Patriot Blogs

Have you ever had a break from school, but never have the opportunity to go somewhere? Well I have, but this fall break was different. This was the first fall break that I have had the opportunity to go somewhere. So where did I go? I went to Alabama. There were five of us that went: Justin, Whitney, Hannah, Larry, and myself. The week started sooo early. We woke up at 3:30 a.m. to pick up Larry from the airport in New Orleans.  The drive was fun yet very tiring. We had so many inside jokes that were started in the car and if I told you what they were, they wouldn’t be inside anymore.

When we got to New Orleans we picked up Larry and went into downtown. From there we ate at a restaurant called the “Pearl”. It was a very interesting experience because the restaurant smelled liked mildew and mold. The effects of Katrina were still evident even though two years had pasted.
After we hung out in New Orleans we head to Alabama. Hannah’s parents live in Mobile so we stayed with them during the week and went to the beaches in the area. Our first beach day was a blast. We went to this beach called Navarre, in Florida, and it had the best sand. We took advantage of it and when Justin and I got bored so we put this sand to good use…we buried Whitney. We sculpted the sand and made her into a mermaid.
Day 2 was equally exciting and we headed to Orange Beach in Alabama where we hung out and relaxed. It wasn’t until day 3 that all the excitement really began. On day 3, we went back to Florida, to Pensacola beach. It was very crowded so we decided to “make camp” where the surfers were, bad mistake. We soon found out that there were a ton of jellyfish in the water, and quickly migrated back to where the crowd was.  Fortunately there were not as many jellyfish on the “crowded” side of the beach due to a sandbar. None of us had gotten stung up to that point, so nothing was wrong. But then it started to rain…actually, it was more like downpour. It rained for almost an hour but soon the sun returned and we were back to enjoying the beach. Justin and I dug figures in the sand, Hannah and Larry went swimming, and Whitney decided to tan. While she was laying on her towel, seagulls decided to start “attacking” and swarming around her. It was so funny! They would fly so close to her and almost tease her like they were going to pounce on her.  They eventually left just like our day did. It was a blast!
The week went by so fast. It’s hard to believe that the semester is almost over for me. I feel like I just started school and now Fall Break is gone! Boy, did it fly by. Now I only have one fall break left in my whole college career!

Fall Break is for Random Fun

Ayyyye guys! So it’s time to reflect back on the importance of fall break. Around the beginning of October each Fall, DBU and a host of other schools push the books away and let the homework go as students celebrate a week off from classes. This year, my friends and I decided to rent a suite loft room at Great Wolf Lodge in Gravepine, Texas. Now, if you’ve never been to Great Wolf Lodge, you are definitely missing a great get-a-way spot. My roommate, Leonard works there so of course, we had the greatest benefit a friend can give you…discounts! So, on the Thursday before school started back for classes, we all packed up our things and headed to the lodge. Once inside the door, you feel as though you are in a cabin hidden somewhere in a cold place far away…kinda like the experience I used to get walking into the freezing Burg before “chapel” moved to the real Chapel building. Well enough drifting away, so my friends and I were so enthused when we saw the water park inside which included mega slides and lots of other fun water toys and activities. We sped to our gigantic room which was truly a luxury room. We all kept saying, man, “I feel rich”! The bags dropped and we all changed into swimwear to go enjoy the waves of fun. Needless to say, we spent hours at the water park and all had a thrill on the Texas Tornado. Warning, that slide has a major drop that happens as you ride backwards…prayer is advised. We all know that fun ends when people get hungry, so we resorted to going to Red Robin…YUM! It’s something special about those bottomless steak fries. The night ended with us all staying up late of course playing mafia, card games, and a scary version of tag in which you die…not literally of course. All in all, it was more than fun. Our trip was a much needed and highly deserved break from books to achieve what we all need in life which is the addition of FUN in everything you do.

Our great desert. Dark chocolate will put you to sleep.

Leonard (roommate) and Grace (friend) in a duel at the Critter Cafe in the resort.

