By Jill McNeal staff reporter After giving up soda for Lent in the seventh or eighth grade, senior ballet and modern dance major Kelly Connelly said she never drank it again. "I found out it was one of those things in my life that I didn't really need," she said. "This year, I'm going to attempt not to complain so much and spend more time in personal prayer." The 40-day Lenten period begins on Ash Wednesday and continues through Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. University Ministries will hold an all-campus, ecumenical Ash Wednesday service at noon today in Robert Carr Chapel. The Catholic Community will hold Ash Wednesday Mass and serve communion at 5 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom. During an Ash Wednesday service, ashes are signed in the shape of the cross on a person's forehead, symbolizing a renewed intent to turn away from sin and do works of love, said the Rev. Charlie Calabrese, minister to TCU's Catholic Community. "The ashes we use come from burning the palms' leaves that were used in the previous year's Palm Sunday services," he said. "The ashes are a reminder of our mortality, that we aren't going to live forever. We take the time during Lent to find out what we need to change in our lives." For Catholics, Lent is a time of reflection and spiritual growth and is symbolic of Jesus Christ's 40 days in the desert, Connelly said. "We try to put ourselves in Jesus' place," she said. "By giving up something, we try to understand how difficult it is to sacrifice and resist temptation. We start on Ash Wednesday by not eating meat and only having one full meal." Sophomore engineering major Ric Moseley said the outward sign of the ashes on one's forehead is an opportunity for believers to show their faith. "I think people will be reminded that we are all sinful and that only because of Christ's sacrifice do we have life," said Moseley, who helped plan today's ecumenical service as the Uniting Campus Ministries' worship chairman. Ben Ruyack, a sophomore elementary education major, said he didn't celebrate Lent growing up in the Presbyterian church. "I know Lent is a time where you usually give up something for God, like a sacrifice, and the ashes are a symbol of remembrance," he said. "A lot of people I know who give something up don't stick with it very long, which seems kind of self-defeating to me. But I know it's not exactly an easy thing to do." Connelly said since she no longer drinks soda, the next step for her will be giving up coffee for Lent. "I will definitely attempt it, but I think I will wait until after graduation," she said. "I don't know how I'd survive without the caffeine right now."
Jill McNeal
By Steven Baker campus editor Alumnus George Fassett enjoyed the bloody thrills from the annihilation games that he played while at TCU. Fassett, 25, would spend hours blowing up demons and skeletons in first-person video games like Doom and Quake with his handy plasma gun until he conquered every level. "I got frustrated that I was breaking away from my (school work)," Fassett said. "And, I was doing work to play this damn game." Fassett was frustrated because he had to search the World Wide Web for links that would add levels, weapons and characters to a game that he had already defeated. So, on April 5, 1999, he launched the World Wide Web site Quakefiles.com. Video game players can log onto this site and find links to other sites that provide downloads for add-ons like new maps, weapons and characters. "When I searched Yahoo in college for (Quake add-on sites), I would get these religion Web sites," Fassett said. Quakefiles.com, along with two other add-on Internet sites, Unrealfiles.com and Halflifefiles.com, are controlled by the Fort Worth Internet company that Fassett created - GameKey. The sites attract about 1.5 million views per month and function as a testing ground for a technology that Fassett is trying to patent. The technology will provide a new means for searching, indexing and cataloging information. But until the patent is approved, Fassett will only say that the technology can be used in business-to-consumer and business-to-business applications on or off the Internet. Fassett said TCU students interested in beginning their own Internet business must intern with a Web-related company and have a good business sense and understanding of the Internet and computer science. "Students need to be willing to take internships," Fassett said. "I get interns up here that act like rocks. You don't want to be anywhere where you are not excited about what you are doing." Jane Mackay, director of the new electronic business program, said this program will provide students with the technical skills necessary to create their own Web site or the ability to accurately converse with other people to build a Web site for them. David Minor, director of the new TCU entrepreneurship center, said TCU has enough people at the university and in the administration and community to build an impressive program that caters to students excited about starting their own Internet businesses. "It is very safe to say that TCU will be a leader in entrepreneurial programs in the future," Minor said. "That is an absolute." Fassett's father, George Fassett Sr., said his son - who started getting excited about computers at the age of 4, when his father bought him a Commodore 64 - knew more about computers