There are 32 celebrity appearances planned during the convention, including actors Hayden Christensen, Grant Gustin and Kimberly J. Brown. Tickets for these events are sold separately from admissions tickets and come in various value packages ranging from $27 to $875. Visit their guest list page for more information about ticket prices and schedule.

Other special guests include voice actors, cosplay influencers, pro wrestlers, comic creators, tattoo artists and various other entertainers.

GalaxyCon will host over 250 artists, vendors and exhibitors over the weekend. There will also be a family-friendly zone for children to participate in art, crafts and other sensory activities. After-dark events include performances and activities for mature audiences, such as cosplay, karaoke, dance parties and adult panels.

For those who enjoy competition, there will be opportunities to play with fellow gaming enthusiasts. Freeplay tabletop games will be available; whether you enjoy D&D one-shots or Magic: The Gathering duals, there is something for everyone. Check out the gaming page to find your community.

The Convention Center Garage is located at 15 Mick Cornett Dr. The hourly parking rate is $2, and the daily parking rate is $10. Hotels located near the convention center include Omni, Wyndham Grand and Courtyard. Subscribe to the GalaxyCon newsletter for a chance to win a $100 credit.

For questions about the convention, email oklahomacity@galaxycon.com or call their headquarters at (954)-231-0574.

The last day of classes will be held Wednesday, May 6. Following Dead Day, finals will begin May 8 and finish May 14.

Lab classes will take their final exams on the last official day of class prior to Dead Day. Online courses must submit final assignments and projects before 10 p.m. on the last day of finals. If you have noticed a discrepancy in your exam schedule, contact faculty immediately to make appropriate accommodations. 

Graduation ceremonies will be held in the First United Bank Center May 15-16. 

On May 15, commencement for the Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences and the College of Engineering will be at 10 a.m., followed by the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at 2 p.m.

On May 16, commencement for the Terry B. Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences will be at 10 a.m., followed by the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business commencement at 2 p.m.

All graduates need to arrive one hour before the ceremony to check in with their college. Students will be photographed twice during the commencement ceremony. Free proofs will be mailed and emailed within a week of the ceremony.

Dorms will officially close May 15 at noon. Residents must first sign up for a check-out time with their Community Advisor (CA) by May 7. Make sure to unplug, defrost and clean out freezers 24 hours before the approved check-out time. Clean dressers, floors, walls and bathrooms. Leave room thermostats set to 72 degrees or low setting with blinds closed. Make sure to bring your dorm key at the time of check-out. Failure to turn in keys will lead to a $200 fine.

For students enrolled in Summer 1 classes, the payment deadline is Wednesday, May 27, and for students enrolled in Summer 2 classes, the payment deadline is Wednesday, July 1. Students are expected to have tuition and fees paid in full or be enrolled in a payment plan by the set deadline.

Payment deadline for the fall semester is August 17. If unable to pay in full by the deadline, a payment plan will lock in your class schedule until the first installment, due September 1. Sign up for a plan between May 11 and June 30 to avoid a $50 fee.

For more information about payment plans, visit the Business Office website.

Good luck and on, on Buffaloes!

A finance international business major from Pampa, Texas, Martinez stands out for his academic success, leadership, and service to the community.

Martinez is a McNair Scholar and a consistent President’s and Dean’s list honoree. Outside the classroom, he has built a strong reputation through leadership programs, research focused on cultural and professional development and participation in study abroad opportunities.

Faculty and administrators have highlighted his work ethic and character. WT Engler College of Business Clinical Assistant Professor of Marketing Dr. Ashley Morgan said, “Luis’s leadership is both extensive and impactful. He represents the very best of the University, and I am confident he will continue to make significant contributions wherever his path leads.”

Martinez credits God with the success in his life. Pastor of Jubilee Apostolic Church, Nathan Carrington shared about his experience with Martinez. “Luis is so committed and is an awesome young, Godly man,” Carrington said.

Martinez expressed his gratitude for the award and reflected on his academic journey at WT. “I’m both honored and privileged that the University would recognize me as Man of the Year,” Martinez said. “Truly, it was an amazing accomplishment, but I am very grateful for the University and the committee for selecting me as somebody to represent them on behalf of our community, and also the college as well.”

