Features – TrevEchoes Online

“We’re just as driven,” : DACA student talks about giving back, overcoming and his hopes for the future

6May

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

DACA, Features

“We’re just as driven,” : DACA student talks about giving back, overcoming and his hopes for the future

By Diana Leyva Photos by Diana Leyva On Gallatin Pike, in Madison, Tenn., there is a small, family-owned Salvadoran restaurant called “El Pulgarcito,". It is here where Trevecca junior, Cristiam Lopez, spent six years, washing dishes from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. Lopez was born in San Vicente, El Salvador, he immigrated to the United States with his family when he was just 2-years-old. An engineering major, Lopez was granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, in 2016. He is one of the 7,650 DACA students residing in Tennessee. In 2014, his family was able to open “El Pulgarcito” after years of having managed their church kitchen. From 2010 until 2014, Lopez along with his siblings Daniela and Jefferson Lopez would help their pa...

Wanting more and striving for success: One DACA student’s journey and what inspires her

6May

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

DACA, Features

Wanting more and striving for success: One DACA student’s journey and what inspires her

Photos by Diana Leyva By Diana Leyva Growing up, Trevecca sophomore Norma Soto didn't know she was undocumented. She has vague memories of crossing the border, hiding from immigration officers but she didn’t know what those things meant. However, she did notice certain things. She would overhear conversations had by her parents about being cautious when driving - talks of not having a driver's license and fear of being pulled over. “I knew that wasn't normal. That's not something I heard kids at school talk about. So I knew that was something different about my family,” said Soto. It wasn't until she was in high school, and struggled in obtaining her driver’s license that she realized she was different from those around her. ...

6May

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

Faculty, Features

Nykolaus Reed, the 2022 recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award

by Claudia Villeda Nykolaus Reed, assistant professor of biology, is this year’s recipient of the Trevecca Teaching Excellence Award. The Teaching Excellence Convocation was held on March 3 with an address from the 2021 recipient, Timothy Gaines, associate professor of religion. The Teaching Excellence Award is presented by the Conference of Chairpersons, composed of academic deans and department chairs. Students, faculty and academic chairs nominate a faculty member for this award. Reed arrived at Trevecca in the fall of 2012. He began as an adjunct professor of life science. He taught the general education course for two semesters. “I was working as a research fellow at Vanderbilt and a buddy of mine, Dr. David Vaught, had told me that Trevecca was...

13Jan

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

Events, Features, Music

Paige crowned winner of Trojan Idol

By Lindsey White Rion Paige at the annual Trojan Idol Competition Rion Paige, senior social work major, emerged from Trojan Idol as the recipient of the trophy that marks her as the winner of Trevecca’s annual singing competition. Paige made a promise to herself in her freshman year that she would wait to audition for Trojan Idol until she was a senior. Trojan Idol was, to her, a farewell to the school and people she loves. “I was really excited to engage one last time with all my peers and I love the community that Trojan Idol makes. I feel like it’s a much-anticipated event every year,” said Paige. Trojan Idol wasn’t Paige’s first singing competition. She auditioned for X-Factor when she was 12 and made it into the top five finalists at 13. “It felt like gett...

Athletic trainer brings dogs to work to relieve athlete anxiety

13Jan

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

Features

Athletic trainer brings dogs to work to relieve athlete anxiety

By Katie Tate When Austin Krause first became head athletic trainer at Trevecca Nazarene University he noticed the anxiety some athletes felt when they entered the training room for treatment. That is when he had an idea that involved two furry, four legged friends. Austin Krause's dog Murray pictured with Trevecca athlete Alex Clouthier “There’s the anxiety of, ‘Well if I go in [the training room] they’re going to take me out, and I want to compete,’" said Krause. “And so the idea is that there’s this dog that doesn’t judge you, just wants to love, just wants to have fun, so you can come in here and that kind of takes some of that anxiety out." Krause pitched the idea of bringing his two boxers, Banks and Murray, to the athletic director Mark Elliot. He explained thi...

