The Battalion - August 10, 2021

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The Battalion | 8.10.21

King shows promise for QB1 spot Freshman stuns public at open practice, receives first team reps

By Michael Horton @mhhort

via news-journal.com

Redshirt freshman quarterback Haynes King recorded 59 passing yards, 43 rushing yards and one touchdown in the 2020 football season.

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With the season opener against Kent State less than a month away, Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher has yet to name the team’s starting quarterback.

The battle for the role has mainly been between two of former quarterback Kellen Mond’s understudies — redshirt sophomore Zach Calzada and redshirt freshman Haynes King. While the coaching staff has praised the performances of both players, signs are leaning towards King for the job.

The Aggies held a practice open to the public on Sunday, Aug. 8, during which King took the starting reps. While both passers saw action throughout the afternoon, King was

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met with noteworthy applause from attendees after completing several passes through coverage from 50 yards away.

Although the staff has been adamant on the battle maintaining an even playing field, a slip-up by junior running back Isaiah Spiller alluded to King being the frontrunner during Sunday’s press conference.

“As skilled players, we’re more experienced and that will help Haynes out more, in-andout of coverages, reading guys differently, just the game slowing down for everybody. So I think this year we’re going to see a different team,” Spiller said.

Offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Darrell Dickey indicated both passers are capable of leading the offense to success, but emphasized their differences, highlighting Calzada’s abilities as a traditional pocket passer and King’s potential as a mobile gunslinger.

“Both kids are very, very intelligent,”

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The Battalion | 8.10.21

From Zoom to classroom

Creative Commons

Following a year of primarily virtual learning, new educators are preparing to welcome students back to the classroom for their first in-person academic year.

Courtesy of Kaz Photography/Getty Images

Athing Mu holds the 800-meter American Record with a time of 1:55.21.

Mu’s Olympic debut Former Texas A&M track and field phenom now two-time gold medalist

By Jennifer Streeter @jennystreeter3 “​​Everyday I’m gaining a better understanding of what it is that God has done and is doing for me,” former Texas A&M track star Athing Mu said.

At just 19 years old, Mu has become a two-time Olympic gold medalist. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the Trenton, New Jersey native won gold in the 800-meter and 4x400-meter relay. She is the first American woman to win the 800-meter since former Olympian Madeline Manning Mims in 1968.

In fact, Mims was the first American woman to ever win the gold in the event. Mims said on the Today Show she recalled having a memorable phone call with Mu five years ago. “‘I want to be just like you. I want to win a gold medal,’” Mu said to Mims.

Now that Mu has accomplished this feat, Mims said she recognized Mu’s talent during

their conversation.

“I don’t see anyone in the world with that potential,” Mims said.

During the 800-meter race in Tokyo, also serving as Mu’s Olympic debut, Mu broke the American Record with her time of 1:55.21.

Her time is also the 10th fastest time on the world all-time record list.

Mu said she gives all of her glory to God. “In the end, I chose to grasp onto God and allow Him to take complete control of my life.

It allowed me to take a step back, learn how to trust Him entirely and HAVE FAITH,” Mu said on Instagram.

In the 4x400-meter relay, Mu competed alongside Sydney McLaughlin, Allyson Felix and Dalilah Muhammad. The four athletes won the gold in lane seven with a time of 3:16.85, almost an entire four seconds ahead of the silver medalists.

McLaughlin said she could not be more grateful for the group of Olympians she competed alongside.

ATHING MU ON PG. 7

Second-year teachers prepare for switch to face-to-face instruction

By Michaela Rush @Michaela4Batt COVID-19 challenged education at all levels, impacting the teachers who began their careers in the 2020-2021 school year.

New Aggie teachers are looking forward to a new teaching experience, moving away from the Zoom format back into a traditional face-to-face classroom.

In the 2020-2021 school year, the Texas Education Agency reported that nearly 2.5 million students in kindergarten through 12th grade learned remotely, both synchronously and asynchronously, leaving teachers to juggle either entirely remote formats or a combination of in-person and virtual teaching.

For Aubrey Wilson, Class of 2020 and fifth grade math teacher, the most difficult part of the past year was facing a mountain of unanswered questions. While it put pressure on her, she said she had great support within her school and tried to focus on what she could control.

“My district gave me an instructional coach and a partner teacher, and my partner teacher was amazing. Leading into it, I didn’t know what I needed to be doing, so

I wanted to focus on trying to get things for my classroom set up,” Wilson said. “I feel like I went into it with an open mind, and not trying to pressure myself to figure out exactly what I needed to do.”

