Texas A&M Traditions Council has teamed with Aggieland Outfitters in a collabora-
tive effort to raise money to support the fami-lies of two deceased Bryan firefighters.
Lt. Gregory Pickard and Lt. Eric Wallace were killed in February responding to a fire at the Knights of Columbus Hall in down-town Bryan. The fire became too large to contain, and the team was ordered to evacuate the building. When Wallace did not emerge, the department sent in a Rapid Intervention Team made up of Pickard, Ricky Mantey and Mitchell Moran. The fire claimed the lives of Wallace and Pickard, and left Mantey and Mo-ran hospitalized with severe burns.
The Traditions Council sold surplus T-shirts from student organizations and depart-ments Wednesday and Thursday for $1, do-nating the proceeds to the families of Pickard and Wallace, and helping with hospital bills of firefighters Ricky Mantey and Mitchell Mo-ran, who were injured in the same fire.
Chris Dismuke, chair of the Traditions Council and senior chemical engineering ma-jor, sent emails to organizations to request T-shirt donations. Twenty organizations and de-partments offered their donations of old shirts.
“We got a great response,” Dismuke said. “We sold 25 boxes in the first 20 minutes. Many students would approach us with a $10 bill and only grab two shirts. It was nice to see everyone eager to support the cause.”
Traditions Council reached out to Ag-gieland Outfitters for assistance.
“Traditions Council said they wanted to take the shirts they had in storage from various student groups and use them to raise money for a good cause,” said Dallas Shipp, director of marketing and communications for Aggieland Outfitters. “They asked us if we had any that we could use to support their efforts and we said, ‘Sure, we’d love to help.’”
Cory Matthews, assistant chief of the Bryan Fire Department, expressed the department’s gratitude to the community-wide efforts to support the firefighters.
“The support that we have had from the community has been incredible,” Matthews said. “This is really tough for all involved. We’re really just trying to get back in a nor-mal routine.”
Tyler WebbThe Battalion
T-shirt sales benefit firefighters’ families
traditions council
Newcomers help blaze new conference trail, fill old shoes
Clean slate
campus news
Campus activities proceed after bomb threatAll classes and campus activities will proceed as scheduled Friday despite a reported campus-wide bomb threat, authorities said.Code Maroon alerts were sent to subscribed University email accounts and phones at 1:30 p.m. Thursday regarding a Friday bomb threat. According to emergency.tamu.edu, a written threat was discovered in the bathroom of a campus facility, which prompted an investigation, but the credibility of the threat was considered questionable. Lt. Allan Baron of the University Police Department said campus-goers are encouraged to remain vigilant and to report suspicious activity to any of an increased contingent of UPD officers. “As a police department, we will have additional police officers working throughout campus tomorrow patrolling the streets and buildings,” Baron said.The threat is the first campus-wide bomb threat since an Oct. 19 event that resulted in a campus-wide evacuation. Between the events, two building-specific bomb threats have been reported — one on Feb. 20 that evacuated Kyle Field and surrounding buildings and another on Feb. 22 that evacuated the Clayton Williams Jr. Alumni Center.
Mark Doré, staff reporter
Student organization trains dogs for service, companionship
campus
Q:thebattalion asks What are your plans for
Spring Break?
Spring plans
They can be seen on campus, a beautiful labradoodle in a blue vest and a student with a tight grip on its
leash. Passersby regularly stop to pet the dogs and talk to the handlers before going on their way, but the dogs of Ag-gie Guide and Service Dogs aren’t around just to brighten people’s day. They have serious jobs — careers that take training and encouragement from some dedicated students.
Aggie Guide and Service Dogs is a student-run organiza-tion dedicated to the training of dogs to assist people with disabilities. Members spend their time raising and training the dogs as well as promoting awareness of the animals’ unique roles.
Madalyn Guelker, senior biomedical sciences major and president of the organization, said the main purpose of AGS is the training of service dogs, a job performed by what the club calls “puppy raisers.” Guelker said the process of be-coming a puppy raiser is a great undertaking and the training can last two to three months.
“Hopeful puppy raisers must take classes, complete 12 shelter hours and take the shelter test,” said Jessa Sterling, senior agricultural communications major and senior puppy raiser supervisor.
The puppy raisers must go on weekly outings and have public training sessions with the dogs. Sterling said the rais-ers also they must pass a written test before they are paired with a puppy.
The puppy raisers handle what is called “phase one” training. Allyson Winkley, sophomore psychology ma-jor and puppy raiser, said the dogs are taught a variety of “tricks” used to make life easier for people with disabilities.
