Join the 2022 Waco Wonderland Parade and help spread some holiday cheer!
The City of Waco announced that entries are now being accepted for the annual holiday parade, which returns to downtown Waco Saturday, Dec. 3. If you know a group or organization that would be interested in this opportunity, please let them know. There is no cost to participate.
Presented by the Family of Faith WC Waco, the parade begins at 10 a.m. and travels down Austin Avenue, from 11th Street to 3rd Street.
Registration forms are due by Monday, Nov. 28, and can be downloaded at wacowonderland.com/parade.
The Mayborn Museum announces its new status as a Smithsonian Affiliate. The museum joins a network of more than 200 Smithsonian Affiliates in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Panama. The Mayborn will now be the Central Texas connection to the Smithsonian and its many resources. This recognition makes The Mayborn Museum one of 13 Smithsonian Affiliates in Texas and the only one in Central Texas.
“Smithsonian Affiliates are collaborators on many Smithsonian strategic priorities, adding local content, context, and expertise to help tell a fuller story,” said Myriam Springuel, director of Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and Smithsonian Affiliations. “Including the Mayborn in our Affiliate network provides greater access to the rich history and culture of Central Texas and we look forward to creating experiences that align those stories with national initiatives at the Smithsonian.”
Smithsonian Affiliates represent the diversity of America’s museum community and serve all audiences. As a Smithsonian Affiliate, the Mayborn will have the opportunity to collaborate on unique, public programs and workshops, professional development opportunities, co-develop youth programs, host traveling exhibitions, borrow artifacts, and co-host public lectures by Smithsonian scholars.
As part of the first phase of collaboration, the Mayborn is bringing the Smithsonian’s Earth Optimism Youth Action and Leadership Program to Waco. The initiative works with local schools to empower young people to act on environmental issues. With support from the Smithsonian, the Mayborn will develop young people’s leadership skills with the goal of inspiring climate-literate leaders in Central Texas. Earth Optimism Youth Action and Leadership for Sustainable Communities is funded in part by a Jeff Bezos gift to the National Air and Space Museum.
“Our partnership with the Smithsonian will facilitate new exhibits and programs for our visitors that will inspire a deeper understanding of our world and how it can be changed for the better,” said Charlie Walter, executive director of the Mayborn.
By Mary Beth Farrell
November marks the one-year anniversary of the opening of the “Sit Down to Take a Stand” Waco lunch counter exhibit at the Dr Pepper Museum. The lessons learned in the process of creating this exhibit and living with its impact have shaped the staff and board in ways we could not have anticipated.
Thank you to our exhibit committee members – Dexter Hall, Anthony Betters Sr., Gary Myles, Dr. Stephen Sloan, and Joy Summar-Smith – for leading us to a better understanding of the influence our Soda Fountain could have on visitors.
Over 2.7 million visitors have come to the museum since we opened in 1991, and the Soda Fountain – the original home of the Dr Pepper float – has been a favorite part of the experience for so many. However, before the civil rights movement, people of color were denied service at locations throughout Waco, including local soda fountains.
In the reexamination of our exhibits and the stories they tell, we realized the nostalgia surrounding soda fountains that people found in our space was not substantive enough to carry us through the next 31 years. The result of this reflection is “Sit Down to Take a Stand,” a recreated lunch counter that features audio from local sit-in participants, video from sit-ins in Houston, and photographs from across the South creating a moving, immersive experience for museum visitors.
The exhibit is in the Soda Fountain so all visitors can access it without paying admission. The Soda
Fountain was also redesigned with a 1960s theme to reflect a time when all patrons were welcome while keeping the vintage feel visitors expect.
“Sit Down to Take a Stand” is only the beginning. In February 2023, the most iconic space in the Museum – the historic Bottling Room – will reopen to the public featuring the stories of the workers who operated the bottling plant. Unfortunately, this exhibit hasn’t been updated since the museum opened in 1991 and currently tells the story of nostalgia from the perspective of those running the company, largely leaving out the contributions of everyday workers.
If you have never visited the museum or it’s been a while since you’ve stopped by, now is the time! In addition to telling the stories of Dr Pepper and the soft drink industry in a way we have never done before, the experiences the museum has to offer are one-of-a-kind. Make-A-Soda, Taste-A-Soda, the Extreme Pepper Experience, and the Paranormal Experience take your visit to the next level.
To support the historic Bottling Room renovation, visit our website and donate to our annual Challenge Grant. Our Challenge Grant goes to the preservation of our historic buildings and our collection. With every dollar donated, Keurig Dr Pepper will match the donations up to $100,000.
