Amarillo area Our Town briefs for the week of March 26, 2023

Randall County Master Gardeners offer classes with advice for your Panhandle garden

The Randall County Master Gardeners will present a three-part series of classes titled "Gardening with the Masters: Taming the Conditions of the Texas Panhandle." The classes will take place on March 21, March 28, and April 4, 2023, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The series will cover a variety of gardening topics, including flower gardening with annuals, perennials, and containers; gardening from seeds; microgreens; efficient irrigation; trees; shrubs; ornamental grasses; vegetables; tomatoes; landscape design; and xeriscape gardening. The classes will be led by expert Master Gardeners, including Barbara Harrington, Mia Dacus, Suzan Triplett, Melinda Gloe, Roger Gloe, Andi Wardlaw, and Neal Hinders.

The classes are open to everyone interested in gardening, from beginners to experienced gardeners. The one-time fee for the entire series is $20, and no pre-registration is required.

"We are thrilled to offer this series of classes to the community," said Barbara Harrington, one of the Master Gardeners leading the classes. "The Texas Panhandle has unique gardening conditions, and we want to help people make the most of their gardens and landscapes."

The classes will be held at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension Center Auditorium, located at 6500 W. Amarillo Blvd. in Amarillo, the first building west of the VA Hospital. For more information, call Harrington at 806-674-0046.

Wildcat Bluff invites the community to join them for live music and a wide-open view of the plains at sunset

Wildcat Bluff Nature Center is hosting their first Sunset and Songwriters of the year, Thursday, March 30. Sunset and Songwriters is an evening program featuring local musicians at The Bluff. Guests are encouraged to BYOB and have a picnic out on the lawn during the performance.

On March 30, The Bluff will be hosting singer and songwriter Emily George. George has performed at the Barfield, Drunken Oyster, Crush, and venues across The Panhandle. The program will be from 6 to 8 p.m., but guests are welcome to come and go as they please. Wildcat Bluff will also be selling a non-alcoholic “Sunset Drink.” Sunset and Songwriters is included with Wildcat Bluff Membership or general admission. Visitors will just need to check in with staff at the Visitor’s Center prior to the event.

Admission fees are $4 for adults, $3 for children and free for those younger than age 1. Admission is $3 for military, seniors above age 65 and college students with ID. Cost is $2 for Museums for All with EBT card, and ANCA program members get in free. Follow The Discovery Center and Wildcat Bluff Nature Center on Facebook and Instagram orvisit DHDC.org for more information on their community programs.

DHDC shows female youth that entomology isn’t all creepy-crawly

For their Girls Who Science program happening Monday, April 3 at 4:45 p.m., the Don Harrington Discovery Center is bringing in an amateur entomologist and conservationist as their guest speaker.

Amarillo local and Texas native Kathleen Guerrero has had a lifelong hobby of collecting insects, arachnids, and myriapods along with a fascination of animals. With over 89 cases of collected specimens from the 48 countries she’s visited, Guerrero has dedicated her 30-year teaching career and volunteer work to educating others about animals as well as protecting wild species and habitats. Guerrero has volunteered at the Don Harrington Discovery Center, Wildcat Bluff Nature Center, Amarillo Botanical Gardens, Window on a Wider World Collaborative, libraries, schools, and many other groups wanting to learn from her.

This program is the first Monday of every month from 4:45 to 6:15 p.m. Esteemed women professionals in the STEM industry are brought in for conversations, a presentation, and Q&A's. After the presentation from the guest speaker, the Discovery Center will also provide an activity related to their field of study and a snack for participants during a break in the program.Young women in upper elementary school through high school are encouraged to attend. Follow The Discovery Center on Facebook and Instagram for more information on their community programs. Information can be found on their website as well.

Amarillo Symphony awards Beethoven Society Award to Dr. Clinton L. Esler

The Amarillo Symphony is proud to award the 2023 Beethoven Society Award to Dr. Clinton L. Esler, the current vice president of the Symphony board of directors. This annual award will be presented at the Beethoven Society Award Dinner at the Amarillo Club for members on April 3 at 6:30 p.m.

The Amarillo Symphony is grateful to every donor in our Beethoven Society. Beethoven donors passionately invest in the mission of the Symphony and believe in the artistic, educational, and community work the Symphony does. The Beethoven Society Award honors a Symphony donor from the Society who gives extraordinary generosity of their time, talents, and treasure to support great music throughout the Texas Panhandle.

