The Battalion: October 17, 2016 by The Battalion

A cadet crawls through the mud and under barbed wire during his team’s competition of the fall Corps Endurance Mud Run.

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MUD, SWEAT AND CADETS Teams from the Corps of Cadets competed in a mud run promoting teamwork

By Luke Henkhaus @Luke_Henkhaus

hile the Texas A&M football team took a break from the hot Texas sun for the off week, the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets headed out to a challenge course for a mud-filled day with the goals of bonding and building endurance in mind. The “Endurance Mud Run” — which is one of three events that make up the larger competition, known as “Cadet Challenge” — pitted teams from each unit of the Corps against each other in a race through a diverse series of obstacles and challenges. The race was held at

the Corps obstacle course site near Easterwood Airport, utilizing two of the sites’ most challenging courses. Corps chief of staff and history and English senior Samuel Simmons said the run is an event which challenges the Corps and is a way for teams to build comradery in a fun way. “The endurance mud run is kind of some motivating military training,” Simmons said. “It gets them out here and shows off their physical prowess and gets them dirty and gets them crawling through the mud which is something you can’t do every week.” Simmons said this event functions as an effective bonding experience for each unit within the Corps. “It’s good for the bonding of the unit,” Simmons said. “You come together as a team and you accomplish something and it’s just kind of motivating, crawling through the mud and getting all sweaty.”

Simmons said the race consists of multiple sections, each of them presenting different challenges to the competing teams. From there, teams advance to the grenade course where they face a new set of obstacles, all united by a common element. “The grenade course is a bunch of crawling through the mud,” Simmons said. “You have some barbed wire, you have some obstacles that you’re kind of dodging around while you’re crawling and so you’re getting real dirty through there.” Finally, the mud-covered teams take off down the road on the final leg of their journey. Simmons said one key requirement for the run is that each team must include cadets from every class year. CORPS ON PG. 3

Laura Haslam — THE BATTALION

SPORTS

Morgan Engel — THE BATTALION

Freshman middle blocker Hollann Hans and sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake had a combined 25 kills against Florida.

Aggies lose to Florida at home A&M volleyball drops game against No. 9 Florida Sunday in Reed Arena By Heath Clary @Heath_Clary Entering Sunday’s showdown with No. 9 Florida, the Gators were the only team in the SEC that had the advantage over Texas A&M in the all-time series. The Gators (16-2, 6-1 SEC) added another tally to that lead in a 3-1 match win over the Aggies (11-7, 5-2 SEC) at Reed Arena by scores of 27-25, 25-21, 25-23 and 25-16. The loss came on the back-end of their first home stand of the season and ended A&M’s four-match win streak. Outside hitters Kiara McGee and Hollann Hans led the Aggies with 14 kills each, Ashlie Reasor and Kaitlyn Blake pitched in 12 and 11 kills, respectively, and setter Stephanie Aiple distributed the ball to the tune of 50 assists. The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Aggies, as Florida immediately jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set and prompted A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli to call a timeout. Then junior opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor got hot. She spiked down two quick kills for the Aggies first two points, and then recorded four more kills before the set ended. A&M steadily gained momentum after the timeout and managed to tie the score at 24 after a kill by Jazzmin Babers and an attack error by Florida. The teams traded points on the next two plays but then the Gators scored two in a row to take the first set. The Aggies started much better in the second set, and after taking a 4-3 lead early on a kill by Hollann Hans, led for the remainder of the set. They extended their lead to 24-19 and then a nice double block by Babers and Stephanie Aiple closed out the set. A slow start plagued the Aggies again in the third set as they fell behind 7-2 and had to call a timeout. Even VOLLEYBALL ON PG. 4

Leah Kappayil — THE BATTALION

Attendees participate in interactive activities for all ages at A&M’s Chemistry Open House.

Connecting children to chemistry A&M’s 29th annual Chemistry Open House educates community By Gracie Mock @g_mock2 Strawberry DNA extraction, super slime and polymer smoothies were just a sliver of the numerous demonstrations and hands-on activities available to attendees at Saturday’s 29th annual Chemistry Open House and Science Exploration Gallery. The demonstrations were put on by faculty and students from all around the

Department of Chemistry and volunteers from biology, physics and science related organizations. The event had multiple stations around the Chemistry Building, with presentations like the Chemistry Roadshow, Low Temperature Physics Extravaganza, Research Lab tours and a variety of demonstrations. The goal of the event was to get kids interested in chemistry, but it was open to everyone of all ages. “Basically it’s all to get kids interested in science and to let them know kind of who we are in Chemistry Department, the kind of things chemists do for the community,” said volunteer and chem-

istry grad student Anna Christianson. The Aggies Forensic and Investigative Science Organization (AFISO) was one of the many groups present and their demonstration involved identifying blood at a crime scene. They had four different types of fake blood and real blood that they added hydrogen peroxide to, making a reaction demonstrating how to identify blood at a crime scene. “What happens when you add hydrogen peroxide and blood together, [is] it foams up quickly,” said Katherina Kang, forensic and investigative science OPEN HOUSE ON PG. 2

A&M’s Borlaug Institute assists Afghan farmers By W. R. Harvey @willinwriting

Continuing the legacy of Norman Borlaug — a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and the “Father of the Green Revolution” — A&M’s Borlaug Institute is dedicated to helping fight hunger and poverty in Afghanistan and other developing agriculture communities. For the last two years, Texas A&M University has played an integral role in the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Afghanistan Agricultural Extension Project-II (AAEP-II) to help train Afghan farmers and government officials in modern and sustainable agricultural practices. The three-year $19.8 million project is comprised of a consortium of universities led

by University of California-Davis. Texas A&M leads the livestock component of the project focused on training and extension capacity building. The overarching goal of this project and its predecessors is to help stabilize Afghanistan’s agricultural sector. Tim Davis, regional director for Asia and lead faculty member on AAEP-II, said the outcome for the project is to help Afghans improve methods for producing livestock and agricultural products. “Ultimately, it needs to be something that helps that country become more stable,” Davis said. “Obviously it’s not a stable country, so what you learn from development history is the first that needs to be stabilized in a country is the agricultural industries, so that the people can feed themselves. Because if they

can’t feed themselves, you’re going to have a lot of problems.” Carmen Bryce, program coordinator for Asia, said AAEP works differently from other humanitarian and extension projects USAID has funded in the past. Instead of working directly with farmers ,this project focuses on training officials in the Afghan government and universities to reach out to the agricultural sector. “The goal of AAEP is to eventually reach farmers, but the way our consortium does that and the way USAID designed this project, is that we work by building capacity among the government extension agents and also university faculty,” Bryce said. “So where maybe in FARMERS ON PG. 2