The Battalion: August 30, 2016

TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2016 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2016 STUDENT MEDIA | @THEBATTONLINE

The new director of Breakaway Ministries, Timothy Ateek will speak at the first Breakaway of the semester on Aug. 30.

BATT THE

THE BATTALION | THEBATT.COM

What: Breakaway worship service When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30 Where: Reed Arena

Timothy Ateek:

Story by John Rangel @rangel_online

Meet Breakaway’s third director Brian Okosun — THE BATTALION

“A

bide” has special meaning for Timothy Ateek. The word resonated with him in Breakaway co-founder Greg Matte’s preaching during Ateek’s undergraduate years, and its biblical meaning continues to influence his ministry more than a decade later as Ateek returns to Breakaway — not as a student or guest speaker, but as its director. inspire college students and bring his ministry to every part of the modern college campus.

“There’s a word in [John 15] — ‘abide’ — that Jesus gives us to define the type of relationship he wants us to have with him,” Ateek said, referencing his favorite Bible passage. “Greg defined that word as, ‘To abide is to be desperately dependent on Jesus and restfully resonate in him.’”

Ateek will lead his first Breakaway Tuesday evening as director in front of more than 10,000 Aggie students. He aims to continue the work laid by Ben Stuart — Breakaway’s previous director — but a life journey defined by complete trust in his Christian faith reveals a man not afraid to envision change,

BIRTH OF A MINISTRY Ateek, Class of 2003, lived in Dunn Hall his freshman year, was involved at Grace Bible Church and joined a fraternity. He said the best part of his college experience, however, was Breakaway.

“One of the reasons coming back to A&M and being a part of Breakaway is so exciting and special is that Breakaway was my favorite part of my college experience,” Ateek said.

BREAKAWAY ON PG. 3

FILE

More than 10,000 A&M students gathered in Kyle Field for the first Breakaway of the spring 2016 semester.

STATE

FOOTBALL

A&M implements clear bag policy University follows national trend with security-oriented mandate

By Joshua Samuel & Chevall Pryce @jsamuelthebatt & @ChevallP Beginning this season, sports fans attending any ticketed Texas A&M athletic event — including football — are only permitted to bring clear bags into the venue. Bags such as backpacks, purses, camera cases and fanny packs are no longer allowed.

Clear bags can’t exceed the dimensions 12” by 6” by 12,” according to 12thman. com. One-gallon, resealable plastic freezer storage bags are allowed, and the maximum logo imprint size for bags is 4.5” tall and 3.4” wide. Exceptions have been made for small clutch bags — with or without a strap — and “medically necessary items” that have been inspected at designated areas.

Mike Caruso, associate athletics director for game operations who is spearheading the implementation of the policy, said the policy was implemented after careful consideration.

Ethan Dias — THE BATTALION

The first hearing for David’s Law, an attempt to make cyberbullying a misdemeanor, was heard before the Texas Legislature Aug. 23.

Texas legislators continue to fight for David’s Law N

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Only clear 12”by 12”by 6” bags will be permitted into A&M sporting events.

FOOTBALL ON PG. 2

TICKETS

First ticket pull of season draws hundreds Students comment on football season, new “off the wood” rule

By Alex Miller @AlexMill20 Hundreds of students lined up before sunrise on their first day of school to pull tickets for the football season opener against UCLA — and the lines stayed long all day.

“Line up for ticket pull starts at 5 a.m. every morning during game week so there were definitely students there when the workers got there at 6:45 [a.m.],” Jharen Rosborough, human resource development senior who works in ticket operations for the 12th Man Foundation said. “The vibe was full of excitement and anticipation as our first game nears.”

Alongside senior-designated Monday pull, group pulls were also buzzing, with many Fish Camp and Impact leaders gathering sports passes from their small group freshmen to go to the game together in

Brian Okosun — THE BATTALION

Hundreds of students waited in long lines Monday for ticket pull for the first game of the season.

hopes of creating a positive experience in their first home game.

“A lot of these freshmen are coming in and haven’t made their group of friends yet,” finance sophomore and Impact lead-

er Andrew Ballard said. “So it allows us to kind of bring these freshmen alongside us to the game, give them a group to go with and people to hang out with at the game.”

TICKETS ON PG. 2

By Alice Corcoran @AliceJ_Corcoran Young adults may suffer from depression, anxiety and at times even take their own lives due to bullying and harassment that takes place via the Internet. Texas legislators are aiming to put an end to these occurrences and the negative impression it leaves on children and teen lives.

Named after 16-year-old David Molak, an Alamo Heights resident who took his own life Jan. 4, 2016 due to consistent cyberbullying, David’s Law had its first hearing in Austin Aug. 23. The fight for the passage of the legislation is spearheaded by State Senator José Menéndez.

