October is a wonderful time to be in the Texas Hill Country and to be on the Schreiner campus. Last weekend, a good number of our families were able to visit campus for Family Weekend. There was something for everyone including athletic events, a tailgate party, a talent show and a concert by the SU Choir. I am sure our Senate president, Kellen Ecker, made his parents quite proud when he won the Cinderfella competition. A special thanks to Tammi Clanton-Elmore, our Director of Events, for coordinating the weekend. If you were unable to join us this year, I hope we will see you here next year.

Lots of other activity continues with fall sports events this week as well as numerous Halloween activities. As is the tradition on campus, our student organizations will come together on October 30 to provide a safe Halloween event for children from the Kerrville area. This has become a huge event with small children in costumes taking over the pavilion and having a great time visiting the game booths where they get their faces painted, throw a cream pie at a student or win a prize at the fishing pond.

Of course October is also the season for fall mid-term grades. Students received their grade reports in their Schreiner e-mail last week and so now know where they most need to focus their energies for the remainder of the semester.

Registration for spring classes will begin in November according to classification, beginning with the seniors. Students and advisors are currently meeting to develop class schedules and discuss degree plans.

In Athletics, we are close to wrapping up our fall season and this has been a very positive period of time for SU. Currently, going into the final weekend of matches, both the Men's Soccer and Volleyball teams control their own fate for a chance to earn postseason opportunities.

Men's Soccer has rebounded from two lean years and has returned to its rightful place among the ASC's elite with a conference record of 6-2-3 which leaves them in a tie for third place in the 14 team league.

Volleyball is 10-6 in ASC play and just one game out of the postseason tournament with two home matches remaining. Women's Soccer has shown great strides on the defensive end of the pitch. Although the success hasn't yet translated to the win-loss column, the team has shown remarkable growth in allowing only 22 goals with just two matches remaining in their season. The best year in our last six, prior to 2009, had us giving up 52 goals (71 goals on average during that time). With an overwhelmingly freshmen-based roster, good things are on the horizon.

The golf teams had their best fall in many years and both tennis teams also showed improvement heading into their primary season. The cross country teams have had issues with illness and injury but freshman Amanda Mendoza has already established herself among the best runners in the conference. The Maia brothers, Ryan and Michael, lead the SU MCC to the ASC Championships in MS. Of course, the bottom line is academic performance and we are cautiously optimistic that all of our freshmen will make the adjustment to college and will be successful in the classroom when grades are reported in mid-December.

Twenty years ago, university professors relied on chalk to make a point, and undergraduate students engaged in very little, if any, original research. But the times, according to Dylan, are a changin’. In colleges and universities across the country, chalk has given way to computerized classrooms, and undergraduate research has redefined traditional academic roles for both students and faculty.

The relationship between computer technology and undergraduate research is not exactly the chicken-and-egg riddle, because obviously the computer came first. However, over the last two decades, increasingly sophisticated software and more affordable hardware have opened up the research process to the point that software and hardware must now respond to the demands of increasingly sophisticated research. As a result, research projects that only twenty years ago would have been unfeasible at a small liberal arts university are now readily embraced by faculty and students alike.

At Schreiner, students and faculty-mentors across the campus are involved in undergraduate research projects ranging from applications in literary theory to examinations of polyester resin. Our students are presenting their work at regional, national, and international conferences; they are making outstanding contributions to the arts; and, most significantly, they are learning by doing. Remarkably, it takes little more than a conversation between a student and an interested faculty member to put a project in motion.

Our students—your sons and daughters—are experiencing firsthand a new, exciting, and long-overdue change in higher education. Passive learning is giving way to hands-on investigation, and the classroom is fast becoming the real world.

Thanksgiving Break Procedures for Residential Students
Jason Smith, Director of Residence Life and Judicial

The freshman halls, Delaney, Faulkner, and L.A. will close for the break at 9:00pm on Tuesday, November 24th. The exterior doors to these residence halls will be locked Tuesday night November 24, 2009 and they will remain closed until Sunday, November 29, 2009 at noon.

Upperclass students who live in Pecan Grove, The Oaks, Flato, or Trull may stay in their apartment or room over the break. If your student intends to stay for part or the entire break, he/she will need to fill out a Thanksgiving Break Housing Form and return it to the Residence Life Office located in the CCAC second floor by Monday, November 23, 2009 at 5pm.

If a residential student wants to stay over break but they are not a resident of Pecan Grove, The Oaks, Flato, or Trull, they may stay with a Pecan Grove, Oaks, Flato, or Trull resident who is of the same sex. They will need to fill out a Thanksgiving Break Housing Form and return it to the Residence Life Office located in the CCAC second floor by Monday, November 23, 2009 at 5pm.

As a service to our families here at Schreiner, we provide an online subscription to Student Health 101 for both your student and yourself. Student Health 101 is a monthly health and wellness magazine just for college students and their parents. Each issue contains valuable information that will help your student make better decisions while in college, and can help you with a better understanding of the health and wellness challenges that face today’s students.

You can read the October issue of the Parent Perspective online.  You are also invited to read the Student Health 101 issue for our students.  Here’s what you’ll learn in the Student Health 101 issue this month:

 - Want to know the secret to great grades?
 - How are things going with your roommates? Concerned? Communication Breakdowns? Find solutions in Student Health 101.
 - PLUS: Take the “Good Roommate Quiz” to see how you’re doing!
 - Should 21 be the minimum legal drinking age?
 - Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy talks about depression. Depression can hit college students and music stars alike. Learn the signs and how Pete Wentz found help.

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