Category: Campus Life

A Whole New Era for SMU

This year campus feels different. Yes, the improvements being made on campus are hard to miss, and so are the changes to the menu in Arnold, but the real difference is the student body’s renewed confidence in our football program. The past few years haven’t exactly been the best for our team, but it’s already apparent that this season we can expect great improvements from SMU football.

The arrival of Chad Morris signaled a new, better direction for our team. The former offensive coordinator for Clemson, Coach Morris seemed excited to be at SMU from the moment he got here. He brought with him some new staff, but more importantly, new energy for the football program. In his first few weeks at SMU, along with recruiting he spent time at other SMU events: he was at the welcome for the basketball team after they beat UConn away, stopped by the sorority houses in February, and went above and beyond to make sure campus felt his arrival and sensed his commitment to our team. Yes he just got here, but it’s hard not to notice the impact Chad Morris’s presence has had on our campus.

Our team has also improved in some pretty marked ways over past several months. The football players seem more cohesive; at the games they seem to genuinely enjoy themselves, playing or not, they can be spotted all over campus together on their hoverboards, jetting from class to class. It’s been a pleasure to watch them play with a confidence I haven’t seen since I started at SMU two years ago. Matt Davis has done a wonderful job leading the team as quarterback, the offense and defense have both stepped up in big ways thus far, and everyone who has a big hand our games in other areas: the band, the cheerleaders, the Pom squad, and the fans have this football season’s experience–even with only two games played so far–distinct from any other I can remember.

-Tammy Winter

Campus Life

Robin Roberts Tate Lecture

Post author By Claire Piepenburg
Post date May 4, 2015
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The Tate Lecture Series hosted at SMU brings prestigious speakers to campus that are either industry leaders, political figures, or influential thinkers who have experiences to share that are unmatched throughout the world. Most recently, I was able to attend the Robin Roberts Tate Lecture, which was both an entertaining and humbling experience. Roberts is a co-anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America, an athlete, and a cancer survivor. Her story opened my eyes to the potential future challenges, but also encouraged me to remember that the power of an optimistic outlook can carry you through even the toughest of times.

Carissa Laughlin (far left, student ambassador), Jacob Conway, and Emily Hegi (student ambassador)

Roberts shared personal stories, including the first time she reported for a sports news show on live television, and the time where she met the Queen of England. Her spirit was infectious, as she kept the crowd laughing the entire time. Even through the conversations about fighting cancer, Roberts was positive and candid. Roberts mentioned that although she does not agree with people who say cancer is the best thing that ever happened to them (because she said it definitely was not), that cancer did help her to prioritize and balance family time and relationships with her busy career.

I am a senior here at SMU graduating this May. Attending this Tate Lecture encouraged me to reflect on all of the other similar opportunities I have had as an SMU student over my four years. I was able to attend the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Institute opening, the opening of the new Residential Commons buildings, a dinner with the SMU Board of Trustees, and much more. SMU provides these unparalleled opportunities for its students across all majors and interests, and I believe this is something that makes SMU unique to all other universities.

By Carissa Laughlin

Academics Campus Life Life Around Dallas

Approaching the Semester’s End

Post author By Claire Piepenburg
Post date April 30, 2015
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As the spring semester winds to an end, one obstacle lies in the way of students returning home, starting internships, and even graduating: final exam week. During this week, students will spend time visiting with their professors and studying in the various libraries on campus in order to prepare for the semester’s end. After the semester, many students will begin internships set up through SMU’s MustangTrak, which allows them to experience a new job setting and build up one’s credentials for after graduation. For those who are graduating, this is a bittersweet time; the senior class will close a chapter in their lives and finally enter the real world!

Getting through finals isn’t an awful time at SMU because of the amenities that SMU provides for its students. There’s still fun activities going on. Every night at SMU’s Fondren Library, a “midnight breakfast” is catered for the students who are studying away during the night. The library staff makes us pancakes and waffles with all the toppings and, most importantly, hot coffee! SMU also provides puppies to play with during finals week to relieve stress and provide a break for students who are focusing on exams. Students even find time to explore Dallas during this busy season. Just the other day, we attended a Mavs game at American Airlines Center after having a great dinner at Victory Tavern.