The law, if passed, would make electronically harassing or bullying anyone under the age of 18 through text messages, social media, websites or apps a misdemeanor. It would also force schools focus on preventing cyberbullying, allow for investigation by schools into cases of the offense off-campus, as well as require schools to make counseling available for both the victim and the aggressor.

“The rate of suicides amongst teens [in Bexar County] has tripled this year alone,” Menéndez said at the news conference. “When we went to school, we could get away from bullies.”

According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, there are 17 states that have criminalized cyberbullying. Senator Menéndez’s proposal is modeled after Grace’s Law, which was passed in 2013 by Maryland lawmakers. Grace’s Law made cyberbullying a misdemeanor punishable with a $500 fine and up to a year in jail.

The proposal by Senator Menéndez to make cyberbullying a crime is opposed by those who DAVID’S LAW ON PG. 3

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TICKETS CONTINUED Rosborough said throughout the day-long excitement workers behind the ticket windows worked to make sure the first ticket pull of the season ran as efficiently as possible.

“We started off slow,” Rosborough said. “But once the new employees got the hang of ticket pull and the old ones shook off some rust, it went as smooth as possible with such a large demand and crown waiting.”

Students who pulled tickets Monday also found a new request at the top of their tickets which read, “Step ‘off the wood,’ stand on the concrete.” The request, which is being described by the university as a “new tradition,” drew some criticism from students and on social media.

Briscoe Elliott, community health junior and Corps of Cadets member, said he is not excited about the new policy because it directly opposes the original A&M tradition of stepping off the wood.

“It’s kind of disappointing,” Elliot said. “I know [Kyle Field] is a new stadium and all, but it’s a pretty big tradition to stand on [the wood] and then step off when somebody gets injured and in different yells.”

Elliott said he is still skeptical about how well the new request will be enforced.

“There’s no way they are going to make 100,000-plus people not [stand on the wood],” Elliott said. “I think it is going to be extremely hard to implement it unless they have the ticket concierges just going down the rows.”

CLEAR BAGS CONTINUED “We always evaluate what we do,” Caruso said. “We are always looking to try and improve what we do, both from a presentation standpoint and enjoyment standpoint for the fans and also from a safety standpoint.”

Caruso said the clear bag policy is a growing trend across the country.

“The clear bag policy models the NFL policy,” Caruso said. “It’s happening out in the PAC-12 … There are eight other schools in the SEC that are doing it this year. Actually, if you are going to all of the Texas A&M football games — home and away — this year, you will be required to have a clear bag.”

Caruso said the clear bag policy hopes to catalyze the entry process into sports venues. “[The policy] should speed up the checking of the bags, it should make it more efficient and more effective,”

Brian Okosun — THE BATTALION

Hundreds of students lined up outside the Bucky J. Richardson Zone Monday to pull tickets for Saturday’s football game against UCLA, some waiting more than an hour before receiving them.

While juniors and sophomores will claim their seats for this weekend’s game Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, some freshmen are eager to wait their turn in line to get their ticket on Thursday, as some will be attending their first game ever in Kyle Field this Saturday.

Keith Sivarajah, computer engineering freshman, said he’s anticipating his

first game as a student and being a part of all the excitement of game day.

“I’ve never been to an A&M game before and it’s going to be my first one,” Sivarajah said. “I’m excited for everything that goes on from before the game: tailgating, seeing the whole stadium on their feet and then watching A&M beat the hell out of UCLA.”

Caruso said. “We are allowing for a safer stadium and a faster entry for all those that are coming in.”

Free clear bags will be available to athletic event attendees all season, said Caruso.

“Every parking lot attendant will have clear bags to make them available to people, as well as having clear bags for people at all the shuttle stops,” Caruso said.

Texas A&M has implemented this policy a year early compared to the SEC requirement of 2017, according to the 12th man website. While other schools may not be implementing the policy in 2016, the website said Texas A&M is doing so to proactively enhance the safety of all who will attend sporting events on the Texas A&M campus.

Caruso said the SEC’s schedule for implementing the policy did not influence Texas A&M’s decision on when to implement its own.

“We had talked about it for a couple of years, and we were going to do it

whether the conference did it or not,” Caruso said. “We think it’s timely from the standpoint of other schools around the country that are also implementing it.”

General studies sophomore Carson McAnally said while the clear bag policy seems excessive, additional security for an area with a high concentration of students makes sense.

“I think [the policy] is a tad bit paranoid, but at the same time I think it definitely is going to tie down a little bit with security, as far as the fact that we have so many students in one generalized area, so yes I think it will help,” McAnally said. “It’s got its pros and cons.”

