Dear University Friends

The end of the academic year approaches and commencement is just around the corner.  For those of

us on The Mesquite staff who are seniors, there is no time for senioritis. There are articles to finish and

final exams to complete. For many of us, it’s the one last “trial-by-caffeine” we will experience as

undergraduates, one last chance to “boom or bust” before we hit the pavement in the professional

world.

The Mesquite is a seedling we planted this year.  As it grows, it will become vitally important to the

student body, staff and administration. As a communication tool, it helps spread the word about the

events on our campus and has the potential to tell the story of who we are.  More than a digital news

source, it will become a hub of university life and an opportunity to examine, discuss, explain, critique,

criticize and stay connected. While our main goal is to offer you a digital news source you can access

from home, work or school, in the near future we will also offer you a “best in show” print edition to

hold in your hands. The Mesquite will grow and evolve as much by our direction as through your

feedback. Stay connected and let us know how we can inform and entertain you.

As inaugural staff members of A&M-San Antonio’s first student newspaper, we have seen our first

amendment rights supported by our University leaders. Administrators  have provided a platform for us

to discuss issues and opinions, but we also must become protectors.  Protect your right to learn by

remembering that learning doesn’t stop here.  Ask hard questions of others and yourself, demand

straight answers, keep your facts real and your opinions objective.  Most of all keep learning. In the

world, or in the classroom, we are all both students and teachers.

When we leave, we take with us the wealth of knowledge and first-hand experience gained from our

education at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.  What we leave behind is a footprint, a path of

pebbles for those who come next, to build and improve upon. Perhaps we’ll have a brick around the

fountain in the courtyard of our new multipurpose administration building slated to open this fall, after we

are gone.

Best of luck to my fellow 2011 graduates, the next staff of The Mesquite, and our loyal readers.

My sincere thanks to the amazing professors, dedicated staff and pioneering leaders of Texas A&M

University-San Antonio. I look forward to watching you grow.

Tammy Busby

Editor-In-Chief, Spring 2011

Spotlight on Veterans Support Services

Click Here to see the interview with Texas A&M University-San Antonio's Veterans Support Officer, Richard Delgado, Jr.

Two TAMU-SA students receive prestigious Warren Fellowship

The Warren Fellowship for Future Teachers will answer those questions first-hand this coming June 5-11 for twenty-five specially selected education students, known as Warren Fellows.  Two of those students, Effie Baeza and Barbara Baker, are seniors from Texas A&M University-San Antonio.  They will travel to the Holocaust Museum Houston for a week-long immersion program, where eminent Holocaust and genocide scholars and museum staff provide educational and outreach opportunities, including the opportunity to meet and work with Holocaust survivors, like Naomi Warren who survived two Nazi camps.


Education major Barbara Baker, a senior wants to be a sixth grade social studies teacher.  She is certified in international studies and says she looks forward to strengthening her ability to teach love and appreciation through humanities, civil rights and culture.  The Holocaust left its mark in her own family history.

“I have a deep personal interest in the Holocaust.  My grandparents and great-grandparents were Hungarian immigrants who came to the U.S. to escape persecution,”  explained Baker.  “They changed their last name and began sending for their other family members.”  


Effie Baeza is a student of bilingual and special education. She said that special education children have a right to the same knowledge as other students, and often have a keen understanding and awareness of culture.  People with learning disabilities are usually very aware of persecution directed at those who are considered different.



“One person can breed hate and it will spread like wildfire,” Baeza said. She told The Mesquite that she is looking forward to the opportunity to raise awareness in schools by introducing the subject to all of her students.

2007 Warren Faculty Fellow, and Texas A&M-San Antonio professor of education and kinesiology, Robin Kapavik, encourages her students to apply for the program.  Since 2008, one to two TAMU-SA students have received this honor each summer.  

Effie Baeza and Barbara Baker, Texas A&M University-San Antonio Seniors