Martinez shared how people on campus and in his personal life have made him the man he is today. 

“First and foremost, I would say my mom is a true inspiration,” Martinez said. “Then I am also thankful for my entire family. They sacrificed a lot so that I could have a better life here in the States, and I am very thankful for that. Also very thankful for my stepdad, who came into our lives recently and has taken the role of fatherhood when we had no one, and I am very thankful for that. I am especially thankful for Jubilee Apostolic Church, my Pastor and Pastor’s wife, for mentoring me and loving me, and being an outlet to me when my family and friends were not here as well. Also, my home church in Pampa, Texas, Faith Tabernacle, for being an inspiration and helping me change the trajectory of my life by teaching me Biblical truth.”

Martinez is set to graduate this semester with his bachelor’s degree, marking the conclusion of a highly accomplished undergraduate career. As he prepares to step across the stage, Martinez hopes to leave a great legacy for his peers and professors. 

“I want to be remembered by placing Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, first and placing his kingdom first. Also, to love God and love people,” Martinez said.

Martinez leaves behind a legacy of dedication, serving as an example for future students of what it means to strive for excellence in both academics and campus life.

Head Coach of the WT women’s golf team, Meredith Jameson said that WT has had many successful seasons. “Our Lady’s Golf team has been really good throughout the years,” Jameson said.

This season, the team has showcased high talent, led by standout players like Sarah Reed, who emerged as a star with a runner-up finish at the WT Desert Invitational and has had consistent scoring across events. Reed recorded 28 pars and three birdies through this season. Reed stands among WT’s most consistent players.

This season is also the team’s long run in the Lone Star Conference, where the Lady Buffs competed against some of the top-ranked Division 2 programs, including St. Mary’s University and Dallas Baptist University. WT played well enough to reach the medal match portion of the event, but ultimately fell short in match play and did not capture the conference title.

Despite the loss, the appearance showed that the program remains one of the stronger teams in conference, because of their consistency in qualifying for the season and consistently qualifying for postseason contention.

This year’s roster has shown growth from previous seasons, with multiple players stepping into scoring roles in different tournaments. “This has been one of the most talented teams I’ve ever coached,” Jameson said.

Even though they were unable to win a conference championship or the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) postseason run, the season highlighted a team with solid depth and a rising group of young players.

The 2025-2026 season for the WT men’s golf team has followed a similar pattern to the women’s team.

The Buffs have shown they can produce strong individual rounds in NCAA Division 2 fields, but they are still working toward putting together full-team scoring across all five players in every event. Their season has included solid mid-pack finishes and moments where individual golfers have pushed into contention. This season, there was a breakthrough run in conference or NCAA postseason play.

According to Head Coach of the men’s team, Axel Ocha, there have been many standout players. “Luis Palomo has been one of our great stars this season,” Ocha said. Paloma shot in the low 70s, which is PGA tour-esque. 

From a coaching standpoint, the program’s messaging has consistently centered around development and competitive culture. “My biggest goal is to be a motivator to the team. We have to stay focused. This game is based on you versus the course,” Ocha said. 

Overall, the men’s team is in a similar position to the women’s program: strong play, a developing roster and a foundation that suggests potential, but still working toward conference championship and NCAA postseason advancement.

To close out the season, the influence of “four-time”  PGA Tour winner, Ryan Palmer continues to be a meaningful piece of the bigger picture for the WT golf program. “Ryan Palmer has been extremely helpful to the Golf program,” Jameson said. The Ryan Palmer Foundation invitational goes to both men’s and women’s golf teams at WT.

MindSpark was originally founded over 10 years ago by Dr. Leigh Browning as MediaMind, but the organization eventually faded after Browning passed away. Due to the gap in experiential learning within the college, Dean of the Engler College of Business (COB) and Engler Professor of Computer Information Systems Dr. Amjad Abdullat wanted to revive the organization. MindSpark is currently advised by Dr. Mary Liz Brooks with a renewed focus on helping students graduate with professional portfolios and keeping branding consistent across the college.

