The Battalion - March 20, 2019 by The Battalion

Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION

Texas A&M’s Student Media won 36 awards for their 2018 work at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association conference.

Student media shines at TIPA Battalion, Aggieland receive honors at annual collegiate press conference By Sanna Bhai @BhaiSanna Texas A&M Student Media received 36 awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association for their work throughout 2018. Representatives from Texas A&M Student Media — which includes The Battalion, the Aggieland yearbook and Maroon Life Magazine — went to Corpus Christi for the annual TIPA conference from March 13 to March 16. The conference encompassed competitions, workshops and discussions about student media with 30 schools from around Texas. Conference organizers also judge work from the previous calendar year that schools submit prior to the event. A&M’s three dozen awards included an individual excellence award, 13 first place awards and four overall excellence awards. The Battalion took first place in overall excellence among newspapers. Battalion editor-in-chief Megan Rodriguez said it is exciting to see A&M’s student media staff recognized for their content. “Everyone works tirelessly to serve the student body, and knowing that the stories we share are competitive among other universities is extremely rewarding,” Rodriguez said. “I’m proud of everyone’s commitment to student media and the results that we’ve seen from their hard work.” In open division, The Aggieland received first place for inside news page design and overall design. Maroon Life magazine won best overall AWARDS ON PG. 3

Kaylee Cogbill — THE BATTALION

Libraries and educational institutions across America celebrate National Reading Month each March.

Books open up worlds Librarians and students discuss their favorite authors and books By Hollis Mills @sillohsllim Whether it be a fresh printing right off the Barnes & Noble “best sellers” shelf, or pages hanging from the loose thread of a worn spine, National Reading Month encourages everyone to pick up a book and delve into a new literary adventure. Every March since 1997, libraries and educational institutions across the United States have celebrated National Reading Month to promote the strength and conditioning of good reading skills, particularly among young people. The month is an extension of Read Across America Day on

March 2, a commemoration of the life and achievements of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known by his pen name, Dr. Seuss. Deborah Callaway, youth services librarian at Clara B. Mounce Public Library in Bryan, said Seuss’s books, alongside a few Nancy Drew mysteries, were must-haves whenever the “Bookmobile” would roll in from the county over. “I was never without a book when I was a kid,” Callaway said. “In the summertime when it was too hot to go outside, which was most days, I was reading. When it got cool enough, I’d run through the forest and play, and I had a whole lot of imagination from the books I read.” Though she prefers a good sit down with the work of James Patterson and Nicholas Sparks these days, Callaway said she hopes to instill her admiration of reading in today’s

youth. “When kids come up to talk to me, I tell them to let me know of the books they want,” Callaway said. “If there’s a new series, I ask them to let me know what the series’ name is and I’ll get them, because if you buy books that kids are really excited about, they’re not going to sit on the shelf; they’ll be read.” Hilary Anderson, reference and adult services librarian, said her job doesn’t end outside of the library’s walls, because when she is not helping others discover their next literary obsession she is gushing over “Harry Potter” novels with her nieces. Anderson said reading should be an important part of everyone’s lives, and National Reading Month helps to highlight that. READING ON PG. 2

A grand new exhibit Bush Library displays photo series celebrating legendary national park By Savannah Mehrtens @SJMehrtens

FILE

Jay Maddock, then-dean of the School of Public Health, gave a presentation as part of the fall 2017 Achitecture for Health Lecture Series. Today, the series is broadcast by KAMU-TV.

