TRADITION
Outgoing editors say goodbye to The Battalion newsroom in their Swan Songs A4-A6
LIFE & ARTS
Philippine Student Association builds community on campus through shared culture A7
Cabinet members visit Aggieland
By J.M. Wise News Editor
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Brooke Rollins ‘94 and Secretary of Health and Human Services
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Texas A&M’s AgriLife Phenotyping Greenhouse and toured facilities on Texas A&M’s campus on Tuesday, April 29. Following a tour of the greenhouse, the secretaries spoke at
ca Healthy Again committee. The committee aims to study and lower rates of chronic disease in adults and end childhood chronic disease.
By Tenny Luhrs
Women have long faced adversity in higher education, and Texas A&M is no exception. In 1895, Ethel Hudson, a professor’s daughter, became the first woman to attend classes at A&M, with other well-connected women following suit. Their enrollment as “special students” was limited, though, and they were barred from being awarded an official degree.
It took three decades before Mary Evelyn Crawford became the first woman to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in 1925, but the win was short-lived. Just four days later, the A&M College Board of Directors banned women’s enrollment once more, a decision that wouldn’t be overturned until 1963.
Despite this tumultuous history, the enrollment of women at A&M continues to close the gender gap, and many go on to lead esteemed careers, particularly in public policy. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins ‘94 is currently one of the most prominent political figures to have graduated from A&M, but she’s not the only Aggie making waves in public policy.
Of the female former students paving their way in D.C., many went through A&M’s Public Policy Internship Program, or PPIP. The program offers a range of hands-on internship opportunities for students looking to influence policy across all industries and has served about
President Donald Trump, were present outside the press conference for the duration of “Nutrition must drive what we are doing to build a better tomorrow,”
Rollins said.
“For
our state, for our country and, frankly, for our world. … It’s important to note that this is unprecedented — our partnership. It’s not partisan, it’s not Republican versus Democrat. It really is making America healthy again, and making American agriculture great again.”
Rollins was the first woman
“Nearly 100 million Americans are obese in a country of 340 million,” Rollins said. “And the instances of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other diet-related diseases are on the rise, particularly in children and adolescents.”
Rollins and Kennedy plan to release the 10th edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in late summer or early fall, and described the new guidelines as nonpartisan and user friendly, with an emphasis on local and whole foods.
care and agriculture would be prioritized for federal funding.
“There is no surprise to anyone here that we have been going through a lot of realignment and reorganization in the federal government,” Rollins said.
to serve as an A&M student body president. Her son, mechanical engineering sophomore and junior Yell Leader-elect Luke Rollins, was present at the press conference alongside other members of the Corps of Cadets. Rollins and Kennedy have previously collaborated on changing school lunches and improving children’s health.
Under Kennedy, the Department of Health and Human Services has cut over $3 billion in federal research funding, which A&M relies on for healthcare and agricultural research.
1,300 Aggies since its creation in 1999.
One alumnus served was Izzah Yousuf ‘23, who grew up with a mother involved in local politics.
She was immersed in the political world from a young age, so she knew she would pursue a degree in political science when she came to A&M. Through the PPIP, she worked as an intern for the office of Congressman Al Green (D-09), was hired as a legislative correspondent after graduation and was recently promoted to legislative assistant in March.
“I am very lucky that my boss is a proponent of moving people within the office,” Yousuf said.
“Our old [legislative director] had too much on his plate and decided I could handle the promotion.
… I’m very grateful for his and the congressman’s trust in me.”
Yousuf said that while she loves her job and her female-dominant office, she is not ignorant to the ways she — and other women around her — have been treated differently in the predominantly white, male space that is Capitol Hill.
“I have been in rooms as the only woman and [person of color],” Yousuf said. “It doesn’t bother me much, but I know many women around me who have experienced sexual harassment and exclusion.
Being both young and female, there is a tendency for people to assume I’m an intern or for some to overexplain basic policies to me.”
Despite the challenges, Yousuf credits PPIP for giving her the opportunity to break into the industry. She said that, not only did the program get her the job she has now, but it gave her the time and experience to decide if public policy was something she truly wanted to pursue.
“When I was a boy, we had the best food in the world,” Kennedy said. “We were regarded as the healthiest people in the world. Today, we are the sickest. We have the highest chronic disease burden.”
In response to a question about the cuts, Rollins expressed her dedication to local farmers and ranchers and vowed that programs which combine health-
Kennedy, a previous independent candidate for president in 2024, is a proponent of President Donald Trump’s Make Ameri-
Getting the job done: Aggie women in D.C.
Donald Trump’s Make Ameri-
Red Bull gives them wings
Siblings complete first Red Bull Ibiza Royale obstacle course together
By Theresa Lozano Life & Arts Editor
What began as a distant dream in March became a life-changing reality for team Mulinix Mayhem. After weeks of waiting and training along with nearly 18 hours in a plane, two siblings gave it their all competing in the Red Bull Ibiza Royale, an obstacle course competition in Spain.
After speaking to Red Bull student marketeers on campus, nance junior Martin Mulinix pitched the idea of taking a trip to Ibiza to his sister, Alena Mulinix. After her skeptical acceptance, they got to work. The duo lmed for two hours in a Ninja Warrior gym, showcasing the skills they’d bring to the table before editing and submitting the video the same night.
“We talked about how some of our activities that we do would compliment each other,” Martin said.
“I’ve done a lot of running in the past. Elena has more balance. We demonstrated her balance in the video, some rock climbing aspects to it. I do more weightlifting, so we talked about how our di erences could create a really strong team.”
Bringing in thousands of applications worldwide, nearly 200 mixed-pair teams from over 50
countries were selected to compete in the Red Bull Ibiza Royale. Team USA had 15 teams of two people.
Martin broke the news to Alena that they secured not only the single slot representing Texas A&M, but were one of two teams coming from Texas — the other representing the University of Texas.
A high school senior hailing from Cypress, Alena is an incoming business freshman — and was also one of the youngest competitors at just 18 years old.
With full support from their family, professors and friends, the Mulinix siblings started the journey — beginning with the gathering of Team USA in Los Angeles.
“We had a boot camp, is what they called it, in LA where they took us through a HIIT workout and a yoga workout and then followed it up with a dietitianist or nutritionist to talk about how we implement Red Bull into our lives and fuel properly for di erent foods that we eat,” Martin said.
“So the boot camp was really cool to have some tangibles to take from the experience that we can implement into our lives.”
Once they stepped foot in Spain, Mulinix Mayhem went to work — although there was still play throughout the week as they bonded with di erent athletes. They went through a seating course on the beach to determine the order of racing on race day, cli jumping after exploring the island and even experienced some of the city’s nightlife with two random locals.
The Castell d’Eivissa, or Castle of Ibiza, is a fortress where Red Bull had set up nine obstacles for the competition. Martin said that they were going to give it their all and leave everything on the course, with strategies such as reviewing sketches of the obstacles, reassuring each other and talking out how to handle each challenge before the race.
Come Wednesday, April 9, they were locked in, passing the start line in the castle at around 12:30 p.m.
“All the obstacles were pretty di erent,” Alena said. “They’re all super fun. I would say the most challenging one was probably the one with monkey bars because I’m not really good at them. But we found a strategy that worked for us where I wrapped my legs around his waist and we just worked on them together and it helped us get across.”
On every obstacle were blue markings: If one was stepped on, 60 seconds were added to the time. From “Stay In One Piece,” a tight bridge with swinging axes, to a castle tunnel turned into a slide, each obstacle tested the participants’ speed, strength, balance and reaction.
“I would have to say that was probably my favorite obstacle.You run up this kind of wooden hill and then you have to cross a rotating bridge and you’re also getting, like, they’re throwing balls at you,” Alena said. “So you also have to focus on balance and not getting hit by a ball, but he went rst and he picked a door, and he hit pret-
ty hard but he got through and I followed.”
These obstacles didn’t just challenge them physically, but also mentally as they reminded each other to press on.
Sticking together and not receiving any penalties, Alena said crossing the nish line was rewarding knowing it was something the siblings were able to accomplish together.
