thebattalionDrought conditions shut down Snook seasonal tradition
CORN MAZE CLOSURE
Attendees used to meander through twisting rows carved into cornfields and bumped into dead ends and dark corners as stalks
stretched above their heads at the “Krazy Kountry Korn Maze” in Snook. But this year the maze is nothing more than a muddy field of weeds.
Owner Tabatha Wiggins said the corn maze couldn’t open this season because of the drought, but she hopes to have it open again next year.
The corn maze had been well known for its theological themes and maze messages over the years. Last year, they also included something to honor their most popular customers — a “Block T” just for Texas A&M students.
This year, no clever or inspiring carvings will be found in the field. Kevin Marek, senior environ-mental design major, said the corn maze was part of his Halloween traditions and the closure was very upsetting.
“I was quite disappointed, especially when I drove out to the site because I couldn’t get ahold of the owners,” Marek said. “Seeing a muddy, plowed field was very sad. Normally, I would be a part of
Alex Slaughter The Battalion
See Corn maze on page 5
Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
The “Krazy Kountry Korn Maze,” pictured, will not be open this year due to drought conditions.
Texas A&M set a number of defensive milestones
during Saturday’s 56-24 vic-tory over Vanderbilt, answer-ing many questions about a unit that failed to live up to expectations through the ini-tial seven games of the season.
Saturday’s statistics had no national, conference or even program historical relevance, but represented what sopho-more defensive end Julien Obioha said would be the defensive standard following the win.
During Tuesday’s week-ly press conference at the Bright Complex, defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said his unit’s success resulted from the defensive line — in particular junior Gavin Stansbury and true freshman Daeshon Hall — and its ap-plication of constant pressure on Vanderbilt quarterback Patton Robinette.
“I think a lot of [the pres-sure] has to do with [Stans-bury] and [Hall] being very active and creating some mis-match situations with those two kids in there,” Snyder said. “With [defensive tackle Isaiah Golden] holding down the middle, I didn’t have to add blitzers. It made the world go ’round for us.”
The group finished with seven sacks — doubling the team’s season total — while garnering a season-high 12 tackles for loss with three interceptions. The defensive unit held the Commodores
to a season-low 329 total yards, down from its average of 468 yards the seven games prior.
Stansbury stood out among his teammates, making nine tackles — six solo — along with team-bests in sacks and tackles for loss.
In the days following the game, Snyder said he no-ticed a different energy in Stansbury and hopes his per-formance continues into the final five games of the season.
“[Stansbury] has a different look in his eye,” Snyder said. “He comes into meetings and he’s really bouncing around. Everybody needs ‘that’ game. He really turned it on and the ball started rolling for him.”
As for the remainder of the defense, senior linebacker Nate Askew said he hopes to see an increase in the unit’s confidence after Saturday’s win.
A&M analyzes defensive progress, upcoming UTEPJames Sullivan The Battalion
football
See Presser on page 4
James Sullivan — THE BATTALION
A&M defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said the Aggie pass rush was key Saturday against Vanderbilt.
“[Stansbury] has a different look in his eye. He comes into meetings and he’s really bouncing around. Everybody needs ‘that’ game. He really turned it on and the ball started rolling for him.”
— Mark Snyder, Texas A&M
defensive coordinator
The A&M IT department sent a mass email to all students on
Tuesday warning them that a serious computer virus called CryptoLocker is spreading across campus.
Allison Oslund, assistant director of product strategy and communi-cation for Texas A&M Information Technology, said CryptoLocker is a new type of virus called ransomware that locks down personal files then presents a ransom, usually around $300.
Oslund said the virus is often sent out in emails disguised as a PDF or zip file.
“The virus will begin to encrypt all of your personal files (documents, spreadsheets, images),” Oslund said in an email. “Once it is finished it will lock them down so that you cannot use them. Then it will present a ran-som note asking for some amount of money to decrypt the files.”
