The Artisans Win Student Organization of the Year

The evening of Saturday, April 26th sought many student organizations and ambitious Dust Devils gather at the Student Center Ballroom for Texas A&M International University's 19th Annual University L.I.F.E. Awards. The ceremony recognizes students, programs, faculty advisors, and administrators who have made valuable contributions throughout the university. Some of the awards include the Global Citizen Award, Advisor of the Year, Leader of the Year, and Outstanding Community Service Award. However, one of those awards was the prestigious, 2013-14 Student Organization of the Year which was awarded to the Artisans: Art Society. The first win for the organization since it's inception two years ago.

Artisan Vice President, Morganlafay Tomaschow explained that the award is an, "extraordinary honor" and that she is, "extremely grateful to have been recognized by the university." Tomaschow continues to illustrate that "our members are some of the greatest, most unique, most ambitious and artistic people I have ever had the chance to meet or call my friends. I could not be anymore proud of them for taking this organization into new heights and levels that far exceed all previous expectations." Yet despite the distinguished win, this was also the first time the art society wasn't actually present and the group didn't attend the ceremony. "We all had prior engagements and it really made it difficult for any of us to attend the Life Awards," discloses Tomaschow.

"I am really disappointed that we did not get to attend the ceremony, but it is an honor to have won," said Artisan secretary, Kassandra Perez, adding that, "the Artisans aren't a big organization. We have close to 20 members and half that number consists of the officers." Yet, despite all the other organizations, fraternities, and sororities on campus with greater numbers, the group ended up taking the award for Student Organization of the Year a the 2014 L.I.F.E. awards.

Michael Flores, the current Public Relations chair explains that the win is a testament to all the hard work the group has done throughout the academic school year. "Being such a small organization it often feels like we try very ambitious projects and sometimes we get exhausted and too tired to really see if anything we do has a profound effect on our campus," discussed Flores. Kassandra further adds that, "in some ways, events we put together don't always become the successes you imagine. A lot of planning goes into them and you don't always get the results you wanted. But still, we try our best."

Though this the Artisan's first win, they have been nominated for various categories in previous years. Even in the early days of when the student organization was called the Art Ink, the group would be nominated but never win any of the awards. Neverthless, Morganlafay assures the student body that this is just the beginning of more to come. "Just because the semester is over doesn't mean we aren't going to be active. Our monthly Bazaar events will still be taking place every second Saturday evening from 6pm to 9pm at the French Quarter on Del Mar Boulevard," she explains. You can also get more updates through their Facebook page at: facebook.com/tamiu.artisans

(George Gonzalez may be reached at jorge.gonzalez@dusty.tamiu.edu)