“I always read Psalms 18 before I go out and race,” junior cross country runner Rachel Johnson said. “It talks about God giving us strength. It’s a really good thing to read, I think, just to get focused and just see that I should be running for God and not myself.”

Call it superstition, luck or simply faith, Johnson’s ritual of preparing for a meet has worked.

The State of Texas pulled the trigger on new regulations for the Concealed Handgun License class that cut eight hours from the mandatory classroom time, shot the written test in half and kept the same caliber of instruction.

The new regulations changed the mandatory CHL classroom time from the previous 15 hours maximum and 10 hours minimum to six hours maximum and four hours minimum.

The Greek Gala, hosted by the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, will give guests the opportunity to immerse themselves in Greek culture through food, music and dancing.

Dana Telep, a co-chair of the Greek Gala and a member of the church, said the event will allow guests to experience Greek culture and food at its finest.

Award-winning author and columnist Timothy Egan will speak at the Beall-Russell Lecture at 3:30 p.m. Monday in 510 Cashion Academic…

The university-wide HireABear Career Fair will take place from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Waco Convention Center. About…

The orientation session for the Washington, D.C., 2013 Summer Internship will take place from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday in…

The Baylor Aviation Science department will host Chip Lamb and Kirby Chambliss, who are stunt pilots with Trojan Phlyers Red…

The founders of one of Baylor’s newest student organizations hopes to initiate the next campus craze – curing blood cancer.

Eunice, La., sophomore Lynzi Glasscock, the co-founder and vice president of Be the Match on Campus, said the student organization gives herself and other college students the opportunity to make a life-changing difference in the lives of patients battling blood cancers and diseases.

Baylor will welcome Michael Gerson, columnist from The Washington Post, along with former U.S. congressman Chet Edwards on Tuesday to discuss how local communities can affect global issues.

The event is intended to inform Baylor students and the Waco community on changes they can make in their everyday lives to effect global change.

With writing an honors thesis, applying to grad school and participating in rodeo pageants, Boerne senior Ashley Bergfield knows how to handle more than just schoolwork.

Born on a ranch in Nebraska, Bergfield said she and her family moved to San Antonio when she was only four years old. She said rodeo and horses are just one of many passions.

David Kaye is the associate director of athletic communications at Baylor and is also a 2008 alumnus. Kaye began his studies at Baylor in fall 2002 and joined the Army Reserve the summer of 2003, serving as a specialist. He was called to active duty in May 2005 with only two days notice, Kaye said.

“I had two weeks left in my junior year, and they called me on a Friday and said, ‘You’re flying up here on Sunday,’” Kaye said. “So I had to withdraw. Baylor was willing to let me take the finals early, but two days wasn’t enough time. So I just had to wash away that whole semester.”

Palestine, Texas, sophomore John Hazel is serving in Afghanistan as a specialist for the National Guard. He has been stationed there for three months; his total deployment is scheduled to last 12 months.

Hazel enlisted Jan. 5, 2011, as a senior in high school. During his freshman year at Baylor, he joined the ROTC, just to see if it was something he liked, Hazel said.

Many Baylor students have served overseas with the United States military and have brought their experiences back to Waco with them.

Seattle, Wash., junior Bryan Solis first came to Baylor in the spring of 2013, after serving six years overseas with the Marine Corps.

The university has hired former Baylor Alumni Association employees to manage previous BAA programs that are now a part of the Baylor Alumni Network.

Former BAA employees Jan Dodd, Bob Anne Senter and Tessa Jamerson are now employed by the university, said Tommye Lou Davis, Baylor vice president for constituent engagement.

Inside the gallery, artworks by Syrian artists were drawing auction bids from collectors. Outside on the street, the artists traded the latest gossip from Syria and checked their smartphones for news from the civil war.

So goes the divided world for a cadre of Syrian artists brought to the safety of Dubai by their gallery to continue their work but still remain deeply connected and influenced by the bloodshed they left behind.

Unique wedding venues are becoming a norm.

This trend is growing even among Christians, which may surprise those who grew up in a church where it was tradition to have a church wedding ceremony.

Clad in a Maggie Sottero lace dress with cap sleeves and a corset back, her mother’s garter on underneath, Gainesville senior Elizabeth Puckett walked down the aisle to become Mrs. Newman. It was not a traditional wedding, though. There was no chapel or pastor ordaining the ceremony.

