thebattalion l tuesday,
march 4, 2014
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2014 student media
Heran Guam — THE BATTALION
Bryan Johnson — THE BATTALION
Items collected to honor the request of a California elementary student.
Ricky Seals-Jones, redshirt freshman wide receiver, catches a pass during spring practice.
spirit
football
Cold sets in, practice heats up Sumlin gets head start with early practice slate Patrick Crank The Battalion
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he Texas A&M football team held its third spring practice Monday. Practice was inside the McFerrin Athletic Center due to the cold weather as players suited up in full pads for the first time. “We’ve got six or seven new guys out here that have got to get used to [wearing pads],” said Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin. “We’ve got a lot of installation in. I wish we were outside, but we’ve got a great facility here we’re able to utilize. We got a lot of snaps in. All in all, I liked the energy — I liked how it was going.” A&M started spring practice earlier than any other SEC school this year, which Sumlin said has helped maintain the momentum generated from the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. “[With] the ability to have some carryover, I think timing was different this year,” Sumlin said. “We’re able to still get a seven or eight week cycle of strength and conditioning in and get practice going. Every team’s different, but we just felt like with the guys that we have, we’re better off going early this year.” See Spring football on page 4
Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
Tori Scott, junior guard, visits Bohnam Elementary in Bryan with the women’s basketball team.
HOPE AND HOOPS Youth see athletes for more than on-court personas
Tyler Stafford
The Battalion o fans of the Texas A&M women’s basketball team, names like Jordan Jones, Tori Scott, Cristina SanchezQuintanar and Taylor Cooper are known for their achievements on the court. For fifth grade students in Alicia Mohundro’s class at Bohnam Elementary, they are revered as friends and mentors. Jones, who graduated in the top-15 percent of her class at Desoto High School, said she understands the value of giving back to the community — especially to children. “It’s very important to give back to the community because these kids look up to us,” Jones said. “They see us doing what we love to do — being our best — and we are positive role models for them. When we go to their school they are so excited to see us. It’s a great feeling — the energy they give off when we walk in the room.
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It’s like we’re celebrities to them.” Jones was recently named to the SEC Community Service Team for her impact on the students she mentors. Jones said she has a special bond with Eryn, a 10-year-old student at Bonham Elementary. “Me and Eryn have this thing going where we call each other best friends,” Jones said. “She has a very special place in my heart and I love her. She’s a great kid.” Every Monday at 2 p.m., Mohundro’s fourth period class expects to see “the children,” as the students refer to the players. “Every time I walk into class they run up and give me hugs,” Sanchez-Quintanar said. “The other day, when they didn’t see me at the game, they asked the teacher, ‘Where’s Cristina?’ The teacher said, ‘She’s back home in Spain.’ They were like, ‘Oh, she’s not going to come back?’ with sad looks on their faces. They are so sweet.” See Community service on page 4
Child’s letter prompts response A&M package prepared for 5th grader Jennifer Reiley The Battalion
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he Department of Student Activities received a letter Wednesday from Preni, a fifth grader in California, asking for information on Texas for a school project. Student Activities posted online and asked for donations — and received responses in the form of anything from a copy of Aggie Bound, A&M’s prospective student guide, to T-shirts, pencils and a cadet bider. Cami Steele, social media and marketing intern for student activities, is in charge of collecting and organizing all of the information and donations. Steele said when she posted the information on social media sites, she didn’t expect the kind of reaction she received. “I started receiving things the next day [Thursday],” Steele said. “I don’t work on Friday, so I came in this morning to a stack of things on my desk. Now I feel like I’m playing bridesmaid because I’m writing out everything we’ve received and where it came from.” Daisy Enggina, communication coordinator for the department of student activities, said this was the first time she See Project on page 2
mardi gras
community
Piety to indulgence: ‘Fat Tuesday’ rooted in history
Illusionist uses tricks to heal, delight Elizabeth Evans The Battalion
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ty for him and he used his house colors and his house colors were purple, green and gold. It was an honor to him,” Williams said. Williams said the holiday was celebrated in Europe and the New World. “The first Mardi Gras came from the carnivals and Italy and Spain and France and Europe in the 1600s and it’s called ‘Le Boef Gras’ which means ‘fat calf’ because during Lent, you can’t eat meat,” Williams said. “So what they’d do is they’d fatten this calf up in January and December and on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday you’d have this big huge party and everybody would eat this big calf.” Mardi Gras signals the transition into the season of Lent. Ann Kelson, freshman education
ntent on using his talents for more than pulling rabbits out of hats, illusionist Kevin Spencer is bringing his contemporary magic show and his magic-trickbased physical therapy to Bryan-College Station Spencer will be in the community until Thursday, working with teachers in Bryan and College Station ISDs as part of the Healing of Magic and Hocus Focus programs. Healing of Magic is a program that uses simple magic tricks as a form of rehabilitation therapy, Spencer said. “Say you’ve been in a car accident and you’re in occupational therapy and you’re relearning how to use your hands,” Spencer said. “There are a lot of traditional forms of therapy that you can use, like putting pegs in a board and those sorts of things, but they’re not very motivating.” Spencer said he designed the program after being in a car accident early in his career that caused a brain and spinal cord injury, putting him in therapy for a year. “It’s frustrating and it’s boring and it’s hard to get motivated to do the therapy you need to do,” Spencer said. “So I decided there’s got to be a better way to do this and who doesn’t get excited about a magic trick?” The Hocus Focus program follows the same concept, but is education-based and student-centered, giving students with learning disabilities the chance to practice fine motor skills. “For the smaller tricks, which are what we teach, the movements required to do those simple little tricks
See Fat Tuesday on page 2
See Illusionist on page 3
William Guerra — THE BATTALION
Katie Canales
The Battalion uesday ushers in a holiday that is more than the gold, green and purple-themed New Orleans extravaganza that it is commonly known for. Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, marks the end of the Mardi Gras season. The Mardi Gras season begins on what is known as King’s Day, or the Three Wise Men’s visitation to Jesus. David Williams, junior history major and New Orleans native who has worked as a tour guide in his hometown, said the holiday’s key colors are symbols of the frankincense, myrrh and gold that the Wise Men brought. “In 1872, the grand duke of Russia visited New Orleans to see the big parade so Rex [The King of the Carnival] decided to have a big par-
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campus news Polls open for primaries Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday for Primary Election Day. Voters are only able to vote at the polling location in their precinct.
thebatt.com Patriot Paws A service dog trainer and member of Patriot Paws is unable to train her dog due to the no-pet policy at Aggie Station, an apartment complex on Wellborn Road.
World hunger Ken Davies, global coordinator of the U.N’s Purchase for Progress Initiative, will visit A&M with his wife to lecture on the P4P initiative and address world hunger and disease.
3/3/14 9:07 PM