Mary Beth Farrell is director of development & communications for the Dr Pepper Museum.
By Clara Lincicome
College students often face circumstances that make pursuing their education especially challenging. An online student at McLennan Community College recently let the school know that a broken had prevented him from finishing a semester.
Shanna Rogers is project director for MCC’s Campus Resources Education Web (CREW), which is a program to help students struggling to meet their basic needs. Rogers learned of the student’s broken laptop and connected him to the library, which had recently received a grant to lend laptops to students in such situations. The student had no form of transportation, so Rogers drove the laptop to him in Killeen.
“When he got the laptop he got reinvigorated,” she said. “He was able to get back on his feet.”
CREW is funded by a federal grant and is MCC’s latest initiative to support students with their nonacademic needs. CREW “strives to ensure every student who wants an education can receive one without being hindered by basic needs insecurities.”
CREW meets with students and faculty on an individual basis to assess their needs and connect them to a resource that can help, ranging from child care, to groceries, to gas money.
Another resource CREW provides is Paulanne’s Pantry – a stop-and-go place to shop for free groceries. Shoppers at the pantry are given autonomy to select their food, rather than given a bag of miscellaneous items. On the backend, CREW orders food and gets shipments twice a month to fill the pantry. Student volunteers are also a part of keeping the pantry stocked.
Not only does CREW offer their own resources, they also partner with other organizations in Waco and McLennan County to best serve students.
“We work to connect them with different resources off campus,” Rogers said. “That means learning about the resources, but also building those relationships with the resources off campus so we know that we have them. For instance, Shepherd’s Heart.”
Shepherd’s Heart is a food pantry in Waco that provides the community with free groceries through mobile distribution, hosting food pantries in four local schools and delivering groceries to seniors.
“We have Shepherd’s Heart that comes on to campus now to help deliver food to students, faculty, staff, or anyone in the community that could use it,” Rogers said. “It provides a location where students don’t need to drive all over town to get food.”
CREW hosted a Resource Fair Sept. 15, where dozens of organizations from the Waco area came to MCC’s campus to talk to students about what they provide.
In addition, the first “Third Thursday Thoroughfare” will be hosted in the Student Life Center Oct. 20, where several local resources are going to be available to talk to students over lunch about their services, the student’s eligibility, and how they can apply.
CREW hopes to remove any stigma around using available resources. Emma Cartisano, a doctoral intern for student engagement at MCC, researches stigma in her study of higher education.
“The biggest act towards removing stigma is by talking about it,” she said. “Stigma gains its power through silence. As much as we can, we will talk about resources available for students. There is no shame in using them.”
Rogers noted that many students need help, which is why MCC is dedicated to the effort. “I haven’t met many college students who haven’t needed extra help,” she said. “Usually the ones who don’t need help are the exception to the rule, not the rule.”
For more information, check out the webpage.
Clara Lincicome is a senior journalism major on the PR track at Baylor University from Washington state. Her minors are corporate communication and leadership studies. She is a PR intern for the Department of Marketing and Communication at McLennan Community College and a tour guide for Baylor University.
By Ashley Bean Thornton
The next gathering of the Act Locally Waco Book Club is Jan 10, 6-8 pm, at the Good Neighbor House, 2301 Colcord Ave. We’ll be discussing, Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans in the Time of Jim Crow, by Thad Sitton and James H. Conrad.
Here’s some information about the book:
Freedom Colonies is a history of independent African American settlements in Texas during the Jim Crow era, featuring historical and contemporary photographs.
In the decades after the Civil War, nearly a quarter of African Americans achieved a remarkable victory — they got their own land. While other ex-slaves and many poor whites became trapped in the exploitative sharecropping system, these independence-seeking individuals settled on pockets of unclaimed land that had been deemed too poor for farming and turned them into successful family farms.
In these self-sufficient rural communities, often known as “freedom colonies,” African Americans created a refuge from the discrimination and violence that routinely limited the opportunities of blacks in the Jim Crow South.
Freedom Colonies is the first book to tell the story of these settlements. Sitton and Conrad focus on communities in Texas, where Black residents achieved a higher percentage of land ownership than in any other state of the South. The authors draw on ex-slave narratives, oral histories, written memoirs, and public records to describe how the colonies formed. The authors also recreate the “lifeways” of African Americans who made their living by farming or in skilled trades, such as milling and blacksmithing.
They explain the forces that led to the decline of the communities from the 1930s onward, including economic hard times and the greed of Whites who found legal and illegal means of taking Black-owned land. The authors visit some of the remaining communities to discover how their independent way of life endures into the 21st century.