Trevecca alum makes it to the Saturday Night Live Stage

7Dec

By Grace BecknerNo Comments

Alumni, Features

Trevecca alum makes it to the Saturday Night Live Stage

By Grace Beckner James Austin Johnson, pictured fourth from left, during the opening of "Saturday Night Live" When Zachary Swafford, a senior vocal performance major, first heard the news, he was rehearsing for Trevecca’s production of the musical Freaky Friday. “We were at rehearsal, and they had announced that [James Austin Johnson] was going to be a new face on SNL,” said Swafford. One of Swafford’s professors told the group there was going to be a Trevecca alumni on Saturday Night Live, but Swafford had no idea that alum would be the first person he would see when the show opened--doing an impression of President Joe Biden, no less. Johnson starred in the opening sketch of his SNL debut on Oct. 2. He co-starred in three other sketches that night. “We just thought th...

12Nov

By Grace BecknerNo Comments

Features

Religion professor serving community through foster care

By Grace Beckner Without the open heart and home of a single woman, Mary Schmitt, assistant professor of biblical studies at Trevecca, might not be here today. Schmitt’s grandmother was born to a mother who died not long after childbirth, and to a father who was unable to care for a newborn baby. The father put the child in a home with a family, and when he could no longer pay them to care for her, she was brought to an orphanage. Schmitt’s grandmother was taken in by a single woman who saw how sick she had become and thought she would not do well in the orphanage. So the woman, after gaining permission from the orphanage and the child’s father, took the baby home. “She was never allowed to adopt her, because she was a single woman, and you weren’t allowed to do that until ver...

Immunocompromised TNU faculty member finds way to connect with community

10Nov

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

Features

Immunocompromised TNU faculty member finds way to connect with community

By Claudia Villeda Wells teaching Intro to Speech Communication via Zoom Around 25 students are gathered in a classroom in McClurkan waiting for their Theories of Communication course to start. A teaching assistant is sitting at the front of the room with a camera next to her. Students are groggy but still chatty. Everyone looks to the front of the room when a face is suddenly projected on the whiteboard. This semester face-to-face 15-week classes are back. The fall 2021 semester might feel like a return to normal for many students and faculty after almost two years of living in a pandemic. For immunocompromised people, the realities of the pandemic are still very present in their lives. Jeffrey Wells, chair of department of communication studies and assoicate profes...

5Oct

By trevechoesonlineNo Comments

Features

Students Recall Damage Caused By Flooding To Their Hometown of Waverly, TN

By Diana Leyva Student Body President, Hunter Elliot, woke up early on the morning of Aug. 21. He grabbed his phone, checked Facebook and saw that 66 miles away, in his hometown of Waverly, massive flooding was taking place. According to the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency, 20 people were killed, 270 homes were destroyed and 160 suffered major damage. Flood damage along Trace Creek in Waverly. Photo courtesy of The Associated Press. In shock, he began calling family members. Initially there wasn’t much concern from his family, but as time went by the water began to rise. “I tried to call my mom, and she was like yeah the water is starting to get really high. She said I'm just really scared right now,” he said. As the hours passed Elli...

One year of COVID-19: life in a pandemic as college students

26Mar

By Naomi OverbyNo Comments

Coronavirus, Features

One year of COVID-19: life in a pandemic as college students

Just over a year ago, Trevecca’s campus cleared out for spring break; many students and faculty unaware that those classes would never resume in person. Some would never again set foot in a Trevecca classroom altogether. Students went from celebrating an extended spring break, to the harsh reality of a pandemic—an email asking them to return to campus when possible, gather their things, and transition completely online for the remainder of the semester as a precaution for a rapidly spreading virus. “I was definitely heartbroken when they officially told us we had to pack up and head home,” said Allie Tracy, an intercultural studies major who graduated last year. “I was not going to get to say goodbye to people. Not to friends, not to professors… I said goodbye to my r...