Hey guys,

Well, this is my first post.  I’m kinda new to this so I thought I would get comfortable by posting about something that I know best, myself.  My name is Zac Simmons, I am 20 years old and am a sophomore here at DBU.  I’m currently majoring in graphic design communications.  What I want to do with that, I’m still trying to figure out.  I love to write and in high school I was going to pursue a journalism degree, but senior year I changed my mind and went the artsy route.  I am from Grapevine, TX, just up the road from DBU and graduated from Grapevine High School.  Here at DBU I’m involved in a lot of things.  I am a Sophomore Senator on Student Government.  I started an organization this year called Communication Outlet for Multimedia, basically we do a lot of design, video, audio, vocal, and pretty much any type of communication needs other organizations ask us help for.  Also I am on the first ever DBU Rec Team where we went around all summer to different camps purely to play recreational games with the kids.  During the year we are hosting youth events and what not on the weekends.  Besides all the student life events that I help with, I am involved in off campus activities as well.  For example, when you get to college I feel like it is very important to become involved in a local church.  I found one about 20 minutes away from DBU called The Community at Lake Ridge, or TCAL in Mansfield.  Here I lead worship with a band for all the children in two services, and I am actively involved with a lot of the set up of the church.  Then there is Typewriter Poet, the band that I joined with some friends my first couple of weeks at DBU.  We like to rock out in a pop/punk style of music, totally dance beats but uplifting music of course!  I love people; I have tons over to my townhome here all the time.  We love to go off campus and just hang out at the mall, go to the movies, shoot the breeze at coffee shops, or go see some awesome shows in the area.  I am a pretty chill guy, I do well in school and keep up with life.  College is fast paced and in your face, but after a year or so I’m finally getting the hang of it.  Well, that’s it for this first post.  I hope I have given you enough info about me where you will be interested in keeping up with what I have to say.  I won’t ever pretend to know everything because that is about as far from the truth as I can get, but I’ll promise to be real with you guys always.  Hopefully this hasn’t scared any one off, be sure to post some comments and I’ll try to get back to you ASAP.

Thanks for reading!

Zac

As a DBU student, chapel is one of my favorite parts of Mondays and Wednesdays. I go to my 9am class every Monday and Wednesday morning and sometimes feel inadequate as I leave because I walk out more confused than when I walked in. People often ask, ‘what’s the big deal? You know Spanish!’ Funny thing is I can speak Spanish….but the grammar part is a killer! Anyway, I look forward to chapel as a result of being anxious of getting out of class. There is at least one course a year that most people feel that way about, I’m sure! Ok so, the chapel hour serves many purposes from a student’s perspective. Apart from the fact that there is a set requirement per semester, it is a time to chill and sit with your gals or buddies, meet new people you may have never seen before, listen to some really great speakers from all over the world, engage in worship led by fellow students, and maybe, sometimes, skip chapel to take a nap. Speaking of chapel, the new chapel building is so beautiful and HUGE!!! When the steeple was going up, there were a ton of people standing outside watching it. It was sort of anticlimactic because the crane kept stopping, but when they finally got it up there, people clapped and all. It’s the small things in life that make it so much more joyful.

I can honestly say that I love going to chapel and learning something new most every time. This past Wednesday, the speaker talked about the fact that it’s now the week after Easter and now what. What are we going to do knowing that Jesus has risen, now is alive, and we are able to have personal relationship with him. Now what??? It’s a great reminder to think about ‘what does Jesus as Lord’ mean in my life?’ Such a simple thought with great power!

Making the decision to come to DBU has resulted in such amazing growth in my relationship with the Lord. Not to say that it would not have happened anywhere else, but I have been challenged in such a different way through the experiences I have had and the people I have met. There have been many chapels that I walked out of with such a different and new perspective of who the Lord is. Life is a journey, where are you going to allow it to take you next… now what???

