August 28, 2006

President’s Convocation scheduled for Tuesday

The annual President’s Convocation will be held at Lyon College’s Brown Chapel at 11 a.m. Tuesday in Brown Chapel.

President Walter Roettger will speak at the event and present several awards to students and faculty. Student Government Association President Emily Wilson will announce the selection of Mr. and Ms. Lyon College for the 2006-07 academic year.

The Mr. and Ms. Lyon College honor is awarded to seniors who embody the ideal characteristics of a Lyon student. The selection process requires that nominees must have at least a 3.0 grade point average. Students are nominated by faculty and staff and then are chosen by popular vote of the sophomores, juniors and seniors.

Dr. Roettger will present the Lamar Williamson Prize trophy to Dr. Frank Winfrey, the Clark N. and Mary Perkins Barton Professor of Management at Lyon. His selection as the Williamson Prize winner was announced at commencement last May. The prize is awarded each year to a Lyon faculty member deemed most outstanding in professional competence, scholarly ability, the exemplification of humane and Christian values and contributions to the community.

Also at the convocation, Dr. Roettger will present the President’s Cup, which is awarded each year to a fraternity or sorority judged by a special committee to have demonstrated the greatest achievement in academics, service to others, athletics, the arts and campus life in the previous academic year.

The winners of the annual raft race held at Bryan Lake on Monday, Aug. 28, will be announced by Gary Harris, Spragins House resident faculty mentor.

Dr. Joel Plaag, assistant professor of music at Lyon, will announce plans for Service Day, which is scheduled for Sept. 27.
 

Lyon graduate gets into medical school at George Washington University

By Wil Shane
Lyon College News Bureau

Chris Estes never dreamed of being a doctor until his bout with an illness showed him that he could make a real difference in people’s lives.

And now that dream is taking him to Washington, D.C., where he’ll soon begin attending classes at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences. GWU is located four blocks from the White House and was created by an Act of Congress in 1821.

George Washington University had its beginning in 1821 as The Columbian College in the District of Columbia. The name of the institution was changed in 1873 to Columbian University and in 1904 to The George Washington University.

Born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Batesville, Estes knew just where he wanted to go after he had graduated from high school.
 

“Lyon College was my first choice,” he said. “In junior high and high school, I was sick with Crohn’s Disease, and I just wasn’t ready to move away from Batesville. I grew up hearing how Lyon was the best college around, and after I went there, I found it’s true.”

The biology major graduated in May 2006 and is currently preparing to leave for Washington, D.C., to begin classes in medical school at GWU.

Though he hasn’t yet decided which medical specialty he’ll focus on, he said he’s leaning toward psychiatry.

“Psychiatrists get to talk with patients and really get to know them,” Estes said. “You’re treating the person, not just the disease, and I like that.”

Crohn’s disease is a disorder that causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. It can affect any area of the GI tract but it most commonly affects the lower part of the small intestine. The swelling extends deep into the lining of the affected organ, causing severe pain.

During his treatment, Estes began to realize that he wanted to be a doctor who can help people suffering the way he was.

“Through a lot of prayer, I got through it—it’s something I really thank God for,” he said. “When I was sick, I saw a lot of others who were as sick as I was, some worse. There isn’t always someone there to care for these people. More people out there need to take notice and help them. Medicine is the way I choose to do it.”

Estes currently holds a summer job at the Child and Youth Pediatric Day Clinic working as an early childhood development tech. Donna Roberson, a certified mental health para-professional at the clinic, said the way Estes interacts with the children is a good way of gauging what kind of doctor he’ll be.

“He’s good with the kids,” Roberson said. “He’s very attentive, and it’s plain to see that he cares about them. He’ll make a good doctor.”

When he began attending Lyon College, he worried about how to pay for tuition, but the College and the state of Arkansas came through for him in the form of the Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship and the Lyon Fellowship.

“They covered all my tuition,” he said. “Lyon and the state were very good to me, and I’ll always be grateful for that.”

Another thing he’s grateful for is the way the campus community made him feel at home.

“The Greek system really helped me out,” he said. “In the beginning, I still wasn’t ready to leave home, but my fraternity, Kappa Sigma, helped me socialize and make the transition from living at home to living on my own. The Greek system there is really safe and productive, unlike at some schools.”

He also credits the College’s religious groups for helping him adjust to college life.

“I joined the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, and it also helped me out quite a bit,” he said. “It was very comforting to be able to practice my religion with my peers.”

Another influence on Estes was one of his professors, Dr. Tim Lindblom.

“I had a couple of classes with him and really liked his laid-back style,” he said. “I researched detoxification in C. elegans in his lab one summer and attended conferences in L.A. and Madison. In the summer I worked for him, we did some work to get published. He showed me how to have a lot of fun and do your job at the same time. He’s one of those professors you can just hang out with. That’s one thing about Lyon: students have really close relationships with their professors.”

When asked if he might return to Arkansas in the future, Estes said the Ozarks will always be home.