Although exam week is a burden for most college students, SMU goes out of their way in order to help us succeed. And we just have to remember that summer is just a few weeks away!

By Adam Melson

Campus Life Meadows School of the Arts

Sopranos Anonymous

This coming Friday, I have the opportunity to partake in something completely unconventional and absolutely awesome. I will be performing in an operetta written and directed by one of SMU’s very own Vocal Performance Graduate students. She presented her piece of work to the Opera Director within Meadows, and he has allowed her to cast it, direct it, and now we will be performing it! The performance is free and is located in the Meadows lobby. It’s quite the perfect opportunity both for the student body to enjoy a musical work of art that is accessible to them as well as for us to perform for our peers. The operetta incorporates several very well known arias and musical theater pieces. It’s entitled “Sopranos Anonymous” because it is set up as a support group for the typical soprano ‘diva.’

It is not often that you get to play into the stereotypes of your major in front of an audience in a completely ironic and comedic work of art. It is extraordinary fun and great exposure and experience for us young singers. I am proud to be performing in one of my friend’s own works of art, and am more thankful every day to Meadows and SMU for opportunities like this one.

By Shannon Conboy

Ambassadors Athletics Campus Life Spirit and Traditions

ESPN College Game Day

This past month, College Game Day came to SMU, and it was one of the best days for SMU basketball. The day started at 8AM bright and early on a Saturday when they aired the show at our very own Moody Coliseum. As soon as I arrived, we were given free grilled cheese (who doesn’t love a good grilled cheese), and I got to take a picture with our live mascot Peruna. They also handed out tons of spirit items such as game day hats and posters.

Then SMU and its biggest fans filled the coliseum to support our basketball team. T-shirts were thrown throughout the whole event, and I actually caught one, which was a first for me. The day continued with a half court shot contest where an SMU student won $18,000 right at the buzzard. It is the second time this season that State Farm has given out $18,000.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:12324600

The day continued with the big game that night against UCONN. SMU basketball ended up winning 73-55 making the college game day one for the books.

By Kelsey Buttrell

Ambassadors Campus Life Life Around Dallas Spirit and Traditions

A Passion Rediscovered

When I was 6 years old, my mom bought my twin sister and me our first Dixie Chicks CD. She used to travel for work a few times a month, and one of the weeks that she was away, my dad helped my sister and I learn to sing the song “Long Time Gone” together. After a whole week of practicing, we performed it for my mom, and that performance was the beginning of my passion for music and – more specifically – for singing. My sister and I started singing everywhere we went: Christmas parties, the streets of downtown Dallas, the French Quarter in New Orleans, Times Square (right next to the “Naked Cowboy”!), and pretty much anywhere we could get the attention of a few people and sing for them. As I grew up, I got so distracted with preparing for college and doing homework and filling out applications that I stopped focusing on music. My junior year of high school, I started a local indie-rock band with my best friends, and we started playing at benefit concerts and coffee shops, and all of a sudden, I fell in love with singing and performing again.

But wait – what does any of this have to do with SMU?

Well, fast forward to college. Life gets busy again, band members scatter amongst different universities, and I forget, once again, to pursue what makes me feel the most alive. Thankfully, though, SMU helped me to remember.

At SMU, during Family Weekend every year, we have a talent show with acts ranging from singing to dancing to beat-boxing. The new drummer in my band and I got together and decided to audition with one of our original songs. We made it through auditions and we were able to actually perform at the talent show. It was absolutely exhilarating. If you’ve never performed something personal and precious on stage for your peers and family members, you might not know how nerve-wracking, yet rewarding it feels, and words could never do this feeling justice. But because of the opportunities that SMU provides for its students to really engage in what they love, I got to experience this feeling once again.