Daniel Valdez, engineering freshman, said although he believes the new policy is a nuisance he understands it may be a necessary trade-off for the safety of everyone at the games.

“It’s reassuring that you can go to a football game and feel a lot more confident that you can go to this football game and be safe,” Valdez said.

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Leah Kappayil — THE BATTALION

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BREAKAWAY CONTINUED “Early on, I wanted to be a part of things that would help nurture my relationship with the Lord, and Breakaway was a huge part of that.

I’m sure that I missed some Tuesday nights, but I just can’t remember missing one.”

Ateek said his decision to go into college ministry was made gradually. His father, a clinical psychologist, sparked an interest in psychology that led to Ateek’s area of study.

Every summer, however, he would return to his high school ministry in Dallas as an intern.

Ateek said he wrestled with what he viewed as two separate paths — psychology or Christian ministry — throughout college. But a junior-year psychology conference convinced him to break from his dad’s profession and pursue another path that — in hindsight — wasn’t so different after all.

“Now that I am where I am having been in full time ministry for well over a decade, I see that it wasn’t an either-or decision — God just wanted me to use what I learned in psychology in a ministry setting,” Ateek said. “Such a large part of what I do is counseling with students — talking with them about the hurts in their lives and the areas of their lives that are broken.”

A LEAP OF FAITH Two and a half years at seminary followed by time as a student pastor at an Austin church kicked off Ateek’s ministry after college. He married and had a stable and promising future in sight when an opportunity prompted Ateek to change course and take a leap of faith.

Vertical Ministries, a Baylor Bible study similar to A&M’s Breakaway, was in need of a full-time director. It had started in 2009 in a coffee shop across the street from Baylor’s campus and had outpaced the organizational abilities of its student and volunteer staff.

DAVID’S LAW CONTINUED believe it to be an infringement on First Amendment Rights.

“Technically it’s an infringement, but with how connected the world is there does need to be a repercussion in place,” history sophomore at Texas A&M Heather Jacobs said.

Industrial engineering sophomore Adhika Putera said she believes there should be repercussions but that they shouldn’t be overly severe.

“We are using social media constantly and aggressively,” Putera said. “Even if they [the aggressor] left a comment innocently, the vic-

And it had no money — less than $1 — said Dale Wallace, director of students at Vertical today. “[Vertical] had just started — there was good momentum, there was a lot of passion, but not a lot of direction,” Wallace said.

While Vertical was growing in Waco, Ateek said he and his wife were discussing a mutual feeling — God was preparing them for some-

board of directors after his talk that offered him the director’s position, with a catch — they couldn’t promise him a salary.

“I basically started by accepting a volunteer position, but the Lord was really faithful,” Ateek said. “We moved to Waco and we didn’t have to worry about money once. We did take a big leap. We loved life in Austin. It was really comfortable. It was very certain, very

“I am here to simply do what God asks me to do, and that is continue the good work that he’s [Ben Stuart] already been doing over the last 26 years.”

Timothy Ateek,director of Breakaway Ministries

thing more than their current situation in Austin, and Vertical seemed to resonate with that calling when Ateek spoke there for the first time.

“We really sensed a new chapter of ministry was coming,” Ateek said. “We didn’t know what it was. I had different job opportunities on the table that had full time salaries and benefits and they were stable and great opportunities. But none of them felt right. And then I was asked to come and speak at Vertical, and I went, and I fell in love with it in large part because of the impact Breakaway had on my life.”

Ateek received a letter from Vertical’s

predictable. And Vertical wasn’t predictable.”

MINISTERING TO THE MODERN CAMPUS Vertical gained a full-time director in Ateek and the ministry exploded, said Garrett Mindrup, current student president of Vertical Ministries at Baylor.

Mindrup described Ateek as a man who tirelessly poured himself into bringing Vertical to every aspect of Baylor. Student volunteers grew from less than 10 to more than 70. Praise and worship was moved to increasingly larger on-campus venues as

attendance skyrocketed. But throughout this growth, Mindrup said Ateek made it a point to maintain Vertical’s sense of family.

Meetings were held off campus at a faculty sponsor’s house, where Ateek and the sponsor would serve dinner to the students before having open conversations about the Bible and Christian ministry. When Mindrup mentioned he and a group of male volunteers were looking to study the Bible as a group, Ateek began regularly inviting them over to his house to start a Bible study group.

“He’s a man who really loves and cares about college students and he wants to see them come to know and love the lord Jesus that he loves and he’s a big visionary,” Mindrup said.

“He’s always asking how we can improve this, how can we reach more college students.”