MindSpark now oversees social media, produces video content, designs promotional materials and assists student organizations with marketing projects. 

Marketing major and MindSpark account executive, Heidi Giesbrecht, said the goal is to bring consistency to the college’s messaging. “We want to streamline everything,” Giesbrecht said. “So that way we have brand consistency, we follow the guidelines and everything looks nice.” 

The organization functions like a regular marketing agency, with student members specializing in videography, graphic design and social media management. Students must have a major or minor in the COB to join and must meet the organization’s professional expectations.

Since its revitalization, MindSpark continues to grow as it recruits new members and expands its project load. Giesbrecht describes it in three words, saying that MindSpark is “chaotic, creative, and fun.” 

The mission of MindSpark is to help students gain experience in the marketing field before they graduate while strengthening the college’s brand from within. 

Vinylthon is an annual event celebrated by college radio stations across the country, challenging participants to only play vinyl for 24 hours.

But because the WT community loves vinyl, KWTS staff, faculty and practicum students took shifts as live DJs for a full 48 hours.

“It’s our most anticipated event every year,” program director Tate Maxwell said.

Beyond the music, the event serves a larger purpose. Vinylthon highlights the University’s radio station while bringing people together through a shared appreciation of radio history. Community members, students and alumni were encouraged to contribute their own records, turning the event into a collaborative effort.

“Most years, faculty, staff and students bring us vinyl,” Maxwell said. “We send out information on social media so alumni, staff and students can send us their records. It’s good community outreach.”

During the event, DJs were allowed to deviate from the station’s normal format, which is all 90’s music. A wide range of genres and artists were played, including music from movie soundtracks, classic rock, 80’s pop and contemporary artists such as Billie Eilish.

When participating in Vinylthon, many students experienced a sense of connection to the community and to the radio. For many students, the event offered a rare opportunity to engage with a more hands-on style of broadcasting.

“It’s important because it allows our generation to experience radio the way it used to be,” Maxwell said.

KWTS will be participating in the annual event next year, so follow the station’s Instagram to keep up with their news and announcements.

“I got into riding horses from my father,” Gates said. “He started me when I was about six months old. I started lead lining at playdays and other rodeos and stuff.
And so, I thought it was really cool. That’s kind of what got me started. He got me this pony named Midnight, and he was a little miniature horse, and so it was really fun to do golfette and barrels on him.”

Gates said her current horse, Drifty, has strengthened her abilities as a rider and trainer, but she credited her horse, Gracie, with truly making her the rider she is today.

“The horse that probably made me grow the most was Gracie,” Gates said. “She’s my mare that I got when I was six. 
She was a green, broke three-year-old, and so every time she saw an arena, she got real hot-headed [when I was] in high school. And so that really taught me the balance aspect of [riding]…
She was a real knucklehead sometimes, but I enjoyed her. I’ve had her for 14 years now, so that was really nice.”

Gates competes in barrel races, sortings and cuttings, but despite her love for competition, training horses is her favorite part of riding.

“I really like training the horses,” Gates said. “Because I get to see how well the horse can actually move. I get to see all their different techniques and everything because every horse moves different. 
And it’s really fun to get to figure out how each horse reads a cow. Some horses pin their ears back when they’re focusing. Some horses have their ears forward, and that just tells me a little bit about their personality.”

Gates’ passion, hard work and horsemanship got her to the top many times, including 2024, when she was crowned Miss Tri-state Rodeo Queen. Gates shared her experiences and responsibilities while holding the position.

“I was mainly in charge of being the advocate of agriculture,” Gates said. “But I think the main thing is that I was in charge of being the bridge from [the] public to the agricultural side… I really enjoyed doing that, and I was asked to be on television several times for interviews, and so, basically, as an advocator, I had to go to several places and make public appearances, and I was also in charge of posting the colors. [I] might have been fully caked in makeup, but I was making sure that our United States was still being represented by the rodeo. And I really enjoyed doing that as well.”

Gates shared that she would not have made it this far if it were not for her time in 4-H and FFA, where she competed in public speaking, horse judging and hippology. As a pre-vet major, Gates explained why she is so passionate about her field.