Designing a healthy future Lecture series explores connections between architecture, public health By Savannah Mehrtens @SJMehrtens The Architecture for Health Lecture Series is an interdisciplinary weekly event held by the College of Architecture and the School of Public Health that aims to explore ways in which the built environment can have positive impacts on public health. Held on Fridays at KAMU-TV’s on-campus studio, this semester’s series is titled “Health Systems and Networks: The New Clients” and presents case studies by architects and health care administrators. By using case studies rather than information from a textbook, the lessons are more relevant to current issues within the field. On Friday, three speakers from architecture, planning and design firm CallisonRTKL will discuss their relationship with Mainline Health, a health system that serves the suburban Pennsylvania area. Dana Brandle, associate vice president at CallisonRTKL, will be one of the speakers on

Friday alongside vice president and healthcare director Dan Thomas and Don Debord, senior vice president for healthcare practice. Brandle said their company’s relationship with Mainline Health is unique because they have been working together since 2004. “It’s been really great, and we’ve done lots of different types of projects with them and developed a lot of really good standards and best practices and lessons learned over the years,” Brandle said. George Mann, AIA series coordinator and Ronald L. Skaggs FAIA Endowed Professor of Health Facilities Design in the College of Architecture, said the dynamic and changing system of healthcare is one of many topics discussed in the lecture series. “Systems are another way of delivering health care,” Mann said. “If you take technology and put it into the system, you can do remote diagnosing through telemedicine, you can multiply the effectiveness of health education programs, and in a way I think our program is a health education program.” The lecture series began about 10 years ago LECTURE ON PG. 3

The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum’s newest exhibit, “Grand Canyon Photographs: Celebrating the Centennial 1919-2019,” honors the 100th anniversary of the designation of the national park. The photography exhibit opened on March 1 and will be running until June 9 in the Fidelity Gallery. Mark Burns, photographer of the exhibit, previously had his series on American national parks at the museum from Nov. 30, 2015, to March 21, 2016. The photography was shot half on 8x10, 4x5 and 6x17 panoramic film cameras and half on medium format digital cameras and DSLR digital film cameras. Burns said he had a variety of experiences in the Grand Canyon over his time capturing the national park that were both challenging and rewarding. He said the previous exhibit he had at the museum covering all U.S. national parks led to the current exhibit focusing solely on the Grand Canyon. “I’ve had many, many experiences that have been wonderful,” Burns said. “They’ve been hot; they’ve been freezing cold; they’ve been everything in between. It’s a whole lot of work doing what I did and just about every experience as a photographer you can think of but very rewarding in the end.” As most of his work is in black and white, Burns said he likes for viewers to look into his photographs and see the detail in the pieces. “I deal on a lot of subtleties, so you have to spend some time looking at the photographs to really understand a lot of the subtleties that are going on with them,” Burns said. “I like to say that I sometimes prefer to print smaller photographs because I like people to look into my photographs rather than to look at them.”

Olivia Treadwell — THE BATTALION

The newest exhibit at the Bush Library celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Grand Canyon National Park.

Warren Finch, director of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, said after being the first to host Burns’ exhibit on the national parks from late 2015 to early 2016, they were glad to have his work on the Grand Canyon as well. “We’ve had experience with Mark, we know he’s a great photographer,” Finch said. “When we found out he was doing photographs of the Grand Canyon, we were happy to bring them in.” David Anaya, director of marketing and EXHIBIT ON PG. 3

LIFE&ARTS

The Battalion | 3.20.19

Creative Commons

Cole Fowler says “Five Feet Apart” is a predictable film that doesn’t do the core message justice.

‘Five Feet Apart’ falls short Drab young adult romance seems insincere and cliché Cole Fowler

@thecolefowler

n the wake of the immensely popular 2014 film “The Fault in Our Stars” Hollywood has cranked out numerous films with lovers dealing with serious illness. “Everything, Everything,” “Midnight Sun” and “Me Before You,” are just a few titles of the subgenre that continues to grow in popularity among young audiences. This subgenre causes a very obvious shift toward a specific, identifiable and packaged mode of romantic storytelling, and “Five Feet Apart” falls right in line. However, if first-time director Justin Baldoni would have been more confident in his storytell-

