thebattalion ● monday,
march 17, 2014
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2014 student media
L L A R O F ’ U O Y K N A A ‘TH Homer Segovia
Big Event staff member: purpose is to serve community
The Battalion
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housands of students will disperse to job sites all over Bryan-College Station on March 29 as part of the annual Big Event in an effort to serve the community. The perceived socioeconomic status of some of the residents who request student workers, however, has caused some students to question how the Big Event operates. Courtney Wiederkehr, senior telecommunication media studies major, said after being assigned to an individual who did not seem in
need of assistance, she feels student services can be taken advantage of. “I feel like sometimes there are people who just see it as free maid service for a day,” Wiederkehr said. “It shouldn’t be that, it should be for those people that really do need help.” Wiederkehr said she enjoys volunteering for The Big Event, but said there should be a way to determine which job sites are in greater need of assistance, in essence distinguishing between a want and a need. The Big Event’s website includes a message which reads “Our mission
is to say ‘Thank You’ to the community, regardless of a resident’s status or socioeconomic status.” Kevin Brooks, senior management major and outreach executive for The Big Event, said this message is included because it is not The Big Event’s mission to provide assistance to families in need, but to give back to the entire community. “We do not do jobs for those who need the help,” Brooks said. “We are here purely just to say ‘thank you’ to residents of the College Station-Bryan community for everything they do for us through-
sxsw
Tragedy, art mingle at Austin festival
Sean Wu, physics graduate student (left), demonstrates that square wheels can roll smoothly at last year’s festival.
Katie Canales The Battalion
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stem
Festival to promote A&M sciences Physics, engineering demonstrations to be displayed Alexander Nelowet The Battalion
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he Mitchell Physics building will play host Friday and Saturday to Texas A&M’s annual Physics and Engineering Festival. The event will feature more than 100 interactive physics demonstrations and public lectures throughout the Mitchell building. The lectures will be given by Texas A&M faculty, including two Nobel laureates and a NASA astronaut, on topics such as superconductivity and the International Space Station. Cristian Cernov, senior physics major and director of outreach for the Society of Physics Students, said the festival is an incredible opportunity for physics undergraduates to connect with physics professors and graduate students. “First of all you get to build the demos with graduate students and become familiar with some of the graduate students,” Cernov said. “At the same time,
when you are working at the physics festival sometimes you have professors, other students, graduate students near you so you are going to get to network with people in the department.” The annual festival draws a crowd of children and their parents, to high school and college students. Jacob Gayles, physics graduate student, said this mix of demographics presents an interesting group of people at the festival who have different perspectives and ideas. “There are very small kids who do not know much about physics, then there are older kids from high school who don’t really care about science, but then they come and have fun,” Gayles said. “That gets them thinking about what they will study in college. Then you also have people that are older who are … experiencing the science and seeing things that they wouldn’t see in their everyday lives.” Potential graduate students who are thinking about studying at A&M will also be attending. Dawson Nodurft, See Festival on page 5
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housands flocked to Austin over Spring Break to participate in the annual South by Southwest festival, but the festival drew attention for more than just its music and entertainment events. Early Thursday morning, an alleged drunk driver hit a crowd and killed two people and injured 23 outside The Mohawk on Red River Street. The suspect was charged with capital murder. Meagan Marwitz, freshman anthropology major, was waiting for a show to play at The Mohawk two hours before the incident. She said it was crazy knowing she was in the same spot where the incident eventually took place. Marwitz, who has attended SXSW for the last three years and noticed an increase in attendees this year, said she was impressed with the SXSW response to the incident. “I honestly think the festival handled it really well,” Marwitz said. “SXSW has created an organization where people can donate, online or at venues, to families of those affected. I think it was a good idea to keep the shows going, because if they would have cancelled shows, there would be more people out on the streets and
it could be a safety hazard. SXSW has also created a fund to prepare for anything else that may occur in the future.” The festival consists of three sectors — interactive, film and music. Each sector features celebrities, films and bands to promote for the festival audience. Kayla Abney, freshman general engineering major, said she spent a lot of time attending events that were part of the interactive sector of SXSW. “The interactive portion felt really laid back to me,” Abney said. “I went to the SXSubway Square and they had set up a parking lot into a lounge with amazing chairs and plenty of stations to charge your phone. There was tons of free food, drinks and freebies. I didn’t walk a single block where I wasn’t handed free stuff.” Abney said the interactive portion was a lot less crowded than the majority of music events. “For the most part, the interactive portion was cheaper and a lot easier to participate in,” Abney said. “All you had to do was RSVP online and most of the events were free. The only struggle was that some events were 21 and over and weren’t advertised a lot, which is good because the See SXSW on page 2
class councils
Class Stars recognizes shining students Nominations still open for student awards Annabelle Hutchinson The Battalion
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William Guerra — THE BATTALION
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ersonal achievements and community service can sometimes go unnoticed, but a certain on-campus program will soon recognize students who are highly regarded by their peers and reward them for their accomplishments. Class Stars is a university-wide awards program organized by Class Councils that recognizes members of each class who excel in academics, athletics, leadership, service or spirit.
Award recipients must be nominated by their peers to be considered for the award. Neil Rabroker, senior accounting major and head director of Class Stars, said the entire program is student run. “Instead of having adults pick the winners, we wanted it all to be student run and student focused, so it is actually a committee of about eight Class Councils members,” Rabroker said. “So it is really interesting because not only is it students nominating students, it is other students picking these students too.” Caroline Janssen, senior business honors major, won the award for spirit last year for the Class of 2014.
“It meant a lot to me to win that because obviously you win by anonymous nominations,” Janssen said. “I knew that one or more of my peers respected that in me, and I think that respect from your peers is one of the biggest compliments you can get in college.” Winners in each category are honored at a reception and receive a personalized award for their merit. “The ceremony itself was really cool because you are at a table from all of the winners from your class,” Janssen said. “It is very, very humbling because at my table was an Olympic gold medalist and someone See Class Stars on page 2
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out the year.” Brooks said he has heard student input similar to Wiederkehr’s before and addressed it by reminding students what The Big Event is all about. “We do hear that complaint, but at the same time we look at it as a teaching moment, as a way to say ‘you know what, everyone deserves a thank you for things that they do,’” Brooks said. “Everyone deserves to feel appreciated.” Though there is no separation of See Big Event on page 5
thebatt asks
Q:
What did you do over Spring Break that you’ve never done before?
“I went snowboarding at the Wolf Creek Ski area. My roommate let me come along this year, and I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie so it seemed like a good idea.” Gill Lipton, freshman mechanical engineering major
“The first four days I went to South Padre Island, to experience the stereotypical spring break and hang out with my friends.” Kendra Emerson, freshman communication major
“I actually went home and stayed with my family. I usually try to get away from my hometown, so it was good to be with them.” Brittany Witt, freshman biomedical sciences major
“I went windsurfing in South Padre Island. It’s one of those things that looks really cool, but it’s a lot harder than people think, so I wanted to try it.” Chris Johnston, freshman education major Photo feature by David Cohen — THE BATTALION
3/16/14 8:05 PM