“Something that inspired me to do pre-vet is that I just really enjoy seeing horses moving around well,” Gates said. “I’ve seen the ugly side of the industry where horses are being hurt and everything… Once I’m a vet, it would be really nice for me to be able to come up with a certain feed ration that would help certain horses with extremely sensitive stomachs. Colic is one of the biggest things that I’ve noticed with horses, and I’ve actually had several of them die from it. And so I feel like maybe finding the perfect mixture of feeding regimen would be really good.”

After graduating from WT, Gates hopes to attend Texas Tech University or Oklahoma State University to finish veterinary school. According to Gates, taking care of animals is no easy job, but for those who are pursuing a career as a veterinarian, she offers encouragement.

“If you ever think about giving up,” Gates said. “Think about what you would be doing instead. Because in my head I’ve thought about it, and I was like, ‘if I wasn’t doing [this], is there any other option that I would enjoy more than the path that I’m trying to accomplish right now?”

Gates said that above all her accomplishments, she wants to be remembered as “the kindhearted, God-fearing person” that she is striving to be.

Established roughly around 2022 and named after a well-known bridge in Borger, Texas, the folk rock band, Plemons Bridge, consists of five members, including Luis Torres on guitar and vocals, Andrew Merrell on drums, Jessica Dotson on vocals, Chris Hawkins on bass and Danny “Freeze” Dobervich on harmonica and guitar. 

Founder and vocalist of the group, Luis Torres explained how the band found out about the Live Lounge.

“So I saw a post in ‘All Things Canyon,’” Torres said. “[It said] ‘Calling all musicians, we’re doing a Live Lounge series.’ And so, I think somebody else in the band group chat sent me a photo of it, and everyone else was like, ‘Hey, we should do this.’ So, the guys are always sending me suggestions and gigs and stuff that we could do. So that’s how I found her. But I do live in Canyon, so I listen to that station [KWTS] quite a bit, too.”

Torres and Merrell represented the band at the Live Lounge with a setlist of 14 songs, including both original tracks and covers of artists such as The Black Keys and Bob Dylan. Torres shared the writing process of his songs, “Mary” and “Eating Dirt.”

“We did a song called “Mary” [and] I wrote it based on family members,” Torres said. “There’s a weird situation in my family where I have relatives, but there’s drama, so we don’t really see each other a lot. And so that was the idea behind it. Then we did another song called “Eating Dirt.” And it’s like, when things are going wrong, you don’t really want to tell people about your problems, but people are still optimistic for you. Sometimes when I just write stuff, it comes out random, and then I look back on it, and I’m like, ‘okay, I guess this has some meaning to it.’”

Senior strategic communication and advertising and public relations double major, Javier Rivera Cordero has been involved with KWTS since his freshman year. Since then, Rivera Cordero has hosted five specialty shows and helped produce two Live Lounges. Rivera Cordero explained how these events impact the education of communication students.

“This can benefit them educationally because it actually shows how much their school can actually put in towards the arts,” Rivera Cordero said. “I believe when we focus on the arts, a lot of students can realize how their education can actually expand by attending these Live Lounges, and they can work in a technical aspect… Live Lounge is kind of an all-encompassing thing. A very behemoth type of event, but it could really teach so many people so many different things at the same time. 
And I believe attending one as a major of the arts or as just a watcher of them, I think, can really benefit someone’s education all around.” 

The station is planning the third Live Lounge for the 2026 Spring semester. There is currently no set date for the event, but you can find information and updates about upcoming events on their Instagram page. You can also find Plemons Bridge on Instagram, listen to their music on Spotify, or see them live at events, including Idol Art Studio on April 10 and Smoke and Sounds on April 18.

Megan Nelson, City of Canyon Director of Communications and Community Engagement, had this to say regarding the city’s naming.

“It’s a really nice recognition, because we all as people who live in Canyon, know that canyon is one of the most beautiful places and also such an amazing place to work, live and raise a family, but among that, it’s nice to see kind of a nationwide recognition.” Nelson said. “The article itself was from the Austin American Statesman. And so having our friends down in Austin who are working really hard to create laws for everyone, it’s nice to remind them that the Panhandle is a beautiful place too.”

