The Battalion: October 20, 2011

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The Internet graveyard Remember your favorite website from back in the day? It’s probably dead. O’Dell Harmon, tech opinion blogger for The Battalion, shares a few websites that are members of the Internet graveyard at thebatt.com.

campus news Bicyclist injured in roadway

● thursday,

inside b! | 5 Wiener Fest Wiener Fest is returning to Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater on Saturday, where Dachshund owners can enter their dogs in wienie races starting at 11:30 a.m

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● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2011 student media

Joanna Raines The Battalion

B

ecoming part of the Aggie family is a momentous day in every Aggie’s life. But for Jose Zelaya, senior interdisciplinary studies major, the news was especially sweet.

National Security Panel

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texas a&m since 1893

Danger in Latin America causes immigrants to seek shelter in the U.S.

Barrett House, Staff Writer

Michael Dror, Staff Writer

● serving

Fleeing to safety

A truck with a trailer hit a bicyclist at the intersection of University Drive and South College Avenue Wednesday afternoon, according to a press release posted on the City of College Station’s website. The College Station Police Department responded to the incident at 3:15 p.m. “A portion of the vehicle struck the portion of the bicycle that was partially in the roadway, causing the bicyclist to fall,” the press release said. The bicyclist was taken to the College Station Medical Center with incapacitating injuries. It was unclear at time of press whether the bicyclist was a student.

Students will have the opportunity from 5:30-7:45 p.m. Thursday in Rudder 601 to connect with members from the CIA, NSA and other security agencies. Students can meet for individual discussion with representatives of six government agencies from 5:30-6 p.m.; a a panel discussion will start at 6 p.m.

october 20, 2011

Evan Andrews — THE BATTALION

Zelaya was born in a gang-dominated city in Honduras, where he had little to aspire to. After his mother immigrated to the U.S., he was given a chance at a better life. “When I told my mom I had been accepted to Texas A&M she cried … she went into her room, where she had old clothes from the past, pulled out a very dirty maroon shirt, and she said ‘Look, it says I’m an Aggie mom,’” Zelaya said. “She had gotten that her first year when she was here [in a shelter], and I was still in Honduras.” In Honduras, Zelaya was forced to work

from the age of five to provide for his mother, sister and alcoholic father. “We grew up in poverty; we lived in a shack. We lived right next to a creek where the trash was thrown … it was very nasty; it was not sanitary at all,” Zelaya said. Although he never joined a gang, Zelaya was subjected by proximity to the constant danger and violence of gangs. At the age 13, Zelaya was shot twice after a game of soccer. “It just happened to be that I lived in a neighborhood that was gang-dominated, and some of the people that were playing soccer

These citizens are looking for ways to by migrating to the United States.

escape violence

— Nadia Flores, sociology professor

with us were gangsters,” Zelaya said. Facing high poverty rates, powerful drug and human trafficking groups and corrupt or weak governments, many Latin Americans share Zelaya’s childhood experiences. Nadia See Immigrants on page 3

campus

Grant brightens future for Aggie teachers Emily Davis The Battalion The gap between the supply and demand for math and science teachers has more than doubled in the last seven years, and the standard for high school science and math classes has been raised to include four years of each subject in Texas. The Texas Instruments Foundation selected Texas A&M for a $150,000 grant in support of aggieTEACH, a program aimed to recruit and prepare students to become secondary math or science teachers.

The grant will be matched by Texas A&M’s Colleges of Science and of Education and Human Development. The total fund of $300,000 will be allocated to the program during a three-year period. Jennifer Whitfield, aggieTEACH program manager, said the grant money will help Texas A&M to produce a future with better teachers. “We want to enhance our program by evaluating how it is now and making improvements from there,” Whitfield said. “We’re looking to improve our program greatly through that money.” The aggieTEACH program is for students who want to become high school math or science teach-

ers. The program allows students to graduate with a degree and a teaching certification in the same amount of time it would take to graduate without the certification. Timothy Scott, associate dean for Undergraduate Programs in the College of Science, said that the money will benefit Texas A&M because of the large number of students who become teachers. “We lead the state in the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers produced,” Scott said. “We produce twice as See aggieTEACH on page 3

bryan-college station

campus

Special Olympics returns to B-CS

Senate debates financial aid, syllabus issues

Barrett House The Battalion Brazos County is gearing up forBrazos County is gearing up for the arrival of over 1,400 native Texas athletes to compete in the 11th annual Special Olympics Texas Fall Classic. The event starts Thursday at the Brazos County Exposition Complex. Sponsoring the event is Special Olympics Texas, a nonprofit organization. Special Olympics Texas provides programs like the Athlete Leadership program, which allows athletes to participate in

leadership positions throughout the organization, as well as Unified Sport programs, which pair athletes with peers who are not disabled. Along with Special Olypmpics Texas, Aggies from the campus organization Aggies Special Olympics Texas Volunteers will be in attendance Brittni Serwinski, senior kinesiology major and president of Aggies Special Olympics Texas Volunteers, said the organization was created four years ago after David Godinez — THE BATTALION a growing number of Aggies Players from the Special Olympics team started to express support. the “Wrecking Crew” prepares for flag See Olympics on page 6 football at the upcoming Fall Classic.

Kelly Tucker The Battalion The Student Senate met Wednesday to discuss several pieces of legislation that would impact academics and student life at Texas A&M. The majority of the bills presented were returned to their respective committees to be revised and further considered before the Senate will vote on them. Among the bills considered was SB 6425, which advocates for any unused portion of students’ printing allowances from the fall to be added to their spring See Senate on page 3

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