Oslund said paying the ransom does not guarantee file access will be restored.
“Once the ransom message appears there’s nothing you can do,” Oslund said. “If you’ve opened an attachment and something doesn’t seem right, turn your computer off immediately and take it to Help Desk Central.”
Antivirus software does not detect the CryptoLocker virus until after the damage is finished. Oslund said the cost of the virus can be steep.
“If you get this virus you will permanently lose every personal file on your computer,” Oslund said. “Worse yet, it will encrypt every fold-er mapped to your computer. That is, if you have a flash drive connected or are connected to a share drive, they can be encrypted as well.”
Oslund said students should keep a backup of files on a flash drive or on a system that is regularly backed up.
“This won’t keep the virus from infecting your computer, but will keep you from losing everything if it does,” Oslund said.
Oslund said being cautious is im-perative.
“Be smart while surfing online,”
Oslund said. “Stick to the sites you know and avoid links that seem too good to be true. This virus may even be attached to a fake UPS or Fedex tracking information email.”
Khrystyna Konopatska, an interna-tional affairs graduate student, was at Help Desk Central Tuesday to resolve her computer issues. She said as bad as her current computer problems are, the CryptoLocker $300 ransom fee would be an insurmountable obstacle.
“It would be very bad,” Konopats-ka said. “That’s my food budget for a month. I don’t want to be without that. It’s impossible.”
Virtual files held for ransomtechnology
Aalap Ashtamkar & Homer SegoviaThe Battalion
IT department offers virus prevention tips
The newly formed Texas A&M Chapter of the Alexander Ham-
ilton Society hopes to shed light on the increasing global prominence of China for students with a panelist dis-cussion.
The society will present “United States’ Response to China’s Rise,” on Nov. 6. This event will feature three panelists — Aaron Friedberg, Princ-eton University professor and former deputy assistant for National Security Affairs; Christopher Layne, distin-guished professor at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service; and William Norris, assistant
professor at the Bush School.The panelists will discuss their
perspective on the rise of China and the optimal U.S. response, then par-ticipate in an interactive questioning period. Amber Stotts, international af-fairs graduate student and co-founder of the Alexander Hamilton Society, said the goal of the questioning period is to promote interaction between stu-dents and the guest experts.
“The goal of the event is to in-vigorate discussion among students and faculty as to what the U.S. should do in response to China’s rise,” Stotts said. “Should the U.S. let China gain regional hegemony? Should we fight with them over Taiwan? Is the ‘pivot to Asia’ the ideal response? These types of questions are important to ask and speak to how our country sees its role in the international system.”
Group to discuss China as world poweralexander hamilton society
See Society on page 5
Ashe Matocha The Battalion
Panel to center on US response to Chinese ascension
The goal of the event is to invigorate
discussion among students and faculty as to what the U.S. should do in response to China’s rise. Should the U.S. let China gain regional hegemony?”
— Amber Stotts, international affairs
graduate student and co-founder of the Alexander Hamilton Society
William Guerra — THE BATTALION
BAT_10-30-13_A1.indd 1 10/29/13 11:12 PM
Many students are preparing their costumes as Halloween quickly ap-
proaches. Whether they are store bought or handmade, scary or clever, dressing up can be a fundamental part of the festivi-ties.
Some students, such as freshman me-chanical engineering major, Clayton Brasher, said they drew inspiration for their costumes from pop culture events, TV shows or movies.
“I am dressing as a rapper with some friends,” Brasher said. “No specific rap-per, just a stereotypical rapper. It was easy, convenient and I didn’t need to buy anything extra and I had all the clothes in my dorm already. Or I could just borrow some materials from friends.”
Sarah Kalin, freshman international studies major, said she felt one costume idea that was over-used this year was Miley Cyrus, who sparked a media reaction after her VMA performance.
Angelica Guerra, freshman me-chanical engineering major, said Miley Cyrus costumes wouldn’t be the only overused idea of the season.
