, 2016, a large grassfire erupted west of Shamrock, TX. Inadequate rainfall coupled with extremely high winds were the perfect recipe for a fire to become out of control in mere minutes. As the wind blew relentlessly from the Southwest, the fire continued to move in the direction of Shamrock. Although officials were monitoring the situation closely and bringing in resources as fast as possible, they were forced to close a section of I-40 from McLean to approximately 6 miles west of Shamrock after the fire had crossed the interstate and the heavy smoke reduced visibility to near zero. While the fire

continued its march to the North, fire crews from neighboring counties and towns combined forces to combat the blaze, even the use of local water haulers was implemented to bring fresh water to the fire trucks. While one fire of this magnitude is more than enough to spread resources thin, fires were also reported in Randall, Potter, Wheeler, and Childress Counties. Another large fire was being fought in Gray County, near Pampa, TX. According to the Amarillo Globe News, the Gray County Emergency Manager requested an evacuation of the Western half of the city and evacuations were also

taking place in Skellytown and Kelton.

Crews continue to monitor the areas where the fires burned hundreds of square miles, destroyed some homes and other structures, and cut a path all the way to Kansas.

BE AWARE!

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Weight Room Open; Gym Still Under ConstructionBy Danny Trevino

As many of you know, the college campus gymnasium is being renovated. The job is being taken care of by a company named DJ West Enterprise, based out of Phoenix, Arizona. The company has worked in many states in the Midwest, such as Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Colorado. The workers on this month-long project are Doug Wes, John Stern, Derrick Mercer, and Jeff Senevey, along with other various people, all members of Dj West Enterprise. The college administration would like to make the gymnasium safer and more user, friendly. Some of the additions to the gymnasium include the following:

Renovating the telescopic bleachers Refinishing the seat and riser boards Repainting the under structure Motorizing the bleachers, so they’ll come out automatically Providing code required aisles Adding aisle rails and end rails Painting the footboards with a nonskid surface

The gym is open, the entry and bathroom floors are finished, and the bathroom stall have been installed. However, you can get to the weight room.  Heartland Seating began working on the bleachers April 4th. ”I understand we can keep the weight room open while they work, said Sharron Manning, Dean of Associate and Applied Sciences, Southwestern Oklahoma State University. “Refurbishing the bleachers should take approximately three weeks. The gymnasium will be up and running soon. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

Your Kids Don’t Belong to You!?By Katina Nichols

Former Host of MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry made a shocking statement that should concern all of us: “We have never invested as much in public education as we should have

because we’ve always had a kind of private notion of children, and your kid is yours and totally your responsibility. We haven’t had a very collective notion of these are our children, so part of it is to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents, or kids belong

to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities. Once it’s everybody’s responsibility and not just the household’s, then we start making better investments” (Your Kids Don't Belong To You- Melissa Harris-Perry, 2013).

(Continued on page 6)

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Your Kids, ContinuedThese frightening words were

discovered on a draft document composed by both The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education titled: From the Early Years to the Early Grades. In this 18-page draft document are some frightening endorsements.

This draft not only requires having periodic home visits by teachers, but also demands that the government get involved in parents’ lives by enforcing a family/child engagement in the home. This creates “communal child rearing” instead of the parents raising their child.

Here is just a small sample of the frightening statements complied in the draft document on family engagement.

On page one they point out that their goal is to make parents “equal partners” to those of educators and other professionals in the community. Meaning parents will no longer have the final say, but now your child’s welfare becomes the responsibility of the community:

“It is the position of the Department that all early childhood programs and schools recognize families as equal partners in improving children’s development, learning and wellness across all settings, and over the course of their children’s developmental and educational experiences.”

On page four it discloses that family engagement is no longer “supplemental” but now government officials must carry out the engagement.The perception that family engagement practices are supplemental, rather than necessary for successfully promoting children’s learning and development. Institutions that serve young children may place low priority on family engagement because they perceive their mission as narrowly focused on the child and miss the notion that children, especially very young children, live in the context of their families and their experiences are not independent of-but intertwined with-those of their families.

“There are few requirements and limited official guidance at the local, State and Federal levels to support implementation of these policies and practices, with some exceptions. Many State, program, district and school policies make ambiguous reference to “family engagement” and do not provide concrete definitions, or guidance on practices and policies that promote family engagement.” On page five it presents the families as “assets” rather than taking on a parenting role and enforces the formation of partnerships between your family, school teachers and other professionals. They even anticipate their “aid” beginning prior to the birth of the child and they want control over social and behavior health: “The first step in systematically embedding effective family engagement practices in educational settings is to establish a culture where families are seen as assets and partners in children’s development, learning and wellness. States, LEAs, schools, and early childhood programs should adopt a set of principles that guide the work of each interrelated level of the system.”

Three of their nine goals include:

(1) Create continuity for children and families. Implement a vision for family engagement that begins prenatally and continues across settings and throughout a child’s developmental and educational experiences.(2)Value equal partnerships between families and professionals. Combine professional expertise with Familial expertise to promote shared learning and responsibility for children’s healthy development, learning and wellness. Encourage two-way communication by valuing family input on all aspects of the child’s life and development, including their culture, traditions, and home language.(3)Prioritize engagement around children’s social, emotional,

and behavioral health. Engage families around children’s social, emotional, and behavioral health. Ensure constant monitoring and communication regarding children’s social-emotional and behavioral health. Ensure that children’s social-emotional and behavioral needs are met and that families and staff are connected with relevant community partners, such as early childhood mental health consultants and children’s medical homes. Page seven goes on to reveal the implementation of evidence- based parenting interventions and the rigorous evaluating of parent-child activity: Implementing evidence-based parenting interventions across early childhood programs. Parenting interventions should be based on communities’ needs and strengthen families’ roles as children first and most important teachers, advocates, and nurturers. (See Appendix for a compendium of parenting interventions.)Rigorously evaluating family engagement strategies to identify and scale best practices. Page ten discusses hiring a family specialist to aid the family:“They may include hiring a family engagement specialist, or designating an existing staff member, to be responsible for ensuring that systematic family engagement plans are well managed, executed, and continuously improved.

Page thirteen contains the most disturbing information about periodic home visits: “To support ongoing relationship building with families, programs and schools should conduct periodic home visits so that teachers and families can get to know each other and communicate about children’s goals, strengths, challenges, and progress.

If these outrageous advances into your home and into your child’s business frighten you, then you should get involved and talk to your congressman. Don’t let Melissa Harris-Perry’s plan become a reality.

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Student Government Presents End of the Year Bash!

When: April 22, 2016

What Time: 12-2Where: Sayre Campus

Come Join us in celebration, for free

food, ice cream, AND a COMPUTER,

32” TV, Keurig Coffee System, & 8 Yeti travel mugs to

give away!

Let me tell

you these PRIZES ARE

Awesomesauce

!!

Sign up with swosu @ sayre’s student Government

Association Today

You must be present to win!

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