Categories
Spirit and Traditions

The Magic of Pony Ears

DSC_9664By Elishah Ramos

If you have had the opportunity to spend time on campus, you may or may not have experienced seeing pony ears. Like many other Texas schools, we too have a hand sign, and although it may not be a claw or some horns, we have pony ears. Essentially, to make pony ears, you simply make a peace sign with (commonly) your right hand, and then let your first and middle fingers relax just enough so they’re slightly bent – caution: you want them relaxed just enough so that it feels comfortable, otherwise, if you do too much, you may end up with a completely different mascot from across the metroplex!

Pony ears play a huge role in supporting the Mustangs in Moody Coliseum. This season has certainly challenged the Mustangs with strong opponents; however, the team always plays with so much heart and the players give it their best. The student section, too, gives huge support for the Mustangs as some may put on costumes, coordinate chants, or simply cheer on the guys on the court. The student section always seems synchronized, especially with free throws: everyone throws the pony ears up and keeps quiet and still as one of our guys steps up to shoot. Despite the fact that Moody gets packed full of spectators, it gets so quiet that you can even hear when someone coughs or sneezes once the pony ears go up. Then, once you here the ball gracefully go through the basket everything goes back to the way it was. Moody Coliseum gets loud, excited, and even emotionally invested for our basketball team, but if you leave your pony ears at home, you might feel out of place. Even at the end of the game we raise our pony ears one more time to sing our alma matter, for all sporting events, regardless if we win or lose. So make sure that if you find yourself on campus to bring your pony ears too – especially for sporting events!

Categories
General

A Look Back on Spring Break

By Elishah Ramos

For this past Spring Break I was fortunate enough to serve the Memphis community by working on the Mississippi River in river cleanup. Here at SMU, we have the option to participate in an Alternative Breaks program for our fall, winter, and spring breaks. Last year, picI participated in a spring break trip to Indianapolis, Indiana to work on urban gardening and this past winter break I was in Quito, Ecuador working with low-income children who work in their street markets. After participating in two amazing trips, I decided to be a site leader for the Memphis, Tennessee trip.

While in Memphis, we worked with Chad Pregracke and his non-profit, Living Lands and Waters. They work cleaning up the Mississippi River and several other rivers in multiple states. He was even featured as a CNN hero of the year! It was a very humbling experience and it really helped the group understand a concept that was vaguely familiar to all of us in a more personal level. While we were there, one of the participants in our group was even interviewed for a Memphis news channel. Working with over 15 other schools for a great cause led to a very rewarding spring break.

Categories
Athletics

Interviewing with CNN’s Headline News

By Elishah Ramos

As is quite common with college campuses all throughout the nation, there are always ongoing rivalries in athletics, and our annual battle is one none other than Fort Worth’s Texas Christian University. Every year between SMU and TCU we have a football game where we battle for the Iron Skillet. To outsiders it might not seem like much, because it really is just a skillet, however, that skillet for us represents victory over our rival school.

photoThis year I have the honor and privilege of being a Peruna Handler. For those who are not sure Peruna is our live Mascot, a black Stallion Shetland Pony. Although we are the Mustangs, a mustang is an undomesticated animal; therefore, we went for the next best thing. Peruna is an aggressive and feisty little guy that fears no one. He is famous for his kick – just ask Fordham University’s ram or Bevo. We have the tradition that after every touchdown and at the end of every quarter we run Peruna all 100 yards of the field and hope that our legs will move us fast enough to keep up with him and not trip!

Peruna’s tenacity is well known and because of that CNN’s Headline News wanted to have a quick question and answer session with us [the Peruna handlers] and Peruna. The interview was so much fun and it was great to have our little stallion shine in all his glory. I remember getting text messages and emails from friends letting me know that they saw us on tv, even though now that all of our games are televised, it is not the only appearance the handlers have made with Peruna. Sadly, the results of the game were less than stellar, but there is always next year! Pony Up!