From Wednesday to next Monday, the group will perform in Glenrock, Afton, Lander and Cody in front of the towns’ high school students.

The Singing Statesmen will be finishing their tour in Cody, where the Wyoming All-State Music Groups will be meeting.

“We will perform for all of the students who auditioned into the Wyoming All-State Band, Orchestra and Choir, as well as music educators from across the state, and family of the All-State students,” said Lamartine.

The group was chosen based on their involvement and dedication to UW’s fine arts program, specifically the local musical scene.

“The UW Singing Statesmen are a high-profile men’s choir that focuses on fine choral literature representative of various style periods and vocal traditions from the western choral tradition, specifically cowboy and western songs associated with the state of Wyoming,” Nicole Lamartine, director of choral activities for UW and conductor of The Singing Statesmen, said.

This group is comprised of 50 to 60 male students from UW and is a non-audition choir. All students interested are excepted.

“This ensemble is available to both music majors and non- music majors and represents a community of musically interested students from across campus,” Lamartine said.

In 2008, Lamartine came into the position of choral activities director.

Along with teaching music education curriculum, conducting and applied voice, Lamartine conducts the Singing Statesmen, the Collegiate Chorale and advises the male the a capella group, Happy Jacks.

The Singing Statesmen’s tour of Wyoming specific goal is to address and encourage singing potential in Wyoming.

“The ensemble has toured Wyoming with the objective to promote male singing to students at the high school and community college level,” Lamartine said.

Email: Davis Bonner

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Toastmasters is a group of Laramie community members that practices forming and delivering of speeches. The group meets 6:45 a.m. on Mondays in Room 106 of the Animal Sciences/Molecular Biology Building.

The group has had about 20 members involved at any time. Most Mondays, about 12 of these members attend.

As a weekly morning ritual, the toastmasters recite their mission statement, “The mission of a toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment, in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in form foster self-confidence and personal growth.”

Following this mission statement, every member starts with a manual that includes 10 speech projects. Each week, two to three speeches are given by members of the group.

Each speech is rated by an audience evaluator.

The last part of each meeting is called “Table Topics,” which is a portion of the meeting when a member will pose a random question to another member. After the question is asked, two to three minutes are allowed for an answer.

Table Topics functions to improve an individual’s impromptu speaking abilities.

“Individuals have their own goals. At the completion of the first 10 manual speeches, a member is awarded the title of Competent Communicator. From there, he can pursue advanced manuals or prepare speeches on whatever he chooses,” Susan Mavrich, one of the Laramie morning toastmasters, said.

Even if a member is not giving a prepared speech on a given week, other duties are given. A different member is assigned to be the toastmaster, timer, main speaker, evaluator or the questioner for Table Topics.

“The Toastmaster for the week officiates the meeting, introduces the speakers, makes sure all the duties are fulfilled [and] ensures that the meeting runs in a timely manner,” Mavrich said.

The group is available to the public. “Laramie Morning Toastmasters is a diverse group. They may be university professors, university students …, or regular townspeople with non-university jobs. Members may be professionals or blue-collar workers. We have members that have been toastmasters for over 25 years, just because they love it. We have members who join for a short time to get a boost to their careers. There is a great mix of ages and vocations in our group,” Mavrich said.

Email the author: dbonner1@uwyo.edu

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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The group was founded three years ago by a group of women in Bernardo, California. It is an ecumenical ministry, meaning all faiths are open to join, where people come together and create quilts for people who are going through life-changing events, Pastor Marilyn Engstrom said.

These events range from a cancer diagnosis to surgery to the birth of a baby. The group designs a quilt for the individual while taking into consideration colors and interests that person may enjoy.

They then hand-tie the quilt. “With each knot a prayer is said,” Engstrom said.

12 to 20 people create the quilt, and many come from different church denominations.

A few years ago, a member of the ministry wanted to make a quilt for a soldier but knew that a quilt was too large for the soldier to take. Instead, Prayers and Squares made a single quilt square for the soldier, Engstrom said.

Members of his unit thought the square was a great idea and word got back to the group.

Since then, Prayers and Squares have made over 6,000 quilt squares for men and women in the military. Each has a special note on the square, such as, “We love and appreciate you. As you carry this prayer square, may you be reminded that you are never alone. We pray for your protection and that God gives you peace and brings you home safely.”

Many of the squares are carried in soldiers’ pockets and on helmets.

Groups like Engineers Without Borders and UW nursing students who have traveled to other countries have also received squares. These squares are brown and gold, while the soldier prayer squares are red, white and blue.

The popularity of Prayers and Squares has also grown to include a Junior Prayers and Square ministry.