In addition to the Family Weekend Talent Show, I was given another opportunity to perform the song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with one of my best friends at Celebration of Lights, one of SMU’s most notable traditions that takes place in early December every year and involves hot chocolate, live music, and Christmas lights. Once again, SMU afforded me the opportunity to show an audience what I love and what keeps me excited about life. I’m not a music major, and I could probably never be at the talent level of the students in Meadows School of the Arts, but I still get to live out my passion for music on a large scale because of SMU.

So, I might not be singing Dixie Chicks songs anymore, but I’m constantly reminded to pursue that 6-year-old’s dream here at SMU, 14 years after it all started.

By Jacqui Jacoby

Ambassadors Campus Life Residence Life and Student Housing

Dogs of SMU

My family has had a dog for my entire life. Whenever we moved (which was 6 times), our dog, Coco the Chocolate Labrador came with. So when I came to SMU, I was very sad to leave my dog. However, I didn’t really dwell on it when I was packing up my bags.

I quickly found out that I really missed having a pet to play with! However, when I moved into Loyd Residential Commons this year, I found out that I could add a new addition to my pet family; Buster and Winston. Our FIR (Faculty in Residence) Professor Fontenot has two Shih Tzu puppies who happen to be brothers! Better yet, we have opportunities as Loyd Residents to play with the puppies every week at Professor Fontenot’s “Breakfast Crew” events every Sunday at 8:30, and can sign up to go walk the dogs around campus!

I have found out that it isn’t just my Residential Commons that has a dog, many of the SMU Commons’ FIR’s are following in Fontenot’s footsteps. Almost every Residential Commons has a Common Dog, and they are around for any SMU student to play with.

As I have attended more events in my Commons, I have found out how thankful I am that SMU Professors understand how much dogs mean to us! I am so excited to watch Buster and Winston grow, and I can’t wait to come back and see them when I’m an Alum!

(PS. The dogs in the Commons are hypoallergenic so everyone can join in on the puppy loving!)

Ambassadors Campus Life Spirit and Traditions

Sing Song

I could not act, sing, or dance even if my life depended on it. Before college the only musical role I ever played was a pig that just oinked in the background when I was in elementary school. That was the extent of my acting career. After being at SMU for a year and a half now, I’ve had so many experiences that I never thought I would have been able to do including Sing Song. SMU Program Council, a student organization, hosts this annual event every spring where Fraternities, Sororities, and other student organizations audition to be a part of this huge musical show, Sing Song. Even though I wasn’t much of a musical type of person, I ended up being in my fraternity’s group. Our fraternity was paired with another sorority, and we started to get to work. We practiced twice a week, about an hour per practice. It was hard work, but it was a ton of fun. By the day of the show we were prepared. Basically our musical was about cavemen falling in love and dancing to Kesha. We ended up winning 3rd place, along with a nice cash prize! Our hard work had paid off, and it was an incredible experience. I had never thought I would have done anything like this in college. We actually just started to prepare for this year’s Sing Song, and I can’t wait to see the finished product!

By James Jang

Ambassadors Campus Life Life Around Dallas Spirit and Traditions

Summer on Campus

I am so excited that this summer I will be here on campus at SMU working AARO. For those that don’t know, AARO is an acronym for “Academic Advising Registration & Orientation” and I will be an AARO leader for next year’s first year students! I applied for the job way back in November and am pleased to say that I am a proud member of the 2015 Orientation team. As part of being an AARO Leader, we are required to take a class with Lindsay Koch and Jomita Fleming, two of the staff members in charge of the orientation programming here at SMU. We’ve been studying a lot about leadership and how to effectively allocate one’s skills to apply them in the best way possible. We have such a unique grouping of people and a mesh of backgrounds, and we truly are such a wonderful representation of the school’s diverse population. I am working with some friends that I’ve made over my two years as a student, and also have had the opportunity to get to know some people that I hadn’t met before. A couple Thursdays ago, we actually got a chance to see a Dallas Stars game at the American Airlines center with the whole “O-Squad.” It was great to do something so fun in the heart of Dallas, while also having the opportunity to introduce and familiarize myself with some of my co-workers and fellow Mustangs.