than most of his teachers. However, Fassett was able to learn new skills when he began studying computer science at TCU, his father said. "We both kept at it, but he went by me in the third grade," he said. "During his first three days of ninth grade, he passed all four years of computer science." Alumnus Kevin Prigel, who also has his own Internet site, StreetAdvisor.com, said whatever Internet idea a student decides to invest in, he or she must enjoy doing it. "With the odds of big-time success, you shouldn't be working for money," he said. Prigel, 20, who graduated from TCU in December with a degree in finance and accounting, created his Web site to offer analysis of individual stocks to individual investors as an alternative to the traditional broker. Since his business began in 1998, the site is now attracting more than 300,000 users, has 40 employees and is raising capital from a number of high-profile investors. Prigel, chief executive officer and president of StreetAdvisor.com, has hired analysts with Wall Street stock experience that do their own research and report the findings on the Internet site. Prigel said one of the ways his business has become successful is through finding investors that are involved in venture capital and the investment community. "You have to get people in these areas that trust you," Prigel said. "(Investors) are looking for that one out of 10 investments that works in a big way. Nine out of the other 10 are usually going to be losing money for them." Currently, two investors are paying for Fassett's patent. George Fassett Information Technology, a computer consulting company that Fassett began in college, is a 100 percent profitable company that also supports GameKey. Before creating GFIT, Fassett founded the Computer Science Society and the computer affairs chair in the House of Student Representatives before graduating from TCU in 1998 with a computer science degree. Today, Fassett works with three other full-time employees in a fifth-floor office of the golden Bank United building located off of University Drive. But his office still resembles a college residence hall room decorated with an "Ace Ventura" poster and "Star Wars" memorabilia. He speaks with the same enthusiasm when referring to the improvements currently being added to Quakefiles.com. The new site will load quicker and incorporate the Quake symbol and colors of the newest version of the game - "Quake 3: Arena." Fassett admits he is having fun and said he is actively looking for TCU students to come and intern at GameKey. "Since I was a student, I wanted a boss who would give me the day off when I have a test," Fassett said. "I am very understanding and will do that for students. I'm a really easygoing guy."
Steven Baker
By Kasey Feldman staff reporter On this tree-lined campus, students dress up for class, drive expensive cars and go out Thursday nights. But this university is not TCU. It is Universidad de las Américas, TCU's sister school in Puebla, Mexico. Exchange students said the schools bear a family resemblance, but they are not twin sisters. Paola Espinoza, a junior radio-TV-film major, came to TCU from UDLA this semester. Espinoza said it has been difficult to adjust to the social life here. "People are so cold," she said. "They shake hands when they see each other, but in Mexico, we kiss." Although she said some social groups are hard to break into, Espinoza loves how involved students are at TCU. Most students at UDLA live off campus, and there are no university-sponsored organizations, she said.
"I have only been here two months, and already I feel more like a Horned Frog than an Azteca," she said. Todd Alonso, a junior biology major from TCU studying at UDLA this semester, said the students at UDLA who do not live on campus usually go home for the weekend. "They are very family-oriented," he said. Both Alonso and Espinoza said the classes and professors are different at TCU and UDLA. "At UDLA, I called many of my professors by their first names," Espinoza said. "I would never do that here." Alonso said the classes are more relaxed at UDLA, but the lack of organization is hard to get used to. "It's kind of nice that everyone is not uptight," he said. "Being on time is not as important, but I'm still an American, and I don't think I'll ever get into the whole saying, 'I'll meet you at seven,' and showing up at nine thing." Despite cultural differences, Alonso said UDLA and TCU are similar. "UDLA is the same size as TCU," he said. "It has the same atmosphere as TCU. It's nice outside, it's pretty and it's comfortable. The students dress nice here, like at TCU, but more so." Delia Pitts, director of International Education, said the similarities are part of the reason TCU calls UDLA its sister school. "It feels like TCU to us, so when we go down there, we feel very comfortable," she said. "The (residence halls) sort of resemble ours and the campus looks like our campus. Even at that very basic level, there is a fit with TCU to UDLA." UDLA is also similar to TCU in its philosophy, Pitts said. "Like TCU, UDLA is founded in the belief that study of the liberal arts is important to the development of a fully educated citizen, and that has not been a prominent feature of Mexican education overall," Pitts said. Denton Ray Lindley, a former TCU administrator, left TCU to help establish UDLA in 1962 and was its first president.