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Stay safe and if you have comments or thoughts, please don’t hesitate! Email us!
Do you have friends who want to join our book club? Sign up to be on the mailing list here.
Ashley Bean Thornton is the founder of both Act Locally Waco and the Book Club. She still leads the Book Club, and our community is the great beneficiary.
By Clara Lincicome
On your way to class through the McLennan Community College campus, you might run into Morgan Wishart, a 22-year-old human development and family studies major from Mineola. Her zip-up jacket boasts the words MCC Dance Company, and she presents herself with a bright smile and excitement for a challenge.
Off the bat, you might assume she is a member of the dance company, a student at MCC, and that she came to MCC directly out of high school. What you likely will not imagine upon first glance is that Wishart spent the past four years as a corporal in the Marine Corps before arriving at McLennan Community College.
Wishart grew up in an Army family — parents, uncles, and both sets of grandparents. But after talking to an Army recruiter, she said she did not get the “homey” feeling she was hoping for. Then, Marine Corps recruiters visited her school in September 2017.
“You know how they come to high schools and you do the pull-ups and everything?” Wishart said. “Well, I did that, and I got their number from there. … I signed the papers that day.”
Wishart graduated from Lindale High School in June 2018 and left for boot camp at Parris Island in South Carolina one month later. She described boot camp as nerve-wracking, especially since she was one of few females. The process of getting there was a blur for Wishart, she didn’t know where she was flown into and was without a phone or any form of communication.
“You get off the plane, then they put you on this bus. They’re just screaming at us, and we’re putting our heads down for the whole ride to Parris Island. I don’t know how long it was,” Wishart said. “It was dark, and my legs were shaking, I’m flustered just thinking about it.”
Upon arrival at Parris Island, Wishart recalled seeing the infamous yellow steps in person for the first time.
“That is your ‘entering into learning how to be a Marine,’” she said. “And there are literal yellow footsteps on the ground, every Marine has stepped on those footsteps. It was like, ‘I’m really here.’”
Wishart emphasized that the purpose of the three-month boot camp was to “break you down from individuality and build you up as a Marine.” When calling her parents for two minutes to let them know she arrived at Parris Island, she read a script, and could not use the words “I,” “me,” or “love you.” “There is no ‘I’ or ‘me’ in boot camp. No one cares about you,” she said.
The culmination of boot camp and the last step in becoming a Marine is the Crucible, notoriously the hardest three days of the three months spent at Parris Island, Wishart said. She got four to six hours of sleep total as they completed obstacle courses that simulated war, with the goal of completion without losing gear or a teammate. After completing the Crucible, recruits receive their Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, the emblem of the Marine Corps.
After boot camp, Wishart went to San Diego for Marine Combat Training.
“You’re just shooting guns, out in the field for weeks,” Wishart said. “You only get one porta-potty, and you’re sharing it with your company, like 300 people. No showers, lovely baby wipes, and sleeping under the stars. It was not the time of my life.”
From there, Wishart was sent to Jacksonville, N.C., for a short time before being stationed at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla., where she worked and attended Pensacola State College.
“They just put you wherever they want you,” she said. “You’ll hear it forever in the Marine Corps, where they need you is where they’ll put you.”
Wishart worked in supply and was in charge of a $4 million account managing the station’s money and tracking where it went, making sure students had everything they needed to complete their training.
Marines have a four-year contract, starting the day before departure for boot camp, followed by a four-year reserve. Wishart’s contract was up on July 15. She decided to fulfill her goal of becoming a member of the MCC Dance Company.
“MCC has always been a dream of mine,” she said. “My sister went here from 2017-19, and I got a glimpse that this was what I wanted. Ten-time national champions? I want to be a part of that!”
Dancing since she was 12 years old, Wishart grew up attending MCC workshops and competitions. She spoke highly of director Ashlee Keyes, as well as the alumni base of the dance company.
“So many alumni come back and talk to us, and I love that,” Wishart said. “I love to have people that have been in my shoes give me advice on how they became national champions.”
Being part of the Marine Corps has impacted every aspect of Wishart’s life, including her role as a teammate on the MCC Dance Company.
“My formative years, 17-21, I was in the Marine Corps. It’s crazy how different you become,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine myself without the Marine Corps and what I was taught. Everything I think about is from my Marine Corps standpoint. It’s all I know.”
Wishart regards Veteran’s Day as an opportunity to honor and remember those who paid the price for us to live in the United States.
“My whole family was in the military, and they have friends that aren’t with us today,” she said. “My Marine Corps brothers and sisters, my family’s Army brothers and sisters all went out there and fought for us to live this life that we have. It has always been the same for me, respecting our veterans that are here and aren’t here with us today.”