“We teach them basic commands, such as sit, retrieve, to close and open doors and to use lift switches,” Winkley said.
Colin Wisdom The Battalion
See Guide dog on page 2
Spring break safetyThe University Police Department shares tips on ways to maximize safety while travelling and engaging
in spring break activities. Read more at thebatt.com.
Photos by Chase Krumholz and Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
Texas A&M’s freshman class contributors, clockwise from upper left: guard Courtney Walker, guard Chelsea Jennings, guard Jordan Jones, forward Courtney Williams and guard Peyton Little
See Freshman five on page 4
Dollar T-shirtsAggieland Outfitters will be selling $1 shirts from Thursday through Saturday. Aggieland Outfitters and Traditions Council will also be accepting cash donations.
“I’m going to Destin, Florida and Universal Studios, including Harry Potter world.”
— Yvette Isidori,
sophomore political science major
“I’m going home to Beaumont, and I’m probably going to go to Galveston for a day or two.”
— Rocki Haddad,
junior English major
“I am being less responsible and I’m going to Panama City Beach all week.”
— Reggie Brooks,
senior industrial engineering major
“I’m going home to Denton. I’m hoping to eat some really good homemade food and go swing dancing.”
— Alya Ayers,
junior civil engineering major
The 2010 National Championship banner seems fresh in the minds of many A&M fans. But for the fresh-
man class called to carry the weight of that banner into the postseason, high school graduations fall closer than memories of the Aggie title team.
The six true freshmen on the A&M women’s basketball team haven’t failed to impress this year, making history in the team’s inaugural season in the South-eastern Conference.
The women’s basketball team notched the highest-rated recruiting class in school
history this past offseason, adding six true freshmen to the ranks. Five of them — Courtney Walker, Jordan Jones, Chel-sea Jennings, Peyton Little and Courtney Walker — have made consistent contribu-tions on the court this season.
Head coach Gary Blair said the freshmen class had an outstanding season as the team heads into the SEC tournament Friday.
“Walker had a sensational fresh-man season, along with my entire fresh-man class,” Blair said. “I am happy for my team being recognized for what they have accomplished with their hard work, it has been a long year and we want to
Charity Chambers The Battalion
BAT_03-08-13_A1.indd 1 3/7/13 11:44 PM
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Application forms should be picked up and returned to Sandi Jones, Student Media business coordinator, in Suite L408 of the MSC. Deadline for submitting application: noon Monday, April 1, 2013.
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• Haveatleasta2.25cumulativegradepointratio(3.25ifagraduatestudent)andatleasta2.25gradepointratio(3.25ifagraduatestudent)inthesemesterimmediatelypriortotheappointment, the semester of appointment and semester during thetermofoffice.Inorderforthisprovisiontobemet,atleastsixhours(4ifagraduatestudent)musthavebeentakenfor
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The Texas a&M sTudenT Media BoardinviTes applicaTions for
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Qualifications for editor-in-chief of The Battalion are:
• Haveatleasta2.25cumulativegradepointratio(3.25ifagraduatestudent)andatleasta2.25gradepointratio(3.25ifagraduatestudent)inthesemesterimmediatelypriortotheappointment,thesemester of appointment and semester during the term of office. in orderforthisprovisiontobemet,atleastsixhours(4ifagraduatestudent)musthavebeentakenforthatsemester.
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page23.8.2013thebattalion
lifes
tyle
s
b!Students weigh pros and cons of studying abroad
Each school year thousands of Texas A&M students board planes bound for foreign countries. Inside their luggage,
one wouldn’t find check-in confirmations for hotel resorts or an itinerary list for a relaxing vacation, but rather enough pens and three-ringed binders to irritate even the most laid back of TSA employees. These students have set out to do exactly what their belongings would suggest — study abroad.
Before departure and living in another country, A&M re-quires students to schedule meetings with advisors in advance of the application deadline to organize their trips. And despite the potential benefits of studying abroad, Jane Flaherty, director of Texas A&M Study Abroad Pro-grams, has noticed a discrepancy in opinion between students and parents on planning a trip outside the U.S.
“The program encourages stu-dents to begin planning for their study abroad trips early,” Flaherty said. “The more planning that is involved, the less sacrifices have to be made in terms of money and graduating on time. Adults are able to look back once they’re working and realize how valuable a study abroad experience would have been, so they encourage students to take advantage and plan early.”
