MONDAY, APRIL 23 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2018 STUDENT MEDIA
Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
Over 750 members of the Corps of Cadets lined Barbara Bush Drive to greet the motorcade procession on its way to Barbara Bush’s burial at George Bush Library and Museum.
A farewell to the first lady Barbara Bush laid to rest on presidential library grounds following funeral in Houston on Saturday By Megan Rodriguez @MeganLRodriguez With American flags and signs of support in hand, hundreds of community members and students packed the sidewalks along George Bush Drive and Texas Avenue on Saturday to pay their respects to former first lady Barbara Bush. Following a funeral service in Houston at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Barbara Bush was driven to College Station for a private burial ceremony at the George Bush Presidential Library. The motorcade procession was greeted by over 750 students in the Corps of Cadets upon its arrival at the library. During the burial, 15 members of the Singing Cadets performed two hymns.
Brad Sauer, 2017-2018 Corps Commander and political science senior, assembled the team of volunteer cadets who greeted Barbara Bush’s procession. Sauer said he was proud of everyone for their enthusiasm and willingness to be involved. The Corps surpassed their goal of 750 volunteers within one day. “If I can give a service to a family that’s provided so much for this nation, something as small as just giving a hand salute as they drive by, if that somehow brings them comfort, the entire family in their time of grieving and mourning, then I would do it a thousand times,” Sauer said. Outgoing Student Body President Bobby Brooks watched the procession on George Bush Drive and said he is grateful for the contributions Barbara Bush and her family have made to Texas A&M over the years. “We’re really lucky to have had the Bush family kind of take us under their wing in a lot of different ways,” Brooks said. “They’ve just been constant stewards of charity and love and emotion and all these good things that we’ve really
GEORGE BUSH LIBRARY AND MUSEUM EXHIBIT
A look at the life of the former first lady With a new collection of photo banners, condolence books and a documentary about Barbara Bush’s life, the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is remembering the former first lady’s life and her love of others. The Bush Library debuted a new display in the Presidential Rotunda on Wednesday, featuring eight portraits of Barbara Bush and her family along with three condolence books for visitors to sign. According to David Anaya, director of marketing and communications at the library, the tribute will be on display for 30 days. Admission to the Bush Library will be free April 23 and 24, and hours of admission will be 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Regular hours and admission fees will resume on April 25. Barbara Bush’s gravesite will be open for viewing during library hours. — Taylor Fennell
BUSH FUNERAL ON PG. 4
A&M brings reining hardware home to College Station Equestrian wins by a half a point to bring back NCEA Championship title By Abigail Ochoa @AbigailOchoa1 Closing their season out with a strong finish, the No. 4 Texas A&M equestrian team took home the Reining National Championship after defeating the Auburn Tigers in a 562.5-562 raw score tiebreaker during the Reining finals at the NCEA national championships on Saturday in Waco, Texas. According to the National Collegiate Equestrian Association website, reining riders perform a series of assigned patterns. Riders are judged based on their ability to maneuver unfamiliar horses and demonstrate a variety of handles. A&M’s reining team was the only event to advance past the semifinals during Friday’s round of play. The Aggies defeated Southern Methodist 3-1 with junior reining captain Kalee McCann leading the team with her win over SMU’s Keagan Snively, 140-137. After advancing to the semifinals, A&M dominated their next opponent, the South Carolina Gamecocks, with a 3-0 win. Here, A&M was led by senior Ashton Dunkel, who defeated Jordan Scott 132.5-127.5 early in the matchup. Teammates senior Madison Bohman and sophomore Darby Gardner, followed close behind and added two more points to the board after topping their opponents, 136.5-135.5 and 141-132.5. A&M head coach Tana McKay said she was pleased with how the Aggies worked as a team in the arena and were able to come out with a win after struggles during the week. EQUESTRIAN ON PG. 2
Provided by Texas A&M Athletics
Texas A&M won the tie breaker in the Reining National Championship by half a point.
Student Senate turns to games to collect student data Partnership with 12th Win could yield greater response rate By Jordan Burnham @RJordanBurnham Student Senate’s Constituency Affairs Committee recently teamed up with 12th Win to collect feedback from students on policies and events happening at Texas A&M. On Feb. 28, 12thWin.com launched a new method of gathering feedback and data on relevant topics at A&M through interactive gameplay that allows students a chance to win prizes. Student government has partnered with 12th Win to provide survey questions during the game. According to founder Andrew
Stewart, Class of 2009, 12th Win is a private-public partnership that provides data to the university and organizations for free, which has given Student Senate thousands of dollars worth of data in the months since it began. “This started as a student project to find a way for students to engage with a school organization, because the school would send out a survey and they’d get .04 percent return rate, so it was very hard for them to gather data from a wide populus of students,” Stewart said. “Using this gamification method, we’re able to extract thousands of student responses, verified by their .edu email address, in a very short period of time.” The data collected through the interactive 12th Win game is never per-
sonalized information, but rather aggregate answers to questions collected and presented by student senators. Eric Mendoza, Legislative Affairs chair for the 71st senate session and economics freshman, said he asked questions he believes will be useful in representing the student body. “I asked and phrased questions regarding transportation services, dining services, ofo and that kind of thing,” Mendoza said. “It’s really pertinent information that we can take to the administration.” Students can use the platform to win prizes. Over $10,000 worth of gift cards have been given out since its launch, according to Stewart, who said the program also incorporates STUDENT SENATE ON PG. 3
Jesse Everett — THE BATTALION
Colton Mandel serves as chair of the Constituency Affairs Committee in the 71st Student Senate.