Snapshots Announcements Spotlight UTSA Athletics

July 2013, Issue 7



Rave Reviews

SFAES Staff Development Exercise




The Office of Student Financial Aid and Enrollment Services holds two monthly All Staff Meetings, one meeting involves information important to our daily jobs that includes updates, changes to processing, or regulatory issues. The other meeting focuses on staff development, which allows staff to interact and be creative on how we as an office can grow professionally, as well as come up with ideas to enhance working relationships within the office and make suggestions for future improvements.

In our May meeting, we did an exercise called, “The Perfect Co-Worker”, the exercise required that we draw a picture of the perfect teammate and write a brief story about that person. We divided the staff into teams of 5-6 and each team came up with their perfect co-worker, and while everyone’s pictures were somewhat different, many of the qualities and stories were the same in what was viewed as the perfect co-worker, such as, dedicated, friendly, loyal, responsible, respectful, and positive, to name a few.









University Career Center - Educator Orientation Visit (EOV)

Local U.S. Navy Recruiters have once again invited UTSA University Career Center professionals to participate in an opportunity for a behind-the-scenes look at incredible career opportunities offered by Navy. This annual trip to San Diego is called the Educator Orientation Visit (EOV), and it hosts a small group of local high school and college educators and influencers. Rachel Enochs, Career Counselor for the College of Sciences, and Avin Jordan, Experiential Learning Coordinator, were both nominated by the University Career Center (UCC) leadership and were selected to attend on behalf of UTSA. These two will have unique experiences to see what our graduating students can experience with a U.S. Navy career.

The University Career Center has partnered with Navy recruiters for many events in the past, including "Navy Days" and special presentations by Naval Officers within medical services and nuclear engineering. Assistant Director of Student Services (UCC), Karen Ivy, who has served on the Recruiting District Advisory Committee (San Antonio) for 6 years, attended this same tour in San Diego in 2007, and she reports that the trip opened her eyes to "incredible possibilities for individuals to make such a significant impact on the world - through providing global medical support, supporting efforts of the United States through helicopter, flight, submarine, and ship support, and advance initiatives in engineering and technology."



SFAES Celebrate! Program

T.E.A.M. - together everyone achieves more! The Office of Student Financial Aid and Enrollment Services, comprised of approximately 70 staff making up several operational teams, implemented a new recognition program called Celebrate! Each month a team is recognized at our all-staff meeting and celebrated afterwards with an office potluck breakfast or lunch. The Administrative Team kicked off the Celebrate! program in April, the Scholarships Team was celebrated in May and the Financial Aid Programs Team in June. Exercising the Four Cs - communicate, connect, collaborate, create - into effective teamwork insures the successes of our office. We all appreciate the efforts, contributions and support our teams give each other!



Administrative Assistants Team
Alicia Godwin, Nathan Flores, Claudia Shakoor



Club Powerlifting 4th in the Nation with Button as National Champ!




Club Powerlifting competed at the 2013 USAPL Collegiate Nationals in Killeen placing 4th overall. For the fourth year in a row, a UTSA club athlete finished as a national champion in a respective weight class.

Jeff Button, a multidisciplinary studies senior from Murphy, is the national champion in his 83 kg (182.98 lbs.) weight class. Button won his weight class with a squat of 578.71 lbs., a bench press of 451.94 lbs. and a deadlift of 595.24 lbs. Button continues a streak of individual national champions, now at 4 years. Molly Jaeger began the streak 3 years ago winning her weight class 3 years in a row.

Anthony Munoz, a kinesiology senior from Austin, finished a narrow 2nd behind Button in the 83 kg weight class. Munoz placed 2nd with a squat of 589.73 lbs., a bench press of 485.01 lbs. and a deadlift of 551.15 lbs. Munoz finished 0.738 points behind Button based on a scoring system that factors in both weight lifted and body weight of the competitor.

Mauricio Valdez, an electrical engineering sophomore from San Angelo, finished 3rd place in the 74 kg (163.14 lbs.) weight class. Valdez placed 3rd with a squat of 523.59 lbs., a bench press of 325.18 lbs. and a deadlift of 545.64 lbs.

Giovanna Ortega, an undeclared freshman from Laredo, finished 4th place in the 63 kg (138.89 lbs.) weight class. Ortega placed 4th with a squat of 314.15 lbs., a bench press of 137.78 lbs. and a deadlift of 314.15 lbs.

The 2013 USAPL Collegiate Nationals were held April 12-14. Club Powerlifting hopes to excel next year as they attempt to qualify for the 2014 USAPL Collegiate Nationals to be held in Orlando, FL next April.

USA Powerlifting (USAPL) conducted the national meet. For more information please visit www.usapowerlifting.com.

The Department of Campus Recreation, in support of their vision to be recognized leaders in student development and collegiate recreation, financially supports students each year to represent UTSA at Club Sports regional and national tournaments.

Campus Recreation would like to congratulate the entire team for their accomplishment!

For more information on Campus Recreation please visit www.utsa.edu/recreation.

Picture A: Anthony Munoz, Mauricio Valdez, Giovanna Ortega, Jeff Button
Picture B: Munoz, Valdez, Wes Zunker (coach and class of ’08), Ortega, Button
Picture C: Valdez, Ortega, Button, Munoz



Club Tennis Qualifies for National Tournament


Club Tennis competed at the 2013 USTA On Campus National Championship in Surprise, AZ in April. It was the 2nd time in history that the club qualified to compete at the national tournament (2011). The UTSA club tennis team finished 59th overall in the nation.

Carrie Lidsky, an interdisciplinary studies junior from Houston and Daniel Bage, a management senior from San Antonio competed in the national tournament for the 2nd time in their career. Rounding out the squad that competed are Thomas Michael, a mechanical engineering freshman from Helotes and Andrea Charlene Reynoso, a management sophomore from San Antonio.

The club finished 11th at the Texas Sectionals which made them eligible for a wild card draw to see who would qualify along with the top 4 teams into the national tournament. Eight teams from the state of Texas were invited including Baylor, Lone Star College-Cy Fair, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State and Texas Tech.

The national championships and all qualifying matches use the World Team Tennis format during play.

The 2013 USTA On Campus National Championship was held April 11-13. Club Tennis hopes to return next year as they attempt to qualify for the 2014 USTA On Campus National Championship to be held in Surprise, AZ next April.

The United States Tennis Association (USTA), in conjunction with the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA), conducted the national tournament. For more information please visit www.tennisoncampus.com.

The Department of Campus Recreation, in support of their vision to be recognized leaders in student development and collegiate recreation, financially supports students each year to represent UTSA at Club Sports regional and national tournaments.

Campus Recreation would like to congratulate the entire team for their accomplishment!

For more information on Campus Recreation please visit www.utsa.edu/recreation.



VOICES Officers attend Conference on Volunteering and Service


(July 2, 2013) -- Early last week, nearly 5,000 people crossed political, racial, religious, age and geographic boundaries to come together during the 2013 Points of Light Conference on Volunteering and Service in Washington D.C. Nico Cousby, Jantel Fontenot, and CaShonda Henderson, executive members of UTSA Volunteer Organization Involving Community Education and Service (VOICES), and Cristina Dominguez, program coordinator for Volunteer Service, were among the participants at the global conference.

"Service is the greatest unifying force in America," said Neil Bush, chairman for the Points of Light organization. Throughout the week, political leaders, activists, service leaders and businesses came together to show that notion in action.

For the full article, visit UTSA Today.



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