SMSU Athletics

This past weekend SMSU Men’s basketball team played MSU Mankato and they won, making them the No. 2 seed in the NSIC tournament. So on this Wednesday, February 29 we have a home basketball game where we will be hosting UMD. The first 300 students at the game will be getting in for free; normally students have to pay 2 dollars for NSIC tournaments. We are expecting a big turnout for the "white out" game and the fans are encouraged to wear white to cheer on the Mustangs.

Go Mustangs!!

Andrea Hanson
Senior-Monticello, MN

Keeping Busy

I have been keeping busy at SMSU. Thanks to a lot of help from our Career Services office, I have been preparing for the MNSU Job and Internship Fair at the Minneapolis Convention Center. On Monday, there were a lot of students from SMSU there hoping to land some internships. I got a few really good leads and I know my friends did as well. Aside, from that I have been keeping busy with homework and student organizations.

Of course, I make sure I save time to have fun too. This past weekend our basketball teams played Bemidji Friday and Duluth Saturday. This weekend they travel to Mankato. The Alumni Office is sponsoring a fan bus that me and some friends will be riding on. It should be a great time!

Tony Schwebach
Junior-Dell Rapids, SD

Scholarship Luncheon

Every year, SMSU Foundation puts on the annual scholarship luncheon. We started the luncheon by having our meal, which was a salad, pasta, and a dessert. Then the four speakers each talked about how receiving a scholarship from SMSU has helped them concentrate more on academics and less on financial need. They also thanked all those who donate to SMSU to give more students a chance to receive a scholarship. The LeAnn C. Tolk Scholarship recipients were also announced. They were one current freshman, two sophomores, and two juniors. LeAnn wanted to help students have that chance to go to college because she did not have the chance to go. LeAnn was born in Hendricks, MN and raised in Elkton, SD. She worked at 3M following high school until her retirement at age 61. The scholarship is a one-time award of $5,000.

Go Mustangs!

Shawnalisa Reed
Freshman - Bruce, SD

Somewhere Warm for Spring Break?

Spring break is right around the corner! I’m counting down the days—even though I have no plans made, it’ll be nice to have a week break from classes, be able to sleep in til noon, and be able to eat home-cooked meals daily. Since I’m a poor (very poor) college student, I couldn’t plan any warm, fun spring break plans. So, my friends and I are planning a night at a hotel. The hot tub will be the closest, warmest thing to a ocean. Since I don’t have many plans made, my very concerned and organized mother made a full list of plans for me when I am home for the week: doctor visits, dentist appointments, FASFA papers to fill out, and discussing next falls classes, housing, etc. The list drags on… A weeks break from Marshall will make me realize how much I love being at college. I’ll miss having my roommate be my alarm clock every morning, being surrounded by my friends, the daily cup of coffee at Java City, and taking naps in between classes. That is only a short list of the things I will miss. I don’t think I’ll miss homework, lab reports, papers, test, or quizzes but the positive out-weighs the negative. I hope everyone has a fun spring break!

Katie Langel
Freshman-Remsen, IA

Spring Fever!

Spring break is only a couple short weeks away, and students on campus are already feeling the excitement of taking a much needed week off from classes. This mild winter has been feeling like spring every day, so it is no surprise why everyone is looking forward to it. Many people will be leaving for warm destinations, while others just travel home to relax and spend time with their families.

Students will take full advantage of the week off from classes to relax and clear their head before heading back for a couple months to conclude the year. It is amazing how fast time flies. I still remember the first day of classes back in August, and it feels like that was just yesterday.

Winter sports are wrapping up, and soon the baseball, softball, and tennis teams will enter play. SMSU basketball has one regular season game left on the schedule before playoffs start. Both the men’s and the women’s teams have been very successful this season, and look to continue that success in March.

The 2011-2012 school year is almost complete, and what a year it has been! This is definitely a year that I won’t forget, and I’m sure the rest of the student body will agree with me. Hang in there students and keep up the good work for the next couple of months….we can do this!

Go Mustangs!

Tyler Glynn
Sophomore - Jordan, MN

Frisbee: A Love Story

It’s not new news to anyone here in Minnesota that this winter has been unseasonably warm. I, like many others, have taken part in activities that one wouldn’t normally partake in during this time of year any other winter. Driving with the sunroof open in January, golfing on Christmas Day, and wearing shorts three days a week are all examples of events that individuals have taken up this winter. For myself and my three good friends, Ben Westphal , Kevin Ellingson, and Luke Klein, we have taken to the streets of Marshall in one of America’s Greatest Pastimes; Frisbee. One December night after watching College Basketball on ESPN I found a Frisbee in their house. We went outside to throw it around and made the life changing decision that if we came back after winter break and there was still no snow on the ground we would continue improving our skills. The rest is history. Today on most nights you can find us playing under the lights at the intersection of Pine and N. Minnesota Street. We have two rules if you want to play with us: 1. No complaining and 2. If you throw the Frisbee and it goes down the storm drain you buy a new one of equal or greater value. Taking into consideration the amount of time we have practiced, our skills have become freakishly good. If you think you can run with the big dogs feel free to stop by. Challengers are welcome.