“I do not want to see any cowboys,” Guerra said. “It is a cop-out excuse for a costume. I mean we live in College Station. Actu-ally try.”
Brasher predicted many A&M students would dress as “Johnny Football.”
Kalin said students were not only discussing what costumes would be overused, but which ones would be appropriate.
Strange and outlandish costumes beyond the normal tropes tend to make appear-ances among college parties,
Guerra said.“I’ve seen Sexy Bob Ross,” Guerra
said. “That’s one of the craziest costumes I’ve heard of for this year. Bob Ross is a painter from PBS. People make him into a sexier version by having males dress in mini-skirts, Daisy Dukes, high heels, beards, bras and an opened, button down shirt carrying a painting easel.”
Funny costumes can play a role in Hal-loween alongside traditionally scary appar-el, as some students chose to don comedic character outfits or use their costumes to play on a phrase or concept.
“One I saw on Facebook, this guy was going to be a one night stand,” said Nakia Foster, freshman allied health major. “He would dress up as a night stand and he’s actually building his costume right now.”
Alexis Sutter, freshman biomedical sci-ences major, said she wanted to create a costume that reflected the frivolous side of Halloween rather than the frightening.
“I’m a Mexican banana because it was random and it made people laugh,” Sutter said. “And I don’t like Halloween being a
scary holiday.”Historical costumes can also make an appear-ance, Kalin said.
“Once I saw a cute female Thomas Jeffer-
son,” Kalin said. “I have never seen anyone dress up as a found-ing father for Halloween. Defi-nitely the weirdest costume I’ve
ever seen. It was hilarious.”
Freshman biology major Alexis Sutter shows off her “Mexican
Banana” costume.
Q:thebattalion asks
STUDENTS
We are hiring Aggie Spirit bus drivers.
No experience needed
Work 12-39 hours per week
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The BaTTalion is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center.News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in Student Media, a unit within the Division of Student Affairs. Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: [email protected]; website: http://www.thebatt.com.Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display advertising, call 979-845-2687. For classified advertising, call 979-845-0569. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Email: [email protected]: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. First copy free, additional copies $1.
Jake Walker, Editor in ChiefMark Doré, Managing EditorAimee Breaux, City EditorJames Sullivan, Sports EditorMackenzie Mullis, Lifestyles Editor
thebattalion The IndependenT STudenT VoIce of TexaS a&M SInce 1893
“A 1970s basketball player because its goofy and people
love it.”Bradley Morrill, senior biology major
“I probably want to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast,
because she wears a big cute dress and its gorgeous. I think
it will be fun to be a really pretty princess for a day.”
Gretchen Connick, junior sociology major
“I am going to be Juno, because she is a small person,
and she likes Sunny D and babies.”
Jenna Diven, sophomore business administration major
“I will dress up as Deadmau5, because he has this huge
awesome mouse head that lights up and has a million
designs and it looks really cool at night during Halloween.”
Nahiyan Khandker, freshman molecular and cellular biology major
Erum Salam Special to The Battalion
Students discuss popular and unique Halloween garb
David Cohen — THE BATTALION
BAT_10-30-13_A2.indd 1 10/29/13 10:56 PM
Coming to a university large in both en-rollment and acreage such as Texas A&M
can be daunting and downright intimidating for transfer students. To ensure a seamless transition into Aggie life, the office of Peer Academic Services launched the Transfer Stu-dent Program across campus this semester.
Valerie Coleman, program coordinator for PAS, said the campus-wide program came af-ter a successful pilot program in Fall 2012 with students from six colleges.
“The Transfer Student Program is designed for incoming transfer students,” Coleman said. “It aims to help them hit the ground run-ning and access all the resources available to them, make connections with other transfer students and connect with Transfer Student Peer Mentors. All of our peer mentors are former transfer students and are eager to share their experience on avoiding any pitfalls as a new transfer student at TAMU.”