Clara Lincicome is a senior journalism major on the PR track at Baylor University from Washington state. Her minors are corporate communication and leadership studies. She is a PR intern for the Department of Marketing and Communication at McLennan Community College and a tour guide for Baylor University.
By Molly Noah
WACO – The Mayborn Museum is now celebrating Native American Heritage Month
with exciting performances and lectures from the native community. The series will highlight
the work of Native dancers, artists, and playwrights.
We began the month with “Celebrate Native American Heritage with Indigenous ACE (Arts, Culture, Education)” on Nov. 2, funded by the Baylor University Theater Arts Department and the Mayborn Museum. Indigenous ACE, from the Indigenous Cultures Institute in San Antonio, was a performance group of close family and friends from several tribes, including Saponi, Comanche, Apache, Alabama-Coushatta, Chickasaw, Navajo, Wastec. The family-friendly celebration included performances from traditional dancers, musicians, and singers, plus explanations of native traditions.
Two more events are still ahead this month:
Larissa FastHorse’s “The Thanksgiving Play”
Nov. 9, 3-5 pm, Adults
Join us as Waco’s Wild Imaginings Theater Group performs The Thanksgiving Play, a satire
about a group of teachers trying to create a representative way to celebrate both Turkey Day
and Native American Heritage Month. Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions.
“The Stones Cry Out” with Dan Brook
Nov. 16, 3-5 pm, Adults
Funded by Department of Art & Art History
Dan Brook, of the Muscogee Nation), is a sculptor and Baylor alumnus. He will discuss his work and its connections to representations of indigenous traditions.
Native American Heritage Month events are included in the price of admission to the museum.
Baylor University students and Mayborn Museum members receive free admission.
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The Mayborn Museum Complex celebrates the natural science and cultural history of Central Texas. Its 143,000-square-feet building on the Baylor campus sparkles with numerous vibrant exhibits and compelling hands-on activities for the whole family to enjoy over and over again. For more information, contact the Mayborn Museum at (254)710-1110 or visit MaybornMuseum.com.
Molly Noah is marketing coordinator at Mayborn Museum Complex.
By Rae Jefferson
Less than a year after publicly announcing plans to construct new headquarters, Waco Family Medicine broke ground Thursday, Oct. 20, on a new clinical site that will warmly welcome all people in the Heart of Texas regardless of income or insurance status.
The clinic is at 1600 Providence Dr. Guests included WFM staff, local officials, community leaders, and enthusiastic benefactors who support accessible, high-quality healthcare in McLennan and Bell counties.
The speaker lineup included special guests Chip and Joanna Gaines, who are generous supporters of the campaign to fund the new site. They contributed to the project in honor of former WFM physician and faculty member Dr. Tim McCall and wife, Janice.
“Waco Family Medicine has been here to meet the needs of our community and the families here in Waco for over 50 years,” said Chip and Joanna Gaines. “We’re proud and grateful for the level of care and compassion the doctors and staff have offered and expressed during the past five decades. Thank you, Waco Family Medicine, and also a thanks to Tim and Janice McCall for all of their selfless work in serving Waco Family Medicine and, now, the children of Northern Uganda.”
More than 50 years ago, the residency program at WFM was born out of cross-sector collaboration. County officials, business leaders, and local medical providers sought to train new family physicians to alleviate a provider shortage and meet overwhelming medical need within the community. Today, the 15-site Community Health Center provides high-quality medical, dental, and mental health care to more than 60,000 patients each year. Additionally, the clinic’s family medicine residency program is in the top 2% of programs in the country, with hundreds of applicants vying for 12 openings each year.
“Multiple generations of local physicians and community members built Waco Family Medicine into an excellent center for primary care and a national academic family medicine leader,” said Dr. Jackson Griggs, CEO. “Building on that success, our new facility will inspire enduring generations of patients and health professionals and will anchor Waco Family Medicine’s efforts to achieve community thriving through whole-person, compassionate, comprehensive primary care.”
The new $61 million facility will further expand WFM’s capacity to care for patients, improve the healthcare team experience, and advance education and research in primary care. Construction will occur in phases to minimize disruptions to the adjacent WFM-Central location that the new building will eventually replace. Project completion is estimated for the summer of 2024.
Innovation is central to the blueprint of the coming site, with features like a state-of-the-art fitness center, teaching kitchen, and community garden intended to improve patient health in spaces other than an exam room. The first floor will also include a community marketplace with representatives from different social service agencies and nonprofits on site to assist patients with needs beyond healthcare.