Josh Anderson
Sophomore – Springfield, MN

Food for the Soul

Hey Mustangs! I hope you are all enjoying the nice weather we are having. Although all of the excitement over Winter Melt-down week has started to simmer down, there are still things going on around campus. Today, Thursday the 16th, U.G.L.I.E.S. is hosting it’s annual soul food festival. It will be held in the upper Student Center from 11:30- 1:30 and is $8 per person. They will be serving traditional soul foods like cornbread, chicken, macaroni and cheese, ribs, black eyed peas and sweet potato pie. Yum! The festival will also be hosting a poetry slam during the meal. The play, The Thirteenth of Paris, is also hosting it’s free student showing tonight at 7:30pm in the main theatre. Finally, the Mustang Basketball teams will end the week by playing in their last games of the season against Minnesota- Duluth. The games will take place this Saturday. Women’s at 4pm and Men's at 6pm.

Go Mustangs!

Kaelyn Turner
Sophomore - Sartell, MN

Forever a Fan of the Mustangs

This weekend the Mustang women’s and men’s basketball teams play their final home games of the season. I am super excited, yet a little sad that the season is coming to an end. At Friday’s game, the theme is Country Western and there are always some pretty creative outfits to check out. Then, for Saturday’s game, the theme of the night is Pink Zone. This night is dedicated to raising awareness for breast cancer and there are all sorts of activities going on in support. My favorite event happens during half time of the men’s game. Around eight volunteers, who most are students at SMSU, sit on the court as another person cuts off their hair to later donate. It is a great event and is fun to see the sea of pink (the crowd) cheer on the individuals.

Even though this weekend is our last home games of the season, the teams still have a few road contests. Next Saturday, the Mustangs will take on Minnesota State Mankato and since our school has such dedicated fans, we are taking a fan bus to the game. Earlier in the season we took one to Augustana which was deemed a success. I am always excited to road trip, especially if it supports the Mustangs!!!

The women’s team is currently 5-18 while the men’s team sits at 14-9. Play-offs here we come! GO MUSTANGS!!!

Laura Johnson
Junior–Maple Lake, MN

Strategic Planning

Wednesday, February 15th is Strategic Planning day here at SMSU. Strategic planning is an organizations process to find a strategy and plan to meet goals they set. Strategic Planning starts at 8:30 and goes until 12:30, classes are not held until after 12:30 tomorrow. Faculty and staff are to attend this meeting and for students, it is optional. At this meeting, they will set goals and determine how these goals will be met. Strategic planning is a wonderful event held on campus to get everyone involved to help set goals to better SMSU. Hopefully see you all at strategic planning!

Kassi Hague
Sophomore- New Ulm, MN

Hey Everyone!

It's hard to believe that its already the middle of February! This winter has felt more like spring with five degrees one day and forty the next. I wish it would snow already so we could have some snow days! Its amazing how fast time flies when you're older, it seems like last month I was just graduating from high school! Before you know it, I will be done with my first year of college in less then three months! At the beginning of the month I got to experience Hawaiian Night for the first time, and boy was it fun going to the basketball games and being with all of my friends. If you get the chance to go, please do! You won't regret it!


Kayla Stenzel
Freshman- Wells,MN

Greetings!

I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by! Before I know it I’ll be student teaching, graduated, and applying for jobs…SCARY! This semester I have been placed in a classroom about fifteen minutes away from campus. I pay a visit to my fourth graders every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning and afternoon. This placement is part of the education department’s elementary methods field experience. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I have learned from my fourth graders! Typically one field experience consists of fifteen hours in a certain subject, a majority of the time is spent observing and helping the teacher with different tasks they may have. This experience also includes opportunities to teach a lesson you have created to the students while the classroom teacher observes. It may seem nerve wrecking to some, but I can say that every time I have taught a lesson I’ve had a blast! You don’t even notice the classroom teacher half of the time because the students will be sure to keep you on your toes! The best part about spending time in the classroom however is just to hear some of the students’ comments and discussions. You can’t help but laugh because they are so sincere! I’m not looking forward to the end of the semester when I have to say so long to all of my fourth graders, but until then I’ll enjoy spending time with them!

