thebattalion
Womens’ basketball on page 3
● wednesday,
march 23, 2011
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2011 student media
thebattalion asks
Q:
What type of supplies, and how many of each, do you think The Big Event uses?
$18.66
$16.97 per It uses wheelbarrows and shovels and all sorts of other goodies like that. A thousand shovels and rakes and things that are per person, only 200 wheelbarrows.
$9.98 per leaf rake
$1.98 per pair
Jordan Blake, senior psychology major
per shovel
hard rake
gloves
$7.98 per
garden shovel
$14.98
per 25 bags
Graphic by Christina Fuentes — THE BATTALION
A lot of shovels, probably a million shovels. A million shovels is about enough for a thousand people. And a lot of trees, dead trees that you can make into a lot of wood. Bri Adams, freshman kinesiology major
If they’re planting trees, they’re probably using a couple of tractors.
BIG PLANNING DECK HEADLINE YY DECK HEADLINE HEDLINE YY Trevor Stevens The Battalion This Saturday, The Big Event will consist of 15,000 students completing over 1,500 job requests in Bryan-College Station. Operational costs for student recruitment, outreach resources and all necessary tools and equipment needed for the day continue to rise with this year’s record breaking number of student participants. This year, The Big Event’s operational costs accumulate to approximately $85,000. To match the expected costs, The
Big Event acquires most of its revenue from member dues, Student Government Association allocations, city reimbursements, and profit shares with local restaurants. The Committee also organizes a western themed gala and silent auction in October to raise funds from the community. The leftover expenses are covered by donations from Aggie Mom’s Club, local businesses and A&M alumni. “The operations subcommittee plans and gathers all the materials for the gala and auction, where committee mem-
ber parents, faculty and former supporting students come to donate and bid on items like Southwest Airlines tickets and custom made furniture,” said Erin Weaver, a senior communication major. The average cost of tools for each job site totals $164. Depending on the job, each site needs a multitude of basic tools, including everything from garden shovels to trash bags. Along with generous allowances from supporting organizations and
Get involved Big Event will be allowing students to register on March 26 in Lot 100c of Reed Arena during kick-off ceremonies. Email questions about registration to signups@ bigevent.tamu.edu
See Logistics on page 4
National recognition in Event history
Zach Nelson, freshman mechanical engineering major
have adopted the program and participate in service. “We had identified that we wanted to recruit 1,400 jobs and completed 1,428,” said Mallory Myers a senior political science major and 2010 Big Event director. Christine Perrenot Many of the project’s goals were The Battalion met or surpassed, which made the The Big Event project was preBig Event such a great candidate for dominantly local at its start. Now it is the Point of Light award. a national event and one of the most “We had wanted 13,000 students successful student-run community to participate and had 13,500,” she service projects. Other universities said.
Local organization leads nation, recieves presidential award
Expansion has been and will be a continuous goal for the Big Event. “Our mission is to say thank you,” said Ryan Byrnes, Big Event director. The organization hopes to continue saying thank you by having more students sign up and promote expansion. The organization was presented the Point of Light award by President Obama in 2009. “The Point of Light award gave us national recognition,” Byrnes said.
Schools can come in from all over the nation to get a glimpse of how the event is operated and to begin their own projects. “There are now over 75 Big Events across the nation that started at Texas A&M,” Byrnes said. The Point of Light award will be something the organization continues to have pride in. “We were given the award on behalf of the Point of Light Institute started by H.W. Bush,” said Mallory See Obama on page 4
baseball
namesake
No. 6 Aggies fight against streaking SFA
Victoria graduate as program namesake Sarah Smith
Austin Meek
The Battalion After a hard-fought game against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks, junior first baseman Jacob House came out to greet reporters with Toby, a large plush monkey, wrapped around his neck. “A couple weeks ago we were struggling a little bit with the bats and I told Josh, ‘We need a rally monkey.’ I remember the [Los Angeles] Angels and they had a rally monkey. I said, ‘Let’s get something going,’ so we named him and it’s just kind of taken off. Every time someone gets a big hit, hands above your head See Baseball on page 7
Josh McKenna — THE BATTALION
Sophomore sidearm pitcher Kyle Martin pitched one inning in relief for the Aggies in Tuesday’s game. The Aggies are now 16-5 after the 7-5 victory over SFA.
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The Battalion It is a great thrill to have a namesake. Some might dream to have their name etched above the most disgustingly humongous sandwich at Jason’s Deli. Others take fancy in remote animal species, interstate highways or infectious diseases. While all these sound intriguing, Dr. Ciriaco Valdez-Flores, class of 1987, is the first man to have a graduating class in his name at The Instituto Tecnologico de Cd. Victoria. Located in Ciudad Victoria, the capital city of the State of
Tamulipas, The Instituto Tecnologico de Cd. Victoria graduated its 64th class on February 25, 2011. Valdez-Flores graduated June of 1980, as a member of the second class admitted to the college. “I studied Industrial Engineering because that was the major that was closest to what I really wanted; applied math was not available in the city,” Valdez-Flores said. However, he had to climb over many obstacles to attain and continue his education upon graduation. See Valdez-Flores on page 4
Saturday March 26, 2011 12pm - 5pm 117 Holleman Drive West, College Station, 77840
3/23/11 12:16 AM