“We are building this facility with a vision toward the future,” Griggs said. “In the decades to come, primary care will transform the American ‘sick care’ system into a true health care system, and Waco Family Medicine will be leading the way with interprofessional teams promoting wellness, integration of mental and oral health, and key services for non-medical drivers of health.”
Rae Jefferson is communications director at Waco Family Medicine, a Federally Qualified Health Center providing affordable, high-quality medical, dental, and behavioral health care in McLennan and Bell counties. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and is pursuing her master’s in journalism, PR and new media at Baylor University.
The McLennan Community College Foundation’s Highlander Alumni & Friends Association honored Mandy Loftin-Conner and Killian Hutchison recently with two MCC alumni awards. Loftin-Conner received the Distinguished Alumni Award, and Hutchison received the Distinguished Leader Award.
Loftin-Conner is a graduate of China Spring High School and attended MCC as a theatre major 1991-93. She then continued her education at Texas Tech University and has taught locally for 25 years. During that time, she earned 13 trips to the regional UIL One Act Play Meet and eight trips to state.
In addition to teaching and directing, Mandy is an established playwright. She has published the well-received play, “Lafayette No. 1,” which has been produced in 31 states, Canada, and Australia. She has also published “AGO,” “Should Not Cause Harm,” “Unclaimed,” “Dirt,” “11,” and “Rue.”
Most recently, Mandy partnered with Creative Waco to create a pair of life-sized Columbian Mammoth puppets that will be used by Mayborn Museum and the Waco Mammoth National Monument.
“Mandy is deeply grounded in her personal faith and values,” said Creative Waco’s Fiona Bond. “She embodies those values in her work and creative practice, inspiring others, and giving those who feel unseen the opportunity to find their voice and shine.”
Hutchison, of Waco, came to MCC as a Presidential Scholar. She maintained a 4.0 GPA at MCC in the nursing program, while working a part-time job, serving on the Student Advisory Committee and volunteering at several Waco nonprofits.
Killian did all of this during the peak of a pandemic. She volunteered to help vaccinate our community. Killian is an all-around incredible person, and is the epitome of McLennan’s drive to build future leaders and heroes. Killian will continue to serve our community as a NICU nurse at Ascension Providence.
By Mary Sage
Adrianna Prado, a third-year doctoral student in Baylor School of Education’s online EdD in Learning and Organizational Change, has combined her love of education and of animals to provide meaningful service to communities as part of a therapy dog team. She said her certified therapy sheepadoodle, Stella, has been the “paws of Christ” in settings ranging from library reading events to tragedy recovery.
A special education specialist in San Antonio’s Northside ISD, Prado took Stella to Uvalde in the aftermath of the school shooting at Robb Elementary in late May, serving with Therapy Animals of San Antonio to offer comfort and support.
“Having had family suffering loss on account of this tragic event and grieving such loss among peer educators, it was an honor to return to Uvalde . . . to give back to the community and support through the love and compassion of Stella,” Prado said.
When Stella and Prado visited Robb Elementary, Stella was able to provide comfort and love to many, also paying their respects to the families who daily visited the last place at which they dropped off their children. The two spent time with first responders at the Uvalde EMS station, funeral home, and flower shop where people were first responders, as well as the church gathering for families of those lost.
“I learned several lessons responding to this horrific event in Uvalde, but the most important one is that humanity is not lost,” Prado said. “A common theme among my visits to the community was the overwhelming graciousness the individuals had by the many blessings offered to them from all over the world.”
Prado has always been fascinated with the research that shows the value animals have in supporting mental health, anxiety diffusion, and emotional well-being. Prado and Stella work as a team and first worked in Lubbock when Prado was a special educator in Lubbock ISD. That’s where they completed therapy training and certification and began serving the community, attending reading sessions at the library and visiting nursing homes. They also joined the “Muttley Crew,” the K-9 therapy program of Lubbock ISD.
“I feel blessed to be Stella’s handler because she has provided an opportunity for us to be the feet and paws of Christ on the ground,” Prado said.
Prado said she continues to explore research about the effectiveness of dogs in everything from emotional comfort to improving educational outcomes. She said her first experiences in Lubbock taught her that Stella helped her students build positive emotional and mental capacity.
“Stella is a gift,” Prado said. “She can reach individuals in a way that I never could do without her. Stella has saved lives, she has built families up, she has built academic bridge gaps, and she has brought peace to those who have needed it the most. Stella is a true blessing from above that allows me to continue to serve as I was put on this earth to do.”
This story was shared by Baylor Instant Impact, news from the Baylor School of Education. Go to their site to sign up for their emails.