Kasey Feldman
Editor's note: This is the sixth in a series of articles profiling the 17 task forces that make up the Commission on the Future of TCU.
By Reagan Duplisea staff reporter Members of the Community and Strategic Alliances task force said they have discovered TCU has many community outreach programs in place about which they had previously known nothing. The task force is one of 17 on the Commission on the Future of TCU, which was established by Chancellor Michael Ferrari to determine how the university can "move to the next level of academic distinction." The group has been researching programs already in place to see what is being done and what needs to be done, task force members said. "We have lots of great stories, but we've come to see we're not telling them effectively," said David Grebel, director of extended education and task force member. Grebel said many departments and organizations are doing programs that most people are not aware of, such as the School of Education's mentoring program. "There are hundreds of people doing good and productive things in our community," Grebel said. Megan Stuebner, a junior biology major and task force member, said she has learned a lot about campus outreach projects. "It's really interesting to sit in the meetings and hear 'TCU does this,'" Stuebner said. "I had no idea." The group has learned of students volunteering with Upward Bound, at local high schools and at Starpoint School that they had not known about until they began researching, Stuebner said. Louise Appleman, owner of a relocation consulting firm and task force chairwoman, said she feels more connected to TCU by serving on the task force. "I live near the campus, but I didn't have any major ties other than I could hear the band practicing," Appleman said. "But now I'm a part of it. I've learned how the university operates that by just driving by all the time, I wouldn't have known." Stuebner said the task force is looking at advertising and marketing the programs already in existence in addition to creating new programs. "It's like the seeds are there, and we're just adding the fertilizer," Stuebner said. "We're not working with barren soil. There's a lot of possibility." Kelli Horst, TCU's director of communications and task force member, said she expects some of the responsibilities of getting out the word to fall under her department. She said some of the ways publicity could increase is to issue more press releases, notify the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and send personal letters to people who would be interested in certain activities. Horst said there are a variety of reasons why the community is not aware of all of TCU's activities. "Some of it could be manpower in our office," Horst said. "But a lot of people aren't letting us know, or we're just not nagging them enough. The newspaper can't cover every good event on campus. We have to be good detectives." Looking at what programs are already in place has helped the task force identify areas that need more attention, Grebel said. "Folks here at TCU have a real commitment to going out to Fort Worth, but we're not doing everything we could," Grebel said. "It's more than just increasing visibility." Stuebner said the group is also looking into improving community alliances with local schools or sponsoring cultural activities on campus that can be attended by the whole community. "I am personally interested in connections TCU can make in elementary schools and high schools," Stuebner said. "As an educational institution, our interest lies in that area. We're paving the way for better students for TCU in the future." Bob Seal, university librarian and task force facilitator, said members have suggested creating an off-campus community center where student volunteers can tutor local high school students. Stuebner said she would like to see the task force look into building a broader base of student volunteers. "There are many under-served members of the community," Stuebner said. "As students, we have a great deal of enthusiasm and energy that we can share with so many people who need it." Horst said TCU has many resources that can benefit the community. "As a university, we are the intellectual center of the city," Horst said. "Our brain power is important to civic leaders." Seal said students, not just the community, will benefit from more outreach programs. "Students could have the opportunity for learning while performing service," Seal said. "If a student can volunteer in the area they're studying, they could gain real experience by the time they graduate." Seal said he suggested forming a community advisory board that could meet with the chancellor on a regular basis. "It will help maintain good communication with the community," Seal said. "It will be a forum for project ideas and problem resolving - getting things on the chancellor's radar screen." The task force will start prioritizing its suggestions at its next meeting March 22, task force members said. "I hope we will come out with realistic expectations, specific initiatives we can embrace right away and ways we can get the message out," Horst said.
Reagan Duplisea |
Espinoza said she meets a lot of people as a member of the
International Student Association and her two jobs at TCU. She said she
is more involved at TCU than she was at UDLA.| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |