West Texas A&M Brings Bachelor's Degree to Roscoe

West Texas A&M President Walter Wendler, RCISD Superintendent Kim Alexander, and Western Texas College President Barbara Beebe hold up their signed copies of the agreements of the three schools to work together on the new Bachelor's program at Roscoe Collegiate.

Top administrators from West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) were in Roscoe Monday to sign an agreement with Western Texas College and Roscoe Collegiate ISD that will allow students to earn a bachelor’s degree from WTAMU here in Roscoe.

Starting this fall, the new program allows college students to attend classes in Roscoe and have the support of a local adviser while pursuing online classes in their chosen field of study. More details are available in this official press release from WTAMU about Monday’s meeting in the Shelansky building:

WT is Bringing Bachelor's Degree to Roscoe

ROSCOE, Texas—West Texas A&M University (WT), Western Texas College (WTC), and the Roscoe Collegiate Independent School District (RCISD) through its new 501 C(3) Non-Profit, Collegiate Edu-Nation (CEN), partner to deliver a bachelor’s degree without leaving the area.  This partnership will provide many of the advantages of a local program and all the flexibility of an online degree. Officials kicked-off the agreement with a signing on July 22 in Roscoe to begin the program in fall 2019.

According to the U.S. Census, more than 9,000 people older than 25 years in the four-county area near Roscoe have some college but not a bachelor’s degree. Most are with jobs, mortgages and family commitments that make it difficult to pursue a traditional academic degree, and research suggests most nontraditional students dislike the isolation often found in online degree programs.

In response to those challenges, WT and its partners have developed the “Innovation Degree.”  This program utilizes up to 81 hours of prior college credit and has the flexibility to be tailored to the specific goals of each student.

This is the most recent development growing out of the University’s generational plan, “WT125: From the Panhandle to the World.” This plan looks ahead to the year 2035, WT’s 125th anniversary, when the University will have attained doctoral status.

“WT has some of the lowest tuition rates among universities in Texas. Furthermore, we assist in identifying courses at Western Texas College that will apply to this degree and further reduce the cost,” says Dr. Brad Johnson, vice president for strategic relations at WT.

The flexibility of the program allows a student to satisfy all degree requirements through online courses while receiving staff support in person at the Roscoe Collegiate Academy. Students work with experienced advisors to devise their own set of courses from various disciplines, which is why the degree has become known as the Innovation Degree.

The degree is especially adaptable for students who want to qualify for graduate school in a variety of disciplines or employees who aspire to earn promotions, pay raises or are considering a different career field. For more information about this opportunity, contact Patricia McCormick at 806-651-5307.

“Through our Early College Program that provides students the opportunity to earn their Associate Degree prior to high school graduation, thanks to the long standing partnership between RCISD and WTC, we’re excited to now partner with WT to offer non-traditional support for students throughout the Big Country Area to complete Bachelor’s and Graduate Degrees from right here in Roscoe,” according to Dr. Kim Alexander, Chancellor of Collegiate Edu-Nation. “This new system model for K12 alignment with higher education could prove to be a real game changer for rural students throughout Texas and the U.S.”

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2019 HOMECOMING COMMITTEE MEETS, SETS TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Homecoming Committee members Connie McIntire Baize, Misty Burns Reynolds, Sue Cooper Cannon, Teresa McFaul Watson, and Kay Tarrant Hallman at Monday's meeting in the Community Center. 

On Monday evening, the Homecoming Committee met at the Roscoe Community Center to plan this year’s Homecoming and to set a tentative schedule to work from. At this point, just about everything is penciled in, and some of the times and activities are subject to change. But the overall schedule will be similar to those in the past, and will look something like this:

Thursday: Possible early evening bonfire

Friday:
1:30pm - Exes’ Reception & Registration
2:45 – Pep Rally at Special Events Center
4-7 – Meal in School Cafetorium
7:30 – Plowboys vs. Christoval Football Game
8:30 – Exes & Friends Coffee in Special Events Center Concession Area
            Coffee/Punch/Snacks
9:30 – Music and Dancing at the Lumberyard

Saturday:
8:30-9:30am – Coffee & Donuts at the Community Center
10:00 – Homecoming Parade
11:30am-1:30pm – Lunch/Silent Auction/Door Prizes
1:30-2:30 – Reminiscing at School Cafetorium
2:30-Midnight – Visiting and Reunions (Bring Refreshments)
8:00pm – Music & Dancing at the Lumberyard ($10 cover)

One event that will almost certainly take place is the Parade under the direction of Misty Burns Reynolds. So, if your organization or graduating class wants to have an entry, now’s the time to start thinking about how you’ll go about making it happen.

The committee wants this to be the best homecoming ever, so if you’re an RHS or RCHS ex, make plans now to attend and remind your classmates that they need to come, too. Also, if you want to help with the planning or in getting addresses of classmates, let one of the committee members know.

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LESLIE TOM AT LUMBERYARD FRIDAY, NO COVER

Leslie Tom

Friday evening Leslie Tom makes a special appearance at the Lumberyard with no cover charge. She is currently on a road trip of Texas promoting her new album, Ain’t It Something, Hank Williams, produced in Nashville.

Her music is a lot like the album’s title suggests—traditional country. The new album contains her covers of Hank Williams’ classics “Hey, Good Lookin’” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” as well as his lesser known “Angel of Death” along with some of her own originals.  Although she is currently based in Denver, she is all Texan, raised in Calallen, just outside of Corpus Christi, and a graduate of Texas A&M.

Some of her singles are “Hank You Very Much,” “Ain’t It Something, Hank Williams,” “Bless This Barbecue,” “I Love Texas More Than You,” and “Cowboy Talkin’”.

For more information, contact the Lumberyard at 325-766-2457.

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WEATHER REPORT: HOT WITH A BREAK
 

Sunday's clear blue sky.

It’s been another week of hot weather—or at least it was until Monday and yesterday when a norther blew in, and we got a welcome break from the heat. From last Wednesday to Sunday, skies were essentially clear with hot days and warm nights. Highs from Wednesday through Sunday were in the upper nineties with lows of 74° or 75°. Both Friday and Saturday had highs of 99°, and Sunday’s was 98°.

But on Monday morning the south wind died down to nothing for a while and then the north wind came in and immediately cooled things off. The high Monday afternoon was down to 91° and the low dropped to 69°. Yesterday was even cooler with a high of 85° and a low of 66°. There was a bit of a sprinkle in some areas Monday morning, but it was not enough to be measurable.

Today, the cooler weather—at least for late July—continues with a projected high of 88° under sunny skies and a low of 66°. Temperatures will gradually rise until Sunday but will remain slightly below average for this time of year. Tomorrow’s high should be about 89°, Friday’s 91°, and Saturday’s 93°. Lows will remain in the mid to upper sixties.

Next week’s highs will run in the mid-nineties and lows in the low seventies with winds from the south-southeast. There is little chance of rain. Currently only one day, next Monday, has as much as a 20% chance of rain. All the others are either 0% or 10%.

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