In addition to the pressures of a new job, these first-year teachers also had to face a set of problems unfamiliar to even veteran teachers, such as balancing in-person and online courses. Wilson said she experimented with different styles and stayed honest with her students about issues she had.

“I’ve never taught before in a real class, and now I have to teach online, and I don’t know how to do that. I feel like throughout the year we were changing the process,” Wilson said. “A lot of learning as I went, a lot of ‘sorry guys, the link doesn’t work’ or ‘sorry I didn’t post that.’ It was really hard, but I think next year is going to feel easy because this year was so hard.”

Sara Farag, Class of 2020 and third grade math and science teacher, said a unique barrier was the impact of a shortened school year on students’ learning progress.

“Many of [my students] had missed the end of their second grade year, meaning they were already starting the year behind where they should be,” Farag said. “This meant that we had to incorporate the previous year’s [Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills] material into everything we taught.

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The Battalion | 8.10.21

TEACHING CONTINUED

Abbey Santoro — THE BATTALION

New local franchise offers a wide variety of plant-based products such as shower fizzies, bath bombs, laundry detergent and bar soap.

Scrubbing into eco-friendly cleanliness Buff City Soaps provides affordable, organic options for skincare products

By Michaela Rush @Michaela4Batt Offering a variety of over 50 scents across a wide range of products, Buff City Soaps at Jones Crossing opened its doors on June 24 to bring affordable, plant-based and customizable creations to the Brazos Valley.

For regional manager Billy Perkins, investing in Buff City Soaps was a way to seize the opportunities of a franchise business while also providing unique experiences and products to customers. He said the transparent approach of the store separates it from similar franchises.

“We call ourselves an affordable experience.

We handmake everything in the store and we allow our customers to co-make with us, so that was a cool concept,” Perkins said. “Being plantbased, having clean plant-based products that are made fresh daily and having our customer interact with us at the making level, so we stand out from any other franchise out there.”

Though Perkins oversees multiple store locations, he said the College Station store is particularly special to him because of his connections to Texas A&M. “I’m Class of [19]84, and three of my kids went to A&M. We were just excited to come back to College Station, and this was just a natural fit,” Perkins said. “It was the second store I

put in and it was high on my list. It’s a great town and I love getting to come back there often.”

Jaime Bellamy, Class of 2001, is the College Station location’s store manager. Bellamy said for her, plant-based products are not just a part of the job, but also a personal passion.

“I had developed a skin allergy myself that I was really battling with and I was trying to figure out how to remedy that,” Bellamy said. “I started making my own soap at home, and makeup and hair products… I told [Perkins] about my ailment and how I’m on this life-long journey to find the healthiest soaps for my body and my children.”

A unique offering of the store is a group of local scents, available only at the College Station location and inspired by A&M traditions.

Currently the store offers “Ring Dance,” “Bonfire,” “Howdy,” “Boot Chaser” and “Clean to the Corps.” Bellamy said she thinks these local scents will be particularly exciting for all Aggies.

“I think students are really going to like our local line. I was around when the tragedy of Bonfire [collapse] occurred, so I made that soap.

I think it’s going to be meaningful to a lot of people,” Bellamy said. “The local line is going to be super special, especially for old Ags coming in, and it’s unique to our store — you won’t see it in any other Buff City.”

Bellamy said she loves how hands-on her position at the store is and how it allows customers to participate as well. Bellamy also said she is fortunate to have an incredible team.

“If you come in during the morning you’ll see

a lot of soap pours and auxiliary products being made. You may even see kids being hands-on, especially with the bath bombs,” Bellamy said.

“My goal is to train everybody to be able to open a Buff City store of their own someday. I have a great team, a very creative team and a very responsible team.”

One member of the team is Maggie Willis, nutrition graduate student. Willis greatly enjoys creating products with her coworkers, and said the best part of her job is how welcoming the store is to all people.

“I love working here because of the community and the atmosphere,” Willis said. “It really is a place where everyone belongs and everyone can find something they like and enjoy.”

Customers can also set up parties at the store to make any of the store’s products, and students can enjoy a 12 percent discount on all their purchases. The store regularly hosts giveaways and special events, all of which can be found on their Facebook and Instagram pages.

Bellamy said the mission of the store overall is to help customers create products that suit them, while also remaining honest about the production process.

“We want to be fully transparent to the customer walking in, so they can see what we’re doing, what we’re making, what goes into our products,” Bellamy said. “Other than that, our store is so much different from our competitors.