It started when a group of grade school girls came in during the summer to volunteer.

“It’s become an after school program,” Engstrom said. This group includes students from late elementary to junior high. They have started designing their own quilts that are given to teachers and fellow classmates in need.

Recently, Prayers and Squares received a grant from the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming to continue growing the ministry. With the grant, five new sewing machines and other equipment was added.

Anyone interested in volunteering with Prayers and Squares can attend meetings that are held from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Tuesdays in the Gild Room at Hunter Hall at 104 South Fourth Street.

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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Along with Friday Night Fever’s De-Stresser events, Amnesty International will be hosting a letter writing event tonight in the Union Gardens at 9 p.m.

Writing letters to governments and other authorities that abuse human rights is how Amnesty International began their campaign, Conor Mullen, president of UW’s chapter of Amnesty International, said. “It’s such a simple act that really anyone, anywhere can do it. Overloading the post offices and mailboxes of the tyrannical influences can, and do, help free prisoners of conscious.” 

Amnesty International is a worldwide movement with 2.8 million supporters in more than 150 countries who work to end severe human rights abuse. 

“Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards,” Mullen said.

Tonight’s event will be a “hot cocoa social of sorts,” Mullen said. “Paired with some on-the-spot activism.” Members of Amnesty International will be writing letters on behalf of prisoners of conscious and advocating Amnesty International’s mission—human rights for all—while they sip their hot cocoa. 

With this event, Amnesty International is hoping to meet new people, introduce them to the group and promote the organization’s mission of protecting human rights for everyone. 

The group promotes human rights for everyone by targeting specific instances where some rights are not being observed at all. 

Amnesty International is not connected to any form of government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. Their funding mostly comes from their membership and public donations. 

Currently, Amnesty International is working on a specific campaign on campus in which they are attempting to gain a guarantee from a third party monitor that apparel displaying UW’s name, or logo is made while practicing fair labor.

Amnesty International is working to guarantee that no UW clothes are made in sweatshops. 

“We are not saying that UW clothes are made in sweatshops,” Mullen said. As of now, UW is signed on with the Fair Labor Association, which has some strong ties to the very companies it is overseeing, Mullen said. 

He said that this can create a conflict of interest. 

“[There is] a need for a stronger, more independent type of oversight,” he said.

In the past, Amnesty International has organized film festivals, music festivals called Jamnesty and teach-ins, which are workshops where people learn about specific issues. 

On campus, Amnesty International is a small group that is usually run by four or five people, and Amnesty International is always looking for new members.

Mullen said Amnesty International would like to have dedicated volunteers, who would help keep the group and its projects going. To get involved, anyone can drop by the group’s information table on Mondays in the Union breezeway, or contact Mullen at cmullen@uwyo.edu.

Email: Jamie Magrum

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Last week in the Fine Arts Concert Hall, OIAG presented the world première of their opera entitled “Rats, Rats and more Rats or … How Stinky Italian Cheese Saved the Day!” for grade school children from the Laramie area.

OIAG is centered on performing for grades K-5 and travels to grade schools throughout the state to teach, through music, children lessons about being themselves and being kind to one another. 

So far, OIAG has performed for more than 7,000 children throughout Wyoming and South Dakota.

“I also wanted to introduce opera in a fun and energetic way.  After all, they are our future audiences. A lot of the small, rural schools or the less fortunate schools in larger towns never have the opportunity to see a production like OIAG,” Larry Hensel, the director of OIAG said. 

“I started OIAG because I wanted to give our students the opportunity to see the power that a live musical and theatrical production can have on young audiences,” 

For the members of the cast, performing shows is its own reward.

“I chose to do OIAG because I love to sing and it sounded like such a blast to get an opportunity to sing for children. I just love to see the children’s faces when we perform. OIAG is fantastico,” castmember Jennifer Erickson said.

This opera was written by Hensel and has music adapted from Giaoachino Rossini’s operas and includes familiar tunes such as the “Barber of Seville.”

“I can’t seem to find anything that fulfills our needs of a larger cast, really, really good music, and a shorter production (35-40 minutes).  So I started to write and arrange my own, using music that’s in the public domain,” Hensel said.  

The group wears Chuck Taylor All Star hi-top sneakers.

The current show is about a group of street rats and a pair of house cats who are unhappy with their lot in life and wish for a change.

They encounter a mysterious gypsy woman, who offers to magically switch their situations. They also meet the gypsy’s sidekick: a happy, stinky Italian cheese.

The group gets their wish; the cats become rats and the rats turn into cats, much to their delight. However, after a time they wish for their old ways. Later in the story, one of the cats is kidnapped, taken to the stinky sewer and ultimately rescued by the entire troop. 