As most of you know from previous posts I am a member of the SMSU Dance Team. After break the team had been working very hard on a jazz and hip hop performance for the infamous Hawaiian weekend. I have to give each team member a lot of credit! Those couple weeks of practice were tough, it even hurt to laugh! But we pulled it off and each performance went splendidly! Our next performance is on February 17th (Country-Western Night) with a boy girl dance and we will end our 2011-2012 season with our dance camp on February 18th (Pink Zone Night)! Here are a few pictures from our hip hop routine and a link to our Jazz Performance on Facebook!

Bertina Miller
Senior-New London, MN

The Last SMSU Home Games

Country Night

Well kiddos, another week has gone by and the excitement of Hawaiian Night has passed. For all you love birds out there, Valentine’s Day is coming up but so is Country Night (Feb. 17) and Pink Zone (Feb. 18)! Get yourself decked out in your country/western gear for Friday night and then for Saturday night, wear all the pink you can for Breast Cancer Awareness!

Pink Zone

The cheerleaders are pretty excited for both nights. Country night, we have a routine ready for everyone and of course it’s to country music! We also have a routine getting ready for Pink Zone, but the part we’re getting excited about…one of our cheerleaders will be among others to cut her hair. And like any other girl would be, she’s nervous, but really excited to do it. I personally did it last year during the game. We were to donate 10 inches, but I donated 12 and still had hair just past my shoulders! I miss my “mane” but it went to a good cause and it’s growing back.

Be sure to come out and support the Mustangs!

Rebecca Lockwood
Sophomore-Fenton, Iowa

SMSU's Annual Airplane Toss!

SMSU’s Annual Paper Airplane Toss was a success on February 3, 2012!

Since 2003, The NCAA Division II has established a partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to assist in granting wishes through fundraising efforts. Over 1,900,000 dollars have been raised over the past nine years; the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants wishes to children with life-threatening diseases, providing opportunities to enrich the human experience.

Every year the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) makes it a goal for each institution/university to raise 1,000 dollars for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is in charge of the fundraising efforts on each campus. Throughout the year we put on multiple fundraising events where all proceeds go directly to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. One of our most well-known and well-liked fundraising events is The Paper Airplane Toss.


The Division II’s Week of Wishes is February 18-26, 2012; however, because our Annual Paper Airplane Toss always takes place on the Friday before Hawaiian Night, we got an early start! Local businesses and companies, along with the SMSU athletic teams donated gift certificates, merchandise/apparel, and other prizes—this year we had over 130 prizes available to win! Paper airplanes are then sold at the game: 1 airplane for $1, or 7 airplanes for $5; we have pre-folded airplanes available, but some people prefer to fold their own. At the halftime of the Men’s Basketball Game, SAAC members distribute paper plates (each representing a prize) faced down all across the basketball court, where fans who purchased the planes are invited to gather around the perimeter of the courts to throw their planes. The plane that lands closes to each plate/prize wins!

This year’s Paper Airplane Toss raised just under 400 dollars, which puts SMSU over our goal of 1,000 dollars raised for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. As the president of SAAC, it is so rewarding to see the community of Marshall and everyone on campus take part in our efforts to support the DII and Make-A-Wish Foundation partnership. Not only did the Mustangs pull out a few impressive victories this past weekend, but as a collective whole, SMSU was able to win big with our collaborative efforts to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Kelly Fitzgerald
Senior - Marshalltown, IA

Aloha!

This weekend is traditionally one of the biggest weekends at SMSU. It is called Hawaiian Night. It is the winter/basketball version of homecoming. Saturday night the RA facility will be overflowing with fans to cheer on the Mustangs against the Augustana Vikings. It should be a good one. Go Stangs!



Also, we are just finishing up the 3rd week of the semester and really getting into full speed. Professors are giving out quizzes and exams again. We are having an incredibly mild, nice winter so far. Hopefully we can stay lucky.

Until next time,

Tony Schwebach
Junior-Dell Rapids, SD

Winter Meltdown

Hey all! Being that this week is Winter Meltdown week, there are a TON of activities here around campus. Winter Meltdown week is an SMSU tradition that was started in order to help beat the winter blues. So far this week students have had the chance to participate in activities such as making leis, listening to comedians, the nearly naked mile, and getting a haircut and/or massage during Spa Day. While those activities were a blast, the upcoming days are full of even more promise. Tonight we have a dance in the Conference Center Lower Ballroom at 9 p.m., and tomorrow night both the women’s and men’s basketball teams take on teams from Wayne State at 6 and 8 p.m. Finally, to bring the exciting week to an end is the Hawaiian night during the Saturday night basketball games against Augustana. Though I have never experienced Hawaiian night, my friends and I are all very excited to see what it’s all about and to get a chance to cheer on our mighty Mustangs.

Go Stangs!

Kaelyn Turner
Freshman-Sartell, MN