Communication center offers help

Stressing over a presentation? Now there is a lab for that.

The Strain Communication Center offers students the opportunity to record their presentations and allows instant viewing of the recording to help students see the strengths and weaknesses in their performances.

The theater and speech communication department opened the center in Room 205 of McAllister Fine Arts Center in fall 2009 and is now offering a scholarship to those who qualify.

In the Strain Communication Center, students can research topics, work on outlines, meet in groups to rehearse presentations, get PowerPoint guidance, work on visual aids and get one-on-one tutoring.

Students also have the opportunity to record their performance and view it instantly to see how it looks from an audience's point of view.

Radio-television-film sophomore Adan Lopez said Monday he likes how small the lab is and the fact that it has Macintosh computers and offers free printing.

Business management sophomore Richard Perez used the lab last week to watch his performance recorded in class with a fellow student.

Perez said he was able to see the strengths and weaknesses of his work. He found that he used the words "umm" and "ugh" and considered that a weakness but overall was happy with his presentation.

Perez said he would be coming back to the lab to watch the final version of the performance to compare it to the previous recording.

The lab was created in honor of theater and speech communication Professor Barbara Strain.

Chair Jeff Hunt said, "Our beloved colleague, Dr. Barbara Strain, believed in giving students every opportunity to learn and flourish. Our communication center was designed and developed with this goal."

Strain taught theater and speech at this college for almost 40 years before dying suddenly of a brain aneurism May 2, 2008.

In the center, students will find 12 computers, six Macs and six PCs, three round tables with four seats to a table, a television with VCR attached, a white dry-erase board and a printer. Students are allowed five free pages of printing and 10 cents per page after. Here students also can purchase VHS-C tapes and white poster boards for $3 a piece.

"Best use I've seen is students doing research for projects," speech Professor John Skinner said. "It's a great place to study; it's quiet and a place to sit and read without being disturbed."

The room in prior years was used as a small classroom for low-enrolling classes, he said.

The department is offering the Dr. Barbara Strain Scholarship to all drama and speech majors.

Applicants must be declared majors with an overall grade-point average of 2.0 or above and with a 3.0 GPA in their major. Applicants also must be enrolled as a full-time student and be enrolled in at least one speech or drama class per semester.

The scholarship application for the 2010-11 academic year has an early deadline of Feb. 15; final deadline is May 31.

Completion of the scholarship application, including transcripts and letters of recommendation, is needed prior to deadlines. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered, according to the Strain Scholarship Web page, http://www.alamo.edu/sac/theatre/Scholarships.htm.

The Strain Communication Center is open noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

For information, call 486-0494.