The Battalion - August 6, 2019

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2019 STUDENT MEDIA

Meredith Seaver — THE BATTALION

Serving the Aggie way

SWANSONG

2

The Battalion | 8.6.19

One last gig ‘em

A thank you to my family, The Battalion and Aggieland for my best adventure yet

By Abigail Ochoa @AbigailOchoa88

PROVIDED

Editor-In-Chief Abigail Ochoa will graduate at 9 a.m. on Friday, August 9.

My time at Texas A&M can be summed up with one word — mesmerizing. Capturing someone’s complete attention as if by magic.

Growing up, all I wanted to do was go to A&M and live in College Station. During my sophomore year of high school, I realized my time in college would be cut short after I joined an accelerated learning program. With two years of college done by the time I graduated high school, I knew I had to make the most of my time at A&M. During my two years here, I’ve managed to make great friendships, cover more games than I can count and strengthen my faith. A&M captured my attention in all facets of my life. It challenged me academically, socially — for an awkward person like me, this was a big one — and religiously. Needless to say, the last two years were filled with moments and opportunities I couldn’t have experienced anywhere else.

As with many things in life, this journey was not done alone.

To my family, thank you for being my most critical editors and my biggest supporters. You made coming home a nice vacation, and always answered my FaceTime calls when something embarrassing happened to me and I had to tell someone. Mom and Dad, it’s not an easy thing having four kids, but you make us each feel loved and seen. Joshua, Bella and Ava, you pushed me to be better in every way and I’m so happy you were my first best friends.

To my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, thank you for all the food gift cards. It was a lifesaver. But more importantly, thank you for being The Battalion’s biggest fan and always supporting my dreams. We are usually the loudest people anywhere we go, so I can’t wait to hear everybody in Reed on Friday.

To my friends and mentors, thank you for being there and keeping me laughing through each step of the way.

When I decided to become a journalist, I didn’t think I would experience half the things I have experienced in the past two years. Through my internships I was able to experience news through the lens of different journalists and reporters. The Batt gave me some of my best friends at A&M, and opened the door to opportunities and experiences that have already helped me in my post-college career. I will miss walking into the office and seeing my best buds everyday (you too Mr. Pils).

Although it hasn’t hit me that I’m walking the stage on Friday, I know I will be mesmerized, yet again, by A&M and the people who got me to this point.

Thanks and Gig’em.

Abigail Ochoa is an agricultural communications and journalism senior and Editor-In-Chief for The Battalion.

LIFE&ARTS

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The Battalion | 8.6.19

Paying tuition is a piece of cheesecake

PROVIDED

Urban Planning and Sustainable Architecture sophomore Diana Reyna sells a variety of cheesecakes through her company Pastelitos Co.

A&M student uses social media to help pay for upcoming year’s tuition

By Demi Navarro @demileenavarro With the widespread use of social media, many people advertise their businesses on social platforms in hopes of reaching a bigger audience. For Texas A&M sophomore, Diana Reyna, one social media post led to a small business that now helps her pay tuition.

At the beginning of the summer, Reyna sent out a tweet asking her followers if they would be willing to buy cheesecakes to help her cover tuition for the upcoming year. Fast forward a few months — and thousands of

followers later — she is the owner of her own business, Pastelitos Co., and has made enough money to cover the expenses that FAFSA could not.

“I never really expected to start a small business,” Reyna said. “I didn’t know cheesecake was that popular.”

Reyna did not always have a passion for baking. In fact, she attributes her father and her iPhone’s Siri for launching her cheesecake career over the holidays two years ago.

“My dad said ‘Okay mija you’re in charge of the desserts,’” Reyna said. “I’m bad in the kitchen so I asked Siri what was the easiest dessert for the holidays and one of them was cheesecake. I started incorporating my own stuff into the recipe and gave it to my family and they were like, ‘This is the most delicious

cheesecake I’ve ever tasted!’”

When she learned FAFSA wouldn’t offer her as much financial aid as the previous year, Reyna was determined to work hard to make up the deficit.

“When I started selling my cheesecakes I knew it was going to be difficult, but I had to pull myself up,” Reyna said.

The Aggie Network did not disappoint.

Within a week of her initial post, Reyna gained over a thousand followers and orders started rushing in. Not long after she began planning and making deliveries in College Station, Houston and Dallas. She also began getting out-of-state requests, but Reyna said for now she is keeping it local in College Station starting in the fall.

Pastelitos Co. seemed to blow up over-

night, and Aggies from all over offered their help, according to Reyna.