Part of what qualified Canyon for the list is the expansive landmarks and locations within and surrounding the town.

WorldAtlas praised Canyon for representing “the expansive and diverse landscape of Texas better than most towns.” Located in the heart of the Texas Panhandle, it’s known as the gateway to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park — the second-largest in the country, often referred to as the ‘Grand Canyon of Texas,” Alexis Simmerman, reporter for the Austin-American Statesman, said. This is one of several nature preserves that surround the town of roughly 17,000 residents, as well as Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Ceta Canyon Retreat Center.

And with the growing rate of Canyon and the panhandle as a whole, it is little surprise the area would receive some recognition.

“Tourism is really big here. The [Palo Duro] Canyon is a lot closer to Canyon than it is to Amarillo,” Nelson said. “It is a huge economic factor. We have lots of people coming here all throughout the year, not only to hike, but to come to things like TEXAS [The Outdoor Musical] , and to just overall spend time here in Canyon. But the canyon isn’t the only beautiful thing about our town. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to our downtown area, which is our square. We are a Texas Main Street city, which means that we really focus on historical preservation and also just really focusing our businesses in our downtown area. We have about a third of our businesses in our Main Street district, and they are also going to be the ones that put on summer events like June jams.”

Though the panhandle can be a special place all on its own, the recognition helps boost things like tourism, small business growth, and more.

“Online educational resource WorldAtlas analyzed over 19,000 incorporated cities, towns and villages to find the areas with the most visual appeal,” Simmerman said. “From the West Coast’s majestic mountains to the prairie ecoregions of the Great Plains to the white sand dunes in New Mexico, the resource zeroed in on the small towns that feature the best views of the nation’s eclectic scenery.”

Here in the Texas Panhandle we get to experience a beautiful array of colors most every night and morning as we move around the sun. Orange, purple, pink, red, you name a color and we probably see it in the sky around here. Poems, movies, songs, painting, sunsets and sunrises have always seemed to captivate humans, but how do they happen?

First off, let’s start with why it’s normally blue. To do that, we have to know how we see light. Light comes in the form of an electromagnetic wave, different colors are formed when that light has lower or higher wavelengths. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency, and the farther toward ultraviolet, aka blue, the light will appear. Vice Versa, the longer and lower frequency the wave, the more it will be towards the infrared side of the spectrum, making it appear more red. Everywhere in the middle, between a short and long wavelength, will appear to us as the other colors of the spectrum, or the rainbow. 

Objects and elements appear as a certain color to us based on the wavelength of light they do, or do not, absorb. For example, we all learn about photosynthesis and how green plants have a pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll typically absorbs colors like blue, purple, red, and orange, depending on the chlorophyll type, a or b. Because it cannot absorb green and yellow, it’s what we are able to see. The elements in the atmosphere work in a similar way. 

The atmosphere is made up of many different elements, about 78% is nitrogen, around 21% is oxygen, and the rest is comprised of argon, carbon dioxide, neon, helium, methane, and ozone. Each of these unique elements has the ability to scatter light. A phenomenon called Rayleigh Scattering. When the sunlight reaches earth’s atmosphere, it arrives in a form of light that, to us, actually appears white. However, white light is actually the combination of all the light frequencies and we only see color from it when it is reflected, refracted, absorbed, or scattered. So, when it hits the particles in the atmosphere, because of the kind of elements that make up our world, the light waves that get scattered are typically short, making us see blue. 

“Nitrogen molecules and oxygen molecules are incredibly tiny, about two thousand times smaller than the wavelength of visible light.” West Texas A&M University Associate Professor of Physics, Dr. Christopher Baird said. “They are so tiny that when light hits one of these air molecules, it’s not like when a ray of light hits a mirror at a certain location on the mirror and then reflects. Rather, the entire molecule is immersed all at once in the electric field of a single ray of light. As a result, the light bounces off the air molecule in a different way from what we are used to, through a process called Rayleigh scattering.”

The scattering itself though is actually quite complex. Light is a wave, made up of photons, similar to how an element is made up of atoms. When a photon reaches atoms in the the element, the electron is forced to oscillate because of the energy the photon brings to it, think of this like adding electricity to make a fan move. 