Flaherty tells students that al-though regular college tuition may be used to cover the ma-jority of their trip’s expenses, they will inevitably spend some amount of money. Even if a stu-dent managed to circumvent the cost of airfare, they would still face opportunity costs due to missing out on a possible semester of employment.
Rachel Harris, sophomore biomedical sciences major, decided against study abroad after considering the possible drawbacks.
“If I had the time and money, maybe I’d do it. I just don’t really see it benefitting me that much as someone who’s going into the medical field,” Harries said.
Beyond the expected tolls on time and money lies the issue of safety. Although a multitude of precautions are taken on all study abroad trips, the rates of violence and crime in the U.S. are historically lower than the average. According to Flaherty, no student should be deterred due to the issue of safety. She said not only are students who study abroad equipped with
comprehensive medical insurance with no deductibles, but they are even offered a private 24/7 helpline.
The benefits of traveling to another country are often dif-ficult to predict. After directing the A&M Study Abroad Pro-gram for more than six years, Flaherty said she has learned that the introduction of challenges is one of the most important things that happen when students are exposed to a new en-vironment .
“Simply figuring out where to go when you get off of your flight or how to do things that may be considered simple at home builds valuable experience and perspective in students,” Flaherty said.
Last year, the University sent 2,700 students to more than 80 countries for international education programs. Kimberly
Johnson, senior international studies major, studied abroad in Jordan dur-ing the fall 2012 semester. Johnson was required to study abroad for her major. Nevertheless, she strongly rec-ommended the experience to students of every major.
“You do miss out on social activities and your friends, but have absolute-ly no regrets,” Johnson said. “It was amazing how much you could learn about others just by talking to them. People shouldn’t be afraid to make themselves uncomfortable, because that’s when you grow. The issue of safety was no big deal, just don’t do anything you wouldn’t normally do at home.”
Abbey Davis, freshman business major, hopes to study abroad at least once before she graduates, as she be-lieves it will be her only chance.
“You’re never going to get the opportunity again. Once you’re es-tablished in your career, you can’t just take off from work to go have a culturally enriching experience,”
Davis said.Melanie Rogers, lead office associate at the Study Abroad
Programs Office, said she feels strongly that study abroad can guarantee at least some benefit to any student. Advocating its free accessibility, she said that even disabled students can take advantage of the program.
“We’re able to accommodate students with disabilities, and we make sure everyone is safe by not allowing anyone to go to travel-warning countries,” Rogers said. “Students are able to see how differently things are done in foreign countries, and it helps their perspectives mature. I really don’t see how any student could truly get nothing out of the experience.”
Joseph DonnellySpecial to The Battalion
COURTESY
Kimberly Johnson, senior international studies major, studied in Jordan in the fall of 2012.
She said trainers use a technique known as “clicker training” to help train the dogs.
“Clicker training is a positive reinforcement technique,” said Haley Jumper, senior history major and junior puppy raiser supervisor. “Whenever a dog does something good, we click a clicker and give them a treat. Eventually the dog associates the clicker with good behavior.”
The dogs are taken on outings to socialize them and desensi-tize them to loud noises, other animals and similar distractions.
“These dogs are even trained to use the bathroom on com-mand,” Jumper said.
It’s not all work for these puppies. Once a week, they meet to socialize and play with members of the service dog organization.
“People see the service jacket and think that the dogs never get to have fun, but they get to play all the time,” Guelker said.
After 12 to 18 months of training, the dogs are sent to organizations such as Canine Assistances or the Train a Dog Save a Warrior foundation to start their “phase two” training. The dogs donated to Canine Assistanc-es are usually trained as mobility service dogs. They help people who have disabilities that hinder their ability to move.
Dogs donated to Train a Dog Save a Warrior are trained to help soldiers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“The dogs give companionship to the soldiers,” Sterling said. “Those with PTSD are prone to flash backs. The dogs pull them out of these flashbacks and back into reality.”
Not any dog can become a service dog. All of the pup-pies are donated to AGS with many coming from Sa-fari Doodles, a breeder in the Dallas area. The majority of AGS puppies are Labradoodles, Goldendoodles or other poodle mixes.
“Poodles are considered the smartest breed,” Jumpers said. “When bred with a Labrador or Golden Retriever, you get the poodle intelligence with the loyalty and drive of a retriever. Also they tend to be hypoallergenic. These traits together make them perfect as service dogs.”
“In choosing a puppy we use a method called the Volhard method,” Jumpers said. “We watch the puppies to see if they have drive, how they react to people, noises, changing situa-tions and being placed in different situations. We also see how they act within the litter to see if they tend to be dominant over their litter mates.”