“I’ve had a ton of people say, ‘I’ll help you make policies if you need it,’ or ‘If you need help organizing orders I can do it’ and they’re all Aggies,” Reyna said. “The Aggie network is so real, if I had not gone to A&M this would not have happened.”

Pastelitos Co. sells cheesecakes such as Strawberry Drizzle, Raspberry Drizzle and Cajeta y Nuez. The cheesecakes total $25 for pick up and $30 for delivery.

As for the advice she would give to others looking to start their own business, Reyna kept it simple.

“Anything is possible,” Reyna said.

NEWS

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The Battalion | 8.6.19

Offering solutions through service

Why A&M isn’t playing Texas

Jesse Everett — THE BATTALION

The last game played between the Aggies and the Longhorns was on November 24, 2011.

A&M-UT debate continues as players and coaches weigh in on rivalry

By Alex Miller @AlexMill20

Meredith Seaver — THE BATTALION

Connor Joseph, Class of 2019, served as both a Junior and Senior Yell Leader. Connor co-founded CollegeGuys Services in May 2019 with a goal to provide service to the community.

Former Yell Leader to serve College Station community in innovative way

By Brady Stone @bradystonex After serving as a Fightin’ Texas Aggie Yell Leader for two years, Connor Joseph, Class of 2019, decided he would serve the College Station community in a new way – by co-founding his own business to help college students.

Along with Michael McCord, Class of 2019, Joseph founded CollegeGuys Services and began operation in May 2019 with the mission to, “empower college students to provide quality service to the community as a means to further pay for their education.”

CollegeGuys Services combines the ideas

of The Big Event and Uber in how it is a contracting business that allows someone to order labor, like one would order a rideshare, for miscellaneous tasks they may need assistance with.

“We offer moving services, yardwork, custom jobs and miscellaneous tasks,” Joseph said.

“Year round, members of the community can request contract labor and know that college students who are working their way through school are going to come out and serve them.”

Joseph said that unlike many jobs a college student would typically have, CollegeGuys Services is perfect for students because it allows them to make their own work schedule.

“College students don’t want to be working 30-40 hour work weeks because they would be missing out on so much of what college has to offer,” Joseph said. “What we do is say that the students working for us can

work as much or as little as they want.”

Flexible scheduling is something that Joseph knew he wanted to have for his business model — a model he thinks will be valuable in many college towns.

“We hope to expand to other college towns where there is a strong relationship between the communities and the universities,” Joseph said. “I want to put the ball in the court for these college students in order to empower them to get the most out of their college experience while also graduating with less debt.”

A 2018 Forbes statistic claims student debt for the average college student is around $37,000, a number Joseph thinks should change.

“Finding out that the average college student is graduating tens of thousands of dollars in debt in this country, it can easily be seen why student debt has become such a hot top-

ic,” Joseph said. “But, the great thing about this country is that we can start companies to solve problems, and that’s really what I’ve tried to do in building this business model.”

Joseph said they are opening a Denton branch of CollegeGuys Services this week, but he has his sights set much higher.

“We hope to expand to other colleges where there is a strong relationship between the community and university,” Joseph said.

“I think what we’ve been able to accomplish thus far in our business is something that is worth taking to any college town across the state and hopefully the country in the coming years.”

To learn more about CollegeGuys Services, how to request a service or apply to work, visit collegeguysservices.com.

It’s peak offseason when reporters ask someone from Texas A&M or Texas the one simple question: do you want the rivalry to resume?

Texas head coach Tom Herman voiced his opinion at Big 12 Media Days in Arlington.

“I’d love to see the rivalry renewed,” Herman said. “I think it’s great for college football. I think it’s great for Texas. There’s plenty of other inner-state rivals that are in different conferences that find a way to play each other — Clemson-South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Florida-Florida State, Iowa-Iowa State — the list goes on and on.”

Just hours later, Jimbo Fisher opened the floor for questions during his appearance at SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama. The first question, in response to Herman’s comments: Are you interested in playing Texas in football?

“Yeah, if it’s beneficial to Texas A&M,” Fisher said. “If it’s something that benefits Texas A&M, we’ll definitely be interested in that and make those judgements as they come.”

If A&M says it’s going to do what’s in its best interest, but the Aggies aren’t scheduling Texas, then they must feel booking games with the Longhorns isn’t in their best interest, as of now. Still, A&M quarterback Kellen Mond voiced his support in renewing the rivalry with the Aggies’ longtime foes from

Austin.

“I think it would be good for sports and I think it would be good for the state of Texas as a whole,” Mond said at SEC Media Days.

“Obviously I have no control over the schedule, but I definitely feel like it would kind of bring that rivalry back and bring competition to the state of Texas, not only on the field, but in recruiting, too.”

