bonfireedition
● thursday,
november 17, 2011
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2011 student media
campus
Years
Students work to finance education
12
Work study program offers benefits to students with need
A ggies
Amber Jaura
Jerry Don Self ‘01 Chad A. Powell ‘03 Jamie Lynn Hand ‘03 Bryan A. McClain ‘02 Lucas John Kimmel ‘03 Nathan Scott West ‘02 Christopher Lee Heard ‘03
The Battalion One in five students enrolled at A&M this semester work on campus, which is among the highest percentages among American universities. With a combined payroll of approximately $63 million, student workers can be found all over campus keeping Texas A&M operational while gaining experience. Junior finance major Jesse Trevino splits his time between studies and a work study position at A.P. Beutel Student Health Center. He said maintaining a high academic standard while holding a job is no easy task. “This is the first semester I have to balance school and work. At first I thought it would be easy, but when it comes down to it, working four hours per day, Monday through Friday, isn’t as easy as it seems,” Trevino said. Trevino said his employer has been conscious of his responsibilities as a student, and allowed him to plan work hours around school. Nora Cargo, associate director for A&M Scholarships & Financial Aid, said many of the students employed See Work study on page 6
Christopher D. Breen ‘96 research
Miranda Denise Adams ‘02 Jeremy Richard Frampton ‘99
Micheal Stephen Ebanks ‘03 Timothy Doran Kerlee Jr ‘03
Algae poisons Gulf Red tide worsened by drought, harms fishing industry Roland Ruiz
collapse’s impact reverberates 12 years later Joanna Raines The T he Battalion
T
welve years ago, Texas A&M was changed forever when Bonfire collapsed, claiming 12 Aggie lives. “Those were some of the hardest days on this campus,” said Kathryn Greenwade, Class of 1988
and vice president of the Association of Former Students. “You could feel and sense the grief when you walked around campus.” The collapse in 1999 struck at the heart of the A&M comSee Bonfire on page 4
The Battalion Intensified by historic drought conditions, the Gulf of Mexico has been subjected to the invasive and life-threatening algal bloom known as red tide, which has killed 4.2 million fish since September. Red tide is a brownish-red algae, known as phytoplankton or Karenia brevis, that produces a neurotoxin called brevetoxin — a compound that disrupts normal neurological processes. During drought conditions, the Gulf of Mexico is more susceptible to red tide because the algae favors warm, salty water. As fish swim through the red tide, they ingest red tide cells, which attack their nervous system and paralyze the fish, causing them to suffocate. In oysters, the neurotoxin becomes a heat-stable compound that cannot be cleared by cooking the oyster. The Texas Department of State Health Services shut down oysSee Red tide on page 3
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