ing ability and not fallen into the clichés of Hollywood, his underlying message of drawing attention to cystic fibrosis could have been received. The film follows Stella Grant, played by Haley Lu Richardson, as she struggles with the intense treatment of her cystic fibrosis. Her world of strict dedication to her treatment schedule is blown up when she meets the new bad boy in the hospital wing, Will Newman, played by Cole Sprouse. Aside from avid watchers of CW television shows or perhaps fans of “The Fault in Our Stars,” this premise is enough to push away most moviegoers. The film follows the current money-making template for Hollywood romance. The mere predictably of the

film is enough to drag the nearly two-hour runtime, but the lack of a convincing screenplay and wooden acting from melodramatic star Sprouse grinds the film to halt before the end of the first act. The only actor on screen who seems comfortable is Richardson. In every scene, Richardson is desperately trying to fuel the film with any semblance of hope, and she does a good enough job to hold the audience’s attention. Baldoni’s directorial choice to follow the beaten path of young adult illness love stories is irritating because he causes his positive message about fighting cystic fibrosis to come off as exploitative rather than genuine. His message is one that could have had a lasting impact, especially within the realm of Hollywood influence. Unfortunately, Baldoni chose to package his potentially widely impactful message according to the Hollywood formula for young adult romances, and this causes Baldoni’s beneficial intentions to come off as deceitful. Baldoni and Sprouse’s melodramatic influences from their work on CW seized their film’s positive message and forcibly fused in their packaged concept of ideological love, and the final product is a jumbled mess. Overall, the film fulfills every expectation of this subgenre and steals away a potential message in doing so. Richardson tries, in every scene, to breathe life into the exhausting film, but not even an actor of her prowess could save this overwhelmingly cliche film. Cystic fibrosis is an important topic that Hollywood has the influence to positively affect, so hopefully in the near future a more capable director could take awareness down a more beneficial path. Cole Fowler is an English junior and columnist for The Battalion.

Photos by Kaylee Cogbill — THE BATTALION

National Reading Month has been celebrated every March since 1997.

READING CONTINUED “Reading, in general, is important because of the facts,” Anderson said. “It improves your vocabulary and you can do lifelong learning through it, but I think what’s most important to me is that [reading] helps you see through another person’s eyes. It’s not just like you’re reading facts about things; you’re seeing the world in a different way.” English junior Hannah Green said

she carries her passion for reading into every month. “We’re always learning as people, and it seems so inherently important to me to keep reading,” Green said. “Reading is beyond an educational tool in the traditional sense. It helps you observe yourself.” Philosophy sophomore Jacob Hollis said he enjoys diversifying his reading habits, as he combines his appreciation for the “encyclopedic writing style” of Karl Marx with the world building

of his favorite fiction author, Lemony Snicket. “I think in a lot of cases you can look at a fictional text and it has a lot of real life implications and values that you can learn from, and in that sense it’s not fiction,” Hollis said. “Reading helped me to distinguish myself in the classroom and people who I care for. I’m not a perfect person, so I can’t recommend a lot, but what I do know I can recommend is reading because I can attest to its effectiveness.”

LET’S BE FRIENDS BATTALION MULTIMEDIA

THEBATT.COM

@THEBATTONLINE

THE BATTALION

@THEBATTONLINE

NEWS

The Battalion | 3.20.19

Luke Henkhaus — THE BATTALION

Photo Chief Cassie Stricker designs the cover of The Battalion’s candidate guide package.

AWARDS CONTINUED design for its New Students’ Guide to Aggieland and third place overall excellence for the Best of Aggieland. In Division I, a few notable first place wins by The Battalion included general news story, cover and feature design, overall website design and general news photo. TheBatt.com also won second place for overall excellence. Honorable mention in Best of Show was given to The Battalion for its Turning the Page package. Battalion photo chief Cassie Stricker was named designer of the year in the individual excellence category, after recently taking up designing in spring of 2018 when the design desk became short staffed. “Filling the role of page designer was never something I anticipated, but when our spring page

designers didn’t return in the fall, I knew I had to step up,” Stricker said. “Designer of the year was definitely not an award I thought I would be honored with — especially when I learned how to design for The Batt through a five-hour-long FaceTime call — but I couldn’t be more thankful for everything I’ve learned and experienced over the past few semesters.” The 2017-2018 Aggieland editor-in-chief Anthony Pangonas said he is proud of the work that the Aggieland staff put in and he is happy to see it pay off. “The awards are a great way to see the work and progression that the Aggieland staff has made on the yearbook,” Pangonas said. “We work hard to provide the best for the Texas A&M community, but it’s wonderful to see it honored at TIPA as well.”