“To keep it short, the end result is that the higher frequency colors of the rainbow spectrum, namely cyan, blue, and violet, are most strongly scattered away in all directions, whereas the red, orange, and yellow colors most strongly travel on through in the forward direction without scattering,” Baird said.

Next, the electron must do something with all the energy it has just received, so it starts moving up and down, think of a racquetball bouncing in a small space. Eventually the energy is released again as a singular photon, but this time in a completely unknown direction, like sporadically throwing said ball while spinning in a chair. 

The phenomenon creates, as a whole, what appears to be waves like those that expand from a cannonball dive into water. That is actually because so many singular waves are being released in so many different directions, so fast it looks like a circle. Then if you start looking at that circle from all different angles, the polarization changes and it starts looking more like a rainbow donut.

When the sun is further away from us, i.e. when the sun is setting or rising, the particles of light the sun is emitting must travel farther distances and be scattered many times. This results in the different colors that we see in the sky. Red is the longest wavelength in the visible spectrum so that’s why we typically see the sun itself, and the light directly around it, as red. From there, the different colors depend on the angle of the sun, the particles light is passing through, and even down to the way your eye is formed. 

“By the time the sunlight reaches you, all of the cyan, blue, and violet colors have already been scattered completely out of the sunlight, to other places on earth.” Baird said. “This means that the sunlight reaching you is no longer just white with a slight hint of orange and yellow, like during the day, but is completely bright red, orange, and yellow, becoming redder as the sun gets lower on the horizon. Therefore, around sunrise and sunset, your local patch of sky and surroundings—including the clouds, trees, hills, buildings, dust, and smoke—are illuminated with vivid red, orange, and yellow colors, as well as combinations of these colors, such as pink.”

Specifically here in the panhandle though, we are known for our beautiful skies, but why is it different here? 

In the panhandle, thanks to the flat nature of the land, there’s less interference before the light reaches our eyes and thus the light travels further. The light traveling at low altitudes and for a longer distance, are the most vivid, when you combine the two, you get the array of colors we see so often. 

“Simply put, without hills and giant trees getting in the way, the low-traveling rays of light, which around sunrise and sunset are the most colorful and vivid rays of light, can reach your local environment (thereby illuminating the local clouds and trees) more effectively when you are in the Texas panhandle,” Baird said. 

Baird explained that the dust particles in the air and the low altitude clouds are the final step in reflecting the vivid light in our region. 

“To be clear, the grains of sand in the air aren’t splitting the light into warmer colors going one direction and cooler colors going the other directions. The air molecules have already done that. And the grains of sand are too big, anyway, to do that. Rather, the grains of sand in the air reflect all of the final colors, red, orange, and yellow, into your eyes.”

Baird also expressed his thoughts when it came to the beauty in our skies. 

“By education and training, I am both a physicist and an artist,” Baird said. “I therefore find the sky beautiful from an artistic perspective, as it looks like something a master painter would create. I also find the sky beautiful from a scientific perspective, because the process that gives rise to the colors of the sky is so interesting scientifically.”

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Apart from appreciating the sky and how its colors are reflected, Baird elaborated about his thoughts when he sees them. 

“Recently I have been driving my daughter to work several times a week early in the morning, early enough that we see the sunrise pretty much from beginning to end as we drive,” Baird said. “At those times, I also have the thought to try to not get too fixated on enjoying the sunrise that I am not paying attention to driving and crash. Also, sometimes when I am enjoying a sunrise or sunset, I think about how I would paint what I see, or how I would write a computer program that calculates the laws of physics to re-create what I see.”

Finally Baird shared some advice on viewing the colors at their best. 

“A large plume of thick smoke from a fire can also reflect a lot of the rays of light with sunset or sunrise colors into your eyes, making for an unforgettable viewing experience,” Baird said” At the risk of me seeming morbid (because large plumes of smoke usually come from destructive wildfires and wide-spread residential fires), I’d encourage you, if you get lucky and there is a large plume of smoke in the sky at the time of sunset or sunrise, go outside and get a good look at it as it can be unforgettably beautiful.”