UTB/TSC students become first Campus Girl Scouts in the Rio Grande Valley 

By Griselda Valerio
Staff Writer

From September to November, a period known as "Rush," UTB/TSC fraternities and sorority get to know their pledges and evaluate them for full membership.

There are two co-educational professional fraternities on campus and one sorority.

Sigma Psi Delta, founded in the fall of 1996, is the only social sorority on campus. It has seven active members.

They promote sisterhood and unity of women through community service, social events and fund-raising. The sorority also works closely with Friendship of Women, an organization for battered women, said Thelma Reyna, president of Sigma Psi Delta.

Membership in Sigma Psi Delta does not conflict with membership in professional fraternities or sororities on campus.

They accept new members at the beginning of every fall semester. The deadline to apply for this year was Sept. 10. Prospective pledges must fill out an application and wait for a call from the sorority.

Membership requirements include being a college female in good academic standing enrolled at UTB/TSC with a minimum 2.0 GPA.

The sisters of Sigma Psi Delta get to know the pledges and evaluate them from September to early November.

"We look at their personality and dedication to the sorority," Reyna said.

At the end of Rush, the girls get told who will be accepted into the sorority as a "little sister."

Each hour of participation in a sorority event on or off campus is worth one point.

After four weeks, a little sister will become a full member if she has accumulated 20 participation points.

The American Criminal Justice Association Lambda Alpha Epsilon, Iota Kappa Chi Chapter, is one of the co-ed professional fraternities on campus.

It is also an academic organization for criminal justice majors that seeks "to further professionalism in all areas of criminal justice," said Heather Franzone, fraternity president.

The fraternity has 16 active members.

It was established at UTB/TSC in Spring 2003. The first class to come in as pledges was accepted without Rush since the fraternity needed to build membership. This means that the pledges of Fall 2003 are the first class to rush. Their Rush orientation took place Sept. 5.

Students can apply to Lambda Alpha Epsilon at the beginning of either spring or fall semesters. To join, students must be enrolled at UTB TSC. be in good standing and have at least a 2.0 GPA.

The fraternity participates in regional and national competitions, hosting events related to criminal justice such as crime scene investigation, marksmanship, obstacle courses, and written exams covering juvenile justice corrections and police administration.

Members compete against other chapters of Lambda Alpha Epsilon in the region during October.

"We're region two. That covers Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona, and Oklahoma," Franzone said.

Those who advance from regionals compete at the national level in March.

Benefits to being a member include publishing in their bi-annual journal, and being eligible to apply for $2,000 in scholarships a year.

The Kappa Rho chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi is the other co-ed professional fraternity on campus. It has 15 active members.

"It's primarily for business majors but we're open to others. They could still join because of the networking involved," said Alex Salinas Alpha Kappa Psi Vice President of Administration.

Although membership in Alpha Kappa Psi is open to all students, the fraternity encourages them to have a minimum 2.5 GPA, the requirement for the School of Business.

Applications are accepted at the beginning of spring and fall semesters. Their deadline for Fall Rush 2003 was Sept. 12.

Before being accepted as a full-fledged member, pledges learn the fraternity's history and work on a project together for six weeks.

Alpha Kappa Psi works with businesses in the area so that members can get an understanding of how business works and listen to guest speakers.

Members get experience for the business world through exercises in fund-raising and marketing, said Alpha Kappa Psi adviser Gaurango Banerjee.

They learn management responsibilities and professional conduct.

Alpha Kappa Psi also participates in community service activities such as beach and highway clean-ups and museum restoration.

Mission ‘intense' as tag game wraps up

By Jamie Standeford
Staff Writer

Nearing its grand finale, Mission: Impossible 3 will complete its third season with a duel.

Vince Solis, director of Student Activities and Resident Life, said this year's game of tag attracted 250 applicants, but only 101 were qualified to play when the game began Sept. 19. The other candidates were disqualified because they did not meet the deadline to post their photos on Student Activities' Mission: Impossible Web site.

As of press time Thursday, the Web site reported 41 players already had been tagged.

With less than a week remaining before the game ceases and a $400 first prize at stake, Solis said players have been playing more aggressively and using strategy as their No. 1 defense mechanism.

"They're playing more aggressively, they're reading between the fine lines of the rules and they're scoring a lot of points because they're actually thinking about how to play the game," Solis said about the leading team, made up of American Criminal Justice Association and Sigma Psi Delta members.

He said the teams have taken drastic measures to tag opponents.

"Like today [during flag football], I saw three vehicles scouting out the players and then one person [on the corner] with their cell phones and binoculars," he said. "They're pretty intense."

New features in this year's game are the Intel Picture of the Day and the Best Matrix Move.

"The Best Matrix Move … is when something really cool happens," Solis said. He described one student's Matrix move: "We had a student cornered over here at the end of the hallway and two guys were telling him, 'Well, you've got to go to this meeting,' because they knew he had to go to the SGA meeting. As he was cornered, he said, 'I'll be back for it.' And the guys were like, 'Back for what?' So, he pops open the umbrella he had and threw it at them. He took off and they didn't even know what hit them."

Two other prizes will be awarded, for the Most Tags ($75) and the Best Matrix Move ($25).

'Gods' credit teamwork for Mission: Impossible victory

By Analiz González
Staff Writer

"Gods and Goddesses," a team consisting of sorority Sigma Psi Delta and fraternity Lambda Alpha Epsilon, won first place and $400 in the third annual Mission: Impossible tag game.

The team earned 71 points, crushing the competition.

Second place went to the Resident Hall Association, which earned 20 points, and third place to Club Cultural Latinoamericano, which earned 15 points.

A total of $75 was awarded to Elias Guerra, codenamed "Diablo" for winning "Most Tags by an Individual," and $25 was awarded to James Vogelsang, codenamed "Fugitive," for the "Matrix Move."

Mission: Impossible began on Sept. 18 and ended Oct. 6.

The Office of Student Activities, which sponsored the game, labeled it "the fiercest game of tag ever."

Senior management major Sergio Martinez, who served as a referee, said there were three ways to gather points: tagging other agents, taking Intel photographs of them or by guessing who the moles were.

"The only way to tag other agents is by using a soft foam dart shooter, like Nerf Shooters, and gathering points for the tagged agents," he said. "The M:I3 refs hid clues around the [Student] Union and you had to guess where they were by reading riddles posted on the [Mission: Impossible] Web site."

The moLs were Danny Ramirez, an administrative assistant for the vice president for Student Affairs; Erick Vallarino, a junior physics major; and Vicenta Fernandez, an administrative assistant for Distance Education.

Martinez said no one identified the moles, "but Lambda Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Psi Delta were really close."

Senior criminal justice major and Sigma Psi Delta member Debra Ann Perez said her team's winning strategy was teamwork.

"Nobody ever went out by themselves," she said. "If someone was alone, we called for backup. We used our cell phones a lot."

She said people on her team would sneak up to the other people playing in Mission: Impossible and ask them what their code name was.

"When they turned around we would shoot them," she said.
Perez said Sigma Psi Delta and Lambda Alpha Epsilon will split the money, leaving each group with $200. She said they have not decided how they will spend the money.