RETURNING TO TEXAS A&M Ateek was Vertical’s director for four years, during which time he kept close ties to Texas A&M, making the hour-and-a-half drive from Waco to College Station several times a year to speak at Breakaway. The morning after one such talk in April, Ben Stuart revealed over breakfast to Ateek and his wife that Breakaway’s board wanted him to return when Stuart stepped down as director to become a pastor in Atlanta.

Ateek said the invitation came at the right time again, as he and his wife were once more discussing the call to move on. He doesn’t view himself as Breakaway’s new leader, and does not believe the ministry must be changed in any way.

“God has asked me to come to Breakaway,” Ateek said. “That’s why I’m here. God doesn’t need me to lead Breakaway because he’s the leader of Breakaway. I am here to simply do what God asks me to do, and that is continue the good work that he’s [Ben Stuart] already been doing over the last 26 years.”

tim could take it a different way.

The law is necessary as long as the punishment isn’t too harsh.”

Menéndez said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled there are boundaries when it comes to “free speech”.

“You can’t yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater is a classic example,” Menéndez said. “You also can’t make threats against someone’s life and defend it as free speech.”

The proposed law has support in the Texas State Senate as well as in the Texas House of Representatives, where Representative Ina Minjarez is spearheading the initiative.

The Texas Legislature convenes in January, and voting on David’s Law will take place at that time.

The first hearing of David’s law was held in Austin on Aug. 23.

Ethan Dias — THE BATTALION

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Be in it.

Armani Cassel (left) and Neil McHenry (right) demonstrate a virtual reality simulation for Patrick Tam (middle).

From the MSC to outer space: virtual reality offers escape from real world

By Gracie Mock @G_Mock2 Scuba diving, space pirate training and auto mechanic work took place in the MSC Sunday — all through a virtual reality simulation set up by the Texas A&M Visual and Augmented Reality (TAMUVR) organization.

Using equipment owned by aerospace engineering senior Neil McHenry, TAMUVR was able to create a completely computer-generated world for MSC passersby to experience.

“Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulated space that you are inside and your computer graphics are rendering what your space looks like completely, where augmented reality (AR), the computer is overlaying images on the world around you — like Pokemon Go is a real popular AR,” said Armani Cassel, meteorology senior and president of TAMUVR. McHenry said the system used to achieve the demonstration is the HTC Vive, released in June 2016, which includes a head mounted display, two controllers and two laser lighthouses.

“The cost of [the system] is about $900 in total, after tax and shipping, just for the VR headset,” McHenry said. “To run it you have to have a computer, a relatively high end computer, that costs about $1,000 or more and that’s basically it for the HTC Vive.”

Engineering freshman Jared Kizer stopped by the demonstration because he had previously used Google Cardboard, a type of virtual reality experience that utilizes apps and rudimentary cardboard goggles, but said the HTC Vive was a whole new level.

“I did the one where it was space pirate training,” Kizer said. “There were drones flying at you and you had to shoot them or use a shield and block them [because] they were trying to shoot you.”

Kizer said it took him a few minutes to acclimate to the simulation.

“You can tell you’re basically wearing a screen, but after a couple of minutes, after moving around some, after looking around and being able to move controllers in your hands and watching the guns or shields turn with it almost identically to how it would be in real life, it becomes pretty convincing,” Kizer said.

While the system was set up for fun at the MSC, it also has practical uses. “[VR has] applications in the professional arena with construction industries and overlaying, augmented simulations of future buildings as well as being able to train repairs for different machinery,” Cassel said. “It’s not just for fun, but that’s one of the biggest draws in terms of attention to it.”

McHenry said he is working on a project for NASA that will essentially be used to train astronauts by linking them together them in a simulation that will take them through an entire mission opposed to the separate systems typically used.

Leah Kappayil— THE BATTALION

Patrick Tam experiences a virtual reality simulation through the HTC Vive.

“The astronauts will be able to jump into virtual reality — not just one person either — we’ll be able to link multiple people into a simulation and have them, in virtual reality, try to fit maybe seven or eight astronauts into a space craft and [have] them run a mission all the way from Earth to Mars,” McHenry said.

Cassel said the purpose of the demonstration was to reach as many people as possible and to increase interest in virtual reality.

“Right now, it’s one more opportunity for students to try out virtual reality demos here and, again I come back to where we’re talking about how expensive an investment it is, we want to make sure that students can at least have an opportunity to try it and also, not just students but anyone who’s walking by, walking on campus,” Cassel said.

McHenry likened the increasing popularity of virtual reality to the late 1900s when computers and cell phones began their rise.

“This is just the start of the virtual reality surge,” McHenry said. “Kind of like in the eighties when we first started having computers and mobile devices in the 2000s, now we’re having a lot of virtual reality devices.”

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