In the end, the group learns from the cheese that it is all right to be yourself and to be content with your life the way it is. 

The costumes and sets for the production are created for OIAG by the Department of Theatre and Dance and add an extra element of the theatre to the performance.

“I couldn’t do these productions without the remarkable, remarkable work of professor Lee Hodgson in the Department of Theatre and Dance.  His costumes are always incredible, and perfect, and help to tell our story in a vivid and visual way,” Hensel said.

Email the author: dbowman6@uwyo.edu 

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The Office of Admissions and Pre-College and Student Visit Programs will host the event. 

“UW Discovery Days gives prospective students a chance to engage in a number of activities including tours of campus, informational sessions on each college and a resource fair, which gives prospective students the opportunity to speak with various Recognized Student Organizations that are present on campus,” Mary Aguayo, assistant director of Pre-College and Student Visit Programs, said. 

The event will also provide prospective students the chance to visit some of UW’s unique facilities on campus such as the Geology Museum, the planetarium, the interior and fashion design areas, the UW Honors House and the nutrition and food labs.

Discovery Days also includes a “nuts and bolts” informational session where prospective students will be able to ask questions regarding the various challenges associated with transferring to UW from other colleges within Wyoming and nontraditional student related issues. 

Aguayo said the typical demographic of students who attend the event is varied. 

“It’s a pretty evenly mixed group. We have prospective students from both Wyoming and out-of-state and also have a number of nontraditional students who are looking at continuing their education,” she said. “While the age group we see at this event is largely traditional students trying to make their decision on which college they will attend next year, the nontraditional prospective students are well represented.”

According to Aguayo, the yearly series of events has been well attended in the past, averaging between 500-600 students in total.

Discovery Days will be held in the spring semester on Feb. 19 and April 2.

“We also offer individual campus tours to prospective students and families by appointment through our office and I encourage anyone who is interested in attending UW to take advantage of these opportunities,” Aguayo said. The event runs from 8 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. and include lunch at the Washakie Dining Center. 

Prospective students participating in the event are asked to arrive at the Union at 8 a.m., for check-in and to visit the resource fair.

Email the author: rkubiche@uwyo.edu 

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The Branding Iron is a Student Media project. Student Media gives University of Wyoming students valuable experience in writing, editing, advertising, sales, graphic design, photography and production through its publications with the guidance of professional staff members. If you find a mistake in an article, e-mail us at bi@uwyo.edu. We will make sure to torture the poor soul until it's corrected. Just kidding. We probably won't do anything, since we're busy studying for finals.

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“Marry me, Peter!!!!” the high school girls cried out in cacophonous unison toward the Danish a cappella singer during the baSix concert Saturday. BaSix performed as the closing concert for the UW Vocal Jazz workshop that concluded Saturday.

The UW Vocal Jazz Ensemble teamed up with other a capella groups: the Betty’s, Lookin’ for Treble and the Happy Jacks to begin a music-filled weekend for Wyoming and Nebraska high school jazz singers. 

Students from Big Horn, Rawlins, Tongue River, Newcastle and Rock Springs along with students from Nebraska high schools participated in this year’s vocal jazz workshop, hosted by the UW Vocal Department.

The Betty’s, an all-female a cappella group, kicked off Friday’s opening concert with a variety of genres from 1950’s bebop to more modern European pop. 

The group used the concert to reach out to students, saying the only requirements were “to be a girl and to like pink.”

The next group to perform was Lookin’ for Treble, a mixed a capella group still in its developmental stages. The group sang songs that were arranged by members of the group.

The Happy Jacks, one of UW’s most notable vocal ensembles was the next to last act. Formed from the larger ensemble the Singing Statesmen, the Happy Jacks are another student-run group, under the advising of Nicole Lamartine. Lamartine took the group to China last year to perform at Shanghai Normal University. 

The music performed by the Happy Jacks took the audience on a wide gamut, from country to hip-hop and a slow ballad.

The final group to perform was the Vocal Jazz ensemble, under the tutelage of Ben Markley, an award-winning jazz composer and pianist.

This is Markley’s first year at the helm of the ensemble.

On Saturday, the students participated in a range of studios, vocal coaching and workshops with members of the various ensembles and ultimately the Danish a capella group baSix.

In the same style of the UW ensembles, baSix performed covers of well-known music, as well as a variety of their own award-winning work.

The group worked with the high school students for a portion of the afternoon, rehearsing a song entitled “Angel” by Robbie Williams. 

The 128 students joined baSix on stage during the second half of their concert.