“Even though Clint has been on the Amarillo Symphony Board of Directors for a short time, he has made a large impact on the Symphony through his leadership and generosity,” said Terry White, Amarillo Symphony Board President. “He chaired the Executive Director search committee while we dealt with the limitations imposed due to Covid. He also served on the Music Director search committee. Clint and his wife Susan have also shared their home for many Symphony events including the Beethoven Society summer event. Thank you, Clint, for all you do for the Symphony.”

Dr. Esler has been involved with the Amarillo Symphony for decades, attending concerts with his wife for over 40 years. In recent years, he joined the board of directors and, as vice president, provided the Symphony with strong and forward-thinking leadership amidst the pandemic and the search for the Symphony’s new Music Director, George Jackson. He was also the chair of the Executive Director Search Committee in 2021-2022 which secured Larry Lang, the Symphony’s new Executive Director, who began his tenure with the Symphony on February 28, 2022. Dr. Esler will continue to serve as vice president during the Centennial Season and assume his new role as president in the summer of 2024.

WT students taking part in The Big Event Service Project April 1

CANYON — More than 100 West Texas A&M University students are expected to take part in major day of service in Amarillo and Canyon. For a second year, WT students will participate in The Big Event, a student-run service project that originated at Texas A&M University in 1982.

Beginning at 7 a.m. April 1, students will tackle 30 service projects around Amarillo and Canyon — yard work, painting houses, junk removal and more. Residents requested jobs between Feb. 17 and March 10.

“Our goal is to help anybody in Amarillo and Canyon that we can,” said student organizer Abby Kate Hays, a senior sports and exercise science major from Boyd. A&M’s Big Event has become the largest one-day, student-run service project in the nation, now including 130 affiliated events across the country.

Call for ART work, IGNITE at gallery coming up

The call for ART! Community ARTshow is open to all ages including students, faculty, amatuer and professional artists. ARTwork dropoff is next Wednesday, March 29 at Blank Spaces Gallery at 2406 SW 3rd.

Interested participants are encouraged to bring in their personal art, professional pieces, student work, VASE entries and more to be a part of this community event. Student art will be returned in time for the TPSAS at the museum in April. Opening reception is 5-7 p.m. March 31.

In addition, TPAEA, Amarillo College and the Amarillo Museum of Art will be hosting this year's IGNITE: High School Creative Arts Conference on April 21. They are looking for artists, professional creators and business leaders interested in developing young artists. High school registration is open, for up to 55 spots to be reserved per campus. Register online at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdT0MtTeDbYHL-4-qzuy4sFVHtSiAWxVUwKa4DK32RoX56f-A/viewform .

For more information, visit the Texas Panhandle Art Education Association online at https://www.tpaea.org/ .

WT’s Mikuyung Shin wins Chancellor’s Award for work in special education

A West Texas A&M University faculty member’s dedication to special education has earned her an award from The Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp.

Dr. Mikyung Shin, assistant professor of education in WT’s Terry B. Rogers College of Education and Social Sciences, earned an individual award from the Chancellor’s Academy of Teacher Educators for the 2022-23 academic year.

Shin was nominated by her WT colleagues for her “exemplary work in preparing special education teachers,” said Dr. Betty Coneway, head of WT’s Department of Education and the Geneva Schaeffer Professor of Education and Social Sciences.

Shin serves on the committee that reviews applicants to WT’s educator preparation program and is research coordinator for WT’s Center for Learning Disabilities.

TxDOT seeks public input on 2050 transportation system, hosts statewide virtual meeting, local in-person open houses

AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Transportation is planning for the future, and public input is crucial as the agency looks to meet the transportation needs of tomorrow. TxDOT is hosting a statewide virtual public meeting with in-person open houses this spring for Connecting Texas 2050, the latest update to TxDOT’s statewide long-range transportation plan.

With unprecedented population growth, increasing demands on our transportation system, and technological innovations reimagining how we move, TxDOT wants to hear from the traveling public as the agency looks toward 2050. During the statewide virtual public meeting and regional in-person open houses, TxDOT will explain the process of the statewide long-range transportation plan. Participants will also have the opportunity to share their vision and provide input on transportation goals and needs to help TxDOT plan for 2050.

The statewide virtual public meeting will be available online through May 31.

TxDOT will also host in-person open houses in various locations. For a full schedule, visit TxDOT online. The same information will be available at the virtual public meeting and in-person open houses.

Comments can be submitted online, by e-mail to ConnectingTexas2050@txdot.gov, or by mail to: TxDOT TPP Connecting Texas 2050, Statewide Planning Branch Manager, P.O. Box 149217, Austin, Texas, 78714-9217. Comments can also be submitted via comment forms provided at the in-person open houses. Comments must be postmarked or received by Wednesday, May 31, 2023, to be included in the public involvement summary.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo area Our Town briefs for the week of March 26, 2023