The puppies must then be health certified and begin training at around eight weeks of age.
To help educate the public on their work and service dogs in general, AGS visits local schools and events.
“We speak to 4-H groups, at local elementary schools and we had a booth at the last disabilities fair,” said Madalyn Guelk-er, senior biomedical sciences major and AGS president.
Members of the organization hold monthly fundraisers. They also have Donation drives where they raise money for kennels and the Train a Dog Save a Warrior foundation.
Sterling said having to watch the dogs leave is the hardest part of the process, but seeing impact the dogs have on people’s lives is more than enough.
“One dog, Watson, was paired with a woman who was a complete shut-in, never left her house,” Sterling said. “Mar-shal, Watson’s raiser, was told that he would never hear from them. Sometime later he gets a call from this woman. She had a complete turnaround thanks to Watson and began to regularly leave her house.”
Sterling said that the main focus of the club has, and will always be the dogs.
“The dogs are the reason we do this,” Sterling said. “They are the number one priority.”
Guide
Continued from page 1
Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
Melissa Beger, senior animal science major, gives Rookie a treat after completing a training exercise.
BAT_03-08-13_A2.indd 1 3/7/13 11:42 PM
thebattalion
news page 3
friday 3.8.2013
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“First they took baseball, then they took freedom” — the opening words to the book Cubanos in Wisconsin by Silvio Canto Jr., the story of Fidel Castro’s communist takeover of Cuba and the migration to the U.S. that followed.
And while the story within the pages begins in Cuba and ends in Wisconsin, the Canto family’s pursuit of happiness led them to Texas A&M Uni-versity. Two of Silvio’s sons graduated from A&M and both worked on the book with him, making its publica-tion a family — and an Aggie — affair.
“It was a great honor for me to do a book about my family,” Silvio said. “Even more so because two of my
sons played huge roles in get-ting it published.”
Cubanos in Wisconsin de-tails the story of Silvio Jr. and his family living in 1960s Cuba. He recounts the slow-but-steady depreciation of freedom and standard of liv-ing under Castro’s regime. Banks were nationalized and free enterprise stifled, religion was pushed underground and oppression rose, Silvio said. These changes prompted the Canto family, along with 300,000 other Cuban immi-grants, to leave Cuba in the 1960s in hopes of a better fu-ture in the U.S.
The elder Silvio’s two sons — Gabriel Canto, Class of 2011, and Silvio Canto, Class of 2010 — said the message is important for all readers, in-cluding A&M students.
John Rangel The Battalion
A&M grads assist family’s story of migration from Cuba
COURTESY
Brothers Gabriel (left) and Silvio Canto (right) helped their father Silvo Canto Jr. write Cubanos in Wisconsin.
Gabriel participated in several creative writing proj-ects during his four years at A&M. He said his writing background enabled him to develop the book further.
“My grandfather’s selfless service to my family was noth-ing short of phenomenal,” Gabriel said. “He went from a banker in Cuba, to a jani-tor in the U.S., and eventu-ally worked his way back to become a banker again, this time in the U.S.”
The brothers want to use the book’s story to spread its values and to prompt discus-
sion on unresolved immigra-tion issues.
“Cubanos in Wisconsin is a quick and easy read about a point in history that many people don’t know much about,” Silvio said. “People usually associate Cuba only with the Cuban Missile Cri-sis or the Bay of Pigs, but [with this book] you really start to know how evil it is to have your civil liberties taken away.”
Gabriel said he hopes the book’s impact will affect leg-
islative proceedings.“Immigration is a big topic
today but a lot of people sim-ply don’t realize the wide va-riety of backgrounds that are
present,” Gabriel said. “I hope [my family’s story] contributes to the immigration policy dis-cussion.”
See full story at thebatt.com.
BAT_03-08-13_A3.indd 1 3/7/13 9:15 PM
While the creation of individual brackets has entertained fans for sometime, a new system based in the roots of
fantasy football has surfaced to revolutionize March Madness competition.
The creators of “Draft the Madness,” Daniel Braus and Jim Hong, said the improbability of perfection leads to people los-ing interest in their pool and in the NCAA tournament, a factor they accounted for when developing their concept on the “build your bracket” system.
Instead of drafting individual players, like in fantasy football, Draft the Madness players would draft teams in the tournament to garner points from winning games. Pools of players would set a lineup for each round of March Madness to earn the most points through each of their drafted programs.