In Him,

Amanda

Easter break is upon us. I write this blog just a few hours before I head home to Rockwall. Even though it’s close, I rarely get to make it out there. We are coming to the end of the semester, so papers are due and projects are nearly finished. I’m working on a human resource paper for Dr. Connor’s class. I definitely recommend her business classes to anyone. She has tons of work experience and runs an efficient course without loading you down with work. I also recommend Prof. Jekabs Bikis for both economics courses. He is very interesting and is not out to fail you. He wants you to succeed.

We signed the lease to our apartment for next year, but we had a little scare because we were late doing it. There was some confusion on whether or not we had to have all four guys there to sign for it; that would be difficult for us considering our fourth roommate is currently enrolled at Texas State and won’t be up here until the summer. We explained our situation to Chris Crawford, Director of Apartment Life (he’s a cool guy, a fellow Rockwall Yellowjacket), and he allowed us to go ahead and sign on the lease.

For Easter break, I don’t have too elaborate of plans. Friday night I’m heading out to the family ranch in Clarksville to do some work, preparing things from this deer season. I’ll come back home Saturday night and get together with my Dad’s side of the family for Easter. And I know y’all are wondering….the answer is yes, I will be doing the Easter egg hunt. Yes I am 20 years old, and yes I’m a Sophomore in college, but it will cause a bigger stink to say I don’t want to do the hunt than its worth just to do it. Plus my Mom likes it, and I have to take care of her. I wish everyone a happy Easter. I’ll talk to y’all soon.

This past week was Spring SING. Spring SING is an event on campus where student organizations basically make a musical from scratch. The 4 groups that competed in the show were Admissions, Diamond Belles, Residence Life, and Student Government. This was the first year for Student Government to compete, and we all had a blast. Each organization had to do something with the theme assigned to us, “DBU Loves the 90’s.” Admissions did a gameshow with a 1990’s twist, Diamond Belles mimicked the Y2K scare and highlighted various 90’s characters, Residence Life had a Disney theme for movies made in the 90’s, and Student Government put a twist on things and were all 90 year olds living in a retirement home. For the past two weeks, we have been practicing from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. three nights a week. We had a blast preparing for the show. Residence Life was declared the winner, but we had an amazing performance. It could not have gone any better, the crowd response was incredible. Below is a photo from one of our SING practices:

We all had to have makeup applied so we would look like 90 year olds. A group photo after the performance is next.

Once we started walking onstage at the beginning of the performance, people starting laughing because we looked so ridiculous. Can you see why?! I’m so proud. Seriously.

Anyway, the chapel is coming along nicely. The steeple was added last week and the final piece was added today. Each time a piece was lifted into place, it was such an anti-climactic event. Campus seemed to stop, because people came out of the woodwork to stop and take a chance to observe a little bit of history on the DBU campus. I took a photo the other day so I could post to the blog so you could see the progress! The new chapel should be completed sometime in the summer. All chapel services will be held in the Pilgrim Chapel beginning in Fall 2009. I’m excited to see the finished product! Don’t take my word for it, come see for yourself and how the building has revolutionized the look and feel of campus.

Student Government campaigning began this week. I must say, I am so relieved to be able to sit back and see what happens. There are three tickets running together for Student Body President and Vice President, which is the most ever in recent history of DBU. They have been campaigning competitively and creatively. It is anyone’s ballgame, and the student body will speak their voice in chapel next week when elections are held. Then, it’s one step closer to graduation. High school seniors, can you relate? Are you ready to start the next chapter of your life? It only gets better, I promise.

Stand strong. Be faithful. Have fun.