Conversational Peer Mentors partnered with the TSP to launch the new “Let’s Talk” program this semester. The program provides undergraduate international transfer students with a relaxed atmosphere in which to prac-tice their English. TSP has also arranged workshops on topics such as “The Grad School Process” and “Jobs and Internships” to better prepare students for life at and be-yond A&M.
Joshua Trammell, senior kinesiology major and transfer mentor for the College of Educa-tion and Human Development, said mentor-ing is his way of giving back.
“Having been to four schools in three years, I have an intimate knowledge of the pain and sometime extreme difficulty and stress of the transfer process,” Trammell said. “Knowing what it’s like for other students to experience this, this is my way of giving back to the transfer community at large and keep-ing them from making the same mistakes I did upon transferring.”
Shelby Halligan, junior wildlife and fish-eries sciences major and transfer mentor for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said she feels like mentoring is a way of pay-ing forward the help she received as a transfer students.
“I was in [a first year transfer student’s] shoes what seems like yesterday,” Halligan said. “I know it can be overwhelming at times and all you want to do is run the other way. I want to make the transition glitch free and en-joyable, not daunting. There is so much A&M has to offer and every student, transfer or not, should make the most out of their stay here at this wonderful campus.”
The TSP also provides academic mentor-ing, supplemental instruction and helps stu-dents form study groups and engage in on- and off-campus social events.
“Transfer students are not freshmen,” Coleman said. “They have had some col-lege experience. They’re a diverse population made of returning students who have previ-ously been in the workforce, veterans or even non-traditional students, i.e., married and/or have children and some even commute.”
Coleman said transfer students can face unique challenges that only become apparent as the semester progresses, making the TSP incredibly helpful.
In promoting social integration and friend-ship, Coleman said peer mentors from engi-neering, agriculture & life science and educa-tion host small group socials.
“We have several study groups going,” Coleman said. “We have our TSP Halloween Bash and TSP Dance Class coming up. We’ve gone to the movies twice and attended a show at the MSC.”
Most of transfer mentors are upperclassmen with hectic schedules, but Dulce Ortiz, junior management major and mentor for the Mays Business school, said she is always happy to take time to help someone else navigate the transfer student experience.
“I’m doing this because I went through a tough time transitioning into A&M and would have loved someone to guide me and give me a bit of advice,” Ortiz said. “So if I can provide this for one person that would be awesome.”
mentor programs
Program offers guidance, resources to transfer students Aalap AshtamkarSpecial to The Battalion
Student Senate convenes Wednesday to vote on the Restitution Owed After
Compromising the Health and Expectations of Students (ROACHES) Bill, which calls on Chartwells to credit four meals to stu-dents with Fall 2013 meal plans because of the failed health inspections and the subse-quent closure of dining facilities on Oct. 3rd.
“The bill got passed through the student services committee by a huge margin,” said Michael Dror, bill author and senior political science. “A lot of fellow senators were equal-ly outraged by how Chartwells approached their duty to maintain sanitary facility stan-dards.”
The Continued Opposition to Mandatory Meal Plans Bill will also be up for vote at the general meeting and calls for the cancellation of mandatory meal plans and a restoration of the meals plans offered until Fall 2012.
A resolution requesting the Commons
Lobby piano be formally dedicated to Caleb Tate, a student who died on Oct. 15, will also be voted on.
Maci Hurley, speaker pro-tempore, said the idea for the resolution came from a stu-dent on campus who often found Tate play-ing the piano in the Commons Lobby.
“We felt like his memory should hold a permanent place in Aggieland,” Hurley said. “What better place to do it then somewhere where he loved to be and where his love for music connected him to so many other Aggies?”
The Fellow Access in Rattlers Hours Bill, which calls for equal hours for both Rat-tlers locations on campus, will be presented Wednesday.
Carrie Verwers, sophomore Northside senator, said the idea behind the bill is to accommodate late night studying.