The Danes encouraged audience participation, kept the energy high and received three standing ovations from the audience.

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Weight Watchers now has a program at UW. The program, dubbed Weight Watchers at Work, started at the end of September under a provisional trial period. 

“Weight Watchers at Work is a slight spin on the traditional program to help members lose weight,” Tammy Scott, Weight Watchers liaison to UW, said.  

The program is the outcome of the UW Wellness Committee, she said. “There were some budget cuts; our hands were tied. We’re thrilled to have a program on campus.”

To work around the cuts and other stipulations, Scott and others brought Weight Watchers to UW apart from the school. UW does not aid the group financially. 

Weight Watchers at Work is in the middle of its first 17-week program, which ends in February. After that, the group will have to find a means to continue to pay for its space on campus. 

“We’ve been sponsored for six months, but after that, we have to find a way to pay for our room,” Scott said.

Currently, 23 staff and faculty members attend the weekly meetings.

“We have a good support group. It helps to keep people accountable,” Scott said. 

She also said that having the program at UW has cut down on the time she has to devote to it. So far, only staff and faculty have become members, but the program is open to students as well. 

“Anyone can still join, even though we’ve started our first program,” Scott said. 

 Meetings for Weight Watchers at Work are every Tuesday at noon.

Email: Rhaden Lind 

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Dr. Jose Rosa spoke about the motivations behind pushing for subsistence merchants and their overall effects on developing and underdeveloped countries. Rosa is a professor of marketing and sustainable business practices here at UW.

 EWB is an international organization with the purpose of “creating a world where everyone can meet their basic human needs,” Amanda King, the UW chapter’s president said. The organization is separated between state and regional chapters, with both student and professional levels in each.    

“We put members into different teams that travel around the world to different countries,” King said. These teams then see if each location can benefit from the EWB’s services. “We ask if the place is a good fit for what we can offer, and if it is, we’ll make a formal commitment to them,” King said.

EWB’s UW chapter has multiple projects underway. The group’s first project, started in 2005, helped build a school in the village of Panabaj, Guatemala, after mudslides had struck the town following a hurricane.   

The group has also helped in Africa where they are working to bring clean water to Kenya, according to King.

Once a commitment has been made to a location, EWB will stay to help develop the area for five to 10 years.  

The group recently sent a members to Honduras. “We hope to build a hub clinic there, so nurses don’t have to hop on buses and spend a long time getting supplies,” King stated. “Architecture students have already drafted a plan and we will be working on the water component.”    

She added that the organization is a good path of professional development for all students at UW. “What people don’t seem to realize is that you don’t have to be an engineer. I’m president of the chapter and I’m not even an engineering major.”

Email the author: rlind1@uwyo.edu

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A group of evangelists, led by a man who refers to himself as Shawn The Baptist, spent the day spreading their message by telling passing students about the need to avoid sin.

The evangelists however, were met by a contingent of approximately eight to 10 students from the Secular Student Alliance, which spent the afternoon spreading the word of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. While the afternoon saw a great deal of heated words between the two groups, all involved remained peaceful.

Student reaction to the exchange unfolding outside the Union was mixed. Some shouted and tried to argue with members of the group from Shawn The Baptist, others laughed and hurled comments, while most simply stood back chatting or taking pictures on camera phones.

Michael Richards, an Black student in the political science department, decided to show his amusement and mistrust of the evangelists out by dawning a Klu Klux Klan uniform and stood with a member of the group, claiming membership with the evangelists, and even pretended to join their cause. This was received mostly with laughter.

When asked about how students generally respond to this approach to Evangelism, Shawn The Baptist said, “It really just depends on the kind of campus. Many students protest. Atheists, homosexuals, educators and students often protest our presence. It’s not always well received, but I think we also start some positive dialogue.”

Shawn the Baptist said that he has been traveling to college campuses around the country to spread his faith for the past seven years.

His funding for these campus visits comes from personal work and donations made by churches supporting his cause. “Mostly [the funding comes] through money I earn working odd jobs, and also some churches help with financing.” Shawn declined to name any specific churches that provide support.

AJ Lamb, a member of SSA, said in response to the Evangelists’ warnings about sin, “I feel that it shall always be free, and it does not matter male or female, but when the bear is hungry, he shall eat.”

Charlie Wheeler, president of the SSA, said the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s beliefs as, “With us, there is only pirates; and with only pirates, there is only plundering; and with only plundering, there is only happiness. I hope that everyone will pillage some booty tonight, and everyone will be happy.”

UPDATE: BI Reporter DJ Bowman captured the following video footage:

Email the author: rkubiche@uwyo.edu 

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