We make everything here, we’re fully transparent, and we want to customize for you and make you happy with the product.”

Lesson planning became a very intentional and methodical process that often ended up running into our weekends or personal time.”

Though this year presented many challenges, Farag said it also showed her students’ willingness to adapt to new situations.

“The most important thing I learned is how resilient children are. I was shocked at how excited my students were to come back into the classroom. My students definitely missed learning, and were eager to see their friends after spending months alone during lockdown,” Farag said. “Even during the freeze without heat or electricity, students were missing school. Their love of learning and excitement for being in the classroom truly made the impossibly difficult year worth it.”

Wilson also said her relationship with her students greatly improved their difficult year, and she was inspired by her professors at Texas A&M. “The relationships [my professors] created with us were something I always thought about when creating relationships with my fifth graders… sometimes that’s all you’re going to have,” Wilson said. “I might not be able to take you that far educationally if there’s something in the way of your learning, but I can always take you further if I create a relationship with you because I can make you like to learn.”

Despite the events of her first year teaching, Farag said she is still immensely excited about the upcoming school year, and hopes others will remain optimistic.

“I want all other new Aggie teachers to know that they should not give up. These can be difficult times, but remember why we got into the profession,” Farag said.

“These children need us now more than ever, and they are the reason we work as hard as we do.

Keep them at the center of your day, because that will get you through those days when teaching can seem impossible.”

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The Battalion | 8.10.21

Aggies take on Tokyo

From left to right, top to bottom photos via @vidalestori on Twitter, Gregory Shamus/Getty Images, Christian Petersen/Getty Images, via @JohnnyVtalktome on Twitter

A total of 25 Aggie athletes competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, earning seven medals, four of which were gold. These athletes represented 14 countries from across the world.

KING CONTINUED Dickey said. “They’ve been able to be on the sidelines and watch Kellen and get a little bit of playing time early in their career. Both of the kids are just great, high-character individuals. There are differences a little bit and they are kind of slight. They’re both athletic, Haynes is probably one of the best [pure] athletes on the whole team but Zach has also got some athletic ability of his own.”

While Mond was the unquestioned starter since the UCLA game in 2017, both Calzada and King have been on the field during the fourth quarter of various decided contests.

Calzada saw action against Texas State, Lamar and UTSA during the 2019 season. In those three games, he combined to go 12-of-24 with two touchdowns and an interception.

King led single drives against Alabama and South Carolina in the 2020 season, during which he went 2-of-4 for 59 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

The quarterbacks had similar outings in the 2021 Maroon and White scrimmage, where King led the maroon team while Calzada primarily led the white team. Calzada was 19-of40 for 253 yards and a touchdown, while King was 16-of-31 for 211 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Dickey made a point to commend both quarterbacks on the intelligence and competitive nature they exhibited throughout the offseason. Regardless of who is under center in the fall, the Aggies are confident their offense

will not miss a beat with a new signal caller, Dickey said.

“They’ve both been in our system,” Dickey said. “They understand all of the offense, we don’t have to start the season off necessarily thinking we’ve got to taper way back or tone it way back from what we were doing with Kellen [Mond]. Obviously, they’re both still young and don’t have a ton of playing experience but we expect them to go out and compete, which is what they’re doing in camp and what we expect them to do this fall.”

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“I’m so thankful to be able to even run with such amazing, inspiring women. It has been beautiful to see the diversity of our individual circumstances blend into a historic ending to these games,” McLaughlin said via Instagram.

Mu was not only representing the United States during the Olympics, but also one of the biggest athletic brands in the world.

On Saturday, June 19, Mu announced she would be forgoing her remaining three years of NCAA eligibility in favor of pursuing a professional career. Five days later, the phenom signed a professional deal with Nike.

Mu said her contract with The Swoosh is for more than just one Olympic Games.

“I’m signing a multi-year deal with NIKE that will allow me to train to represent my country and The Swoosh for multiple Olympic Games. This is just the beginning,” Mu said.

During her time as a student-athlete, Mu set the American under-20 800-meter record with a time of 2:01.07.

Additionally in the 800-meter event at the Michael Johnson Invitational in April, the New Jersey native broke the 800-meter collegiate record.

Now that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games have concluded, Mu took some time to reflect on all her success from the past year.

“This year, especially, has been a result of much more than just my hard work on the track,” Mu said. “God has been molding me prior to my existence on this Earth…

We have a time for everything. We have a season for everything in accordance to His will.”

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