thebattalion ● friday,
april 15, 2011
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texas a&m since 1893
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Parents visit campus
President invites parents into home President R. Bowen Loftin and Karin C. Loftin and Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Weber and his wife will welcome guests at their campus homes during an open house from 10 a.m. until noon Saturday. Aggie families who are on campus for Parents’ Weekend are invited to stop by one or both of the homes where they will be welcomed and served refreshments. The president’s and vice president’s homes are on adjacent sites on Throckmorton Street, with the president’s home overlooking Duncan Drill Field and the vice president’s home across from the Sanders Corps of Cadets Center.
Students share experience and Aggie spirit, events Rebecca Hutchinson
The Battalion Texas A&M and its students give a collective “Howdy” to welcome Aggie parents during this year’s Parents’ Weekend. Started in 1919 and traditionally held on Mother’s Day by the Aggies Mom’s Club for worried mother’s to check on their sons in the Corps, this weekend has been expanded to ensconce the entire University as a way for students to show off the campus and share some of their college experiences. Not everyone’s parents can make it to College Station to participate in the weekend festivities, but regardless there are numerous events to enjoy. “Maroon and White game,” said seniors Missy McDaniel, a communications major, and Lars Lequire, a sports management major. McDaniel said her parents might come down but whether they do or not she will be taking part in the athletic events occurring this weekend. “It’s debatable. Last year they came down, and I think the year before, but it’s all coincidence. We don’t really plan in my family,” McDaniel said. Being a sports management major, Lequire is somewhat of an athletic fanatic, she said. A spokeswoman for the women’s basketball team, she and McDaniel drove up to Indianapolis
Vietnam memorial A miniature replica of a proposed $1.5 million statue planned for prominent placement on the grounds of the state capitol to honor Vietnam veterans will be on public display at the Sam Houston Sanders Corps of Cadets Center beginning Saturday.
See Parents on page 6
organizations
A&M sets precedent in GLBT clubs
Staff and wire reports Paul Mezier — THE BATTALION
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b!
scene | 4 MSC variety show
Various student performance groups including HardChord DynaMix and Fade to Black will compete in Town Hall’s annual variety show at 7:30 p.m. today in Rudder Auditorium.
sports | 7 Spring football The Aggie football team has a lot to prove after last season. They gear up for the annual spring football game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Kyle Field.
voices | 12 Mail call Students and readers give feedback on campus events and Battalion stories.
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Brittany Sikorski, a senior geography major, suffers from Usher Syndrome, a condition that left her legally deaf and blind. She will receive her Aggie ring today.
Tunnel vision Student earns Aggie ring through focused work and passion
Victoria Daugherty
The Battalion As is custom this time of year, thousands of students will have 90 hours of schoolwork rewarded with an Aggie ring. One student, however, accomplished 90 hours without ever hearing a lecture and with hardly any eyesight. Brittany Sikorski is a senior geography major who has a condition known as Usher Syndrome, leaving her legally blind and deaf. “Many people can not tell that I am blind and deaf since I don’t wear hearing aids. I still have central vision and can read small font, but I cannot tell right away if a person is about to pass right by me,” Sikorski said. Many students take for granted being able to read, listen and take notes for class, but Sikorski does not let her condition stop her from getting her degree. To be successful, she found other tactics when it came to interpreting lectures and studying for each class. During the first two years of her college
career, Sikorski was a zoology major and used mostly sign language interpreters. As classes got harder, however, it became more difficult for her to try to understand what they were trying to translate since the vocabulary level got harder. She then began using transcribers, which are people who go to class and type the professor’s lecture. As she entered her senior year, the classes became more hands on, so she began using a mix of both sign language interpreters for the labfocused courses and transcribers for the more lecture-focused courses. “It is hard enough to read and take notes for exams, I really can’t imagine doing that without eyesight or hearing,” said Katelyn Allen, a senior psychology major. “I really impressed that she can do that, I don’t think I could.” Due to her visual problems, she was allowed extra time to exams, but most of the See Sikorski on page 6
Usher Syndrome ◗ A major symptom of Usher Syndrome is retinitis pigmentosa which causes nightblindness, a loss of peripheral vision and tunnel vision ◗ In the U.S., four out of every 100,000 babies have Usher Syndrome.
Aggie students pave way for similar clubs across the nation Katie Marie Pogue
The Battalion GLBT awareness week takes place every year from April 1 through April 15 to commemorate the courts decision and to promote awareness. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender, GLBT, was recognized as an official student organization at Texas A&M University April 1, 1985 after a legal battle spanning from 1976 to 1985. The court case, known as GSS vs. Texas A&M University, was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and served as a landmark case for many GLBT organizations at other universities across the nation. “The organization is a group of GLBT students and their straight supporters, and meetings range from social events to educational presentations about various topics relating to GLBT identity, history and culture,” said Lowell Kane, program coordinator for the GLBT resource center. One of the most significant events to take place during this week is the second annual giveaway of 1,000 free T-shirts bearing the words “Gay? Fine by me.” “This T-shirt project takes place at over 300 schools and universities across the nation, and has been coordinated by the student organization GLBT Aggies since April 2010,” Kane said. These shirts will be worn today for “National Day of Silence,” a day to raise awareness for the silencing effect of homophobia. Participants wear anti-homophobia messages on clothes and some take a vow of silence. Rachel Boenigk, a graduate student in public service and administration and an officer in GLBT See GLBT on page 6
4/14/11 7:48 PM