thebattalion
news for you texas Floods force bridge to close A major bridge on the Mexico-Texas border closed Wednesday as officials along the Rio Grande braced for potential flooding from a riverbed brimming with Hurricane Alex’s rainy remnants and water released from swollen reservoirs upstream. The Rio Grande is forecast cast to crest middayy Thursday at 38.5 feet.
● thursday,
july 8, 2010
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nation n &world d Spill s spreads to lake iin Louisiana
costs Aggi work Aggies k to improve the efficiency of the medical reconcilation process
Oil from the Gulf of Mexico is seeping into Lake Pontchartrain north of New Orleans, threatening another environmental disaster for the huge body of water that was rescued from pollution in the 1990s. Tar balls and an oil sheen pushed by winds from Hurricane Alex slipped past barges this weekend.
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inance, engineering, nursing and pharmaceutical science students don’t often cross paths on campus, much less have the opportunity to collaborate on class projects. Yet, an interdisciplinary competition in the spring brought together these varied interests as teams of Aggies who worked together to lessen the time and money patients must give to hospital visits. The event reconciled different academic fields and exposed the participants to real life challenges.
Cuba releases political prisoners Cuba’s Roman Catholic Church said Wednesday that the communist government has agreed to free 52 political prisoners in what would be the island’s largest mass liberation of prisoners of conscience in decades. The deal was announced after a meeting between President Raul Castro and Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the archbishop of Havana. Staff and wire reports
Politics as usual: Episode V: The Podcast Strikes Back
On thebatt.com Richard Creecy and Ian McPhail interview Texas A&M’s president, R. Bowen Loftin, about the Big 12, the budget situation and, of course, bowties. James Cavin checks in on the Hell’s Angels in his segment, Cavin Fever.
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Photo illustration by Vicky Flores and Megan Ryan — THE BATTALION
Gayle Gabriel | The Battalion
see story on page 2
nutrition
charity
Program promotes lifelong health
4-H youth design, donate quilts
Gayle Gabriel The Battalion FitLife is an exercise program that features exercise classes throughout the year to keep Aggies and community members active while providing a complete cardiovascular health assessment and consultation. The program was created by the Applied Exercise Science Laboratory and the Department of Health and Kinesiology to help students, faculty and staff of Texas A&M, and residents the Bryan-College Station community stay fit for life. April Baltensperger “I came to A&M in 1984, THE BATTALION and FitLife was created in A FitLife instructor encour1985,” said Stephen Crouse, FitLife program director. “It ages a participant as he was designed to meet the exercises on a treadmill. teaching, service and research health assessments that will enmissions of the University. able and encourage them to be Academically, FitLife provides physically fit. undergraduate and graduate FitLife offers classes Monday students in our kinesiology through Friday in the Read and program with experience in G. Rollie White buildings and practical skills development re- conducts exercise and cardiolated to clinical and sport phys- vascular testing at the Applied iology, while also providing a Exercise Science Laboratory in quality physical fitness testing the Steed Physiology Research and exercise experience for and Conditioning Laboratory our clients.” near Kyle Field. Crouse said the goal of “The students teach the the program is to provide the exercise classes,” said Steven University and the community with exercise classes and See FitLife on page 2
Who knew that some leftover fabric swatches could be a potential means of warmth to Texas residents. Nearly 60 unique quilts were designed and created by children of all ages this year, thanks to a challenge by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service’s 4-H youth program. AgriLife Extension agent Katie M. Phillips of Kaufman County said she received word from the Texas Department of Agriculture that the organization had leftover scraps of fabric from a quilt project, which began in 2007. Since then, more than 113 quilts have been designed and donated. The project is receiving attention from professional quilters, area residents, and the A&M network. The department sent Phillips a large box of
fabric samples, which she gave to the children on the 4-H Clothing and Textiles Advisory Board, a group that promotes and organizes clothing projects across Texas. The children, some as young as 6 years old, started sorting the fabrics according to size, shape and color, and went back to their home counties to begin creating the works of art. Six months later, the 4-H Roundup had 20 quilts present for judging. The project continued to grow, so they came up with a few guidelines for the young quilters. The first and most important rule was that every child had to give away his or her blanket rather than keep it. See Quilts on page 3
research
Professor studies effects of stereotype Jeffery Liew, associate professor of learning sciences at Texas A&M, heads Project Chinese American Successful Living, which will study Houston’s Chinese population to understand factors that help or hinder the success of Chinese-American teens in school, thanks to a grant from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. Liew’s project might provide mental health professionals with information to help them work with Chinese-American parents and students by examining the effects of stereotypical and cultural influence on mental health and academic performance. The research team will survey adolescents and their families on their cultural be-
liefs, psychological health and academic achievement with the goal of reaching at least 100 families. Liew said the extreme pressure caused by the stereotype of the over-achieving Asian-American student may put Chinese-American students at a higher risk of suffering from mental health problems. Students experiencing mental health issues may also avoid seeking help. “Asian-Americans have often been stereotyped as ‘model minorities’ in the U.S as being financially successful and high-achievers academically,” Liew said. “The model minority See Liew on page 3
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