“Drafting teams inevitably creates a sense of connection with the teams you drafted, which means you really root for those teams throughout the tournament,” Braus said. “With brackets, you pick the winners of 63 games. With Draft the Madness, you ‘own’ 5-10 teams and you can easily pay atten-tion to those teams and follow them throughout the tourna-ment.”
For decades, the public focus of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has centered on the individual notion of building a bracket — selecting the outcome of 63 games prior to tourna-ment play with the intention of predicting an ultimate victor.
Correctly predicting all 63 games has eluded most fans and analysts every year as the unpredictability of the tournament consistently lives up to its pop culture nickname: March Mad-ness.
According to The Washington Post, the odds of building a perfect bracket are one in 9.2 quintillion — that’s 18 zeros of improbability.
- James Sullivan, staff reporter
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and launch your career at one of the top global professional services firms.Pre-order your 2013 Aggieland yearbook for $81.19,
including shipping and sales tax, and $AVE.The 111th edition of Texas A&M’s
official yearbook will chronicle the 2012-2013 school year — traditions,
academics, the other education, sports, the Corps, Greeks, ResLife, campus
organizations and seniors and graduate students. Distribution of the 2013 Aggieland will be during Fall 2013.
Go to http://aggieland.tamu.edu or call 979-845-2696 to pre-order by credit
card. Or drop by the Student Media office, Suite L400 in the MSC. Cash,
check, VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted.
Memories fade.Yearbooks last a Lifetime.
sports thebattalion 3.8.2013
page4
Ryan SwopeLast day to voteFriday stands as the final day to cast your ballot in the NCAA Football 14 Cover Vote Campaign online.
equestrian | No. 6 A&M faces No. 2 Georgia on senior night at 10 a.m. Friday in College Station.
w. swimming | A&M garnered 13 invites for the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis, Ind., on March 21-23.
m. golf | No. 25 A&M travels to Las Vegas, Nev., to compete in the Highlands Collegiate Masters.
Chase Krumholz — THE BATTALION
Freshman guard Courtney Walker drives to the basket during A&M’s 60-52 victory over Vanderbilt on Jan. 31. Walker led A&M in steals (51) this season while placing second in both points (10.5) and assists (2.7).
New concept seeks modernization for aged competition
finish it off the right way by going to the SEC Tournament.”
Walker has highlighted the contribu-tions of the class, starting in every regu-lar season game and leading the team in steals (51). Her scoring output (10.5
points per game) ranks just behind ju-nior All-American candidate Kelsey Bone for the team lead and she trails only senior guard Adrienne Pratcher in assists (2.7 per game).
Walker earned All-SEC Freshman team honors along with an SEC Player and Freshman of the Week awards, but she wasn’t the only member of her class to receive recognition.
march madnessFreshman fiveContinued from page 1
Little, after hitting five three-point shots to lead the Aggies to a win over Missouri, earned the SEC Freshman of the Week honors of her own.
Jones said even though they are only freshmen, Blair expects each to execute at a consistently high level.
“Basketball is basketball,” Jones said. “Whether you’re a freshman, sopho-more, senior or junior, if the coach is going to put you in the game, you have to perform the way the coach knows you can perform.”
Many connections exist between the freshmen and the rest of the roster, dat-ing from their time before A&M.
Williams was a member of an AAU Houston Elite team while in high school on which redshirt freshman Rachel Mitchell and juniors Karla Gilbert and Kelsey Bone once played.
Jennings, Walker, Jones and Curtyce Knox played for the Dallas-Forth Worth Elite club team in high school. The squad caught the attention of Blair and A&M following its victory in the 2011 17-Under Nike Elite Nationals.
Walker said it’s comfortable to com-pete in college with familiar players.
“It’s really fun playing together,” Walker said. “We have a lot of chem-istry together because we played three or four years together. It really helped us sync together because Jordan [Jones], Chelsea [Jennings] and I play the same positions we did when we played with DFW so it really helps our chemistry when we’re trying to learn coach Blair’s system.”
Using these connections to their ad-vantage, the freshmen five have contrib-uted to A&M’s fourth place regular sea-son finish in the SEC, No. 19 nationally. During the year, the Aggies ranked as high as No. 10.
With a 21-9 overall record and an 11-5 league showing, A&M enters the SEC tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Aggies play South Carolina at 1:30 p.m. on Friday in Duluth, Ga. and will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament in College Station on March 23 and 25.
March Madness 2013NCAA tournamentFollowing Selection Sunday on March 17, the first round of the NCAA tournament starts on March 19.