I can’t wait to meet the next wave of SMU students over the summer and help be a part of their integration into this fantastic school. Getting situated to a new school isn’t easy, but I want to make sure that the transition is as smooth and fun as possible. As always, Pony Up!

By Evan Giacomini

Ambassadors Athletics Campus Life Spirit and Traditions

Bringing Moody Magic to the Top 25

Post author By Claire Piepenburg
Post date March 7, 2015
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This past week, the SMU men’s basketball team remained in the top 25, by landing a spot as the 21st best team in the country! News like this excites all Mustang fans, and the crowd at the game on Wednesday was one of the loudest I have heard. The team, unfortunately, was not able to pull out the win that night against Cincinnati, but sometimes a loss is good for the team. It put a little fire in the bellies of our players, and the team went on to handily beat undefeated Tulsa in Tulsa the following Saturday to keep us in the rankings. With all of the hype surrounding the basketball team, my friends and I are starting to get organized for a couple major events. What are those events? The first is the American Athletic Conference basketball tournament, in which we will compete over the second half of spring break in Hartford, Connecticut, and the second is the NCAA Tournament first and second round. The anticipation for these events has my friends and I buying plane tickets to witness the culmination of what could amount to a historic season for the Mustangs!

By William O’Connor

Ambassadors Campus Life Residence Life and Student Housing

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Post author By Claire Piepenburg
Post date March 5, 2015
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As a student in high school, I could never imagine living somewhere other than my house in Alabama with my parents and siblings surrounding me. I had lived in the same house, even the same room, for my entire life. The idea of moving was foreign to me, especially the idea of moving away from my parents. I made a decision my first semester at SMU to never call my Residential Commons “home.” I believed that if I started calling SMU my home, then I would no longer be connected to my home and family in Alabama. Throughout the first semester, however, I caught myself referring to my Residential Commons as my home. I would try harder and harder to avoid doing so, but it kept happening more frequently as the semester went by. Now, as a sophomore, I gladly refer to my Residential Commons as my home. I have since realized that you can always have more than one “home.” I truly believe that home is where the heart is. A piece of me will always belong to my home in Alabama, but the love that I have developed for this University has made it my home as well. I have made friends that I truly love and support me. I have resources to help me surpass my own expectations. I have many different opportunities to explore my passions. SMU is my home.

By Caroline Gurley

Ambassadors Campus Life

Brave the Elements

While you can always count on the Dallas summers to be hot, (trust me I gave tours over the summer), the winters are a little bit more unpredictable. SMU students may have thought spring was coming early when we enjoyed temperatures in the upper 70’s a few weeks ago, however, the snow and ice this week crushed our dreams of an early spring and truly proved the unpredictability of the Dallas weather. Due to the fact that I grew up in Atlanta, GA and really only saw snow once every year or two I always get excited to see snow even if it is only an inch of snow. When I first saw it snowing on Friday I was excited to check it out and see how much the snow transformed SMU’s already beautiful campus. Since SMU was still open during the snow it slowly dawned on me that I would have to give my campus tour in the snow. I wasn’t looking forward to being out in the cold for that long but since it rarely snows in Dallas I saw this as a unique opportunity to share with our visitors. I bundled up in the warmest clothes I had and powered through the snow and ice with my group. Some of the families on my tour had traveled multiple hours in the snow and ice to make it to SMU so I did everything I could to make it a great tour despite less than ideal conditions. Even though it was pretty cold, we all survived the tour and are now a part of a select group that can say they toured SMU in the snow. The SMU Ambassadors are a dedicated group and as long as SMU is open we’ll be there to lead y’all through rain or shine, extreme heat or snow, so don’t be discouraged by the weather. Personally, I am more accustomed to the heat coming from Atlanta, so I’m hoping that I do not have to give too many more tours in the snow, but campus does look beautiful even in the winter weather!