“There are not many options available for snacks late into the night when students are often studying,” Verwers said. “Asking Rat-tlers to be open until midnight gives North-side residents the same access to Rattlers that Southside residents have.
Senate to continue dining dialogue
student government
Annabelle HutchinsonThe Battalion
Dining bills, memorial resolution to be deliberated
thebattalion
news page 3
wednesday 10.30.2013
There is so much A&M has to offer and every student,
transfer or not, should make the most out of their stay here at this wonderful campus.”
— Shelby Halligan, transfer mentor for the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Adapting to Aggie life Twice the cello
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
Croatian cellists Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser perform covers of modern music Tuesday evening at Rudder Theatre.
BAT_10-30-13_A3.indd 1 10/29/13 10:43 PM
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“We’re just trying to get better every week and play the football we know we can play,” Askew said. “We’ve got a great group of guys out there, especially defensive-wise, and we want to get to the top. I know we rank pretty low [in defensive statistics], but hopefully this past game builds some confidence.”
Offensively, the Aggies racked up 56 points while continuing both their 40 or more points per game and 400 or more yards per game streaks, despite allowing five turnovers.
As a unit, team captain and senior running back Ben Malena said the turnover margin and seven penalties A&M acquired were un-acceptable, referencing other conference’s top programs and their attention to each afore-mentioned statistical category.
“If you look at the turnover margin and look at the penalties in every single confer-ence, you’ll notice the teams that win in the turnover margin and have the least penal-ties, those are the teams with the winning records,” Malena said. “People don’t realize how important those stats are, and last week we didn’t contribute to the turnover margin on offense. As well as our defense is playing, we can’t do that.”
Despite Malena’s evaluation of the per-formance, sophomore wide receiver Mike Evans continues to approach record-break-ing statistics. Evans sits just eight receptions,
107 receiving yards and two touchdowns short of breaking each of A&M’s career receiving records.
Following Evans’ two best season perfor-mances — 18 receptions for 566 total yards and five touchdowns combined against top-ranked Alabama and No. 11 Auburn — the sophomore has jumped into the Heisman race, joining teammate and reigning award-winner Johnny Manziel.
“When you look at the numbers, you can’t argue the season [Evans] is having,” offensive coordinator Clarence McKinney said. “He’s having one of the best seasons a wide receiver can have. He’s definitely one of the best play-ers in the country and those players should be in the Heisman Trophy conversation.”
A&M will host the University of Texas-El Paso on Saturday at Kyle Field and seek its seventh win of the season. Over the offsea-son, the Miners hired former UTEP player and assistant coach Sean Kugler to take over the program and have scraped to a 1-6 record.
A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin discussed his respect for the UTEP head coach and said the Aggies’ need to perform at a high level to match wits with the Miners on Saturday.
“[UTEP] is a team that has come into the league with a new coach who I have a lot of respect for,” Sumlin said. “He’s a guy who has been an outstanding position coach at different places and a lot of buddies of mine that are in the NFL. He wanted to come in and establish a certain style of play at UTEP. I see a team that’s working hard and has a lot of pride just like its coach. We’ve got to get
our A-game.”With the Aggies surging into bowl eligibil-
ity last week against Vanderbilt, Sumlin said the UTEP game marks A&M’s next opportu-nity to better its postseason position.
Texas A&M, which sat with the same 6-2 (3-2 SEC) record at the same point last sea-son, will be fighting through the final four games of the year to match last year’s success in which the Aggies’ finished 11-2 (6-2 SEC), including a victory over Alabama, the 2012
national champion.“Once you become bowl eligible, you start
playing for better situations,” Sumlin said. “Win as many games as you can because you don’t know what’ll happen down the stretch. The situation is we have the same record as we did at the same time last year. People just don’t seem to be as excited about that, but we know what we’ve got in front of us. You have to keep winning to put yourself in better situations.”
