The Battalion: October 3, 2016 by The Battalion

BATT THE

BTHO CANCER

THE BATTALION | THEBATT.COM

Sarah Stone — THE DAILY GAMECOCK

Sophomore wide receiver Christian Kirk had a career high 12 catches in the game against South Carolina.

Aggies 5-0 after win over South Carolina Saturday victory puts Texas A&M at No. 8 in AP poll By Heath Clary @Heath_Clary Saturday’s Texas A&M-South Carolina matchup had all the makings of a trap game. The No. 9 Aggies entered the contest riding high as a top-ten team coming off a decisive win over Arkansas, while the Gamecocks limped into Williams-Brice Stadium with a 2-2 record and an unimpressive loss to Kentucky last weekend. But even though they didn’t play their best game, the Aggies (5-0, 3-0 SEC) still managed to outlast the Gamecocks (2-3, 1-3 SEC) and come away with a 24-13 victory, making it three straight seasons that A&M has started 5-0. “We got a win, we’re 5-0, and we couldn’t feel better,” A&M quarterback Trevor Knight said

after the game on SEC Network. “I’ve always said there’s no such thing as an ugly win, because when you’re winning football games that’s a big-time deal.” It would have been easy for A&M (5-0, 3-0 SEC) to overlook South Carolina (2-3, 1-3 SEC) this week with big matchups against No. 11 Tennessee and No. 1 Alabama on the horizon, and that’s exactly what it looked like was happening in the first half. But it only took Trayveon Williams about three minutes into the third quarter to find some open space and run for a 49-yard touchdown. That big run gave the Aggies a lead that they would not relinquish. “We kept our composure; that’s a big thing that I see this year,” Kirk said of the offensive unit. “When the other team scores we’re always comfortable, we’re always calm and everybody is locked in and ready to FOOTBALL ON PG. 2

Brian Okosun — THE BATTALION

Freshman Shelby Smith (center) was diagnosed with a form of cancer called olfactory neuroblastoma at the start of the semester. Now, Aggies are working to donate for her treatment via a GoFundMe.

Aggies rally behind freshman diagnosed with neuroblastoma By Meredith McCown @meredithrhoads

reshman year for Shelby Smith brought a change most don’t expect their first year of college — a diagnosis with cancer. Smith moved to College Station from her hometown in Plano in August to start her freshman year at A&M, where she pledged Tri Delta. On bid day, her mom told Smith that she had a rare type of cancer called olfactory neuroblastoma. Since that day, Smith has received an outpouring of financial and emotional support for her battle with cancer. After receiving the news Smith created a GoFundMe account to raise money to help her family through the unexpected journey. Approximately $86,000 in the last three weeks have been donated for Smith’s cause. When she told her pledge class about her diagnosis, Smith said the response was unbelievable from the girls she has only known for just over a month. “It was very overwhelming,” Smith said. “I told my pledge class at one of our Sunday meetings and this one girl came up to me, and then immediately everyone came up to pray over me and it was just unreal. Everyone has just been so supportive and so awesome on another level that I never even expected.” Smith’s boyfriend, construction science freshman Spencer Ellison was blown away by the support she received. “It made me super happy,” Ellison said. “Finding

out that she raised 86 grand on GoFundMe just showed me how amazing the Aggie network really is. And how everyone comes together to help out an Aggie. Aggies help out Aggies and that just really showed me what that meant.” Smith is taking online classes this semester to still be involved in school and said her confidence in the Aggie family has grown even stronger because of the support she’s received. “Even though I’ve been in these online classes, we have a group project due next Friday where we have to meet up with our group,” Smith said. “And this one guy came and said to me, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re the girl on the GoFundMe account, I donated.’ I had no clue who he was — he was just someone in my class but he was so helpful wanting to help me on the project.” The philanthropy committee for the Fiji fraternity, led by philanthropy chair and mechanical engineering junior Hogan Sauer, initiated the idea to partner up with Tri Delta to raise money through tickets, T-shirt sales and a silent auction — including a signed jersey from former A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel — for Smith through an event called “BTHO Cancer,” which took place Sunday. “The main purpose is to show that we all are coming together to support her,” Sauer said. “I think it is a good example for Greek life with two Greek organizations coming together, but our main purpose was to support Shelby in whatever way we could.” Hayley Redding, construction science junior and Tri Delta philanthropy chair, said supporting Smith has built camaraderie within the chapter and shown their hearts are behind their philanthropy, St. Jude SMITH ON PG. 4

Grand Slam continues to grow Brian Okosun — THE BATTALION

The “Domestic Violence: Improving Women’s Lives” traveling exhibit hopes to inform people of the prevalence of domestic violence.

A&M hosts new exhibit about domestic abuse Prof contributes reports, manuscripts to display By Ana Sevilla @AnaVSevilla According to the New York Times, statistics show that over one in four undergraduate women have or will experience sexual assault. With such staggering results, Texas A&M has urged its students to prevent “sexual assault and sexual violence” through the Step In, Stand Up Campaign. To further support victims, Texas A&M is hosting the “Confronting Violence: Improving Women’s Lives” traveling exhibit. The abridged banner exhibit of the National Library of Medicine’s exhibit, which opened Sept. 26,

features items representing the history of the anti-domestic violence movement in America. Notable movement figures include Dan Sheridan, professor of nursing, who contributed works to the exhibit such as manuscripts, reports, photographs and even posters and buttons. Sheridan’s contributions have been gathered since 1978, when he began working with domestic violence victims as a volunteer. “One in four women are in, were in or will be in a domestically violent relationship — that’s how prevalent it is — and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface,” Sheridan said. Esther Carrigan, associate dean and director of the Medical Science Library, was one of A&M’s VIOLENCE ON PG. 3

Texas Grand Slam adds new events, showcases poets By EmmaLee Newman @emmy_lee014 This weekend 54 poets from across the country traveled to Bryan-College Station to compete for a $1,200 prize in the largest poetry festival in the South. Texas Grand Slam (TGS) is an annual three-day competition put on since 2006 by the local poetry organization — Mic Check — where poets compete in different categories of poetry. Thursday night the competition kicked off in a new way with the Last Chance Slam, in which eight poets competed for a spot in the main competition at Blackwater Draw in Bryan. Christopher Michael, host of the Last Chance Slam and poet, talked before the competition about what slam is all about. “I cannot guarantee you will not be offended or triggered or hurt or emotionally moved by any of the poems up here,” Michael said. “This right here is the designated safe space that these poets come up here and spit their truth. TGS started in 2010 when there was an opportunity to win a Pepsi grant. The Mic Check team, led by

Noah Simpson — THE BATTALION

Sha’Condria “iCon” Sibley grabs the attention of the audience during her poem using hand gestures this past weekend in Rudder Theatre.

Amir Safi, put on TGS and won the grant. Madison Mae Parker, Class of 2014, ran TGS from 2014 to 2015 and said she’s been amazed by its development. “Every year it is a bigger audi-

ence, more variety of poets from different places all across the country, some more stories are being heard, more events to attend outside the typical poetry nights,” GRAND SLAM ON PG. 2