Leigha F. Caron

I have found this new love for the farmer’s market in old downtown Dallas area!! It has almost become a Sunday afternoon ritual to head downtown and get fruit and vegetables for the week. It is actually a really neat place! There are all these fruit stands everywhere and a ton of sellers giving you samples of everything they have. Picture this – huge oranges that make your mouth water; bright, shinny red apples that almost don’t look real; ripe yellow bananas; and yummy, juicy cantalope. I am getting a craving for cantalope as I sit here and think about the good ole farmer’s market! If you ever need a little self-esteem booster, head down to the market. As the people try and get you to buy from their stand, they give you complements. There is this one dude always says, “Oooooh you are so beautiful; take an orange.” I guess all you can do is smile, take the food, and continue browsing until the next sample is offered. My favorite part of the whole experience is that you get so full from all the free samples. I am always up for a good, free meal anytime of the day! Did you know that when you buy a pineapple, it’s best to let it sit for a day after cutting the green part off and turning it upside down? Apparently, this helps all the sweet juice run from the bottom back up to the top, and makes it taste sooo much better when it’s cut. Anyway, this may seem random, but it is quite the experience! Oh, and all the fruit and vegetables are so much less expensive than the grocery stores. Seriously, check it out….

Hello Friends,

Well…here we are. Beautiful Spring is in the air. The DBU ponds are a flutter with lovebirds (both with and without feathers ). The bluebonnets are blossoming along the Texas hillsides, the new leaves are coming out on the Bradford pear trees, the sun is shining on Mountain Creek lake…and it’s 40 DEGREES OUTSIDE!?! Chilly today and beautifully pleasant tomorrow. I love Texas weather . Spring is such a great time at DBU. There is so much going on: spring revival, Spring sing, choral performances, Legacy’s spring show, the literary festival, the student film festival, the ever-popular coke breaks, and of course baseball season! The DBU patriots are 14 and 7 and well on their way to having a stellar season. There’s just something great about having a school where you can get out of class, grab some grub at the Patriot cafe, Soda Shoppe, or cafeteria, stroll down the hill with some friends and watch some great baseball. And since we’re on the subject, I want to say a quick word about our baseball team. You may not know it, but besides being some of the best ball players around, our DBU Patriots are some of the best examples of Christ-like character I know. I had the opportunity of being in a small group with one of them in particular during Student Welcome and Transition week my freshman year. Since then, I have always enjoyed seeing him around campus. Though he is one great baseball player, he is also one of the most humble guys I know (a quality that a lot athletes have lost). It amazing that we can have a bunch of guys who are out there playing their hearts out on the field, but not forgetting the One who gave them their talents in the first place. So, go Patriot baseball!

By the way, for all you history buffs out there, I wanted to say something of what I got to do over spring break. If you’ve ever had to take a history class, I’m sure you’ve studied something of the American Civil War. I love history, particularly American military history; and over spring break I had the opportunity of participating in a Civil War reenactment just south of here in Grandview, Texas. All and all there were about 200 military and civilian re-enactors present at the event. It was great to see everyone decked out in their period dress, the men in woolen uniforms and women in hoop skirts, a far cry different from modern fashion, I must say. As a part of the weekend, we recreated several period scenario skirmishes in which we used street fighting and skirmish techniques of that time. Oh, and it was great to participate in the period ball they had during the evening. Everyone was decked out in their finest, dancing in time to the Virginia reel and the Spanish waltz. It was a blast! It was really an amazing experience to set aside life and comforts of the twenty-first century to experience how life was in the nineteenth century. It really makes you appreciate the sacrifices of our forefathers in their fight for freedom.

Federal Forces

Confederate Forces

Yours truly

This, as well as getting together with friends and family, constituted to bulk of my spring break. I had a great time and hope to do it again soon.

Well, I think that’s enough for now. Get out there and enjoy Spring, everybody! God Bless!

-Jonathan C

Hey. I want to fill y’all in on how our season ended. I wrote last time about our upcoming conference tournament. We played St. Mary’s in the first round, and it was a battle. I actually fouled out really early in the game, which is odd because I never foul out. I had to watch the last ten minutes of the game from the bench. It was so stressful; I swear my life was shortened by a few years because of it. Jared Whitmire came up huge for us. He had a game saving rebound to go along with his game winning free throws. It was rowdy in there. I have to give a shout out to our super fans Mallory O’teter , Megan Minett, and Gina Garcia. Y’all are awesome, thank you so much for the support. So we won a stressful game against St. Mary’s, and then we were up against Incarnate Word in the championship.