Why wouldn’t Mond be in support of the game? It’s one of college football’s greatest and long standing rivalries. Players have missed out on being apart of this game for almost a decade now. There’s been chances to play the game, in the regular season and in bowl games, yet it hasn’t happened.

When scheduling decisions are needed to be made though, the Aggies aren’t making the Horns a top priority.

Why should they?

In 2019, A&M is playing the potential top3 preseason teams – Clemson, Alabama and Georgia. Throw in LSU, Auburn and Mississippi State to the slate and the Aggies already have half a schedule ranked in the top-15.

Sure, Texas will likely be a preseason top10 contender. Herman has the Horns heading in the right direction again as Sam Ehlinger is emerging as one of Austin’s greatest quarterbacks. Yet, the Aggies don’t feel an inkling to have Texas as one of their 12 games. A&M is paying Jimbo Fisher $75 million to win championships and the Aggies must feel their current and future slates are strong enough to get there, if they win, without having to give the Longhorns any attention.

A&M already had a chance to put Texas back on its schedule, too, when Chris Del Conte called Scott Woodward about a home-

and-home in 2022-2023, but the Aggies declined. Woodward essentially said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Instead, Texas booked a home-and-home with Alabama, who the Aggies play every season now.

It’s clear why the Aggies aren’t budging, too — Texas needs the game more than A&M does. Herman’s explanation on wanting the game to return proves so.

“We don’t play a historic rival at home anymore. Ever,” Herman said. “We have to drive to Dallas to play our lone remaining historic rival [Oklahoma]. And then for our players, I much rather know every other year our longest non-conference road game is going to be two hours down the road instead of getting on a plane to Los Angeles to play a night game in Pacific Time, or flying to Columbus, Ohio or Gainesville, Florida.”

Without A&M on the schedule, Texas’ home slate suffers. Sure the Horns host LSU in week two this season, but what other games are intriguing of national quality? Oklahoma State? Texas Tech? Neither are going to be conference contenders.

Texas will bring Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and Georgia to town in the coming years, but what happens when Texas must make the return trips as part of home-andhome deals? Games against Baylor and TCU are only so exciting.

A&M, on the other hand, seems content with its future home schedules.

In even years, the Aggies have a Power 5 non-conference game and LSU at home. In odd years, Alabama and Auburn come to Kyle Field. The Aggies welcome East powers Florida and Georgia to College Station in 2022 and 2024, respectively. Trips to Colorado, Miami

and Notre Dame help give A&M more national exposure, car rides to Austin don’t.

The argument is made that the Aggies could schedule two Power 5 opponents in non-conference play, such as SEC foes Florida and South Carolina often do, but it’s not necessary for A&M to bolster its schedule.

Having the Horns on Thanksgiving Weekend was a traditional A&M game for decades.

Now the Aggies have LSU on the final weekend, and the game seems to be fixated on that date. Throw in the increasing tension between the Aggies-Tigers, and a new rivalry is being forged, one that could soon have conference and national implications.

Wouldn’t the Aggies want a chance to close the season with a game that could soon be played for titles instead of a date in Austin for bragging rights?

Former Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds once told the Daily Texan, “They left.

They’re the ones that decided not to play us.

We get to decide when we play again. I think that’s fair.”

It sounds like Texas is ready to reinstate the rivalry again, but the Horns have forgotten one key piece: It takes two to make a deal, and the Aggies seem content in their independence.

It’s clear if nobody in Austin – in the Texas athletics department, nor state legislature – can strike or force a deal, the power rests in College Station and A&M is reaping the benefits of looking at the new horizon in the East, or Southeast, rather than continuing to stir up old dust in the West.

NEWS

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The Battalion | 8.6.19

Straight from Miss Rev’s mouth

Meredith Seaver — THE BATTALION

The Miss Rev artificial intelligence chatbot is now available on both the Career Center and Financial Aid websites. Miss Rev is an all-hours resource for students and parents.

New chatbot technology allows for instant help on A&M websites

By Camryn Lang @CamrynLang Whether you’ve had trouble navigating the Career Center’s website or simply need to find answers to your financial aid questions, Miss Rev is here to help through a new chatbot option.

The chatbot was created by Ivy.ai, a company that works with around 100 universities and colleges nationwide. Work on both the Career Center and Financial Aid Department’s chatbots began in the spring of 2018.

While the Career Center’s chatbot went live in January, the Financial Aid Department has officially moved Miss Rev out of the testing phase this August, in hopes of helping students more efficiently during the start of the semester.