An estimated seven to 10 Baylor students consider suicide each school year, and nationally 40 percent of college students know someone who attempted suicide, according to data collected by the Baylor Counseling Center. At that rate, it’s possible someone you know could be considering suicide.

For the 25th year, World Mandate comes to Waco today as a conference centered on faith, worship and action.

Carl Gulley, executive producer of World Mandate and college pastor at Antioch Community Church, explained that the event is designed to change lives and the world. “It’s an opportunity for people to really meet with God in a personal and powerful way,” Gulley said. “Our theme is ‘everybody do something.’”

Since the school year began, there have been a few changes in parking. The addition of 100 faculty parking spaces, the loss of 200 student parking spaces and tickets being handed out for keeping last year’s parking permit on your windshield in addition to this year’s permit.

You read that right. Students are being ticketed for having the current and past year’s stickers on their windshield. The first offense is just a warning, but the next offense costs $10 and every ticket after that comes with a $25 fine.

There is a long history of depression and other mental illness happening to those who are either in college or just graduated from college.

The feelings of emptiness, the lack of ambition or direction in life, the loss of interest in hobbies or religion­ — all of these things can lead to mental instability or illness.

The lengthy editorial in the Wednesday Lariat was a torrent of words unleashed to defend the use of voter ID in Texas.

It even included a listing of several things in our society that do, indeed, require such ID However, the right to vote is just that — a right, not some incidental privilege.

Baylor students will soon be able to use a new online platform to donate to The Wells Project and provide clean water for communities across the world.

A student-led organization, The Wells Project focuses on bringing clean water to people across the world whose lives are being affected by the poverty and sickness that unclean water brings.

Baylor has announced record-breaking undergraduate and total enrollment for the third year in a row with 15,616 students, a 1.6 percent increase from last year’s 15,364.

Mary Herridge, the associate director of admissions in counseling and recruitment, said increasing the number of freshmen and incoming transfer students each year is not one of the university’s goals and the changes that have been made are not as radical as they seem.

Clicking “Like” on Facebook is constitutionally protected free speech and can be considered the 21st century-equivalent of a campaign yard sign, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond reversed a lower court ruling that said merely “liking” a Facebook page was insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection.

Cornell University, Princeton University and Dartmouth College are among 11 private schools that have joined the Say Yes to Education program best known for providing high school students a tuition-free path to college.

The new additions bring the number to 54 in the Say Yes Higher Education Compact, whose members waive tuition for eligible students, Say Yes founder George Weiss said Wednesday.

A top state senator said Wednesday that a new law dramatically expanding the number of charter schools allowed in Texas might never have passed if the authority to approve new charters hadn’t been stripped from the State Board of Education.

Dan Patrick heads the influential Education Committee in the Texas Senate and authored the law, which the Legislature approved overwhelmingly, It increases the maximum number of charter schools licenses from 215 now to 305 by 2019 — the largest expansion of its kind in Texas since 2001.

Over the offseason, Baylor tweaked the positions of senior safety Ahmad Dixon and senior nickelback Sam Holl in an effort to improve the Bears’ defense throughout the 2013 season.

Dixon, formerly a nickelback, moved to safety in the spring. The move to safety allows Dixon to play in more space and utilize his exceptional speed to track passes in the air and run down opponents.

Offense wins games, but defense wins championships. No. 9 Baylor soccer puts extra emphasis on its stout backline. The defense is the bread and butter of the team and a central reason why Baylor has a 29-game unbeaten streak.

Baylor co-head coach Marci Jobson prides herself on implementing her system of team defense. With the extra emphasis put on that position, having a strong backline is vital to the Bears success.

“I feel good,” Jobson said. “They are playing solid. They’re playing tough and they’re going to have to definitely bring that on Friday.”

Baylor volleyball overcame a slow start against Rice University to win their first road match of the season in Houston. Baylor dropped the first set and then won three consecutive sets to close out the Rice Owls and earn the victory. The sets went 18-25, 25-21, 25-21 and 25-14.

Sophomore outside hitter Thea Munch-Soegaard led the Bears. Munch-Soegaard finished with 11 kills, 13 digs and two service aces.