The atmosphere was electric. The fans were there getting rowdy during warm-ups. Disappointingly we lost that game. Since we didn’t win the conference tournament, thus getting the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, we were anxious for Selection Sunday to see if we would get an at-large bid. It finally came around, and DBU threw a little Selection Sunday party for us in the BSM. We were all gathered around watching webcast on the big screen sitting on pins and needles. They finally got to our region and started going down the list of match-ups and we heard “ The 3rd seeded Central Oklahoma Broncos will face the 6th seeded Patriots of Dallas Baptist”; the room erupted. People were jumping around, high-fiving, even a few people were crying. We were the first DBU basketball team to go to the NCAA tournament!

The rest of the week we were on the grind getting ready for UCO. We made our way up to Kansas City and were able to hang out in downtown Power and Light District for a day. It was fun; I would recommend that area to anyone. We were playing at Central Missouri, and our game day finally rolled around. It was the best experience I’ve had with basketball. Everything was so official. We came out on fire. They weren’t ready for us or our frantic style of play. It was the hardest we played all year. The game ended, and we looked up to realize we won by 15! Nobody realized it was that large of a margin. The extreme intensity of the game made it seem closer than it was. So not only were we the first DBU team to go to the NCAA tournament, but we won a game convincingly. We proved to the country we deserved to be there. We were on cloud nine.

Next up we had Southwest Baptist, the 7th ranked team in the nation. We weren’t scared though. We came out and played our hardest. We lost by 6. It was a 2-5 point game the whole way through, but we couldn’t get over the hump and take the lead. Props to Southwest Baptist, they are a great team. We had a great season. We ended 24-7. It was a record breaking year for the Patriots. However, we are not satisfied and look to be even better next year. Right now we are focusing on having a great recruiting class and healing our bodies… Later.

This past week I had the opportunity to go to the Capitol in Austin to meet up with my mom for some meetings she was participating in. While there, we had a reception in the Texas Speaker of the House, Joe Straus’, apartment inside the capitol. After the speaker’s reception, we went to the Lieutenant Governor, David Dewhurst’s, reception room. I was able to meet Lt. Governor Dewhurst and some members of his staff. The governor spoke to us about some of the important bills coming up in the Texas legislature and how Texas is one of the 6 states who is in the black financially (which means we are not in debt). Dewhurst also fielded questions from the group. After the reception was finished, my mom and I stayed behind to speak with one of her friends and the governor came back in and we had a 10-15 minute conversation with him. It was definitely an enlightening experience because most people don’t get the kind of access to the capitol I was able to have. Texas boasts having the largest capitol building in the U.S. (it is only a few feet taller than the capitol in D.C.)

So this week is Spring Break. My last Spring Break. Senior Year. What am I doing for Spring Break, you ask?! Working!!! Oh yeah, I know you are jealous. Most of my friends are off getting tans on the beach or taking advantage of opportunities to go on mission trips that DBU offers its students (The Women’s Soccer and Volleyball teams at DBU are in Peru serving in orphanages and playing Peru’s national soccer and volleyball teams in huge stadiums). Such is life. I can’t wait for everyone to get back!

This is March. Graduation is in May. Time is running out for my experience as a college student. My advice. Cherish every moment: the times you are having fun, the times you are frustrated with a situation, road trips, basically everything that happens along the way when you are in college. Wow, I’m starting to get nostalgic….let’s leave that for my last blog closer to graduation. Next week I start Spring SING practice as a member of the Student Government Association for the show on April 2. Spring SING is where different organizations on campus compete for a cash prize. It’s basically creating a musical from scratch. The Student Government Association is competing for the first time ever in this event. The theme for all organizations participating is “DBU Loves the 90’s,” so it will definitely be a blast from the past. Three nights a week from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., the SGA will be practicing for our breakout performance. I’m already going to say we are going to make a spectacle out of ourselves.

This is the calm before the storm. Finals and graduation will be here before I know it. However, I am determined to enjoy my time left at DBU. Many people say college is the best time of your life and too many times I wished it away. For these last couple months, I’m not going to to wish it away.

Leigha F. Caron