The idea for its creation originally came from Assistant Director for Financial Aid and

Class of 2011 Melissa Mallett Bohnsack. Mallet Bohnsack said she submitted a proposal for the artificially intelligent chatbot to the Office of Academic Affairs for their Big Idea contest. Since winning the competition, Mallet Bohnsack has received funding for Miss Rev and become the program coordinator of the project.

Miss Rev allows parents and students to locate information on the Financial Aid Department’s website and the Career Center’s website with less difficulty, while reducing the onslaught of emails the department gets about information that can be found on the website.

“Students and parents would go to our website and wouldn’t necessarily know ‘is this about applying for aid?’ or ‘is this about processing my aid?’” Mallett Bohnsack said.

“They just wouldn’t know where to find the information. That’s been the biggest thing with Miss Rev, she helps find the information without having to know where to exactly click.”

In March, Miss Rev was live on the Financial Aid Department’s website but is now fully

functional and prepared to aid students with their questions.

“Students may have already interacted with her; it’s very possible.” Mallet Bohnsack said.

“We’ve had, since she went live, a little over 9,600 conversations ­— which is a lot. When she went live, she could only answer 700 different questions because we just tested her and built her brain up. She’s artificially intelligent so the more people use her, the smarter she becomes. So, if she doesn’t the answer to a question today, she’ll know it tomorrow.”

Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Ivy.ai Mary Frances Coryell has been the point of contact for the Ivy partnership throughout the project and said students should view Miss Rev as an all-hours resource.

“It’s about bringing 24/7 service to the students of Texas A&M,” Coryell said. “The ability for students to self-serve at 10 o’clock at night or not in a class or not at an event and they are trying to get something done, they now have access to a customer service rep 24/7. That, to me, is huge.”

Mallet Bohnsack said her motivation for

implementing Miss Rev in the Financial Aid Department was to give students the best chance at attaining higher education.

“I think that for someone to receive a higher education, it changes the whole trajectory of their life,” Mallet Bohnsack said. “One of the barriers to access higher education is information. I know the information is there for students and parents to find but when the information is not easy to find or access its creates another barrier. So I started looking for ways to improve the website and what I was looking for specifically was finding ways that we communicate the information and the ways we can help students find the information.”

According to Mallet Bohnsack, the Financial Aid Department hopes to add more features to Miss Rev such as email responses. Coryell said in the future, Miss Rev’s technology is likely to expand into other departments, as other offices have come to Ivy.ai with interest in a chatbot.

SPORTS

The Battalion | 8.6.19

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Preseason prep A&M football opens up 2019 season with start of fall camp ahead of Texas State season opener

By Brian Bass @brianbass4 With the season kicking off in three weeks at Kyle Field, Texas A&M football has started their fall camp for the 2019 season with high expectations looming for head coach Jimbo Fisher’s second year at the helm.

Prior to the start of practice on Thursday, Aug. 1, USA Today released their preseason Amway Coaches Poll, placing the Aggies at No. 11. Despite not making the poll last season and being on the cusp of the top-10 in 2019, Fisher hasn’t bought into the hype.

“I guess it is,” Fisher said after being asked if making the poll this year is a step in the right direction. “Everyone else does. I watch these practices and personally I don’t see it. But it’s good, [I] would rather be up there than not I guess.”

Fisher said his priority going into the first days of camp will be finding the best 11 players on each side of the ball.

Even though there are players that seem to be a lock at their position going into week one, Fisher said he will be looking for guys that he can count on.

“It’s a new year, 0-0. Just because you did well in the past doesn’t mean that you will again. We’ll see,” Fisher said.

After competing for the starting spot under center last season during fall camp, junior quarterback Kellen Mond said his focus will be much different for this year’s opening practices. “[I’m] just making sure my footwork is up to par, something that I’ve worked on all offseason,” Mond said. “Still trying to make sure that I’m connecting with the receivers and making sure my timing is just right. [I’m] still working on my eyes and where my eyes should be on the defense, just small details that I’ve worked on in the offseason and gotta progress through the fall camp.”

For defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, many personnel changes have been made up front since his arrival in 2016.

Being the only defensive line starter to return this season, his goal for the Aggie defensive front is simple: be the best in the SEC. “Our standards are set high,” Madubuike said. “And we just come in here doing our best and believing in each other, soak it all in, don’t be afraid to ask questions and communicate.”

With much of the 2019 recruiting class hitting the practice fields for the first time, defensive back Elijah Blades and running back Isaiah Spiller has been catching Fisher’s eye on the first day.

“The way they practice they’ll get plenty of reps,” Fisher said. “So we’re going to get to see [them]. You go out there on the first day of practice and never be on the practice field and execute the number of reps [Spiller] took, he seemed really well to me too.”

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