LECTURE CONTINUED as a short slideshow presentation for students but was soon formalized into a one credit-hour course. Now, the series is themed every semester with speakers who contribute to both education and awareness of what they are doing to build a healthy world. “We then invite speakers we think can make a contribution to education and make people and the public aware of what they’re doing,” Mann said. “It’s really a lot of work, but it’s worth the satisfaction of knowing that not only is this a class for the students, but this goes out on the PBS app and YouTube, so it broadens the impact of the lecture series and

FOR RENT

Photos by Olivia Treadwell — THE BATTALION

George Burns, the photographer behind the exhibits, said he likes viewers to look into his photographs and see the details.

EXHIBIT CONTINUED communications for the museum, pointed to President George H.W. Bush’s photo in the Grand Canyon National Park as one of the most popular images from his life. “All the people who visit our sites — which has been like hundreds of thousands of people, especial-

the classroom lecture.” Bita Kash, professor of health policy and management at the School of Public Health, is a lecture coordinator for the series. The series officially became a cross listed course two years ago, but Kash has been part of the series for over five years. “I think what’s unique about the lecture series is how it’s integrating design with health and health outcomes,” Kash said. “It’s integrating really several disciplines of architecture and design, public health and medicine.” Kash said public health is connected to the environment, not just the individual. “We have learned over time it’s becoming more and more important when we look at health outcomes and how to improve out-

FOR RENT

ly during his passing — have gone there and have seen that photo,” Anaya said. Anaya said Bush knew Burns for years, and once compared him to the famous nature photographer Ansel Adams. Since Bush’s passing, Anaya said the museum is working to continue to honor his legacy and has seen the community’s loving support.

comes,” Kash said. “It’s not just that your genetic makeup or the medical care you receive have contributed to the health outcomes, but more and more we see that where you live and your environmental context, your environmental social context, really contributes quite a bit to your health.” Hao Huang, College of Architecture Ph.D. student and president of the Student Health Environments Association, helps Mann coordinate speakers and presents a gift to speakers at the lecture. Huang said he believes buildings are directly connected to public health. “I believe the building, architectural design, will impact the health of the people who use the building,” Huang said. “When we design a building, we want to think about how can

FOR RENT

“We’re going to continue to do our best to honor President Bush’s legacy,” Anaya said. “We’re just so thankful to all the outpouring of caring and love from the public that’s happened in the last few months, and we just hope that people can come out and learn a little bit more about our 41st President and learn about these great exhibits that we have.”

we design a building to improve the health and develop the health and restore the health of the people.” Mann said with the growth of healthcare facilities and technology, there is a requirement for a new way of thinking in terms of the systems access, quality and cost of those resources. “The purpose of this is really to bring state of the art knowledge to the students in a very dynamic and fluid field,” Mann said. “It requires a new way of thinking in terms of systems access, quality and cost.” For more information on previous and upcoming lectures, visit tx.ag/ArchSeries.

HELP WANTED

REAL ESTATE

ROOMMATES

SPORTS

The Battalion | 3.20.19

ONE FINAL LAP

Josh Gleason — THE BATTALION

Seventeen Aggies will compete in the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships on Wednesday at the Jamil Texas Swim Center in Austin. Photos by Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION

