inside research | 4 Gulf oil spill On Sept. 19, 2010, BP declared the Macondo oil well to be dead. See what the experts have to say about the Deepwater Horizon disaster one year later.
thebattalion ● monday,
september 19, 2011
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2011 student media
sports spor p |5
Weekend recap The soccer team grabbed two wins against Baylor and Fordham while the volleyball team competed in the Michigan/adidas tournament. See the full stories inside. A recap of the football team’s 37-7 victory against Idaho can be found at thebatt.com.
Jay Kapadia — THE BATTALION
Despite physical and mental abuse, freshman communications major Vanessa Valenzuela never gave up ambitions for her future.
Overcoming adversity
thebatt.com
Vision 2020 video Catch clips of University President Bowen Loftin’s “State of the University Address” from Academic Convocation on Friday. Loftin discussed Vision 2020: Texas A&M’s progress to-date and how the administration plans to make Texas A&M a top10 public university. www.thebatt.com
Freshman emerges from abusive adolescent life Joanna Raines The Battalion
V
anessa Valenzuela seemed like an average high school student in Houston. She went to school, had a job and kept good
friends.
What the casual observer or acquaintance couldn’t see, however, was the physical and mental abuse inflicted throughout her childhood. Without a relationship with her father and only a painful relationship with her mother, the freshman communication sciences and disorders major said she grew up feeling as though her family didn’t
care. As a result, Valenzuela suffered from depression must of her adolescent life. In eighth grade, Valenzuela said her condition became desperate, and she lost the desire to live. “I was taken to the hospital for a week and diagnosed as suicidal,” Valenzuela said. The burden she bore was as much spiritual as it was emotional
and physical, contributing to her sense of hopelessness. “I didn’t want to believe in God because my mom claimed to be a Christian. I thought if that’s what it’s like, I don’t want to be a part of it,” Valenzuela said. But after receiving mental health scare, she found Christianity to be a source of motivation for a better life. “I made a promise to myself and God…I said ‘Give me the strength to get out of here’ and then I did,” Valenzuela said. “From there my belief in God started. From there I had to learn to forgive.” By her junior year in high school, Valenzuela moved out of her house. She had nowhere to stay, so she had
to live with friends. Valenzuela said she was essentially homeless. “I moved out of my mom’s house my junior year in high school…I couldn’t deal with the hurt anymore,” Valenzuela said. She saw education as her way out. Instead of letting her environment define her, Valenzuela changed her environment. Valenzuela’s goal was to attend Texas A&M, because it provided the family she lacked. “[Texas A&M] is somewhere I can go and be myself, where people will accept you for who you are,” said Valenzuela. Although Valenzuela’s grades didn’t qualify for automatic See Adversity on page 3
campus
student life
Loftin addresses A&M’s future at Convocation
Résumé tip: Email addresses need not be a hassle Madeline Burns: Fix that embarrassing Net ID
Jordan Williford The Battalion University President Bowen Loftin discussed Texas A&M’s progress toward Vision 2020 at Academic Convocation Friday. Vision 2020’s stated goal is for A&M to be one of the nation’s 10-best public universities by the year 2020. Loftin said the initiative is responsible for much of the growth and improvements made in research, teaching and service in recent years. A&M is currently tied for 19th among public universities, according to the U.S. News and World Report — a three-place jump from 2010. According to Loftin, since Vision 2020’s conception in 1999, A&M has taken many specific actions in support of the long-range goal. These include increasing the percentage of tenure and tenure-track faculty members teaching undergraduate courses by nine percent; accepting an invitation to join the Association of American Universities; and involving its researchers and graduate students in research projects in every continent of the world, with more than 600 current research projects. Genyne Royal, president of the Graduate
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W
hile I’m sure that a few of you were unpleasantly surprised to discover that your Texas A&M application username becomes your Net ID and email address, I can assure you that none were more so than me.
Robert Carpenter — THE BATTALION
University President Bowen Loftin discusses the progress of Vison 2020 at Academic Convocation on Friday in Rudder Theater. Student Council, said Vision 2020 has been the guiding principle for graduate student research at the University. “Vision 2020 has affected graduate research by serving as the guideline for how [the programs] function,” Royal said. “Everyone has been looking to Vision 2020 to set priorities in terms of graduate research and curriculum.” At the beginning of his presidency, Loftin initiated a mid-term review to assess the progress that has been made, and to recommend See 2020 on page 3
During the application process, my mom decided to help me out by creating my login: “honeydew,” stemming from an ironic nickname I was given as a child. Naturally, I was horrified when it became my email address, but was unaware that you could change it. So I didn’t. It was fine for the first semester because I didn’t have to give out my email address, or say it out loud. Whenever I would print notes or assignments on campus, I would quickly snatch my papers from the stack and dispose of the cover sheets — always face down in the recycling bin — before anyone noticed. Then I became involved with a microbiology research lab and that changed. Suddenly, there were slews of people that needed my contact information, and not just any people... scientists. These scientists includ-
ed Texas A&M professors, graduate students, Harvard researchers and a representative from the Smithsonian Institute. I do not consider myself to be easily embarrassed, but let me assure you that there is almost nothing worse than having to convince someone of your intellectual competence with an identifier like “honeydew.” Sadly, by the time I realized that you could change your Net ID (and, thus, your email address) my research days were long gone. Now, I am a senior and have decided to live with it. But hopefully it isn’t too late for those of you with the same embarrassing predicament I experienced. For instructions on changing your Net ID and email continue to page 8. See NetID on page 8
9/18/11 11:05 PM