James Sullivan — THE BATTALION
Texas A&M offensive coordinator Clarence McKinney discusses A&M’s need to improve after allowing five turnovers in the 56-24 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday.
PresserContinued from page 1
FILE
Texas A&M’s sophomore offensive duo of quarterback Johnny Manziel (left) and wide receiver Mike Evans (above) were announced as Maxwell Award Semifinalists on Tuesday.
Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
Manziel, Evans named Maxwell semifinalistsMaxwell Football Club President, Ron Jawor-
ski, announced the 2013 semifinalists for the 77th Maxwell Award on Tuesday morning. The annual award is given to the collegiate player of the year, and the Texas A&M sophomore duo of quar-terback Johnny Manziel and wide receiver Mike Evans appeared on the list.
A&M joins Big 12 leader Baylor and Pac-12 contender Oregon State as the only programs with two athletes on the 16-member roster.
Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Manziel finished as one of the Maxwell Award’s finalists last season, eventually losing the honor to Notre Dame linebacker and second-place Heisman ath-lete, Manti Te’o.
The Maxwell Award has a representative from each of the country’s five major conferences. Only Manziel and Alabama senior quarterback A.J. Mc-Carron are repeat semifinalists.
James Sullivan, sports editor
BAT_10_30_13_A4.indd 1 10/29/13 10:40 PM
thebattalion
news page 5
wednesday 10.30.2013
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aggieland 2014
tiME’S rUNNiNg oUt
Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
A lonely light post stands in a vacant field in Snook that used to be the home of a popular Halloween attraction for students and community members.
a large group of my friends who would go out there in the late hours and play a version of tag that we dubbed ‘Zombie Tag.’ We cre-ated our game two years ago on our first trip there.”
For Marek, the corn maze was not only a place of fun, but also of a life-changing ex-perience.
“My close friends and I had just finished the first round ever of ‘Krazy Kountry Korn Maze Zombie Tag’ and we realized we had chanced into something absolutely thrilling,” Marek said. “This made us move quickly to coordi-nate as many friends as possible to come out to the maze and join us. Within 45 minutes, and a few slices of amazing pumpkin pie, we had doubled our numbers, explained the rules to the newcomers, overwhelmed the sweet lady at the gate and chosen the ‘initial infectee’ for the second round.”
About halfway through the game, new-comers were participating, unsure of who was a ‘zombie’ and who was human.
“Two girls cautiously walked up to us,” Marek said. “‘Hi, are y’all zombies?’ And that’s how I met Caitlin [Morris], chasing and trapping people as zombies, the A-team from the get-go.”
Marek and Morris began to date shortly af-ter. Since they met, Marek had big plans for their relationship — He would propose at the
maze that brought them together.“I spent the summer planning the perfect
proposal and of course, the venue had to be the ‘Krazy Kountry Korn Maze,’” Marek said. “It’s not difficult to imagine my understated disappointment in hearing the rumors that the maze would be closed — I had to see this for myself. On the Saturday before the two-year anniversary of the first ‘Zombie Tag,’ I drove out and saw that my plans of the most senti-mentally unique proposal had been foiled by a drought.”
Though Marek was able to find a venue for the proposal, he said he couldn’t help but wonder how it would have gone if he had the opportunity to ask for Morris’ hand at the corn maze.
“But I don’t dwell on it, because she said ‘yes’ anyway,” Marek said.
Amber Smith, freshman biomedical scienc-es major, said she was disappointed the corn maze would be closed her first year in College Station.
“It was really depressing that the corn maze was closed,” Smith said. “Maybe it will be back next year to offer people a different op-tion for Halloween festivities. It is supposed to be one of the biggest mazes around here.”
Marek said he hopes the maze will be open next year because it was an important part of his life and could potentially be for others’ lives.
“Pray for rain, someone else may meet ‘the one’ next year,” Marek said.