“At D.C., I’ll get to experience big-city life and an array of cultures, but I think after four years, I’ll probably get tired of the fast pace and cold weather,” he said. “Arkansas is a nice, calm place to live, and it’s home.”

Registration/validation held Aug. 21 in Lyon Building Registrar Janelle Elliott (seated, right) and Assistant Registrar Jenny Burrow (left) help students get signed up and ready for the first day of classes during registration Aug. 21 in the Lyon Building. Returning students had the opportunity to register online last spring. New student registered during the summer orientations. Those who did not pre-register did so Aug. 21 and the other students validated their registration.

Famed teacher Jaime Escalante to speak at Lyon College Sept. 21

The subject of an acclaimed motion picture is coming to Lyon College to speak about his unique – and highly successful – style of education.

Jaime Escalante will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, in Brown Chapel Auditorium in conjunction with the fall meeting of the President’s Council the following day.

Escalante is a high school teacher whose students – mostly underprivileged and Hispanic – have set standards in mathematics that are all but unequaled in American education. In 1988, the popular movie about his life, “Stand and Deliver,” became one of the year’s most acclaimed films. Edward James Olmos of “Miami Vice” TV series fame played him in the film.

His fascinating and inspirational story gives a vivid picture of a man some have called a “genius in the teaching profession.”

The subject of the book “Escalante: The Best Teacher in America,” Escalante is an immigrant from Bolivia, He was officially inducted into the Teachers Hall of Fame in 1999.

“I’m just a math teacher,” Escalante says. “I’m just helping my students achieve their highest degree of personal development.”

But his persistent, challenging and inspiring teaching methods have made his school the seventh-ranked high school in this country in calculus despite being plagued by poor funding, constant violence, and atrocious working conditions.

“I don’t believe in the gifted,” he said. “If they have ganas (Spanish for desire), I can make them do it.”

Challenging students who previously had little encouragement to aim high with their lives; Escalante has helped wonderful things happen at Garfield High School. His students, assisted by Escalante’s gentle coercion, deft showmanship, and sheer force, push themselves to achieve at levels they never imagined possible. He motivates them to perform through a combination of factors from strict study requirements to discussing career possibilities.

Escalante has shown that one teacher can make a big difference in a lot of lives. His energy, wit, caring and drive have joined with a love for teaching to make outstanding performance in calculus a reachable, desirable goal.

He taught math and physics in Bolivia for 11 years until 1964, when he immigrated to the U.S. After receiving an associate of arts degree in electronics, he worked with Burroughs Corp. in the U.S. He later took a considerable cut in pay to become a math teacher at Garfield High in East Los Angeles in 1974.

Escalante’s appearance is being held in conjunction with the fall meeting of the Lyon College President’s Council, which will be held Friday, Sept. 22.

The President’s Council is composed of distinguished business and civic leaders from across the state and nation who provide support and counsel to Lyon President Walter B. Roettger, the college’s Board of Trustees, administration and faculty.
 

President Roettger appoints new class to Board of Church Advocates

Dr. Walter Roettger, president of Lyon College. has appointed a new class to the Board of Church Advocates. The Board of Church Advocates is an advisory board to the president of Lyon College, with the responsibility for nurturing the relationship between Lyon College and institutions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), including the Synod of the Sun.

Its charge is twofold. First, the board is to advise the president on issues that are relevant to the College’s mission in church-related higher education and its relationship with institutions of the Church. Secondly, the board is to interpret and articulate the mission and current priorities of the College to the presbyteries and churches of the Synod, and to serve as ambassadors for the College.

New members of the class of 2009 include: Charles and Anne Allen of Little Rock; Brian and Heather Bobb of Tahlequah, Okla.; Nancy Covington of Van Buren, Ark.; Kris Crawford-Larson of Benton, Ark.; Norm and Helen Fisher of Hot Springs Village, Ark.; Candi Grace of Little Rock; Ed and Marcy Hall of Monroe, La.; Basil and Cricket Hicks of North Little Rock; George and Rexanna Lea of White Hall, Ark.; Joe McKinstry of Little Rock; Arno and Jacqueline Ponder of Heber Springs, Ark.; Glenn and Susan Railsback III of Pine Bluff, Ark.; and Tommy and Betsy Tucker of Batesville.

The board will meet in Little Rock on Sept. 14 and on the Lyon campus on March 13-14. For more information, please contact Claudia Marsh, director of church relations, at (870) 793-1767 or at CMarsh@lyon.edu.

 

Churches welcome new students Ellie Johnston, Caroline Walton and Kathy Whittenton hosted the booth for First Presbyterian Church of Batesville during Red Carpet Day on Saturday, Aug.19. A total of nine Batesville area churches were represented. They greeted the new students and their parents with lots of give-aways, door prizes and friendly faces.

Kresge Gallery hosts 'Early Morning Paintings'

The Kresge Gallery at Lyon College is hosting a unique art exhibit that seeks to draw from external sources in the artist’s pursuit of new beginnings.