Swim and dive heading to 2019 NCAA Championships this week By Hannah Underwood @hannahbunderwoo The Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team will kick off their final meet of the season at the NCAA Championships on Wednesday. The meet will be hosted by the University of Texas at the Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin. A&M has a regular season record of 8-1 and are 3-0 against Southeastern Conference opponents, with their only regular season loss coming to NCAA host Texas. A&M has placed third at NCAAs for the last two years and is coming off its fourth consecutive SEC Championship win. The Aggies have 17 swimmers and divers qualified for the NCAA meet. The meet will start with preliminaries at 9 a.m. on Wednesday and finals following at 5 p.m., with the schedule continuing through Saturday. Here is the complete list of A&M

competitors and their events: • Amanda Armstrong – relay only • Anna Belousova – 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and 200 medley • Charlye Campbell – 1-meter drive • Emma Carlton – relay only • McKenna DeBever – 200 medley, 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke • Raena Eldridge – relay only • Joy Field – 500 freestyle and 1650 freestyle • Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo – 200 medley, 400 medley and 200 breaststroke • Alaïs Kalonji – platform dive • Sydney Pickrem – 200 medley, 400 medley and 200 breaststroke • Taylor Pike – 100 fly and 200 fly • Kylie Powers – 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke • Jing Wen Quah – 100 fly, 200 fly and 200 medley • Claire Rasmus – 100, 200 and 500 freestyle • Golf Sapianchai – relay only • Camryn Toney – 200 medley, 400 medley and 200 fly • Haley Yelle –200, 500 and 1650 freestyle

CONNECT, CONNECT

Returning to Davis Diamond Aggie softball hoping to bounce back against Stephen F. Austin Wednesday By Jennifer Streeter @jennystreeter3 The Texas A&M softball team will host the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks in a matchup at Davis Diamond on Wednesday at 5 p.m. This past weekend at the Jane B. Moore Field, the Aggies lost all three of their games in the SEC road series against No. 20 Auburn. A&M grabbed early leads in all three games but was unable to maintain them, losing the first game 7-6, the second game 8-1 and closing out the series with a 12-4 loss. However, the Aggies had various highlights throughout the Auburn series. During the second game on Saturday, junior Blake-Ann Fritsch posted her first career home run. Also noteworthy was senior Riley Sartain, who posted her

sixth two-run homer of the season during the final game of the series. Junior Kelbi Fortenberry is the Aggies’ top hitter with a .457 batting average. As for the A&M defense, Payton McBride leads the way with a 3.41 earned run average. The Ladyjacks are coming off of a three-game series against McNeese State University this past weekend. SFA won the first game 7-0 but lost 8-2 in the second matchup and recovered in the final game with a 4-3 victory. Especially noteworthy for the Ladyjacks was senior Margarita Corona, who hit her fourth homer of the season during the first game of the series. Corona is also the Ladyjacks’ top hitter, as she has a .333 batting average. Freshman Kassidy Wilbur leads the defense in pitching with a 2.16 earned run average. The Aggies will face the Ladyjacks on Wednesday at Davis Diamond. The game will be televised on SEC Network and the first pitch is set for 5 p.m.

AGGIELAND 2018

HULLABALOO,

Junior Kelly Martinez throws the ball to freshman Baylee Klingler for a double play against UT Arlington on March 6.

here

Texas A&M University Vol. 116

2018AGGIELAND It’s not too late to order your copy of the 2018 Aggieland, a photojournalistic record of the 2017-2018 school year. The 116th edition of Texas A&M’s official yearbook. Go Online to aggieland.tamu.edu or call 979-845-2613 to make your purchase. $75.00 + Tax (Includes Mail Fee) Come by office L400 of the MSC and skip the mail fee charge.

TEXAS HIGH-SPEED TRAIN Dallas to Houston in 90 Minutes With a stop in Aggieland

Don’t forget to also preorder your copy of the

2019AGGIELAND A photojournalistic record of the 2018-2019 school year. The 117th edition of Texas A&M’s official yearbook. Distribution will be the Fall 2019.

Visit TexasCentral.com to learn more. Text TRAIN to 52886 for updates.

Go Online to aggieland.tamu.edu or call 979-845-2613 to make your purchase. $75.00 + Tax (Includes Mail Fee)