Corn mazeContinued from page 1
Amira Khemakhem, senior international studies major and outreach chairman for the society, said China’s rise may have a significant effect on aspects of our nation’s power and well-being and that it’s important for students to understand the relevance of world events in their lives.
“This event will hopefully bring together the varying views on both China’s in-
creasing prominence and an American response,” Khe-makhem said. “With leading Chinese and foreign policy specialists on the panel, stu-dents will leave with a stron-ger understanding of China’s changing role in the interna-tional community as well as its vitality to American interests.”
The Alexander Hamilton Society was established at A&M during the 2012-2013 school year and the organiza-tion aims to foster constructive debates on foreign, economic and national security policy is-
sues, Khemakhem said. The Alexander Hamilton Society exists at campuses across the country to promote intellec-tual and professional growth.
“Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers, succinctly said, ‘No govern-ment could give us tranquility and happiness at home which did not possess sufficient sta-bility and strength to make us respectable abroad,’” Stotts said. “His perspective also guides our mission.”
Rudder Plaza | 10.28-10.31 | 9AM-5PM Samsung Galaxy Experience
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Hey Aggies!
The Next Big Thingis Coming to Campus.
Deadline: 5 p.m. Friday, November 15
Visit writingcenter.tamu.edufor guidelines.
In celebration of “50 Years of Inclusion” the UWC is hosting a
Writing & VideoContest
Win a $250 Amazon gift card!
Open to all students
Sizzling meat, warm tortillas, raffle prizes and live entertainment are
all being planned and prepped for the fourth annual “Theta Fiesta.”
The women of Texas A&M’s chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta will host a fajita dinner. All proceeds will benefit Scotty’s House Brazos Valley Child Advocacy Center.
“Scotty’s House is a great place that cares for and treats abused children,” said Adrienne Fleck, junior international studies major and Kappa Alpha Theta member. “I love seeing our whole chap-ter get fired up about raising money to support them.”
Ka Wallace, senior English major and member of Kappa Alpha Theta, said the Theta women hold the mission of Scotty’s House close to their hearts as it aligns with the mission of the fraterni-ty’s national philanthropy recipient, the
Court Appointed Special Advocates for children.
“CASA ensures that children are giv-en a voice, and are served at first priority whenever there is a case of abuse in a family or home,” Wallace said.
Wallace said Theta’s mission to serve abused children nationally led them to focus on children in need of help in the Brazos Valley community.
Many Aggies and citizens of Bryan-College Station give their time and ef-fort to support Theta’s cause. Votary, a local College Station band, will perform at Fiesta for the third year.
Brittany Phelps, junior health major and member of Kappa Alpha Theta, said she is very excited to hear Votary at Fi-esta this year.
“Votary is such a fun band and they’re great guys,” Phelps said. “They all are al-ways so supportive of all of our events.”
The women of Kappa Alpha Theta are enthusiastic to work hard for this event and appreciate the many ways stu-dents on campus support Theta Fiesta and Scotty’s House.
“My favorite thing about Fiesta is see-ing how hard our chapter and the Ag-gie community works to support such a
wonderful cause,” said Jessica Reinhard, junior biomedical engineering major and Kappa Alpha Theta member. “It’s so humbling to see how what we are doing helps and I am so lucky to be a part of it.”
“Theta Fiesta” starts at 6 p.m. Friday at the Kappa Alpha Theta house. Pre-sale tickets are $5 and can be purchased at Wehner, the MSC, the REC, the Commons and online. They will be $7 at the door.
Fajita dinner aims to fund child advocacy center
greek life
Victoria RivasSpecial to The Battalion
Philanthropy event donates proceeds to Scotty’s House
Scotty’s House is a great place
that cares for and treats abused children. I love seeing our whole chapter get fired up about raising money to support them.”
— Adrienne Fleck, junior international
studies major and member of Kappa Theta Alpha
COURTESY
Members of Kappa Alpha Theta help put on Theta Fiesta last year, a fajita dinner devoted to philanthropy.
