THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2017 STUDENT MEDIA | @THEBATTONLINE
THE 2017 INAUGURATION AMERICA WILL OFFICIALLY WELCOME A NEW PRESIDENT FRIDAY. FIND ANALYSIS, COMMENTARY ON PAGE 3
BREAKINGBARRIERS
Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
After leaving El Salvador, bilingual engineering sophomore Leonidas Villatoro was required to translate legal documents for his parents.
Student language brokers act as translators for Spanish-speaking parents By Ariel Hayes @arielkhayes
F
or most 7-year-olds, the idea of reading — let alone translating — complicated legal documents would be an almost impossible task. For language brokers like engineering sophomore Leo Villatoro, this was a daily responsibility when he was little. Language brokers, unlike traditional translators, are bilingual children who grow up informally translating and interpreting for their parents or relatives. Villatoro moved to the United States from El Salvador and began translating and interpreting for his mother shortly thereafter.
“I started learning and picked up English quickly, vocabulary wise, and I had decent conversational skills,” Villatoro said. “With bill statements or refunds, you know, the bank, anything with legal documents, I would help out.” Although he picked up English very quickly, Villatoro said the responsibility of acting as his mother’s translator was a heavy burden for a child so young. “It was hard to translate because I didn’t know a lot of the legal words — it was advanced vocabulary coming from companies and stuff, so it was a lot of pressure and sometimes I felt bad because I saw all my family did for me to have a better life and the only thing
that I could do was help them translate this piece of paper,” Villatoro said. For bilingual education sophomore Alexia Peralta, who speaks both English and Spanish, growing up as a language broker inspired her choice in major. “As a bilingual educator, I’m sure I’ll run into parents who only speak Spanish, so my being able to translate school policies or information about meetings to parents who only speak Spanish will for sure be a super useful skill,” Peralta said. Peralta’s background in interpreting and summarizing information from a young age still influences the way she communicates in English and Spanish.
NOAH SIMPSON— THE BATTALION
Prep work begins for new classroom facility Construction outside of MSC will be first part of the process By Tyler Snell @tyler_snell2 The noises of construction have become nearly omnipresent on campus, and the newest source of that noise is just outside the Memorial Student Center at the end of Military Walk. While the construction is taking place some distance away, the project is prep work for the construction of a new facility next to Cain Garage that will host class-
rooms. Additionally, the services previously located in Cain Hall — including Disability Services and Student Counseling — will be relocated to Bizzel from their temporary location at White Creek after the building undergoes renovation and reconstruction in the coming semesters. “I think [final location of student services is] going to be a vital location for the students specifically just because it is in the heart of the campus,” project manager Audrey Rohloff-Ecklund said. “It’s right off Military Walk, so it’s easier access for Student Services, which is huge I think, because right now [students] have
LANGUAGE BROKERS ON PG. 4
OPENING THE DOORS TO SPRING RECRUITMENT
to drive over to where they are.” The project is projected to finish in October 2019 with the goal being for the services to move back into the building and be available for spring 2020. “We are just waiting on approval from the architects and the construction company,” said Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Reber. “When they set the construction dates, they said 20 to 22 months, and they did build in some days [to account for rain and weather. Many departments have been involved in the construction process from the Chancellor’s CONSTRUCTION ON PG. 5
FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH IN ICU FOR RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS Former President George H.W. Bush, 92, was admitted into Houston Methodist Hospital for shortness of breath Saturday. His wife Barbara was also admitted as a preventative measure for fatigue and coughing Wednesday. Bush’s spokesman, Jim McGrath, said he was responding well to treatment early Wednesday morning. Bush was moved into the ICU later in the day and he was reported to have been suffering from respiratory issues deriving from pneumonia. Doctors put Bush under sedation to carry out a procedure to clear his airway. At time of press, Bush is resting and in a stable condition. The 41st president has been coping with health problems and hospitalizations for the greater parts of 2014 and 2015, including Parkinson’s disease, respiratory problems and a fall at his home in December of 2014 which resulted in breaking his C2 vertebrae. Due to these health concerns, Bush wrote to President-elect Donald Trump wishing him luck in his upcoming term and apologizing for not being able to attend his inauguration on Friday. — Staff Report FILE
“Sometimes whenever I need to describe something in English to someone I use my Spanish to help me find words to better articulate my thoughts,” Peralta said. “Whenever I’m talking to people I think in both Spanish and English and I respond in whatever language is being used. It definitely affects the way I think about things.” Acting as her parents’ informal translator also became a source of pride for Peralta. “I felt important, because I felt that responsibility of helping my parents and a sense of accomplishment because I was able to help them understand.” Peralta said.
FILE
Open house allows student organizations to attract new members.
340 student organizations to attend spring MSC Open House By Tyler Snell @tyler_snell2 Students will once again crowd the MSC this weekend in search of a new activity, organization or group to become a part of during the Spring 2017 MSC Open House. This semester the MSC will host more than 340 student groups looking to pick up some new members. Student Director Carling Repass said the spring open house is not as big as its fall counterpart, which hosts close to 600 organizations, because of the way different organizations recruit. “Some organizations don’t recruit in the spring and just decide to go to the fall open house that most closely
aligns with their recruiting process,” Repass said. “A lot of organizations switch officer teams in the spring, so they might be changing people and want to change who they are corresponding with.” Repass said the biggest challenge is coordinating an event that involves more than a third of the student organizations on campus and the amount of students that flood the MSC. “It’s stressful, but it’s a really big pay off to see it completed because I was in charge of the fall one as well,” Repass said. “It’s a lot of work but having that sense of accomplishment at the end is probably the biggest benefit for me.” MSC OPEN HOUSE ON PG. 5