The Battalion: March 29, 2010

Page 1

thebattalionasks

Q:

What is your favorite way to give back to the community?

Lori Joseph sophomore food science and technology major

thebattalion ● monday,

march 29, 2010

texas a&m since 1893

● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2010 student media

Online degrees increase What’s available

Distance education gains credibility Amber Jaura

“I like to go the Lincoln Center and interact with the children, because I feel like interaction with people that are older than you is really inspiring to younger children.”

● serving

Special to The Battalion The Doc at a Distance program started in 2000 when Texas A&M and Texas Tech joined together to offer educational opportunities to those who couldn’t return to a university to earn a doctoral degree because of a job, family or other commitments. James Lindner, head of the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications, said the program began to specifically target mid-

career professionals in the broad career of agriculture who were seeking promotion. “Nothing is better than face-to-face, but when you can’t you have to come up with different ways of engaging students in academics and research,” Lindner said. “The aspect of a doctorate at a distance in a cohort program requires more planning than obtaining it on campus, yet our students are not disadvantaged. Our graduation rate is just as high as the students who receive their education on campus.” Lindner said what makes A&M’s dis-

tance education program unique is the high quality of courses. “We have the only agricultural doctorate degree offered through distance education in the U.S.,” Lindner said. “The biggest change from when we first started the program is we no longer need to focus on technology while teaching the students like we had to. We assume the students have the technological experience and so we’re better able to focus on the curriculum.” See Online on page 2

◗ Doctorate in Hispanic Studies ◗ Master of Science in Statistics ◗ Master of Engineering in Petroleum Engineering For a full list of degrees offered visit http://distance.tamu. edu/futureaggies/ distance-degrees.

Tia Mckinney sophomore English major

“I enjoy serving the community by random acts of kindness and stopping by the Lincoln Center every once in a while and working with the kids or going to the Bluebonnet House and hanging out with the elderly people.”

April Vela senior finance major

“My favorite way to serve the community is by giving away gently used items through Goodwill to benefit other people.”

Allyson Watson

Photos by Jeramie Heflin — THE BATTALION

Kevin Cravey, Sara Reams, Becky Glazar and Katie Hemper help a couple clean their garden of roots and replace soil.

junior finance major

Spring cleaning Big Event participants come out in record numbers

“I like to serve the community by serving as a Breakaway volunteer in hopes that the college students around this campus would check it out.”

Ushang Desai public health graduate student

Melissa Appel The Battalion When they could have caught up on sleep or on studying, almost 13,000 students volunteered Saturday morning to give back to the Bryan-College Station community and residents through Big Event. The Big Event, which is the largest one-day, student-run service project in the nation, set records in participation this year.

“Close to 13,000 students have signed up to say ‘Thank You’ to over 1,450 residents of Bryan and College Station,” said Emma Fisher, Big Event outreach executive Friday. “These are both record numbers.” The Big Event was started in 1982 through the work of Joe Nussbaum, then vice president of Student Government Association. The 2010 event marked the 28th year of the program at A&M.

Big Event staff work throughout the year to collect job requests from residents of BryanCollege Station and assign them to students who sign up to participate. The four-hour event included jobs such as painting, hauling brush, raking leaves and weeding garden beds. “We moved dirt. It was fun helping the community,” said Kyle Molitor, freshman civil engineering major. “It’s nice to see so See Big Event on page 2

Camp provides support system “Being a public health student, I would like to serve my community in a different way like serve in a nursing home or community health centers.”

Ben Meadows junior bioenvironmental science major

“Probably doing the things that nobody else wants to do — the things that are too hard, or a little gross, stuff like that.” Robert Carpenter and J.D. Swiger — THE BATTALION

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■ Kesem attempts to give children of cancer victims a summer free of stress and raises money to fund their attendance tuition Donate to the cause Brandon Rhyder will perform at 11 p.m Tuesday at Schotzi’s on Northgate. Opening for Rhyder is Clayton Gardner, who will perform at 9:30. Tickets can be purchased for $10 at Cavender’s, Traditions Bookstores or through any Camp Kesem member. Tickets will also be available for $15 at the door.

Melissa Appel The Battalion Texas country star Brandon Rhyder will perform Tuesday in a concert benefiting Camp Kesem, a summer camp devoted to showing support and love to children who have parents with cancer. Camp Kesem was founded in 2007 by Amber Masso, Class of 2008. The topic of cancer and its effects on families was close to Masso’s heart. “I grew up with cancer in my family, and I have lost many friends and relatives over the years,” Masso said. “A few years ago, I became a cancer survivor. I underwent treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma during 2005-2006, my sophomore year at A&M.” As a member of the Texas A&M Cancer Society, Masso stumbled across Camp Kesem during an Internet search for service opportunities for the society.

Camp Kesem started in California 10 years ago and spread to include more than 20 national counterparts in many states and college campuses, but at the time of Masso’s search, Texas did not have a camp. Masso said she was called to start a Camp Kesem organization at A&M; the camp is the only one of its kind in Texas. “The mission of Camp Kesem is twofold,” said Masso, a former co-chairwoman of Camp Kesem. “We aim to help families cope with cancer through relationships and support systems formed through our camp. We aim to mold college students into leaders by giving them the chance to shape every facet of the program.” The emphasis of the camp is to allow children whose family lives have been affected by cancer the chance to enjoy a week of a carefree childhood. “It’s a chance to teach them that life is going to be tough and that we may not always like the hands that we have been dealt, but you can always find a way to see the upside of life,” said Kody Selzer, student support co-coordinator for the camp. “There should always be time to

this day in

rld wohistory

March 29, 1973 Two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam as Hanoi frees the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam. America’s direct eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War was at an end.

See Camp on page 6

3/28/10 8:59 PM


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