Sequel - Winter 2008 - (Page 9)

at our best STUDENT SPENDS SUMMER WITH FIRST LADY OF MEXICO Melina Jones, from Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico, is a political science major and senior at UVSC. She recently spent the summer interning in Mexico City with First Lady Margarita Zavala de Calderón. Jones worked at Los Pinos, the official residence of Mexico’s First Family and offices of Mexico’s President and First Lady. Jones assisted the First Lady with many causes, including adoption and immigration. PHOTO BY MATT CHAMBERS WOLVERINES TOUR JAPANESE TEAMMATE’S HOME TOWN Last season, the UVSC women’s basketball team first experienced a small slice of Japanese culture when Saitama, Japan native Asumi Nakayama joined the team. But it wasn’t until this summer that the team got an authentic taste of life in Japan when 14 players, three coaches and three athletic staff-members spent two weeks playing basketball in and touring the Asian country. The team spent time in the prefectures of Tokyo, Aichi, Kyoto and Gifu during the tour and practiced with and played games against Takushoku University in Tokyo, Chubu Gakuin University in Gifu and the Toyota Antelopes (a professional team) in the city of Nagoya. In between games and practices the coaches and players held clinics for elementary and junior high-aged players. During the stay in Takayama, the players and staff left their hotel for home-stays, splitting the team up in groups of two or three to spend three nights in a Japanese family’s home. “I was really nervous because I didn’t know what to expect,” said senior Susie Cornejo from Aberdeen, Idaho. “But I really enjoyed the homestay. It was such a different culture, and the way we communicated was mostly a guessing game.” For Head Coach Cathy Nixon and her staff, the trip served its purpose: It allowed the team to get the extra work on the court but also gave them the once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience the lifestyle and culture of a nation so unlike their own. “I think we grew together as a team because we really were all we had,” Nixon said. “The players didn’t have cell phones or computers so there weren’t those types of distractions and they just had to bond with each other. I enjoyed watching them experience that part of the world. It’s definitely something HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: ASUMI NAKAYAMA FROM SAITAMA, JAPAN AND we’d consider again in HER FELLOW WOLVERINES TOURED HER HOME the future. We’d love to COUNTRY WHILE SPREADING A LOVE FOR THE go back to Japan.” GAME AMONG ITS PEOPLE PHOTO BY JACOB SCOTT PHOTO BY MATT CHAMBERS utah valley state college alumni magazine WINTER 2008 9

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sequel - Winter 2008

Sequel - Winter 2008 Contents Campus News New Insitutional Identity Unveiled Q&A with Gil and Brad Cook At Our Best A Culture of Giving Alumni Award Winners Alumni News Donations

Sequel - Winter 2008

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