The artist Hamlett Dobbins and his exhibition, “Early Morning Paintings” went on display at the gallery on Aug. 25 and the show will run through Sept. 29.

The program’s closing reception and a talk by the artist are scheduled for Monday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m.

Through much of the 20th century, abstract painters sought to create new worlds where none existed. In an attempt to liberate both the artist and viewer from the tired appearances of the “real world,” they embraced color and brushstroke as an expressive power instead of just recording what is seen in reality.

Dobbins brings the world back in, drawing from external sources in his pursuit of new beginnings.

For Dobbins, this pursuit began at an early age.

“You have two kinds of boys born in 1970: Lego boys and Lincoln log boys,” he said. “I’m a Lego boy. I was eight years old when I saw “Star Wars” for the first time, and when I got home I went straight to the Lego box to build the things that I had just seen on the big screen.”

After hours and hours on the floor with his Legos creating his own version of Star Wars ships he would become part of the story himself. This process of recreating his own version of reality had a lasting impact as it is prevalent in his work 30 years later.

“Legos were a way for me to create whatever I could imagine, and I am still doing that now, only with paint instead,” he said.

In his paintings, Dobbins is trying to understand why experiences of real life or moments in stories or movies move him.

“I use painting to focus on an experience and to wrap myself in the moment,” he said. “By building the experience with paint, I begin to understand what about the moment that moved me to paint in the first place.”

Dobbins lives and works in Memphis, Tenn., and he’s represented by the David Lusk Gallery there. He received his B.F.A. from the University of Memphis in 1993 and his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in 1999. He’s currently the director of the Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College in Memphis.

For more information on the exhibit, contact Chris Valle, assistant professor of art, at 698-4336.

Congressman attends Bradley Manor reception President Roettger chats with U.S. Rep. Marion Berry at the annual reception held at Bradley Manor Aug. 18 for faculty and staff. The reception marks the start of a new academic year at Lyon. Congressman Berry was a guest at the reception.

SPORTS

Get your sports results fast; sign up for the Bagpipe Blast

Want to be the first to find out the scores, stats summaries and results for your favorite Lyon College Scots and Pipers teams?

Students, faculty, alumni and fans of Lyon College sports will now be able to follow their favorite sport or sports by signing up for the Bagpipe Blast, a fast and concise postgame report e-mailed to subscribers shortly after each Lyon College sports event.

If you want to get the Bagpipe Blast in your e-mail inbox, please send an e-mail to athletics@lyon.edu with the name of the sport or sports you wish to receive e-mail results from in the subject line.

Example: Men’s Soccer, or Men’s Soccer/Women’s Soccer

If you wish to receive all Lyon College sports results, just type ALL in the subject line.

Soccer

Pipers 2, Campbellsville 0

The 2006 soccer season got off to a triumphant start for the Lyon College Pipers with a 2-0 shutout win over the Campbellsville Tigers Saturday afternoon at Lyon College Soccer Field.
 
Piper forwards Angelique Armenta and Sarah Ruegger each scored a goal while the Lyon College defense, led by goalkeeper Stephanie Henderson’s two saves, did the rest to blank the Tigers’ attack on the day.
 
Armenta picked up the Pipers’ first goal of the season in the first half, a header past Campbellsville goalkeeper Emily Martin in the 35th minute. Katie Smith set up the score with an assist.
 
Lyon College chalked up another goal in the second half, this one from Sarah Ruegger on an assist from Armenta for a 2-0 advantage.
 
Those two goals held up nicely as the Piper defense held firm for the balance of the game to earn the non-conference victory.
 
Lyon improves to 1-0-0 on the season. Campbellsville drops to 0-0-1.

Athlete of the Week

Angelique Armenta is the Lyon College Athlete of the Week. A junior forward from Tuscon, Ariz., Angelique had one goal and one assist in the Pipers' 2-0 win over Campbellsville on Saturday. The Pipers are now 1-0 and look to extend their winning streak at Central Baptist College in Conway at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Missouri-St. Louis 3, Scots 2

A tale of two halves separated the Lyon College Scots from victory in a 3-2 season-opening loss to the University of Missouri-St. Louis Rivermen Friday at Lyon Field.
 
The Scots (0-1) jumped to a commanding 2-0 lead in the first half on goals from two of its senior leaders. Fourth-year man Nick Jones beat UMSL keeper Zach Hoette off a pass from Peter Smith in the 12th minute for a 1-0 cushion. Steve Banks followed in the 28th minute, whipping his defender one-on-one to hand the Scots a 2-0 advantage.
 
UMSL bounced back later in the first with a goal from Jared Smith off an assist from Ryan Van Dillon to close the gap to 2-1 at the break.
 
The Rivermen (1-0) closed out the game in the second half with two more unanswered goals, one from Jared Smith and another from Ryan South.
 
Scots' freshman goalkeeper Matt Callaway (0-1-0) had 10 saves. Zach Hoette (1-0-0) had six in goal for the Rivermen.
 
Lyon College's Scots are in action again on Aug. 29 at Central Baptist College in Conway.

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