By Austin Brown

Ambassadors Athletics Campus Life Spirit and Traditions

Moody and March Magic

2015 at SMU has already started off with a bang and the men’s basketball team has dominated the New Year. SMU’s 23-6 overall record, 14-3 conference record, have led the Mustangs to the top of the American Athletic Conference, just one game behind Tulsa. Mustang basketball tickets are hard to come by these days as the team, led by Hall of Fame Coach Larry Brown, is having a great season. After the Mustangs did not make the NCAA Tournament last year, we proved to the Nation that we could perform by making it to the NIT Championship game at Madison Square Garden. This year, the ‘Stangs scheduled a difficult out of conference schedule to prove to the NCAA that we could play with good teams around the country. Although we lost a few tough games, SMU came away with a big win against Michigan and has not looked back since.

SMU basketball games are a blast to attend. George W. Bush, Tony Romo, Troy Aikman, and Avery Johnson are just some of the stars that attend basketball games in Moody Coliseum. Since the reopening of Moody Coliseum, SMU has only lost two home games and the ‘Stangs show no signs of stopping. Led by point guard Nic Moore and power forward Markus Kennedy, the SMU Mustangs have really proven that they can compete with the best around. It has truly been an exciting season and I cannot wait to see where the Mustangs end up in March!

By Alex Hibbard

Ambassadors Campus Life Residence Life and Student Housing

Changing The World, One RC At a Time

Post author By Claire Piepenburg
Post date March 1, 2015
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Sometimes on the Hilltop, we forget that there is a whole other world going on at the same time. People wake up, brush their teeth, go to work/school/back to bed, eat, and do it all over again. When SMU kicked off it’s “World Changers Shaped Here” campaign, I started to wonder what exactly qualified someone as a “World Changer.” In my opinion, A “World Changer” is someone who does what they can to better the world everyday. It doesn’t have to be anything big or extravagant. One small gesture can really go a long way. Some of the biggest companies today started off as silly ideas. As Residential Commons kicks off, I believe that there will be an increase in small gestures that will propel SMU and it’s students towards being “World Changers.”
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Residential Commons will allow more people to collaborate with each other. For example, one of our very own FiRS (Faculty in Residence), Beth Wheaton, combined her love of economics and helping others into a career catered towards helping others. She is the founder and CEO of Equip the Saints, a non-profit consultancy that works to strengthen nonprofit organizations worldwide and to equip world changers to fulfill their personal missions. FiR Wheaton is a “World Changer” who can provide serious advice for other students who want to collaborate with others and make the world a better place. SMU is a breeding ground for BIG ideas.

Simply put, SMU is the golden place to be at in the following years. We retired an old residential system and brought in a new experience that will be the start of so many new traditions and ideas! Forget about Hogwarts. SMU’s got everything you’ve been looking for.

By Tien Dang

Campus Life

A cappella: Not Just for the Movies

Post author By Ryan Herrscher
Post date January 19, 2015
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By Anna Scott Phillips

After seeing Pitch Perfect, I had always been infatuated with a cappella groups, but not talented enough to be in one. I admire girls in my grade who can belt a tune to my favorite pop songs. After our monthly meetings as ambassadors, I met a girl named Nadine Kakish. She is an ambassador from the Dallas area. We became fast friends. Unbeknownst to myself, she was in one of these a cappella groups. Nadine is an Alto for the all-girls on campus a cappella group named the SMU Belle Tones. She had talked about the many concerts they do throughout the year and various other performances they get the opportunity to perform at, like Celebration of Lights, our school’s Christmas production, to the Pigskin Revue, and more informal concerts for SMU students. She told me that they arrange and choreograph their own musical pieces. After spending long hours with her in the car and hearing her sing, I knew that I had to check out the Belle Tones. I went to their fall concert where they sang classic songs like “You’re So Vain” and more modern songs like “Skyfall” by Adele. I had always wondered if college would be like Pitch Perfect, the movie. I can’t say it’s exactly like the movie, but what I can say is that I do get to experience some of the same interests without myself having to be involved in them. That’s one of my favorite things about the SMU experience—the ability to see other people pursuing their passions while they simultaneously support my own.