Spring Party at UT Tyler

Recently SGA hosted their annual 80's themed spring party! As a senator, of course I attended and had a great time. I got little clips of everything that was going on and compiled it into a little montage for all of you(:

(It's my first vlog, be nice)

United to Serve at UT Tyler

I've always been a fan of volunteering. Here at UT Tyler we try to give back to the community as much as possible. Recently, Student Government Association has announced that they will be participating in United to Serve through the East Texas Crisis Center.

They ask students to bring in toilet paper, paper towels, cotton balls, q-tips, and dixie cups to donate to the shelter that helps out with victims of family violence, sexual assault, and violent crimes.
Some of the senators will be going door to door at the housing complex to collect supplies, so I'm excited to see the results.
During Christmas time SGA ran an Angel Tree. I remember for a couple weeks I would sit out at a table in front of the Chik-fil-A with papers spread all over the table for people to come pick their "angel", or the child they would get Christmas presents for.
It amazed me that even though we were all students ourselves who could be worried about buying our own Christmas gifts for our own friends and family with the little money we have, so many students adopted angels. On the very last day there were only about 6 angels left.

The power of giving never ceases to amaze me and I absolutely LOVE the big hearts the students here at UT Tyler have.

Be sure to support Untied to Serve!

Welcoming A New School Year and New Beginnings

                New beginnings and a mile stone in my life welcomes me into the next school year. It’s official! I’m a sophomore and 20! It is still so hard for me to say that or admit to myself. Yes, I know, some of you readers might be shaking your head at me wondering why I’m freaking out about turning twenty. Well, to me it’s just a big realization that I am no longer a teenager. I don’t even have the “teen” after my age anymore! But I do look forward to this new school year with great excitement!

                My name is Gabby Cruz from Allen, Texas. I am a pre nursing major, coming in to my sophomore year here at The University of Texas at Tyler . I was born 8331 miles away in Olongapo, Philippines. Till this day, I still can’t spell Philippines without spell checkL. If you looked at me now, I bet you would never guess that this girl grew up in a farm. Indeed, a full on rolling fields, cows, pigs and chicken kind of farm.  I moved to San Jose, California in 3rd grade and to Texas the summer before 5^th grade. I’ve been living in Texas for 9 years and I still can’t get over this heat!

                Freshman year has been such a great experience, with a few ups and downs here and there. I definitely immersed myself in a lot of organizations on campus including, SGA (Student Government Association,  Expansion (we are in the process of staring a third sorority on campus! Yay!), Sigma Alpha Pi (National Society of Leadership and Success), and  GATE (Global Awareness through Education) which my group is able to travel to Japan this summer! I also enjoy singing and joined University Chorale spring semester of last year. Although I have been in choir since 6^th grade, I still have trouble getting over signing solo in front of people….  I also have played volleyball since 5^th grade. If you ask me to play volleyball with you, you’d probably want to think twice.. .. I’m pretty rusty..ok ALOT rusty.

                I am very honored to be a part of the Student Communication team at UT Tyler.  This is my first time blogging so hopefully you guys enjoyed reading my very first blog! It’s been kind of weird writing about myself.. but don’t worry I definitely cut it short to spare you! As I become more experience with blogging I hope you all would get a chance to get to know me a lot better through my post! Keep reading our  UT Tyler Student Blog because I have so much to share with you about all the things I love about life, college and of course UT Tyler !  

Change in student government!

The face of the Student Government Association (SGA) in UT Tyler is slowly starting to change. Here's the new secretary and also head of the SGA Communications Committee.

Study Days Added For Finals!!!!

              Starting with the 2011-2012 academic school year, UT Tyler will implement two extra study days before finals. Thanks to the hard work of the Student Government Association, SGA, during these two study days classes will be cancelled and the students will be allowed to study for his/her exams that will be coming up within the next week.
             You all may have heard of this titled "dead week" by other schools. Hopefully, with the addition of these two extra days of having class off, students will be able to cut into the late night studying and use that time to let their brain rest by sleeping. Academic affairs will look back into the change in 2012 to monitor the pros and cons that are visible. 
             Personally, I am all for the extra two days. I think it allows the student to be more productive. Usually, during the last week of class many professors are somewhat dragging the semester to an end by resorting to "busy work". Why not allow that time to be available to allow for productive studying. What do you think?

Student Government and Study Days

         Student Government Association does it again! The voice of the student body upholds their job and I believe they did a tremendous job. To learn more about SGA check out their website here.

        UT Tyler will officially hold Study Days the two days before final exams starting in long summer. They will be held on a trial basis for about 2 years. Lets hope that these days go well and that they will make it permanent. If you don't know what a Study Day is then you are missing out! A Study Day is when no classes are held a few days before final exams are given, thus giving you extra days to STUDY!!!