“I would say the incline [to the top of the castle], it was pretty steep,” Alena said. “The run up, there were points where I thought giving up would be the way, but he just held on my back. He pushed me up that hill and we got across that nish line. … He should be proud for talking me through it. And probably in the GoPro video, you can hear him just telling me to keep going. Like, ‘I got this.’ So he was by my side the whole time and just inspired me to get up that hill.”
Martin said it was because of Alena’s perseverance and condence that the two of them succeeded.
“She trusted me and didn’t quit that whole time and made it to the end of the course,” Martin said. “And that was my proudest moment to see that she’s willing to trust me, but then also push herself.”
Just two of over 400 competitors, as the siblings built a camaraderie with Team USA, they both bonded with some of those from around the globe, including teams from Ireland and Lithuania.
The competitors became more
than just people who came together to compete in the challenge, but friends who the siblings hope to reconnect with in the future.
“What was cool is, every athlete they chose had a di erent background in the things that they did — it was adrenaline junkies, runners, weightlifters, swimmers, rowers,” Martin said. “Every athlete brought something to the table, and it made an environment of super supportive people, like the whole trip was based o of our own health and wellness journeys and how we can be inspired throughout race to keep focusing on tness, and while it was competitive, it was really a group e ort to complete it.”
Looking forward to the future and not slowing down, Martin plans to run in a global race for the not-for-pro t foundation Wings for Life on May 4, where runners from around the world participate to support spinal cord injury research.
Ultimately, Alena and Martin placed within the top 100, but they didn’t care about the spot secured as long as they completed the challenge not only for themselves — but more importantly, together.
After a whole week out of the siblings’ busy schedules in a country unfamiliar to them, the duo said the risk was worth it and to not be afraid of the discomfort of the unknown.
“Take the risk, take the opportunity,” Martin said. “And that goes with everything in life.”
Clockwise from top left: Martin and Alena Mulinix climb through the Red Bull Ibiza Royale course for Team USA. Martin and Alena Mulinix run through the Red Bull Ibiza Royale course for Team USA. Martin and Alena Mulinix jump through the Red Bull Ibiza Royale course for Team USA. Team USA poses for a photo.
Photos courtesy of Martin Mulinix
rates of vaccination.
“I think there is no question that the research we saw today is a gamechanging, world-making, countryspecific priority importance, and ensuring that those programs continue at full funding — if not more funding, if they’re really meeting their mark — is a part of what we’re working to do at USDA and across the government.”
Rollins noted that the 100th day of Trump’s second term in office is Wednesday and said that she
considered the fact that the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will no longer support soda and snacks as a major victory for her department. States may still request waivers to be exempt from federal rules.
“We’ve been working very closely with the governor of Texas, with public health officials in Texas,” Kennedy said of the nationwide measles outbreak that has killed two children and has spread in Texas. “We’ve provided them with enormous support from the CDC — all the support
they’ve requested for vaccines and for alternative medicines. These are not fringe medications, these are medications that sick people should get.”
Kennedy listed the antibiotic clarithromycin and aerosolized steroids as treatments for measles, which are both described by the American Academy for Pediatrics as unproven and dangerous to the health of children.
“We have an autism epidemic in this country,” Kennedy said. “One hundred thousand kids a year are diagnosed with autism. … Those
are the concerns that the press should be covering. Every child who gets measles gets a headline.
… Why aren’t people writing about the autism cases? 100,000 kids who should not be getting it.”
Kennedy has previously claimed that the rise of autism cases is environmental, while a variety of scientific literature has attributed the rise to increased detection methods. Measles cases are often widely reported due to the United States declaring the extremely contagious disease eradicated in the early 21st century because of high
“Without food security, meaning without the robust production and work of our farmers supported by organizations like Texas A&M’s College of Ag and Life Science and AgriLife, we no longer have — if we don’t have food security, we no longer have national security,” Rollins said. “This is a much, much, much bigger effort than just creating an incredible crop of corn that is nutritious and can feed some people. This is about national security and about America retaining its position in the world.”
WOMEN CONTINUED
“I have no idea where I’d be if I didn’t have the PPIP program,” Yousuf said. “ … I probably wouldn’t have started my internship here in D.C., and I probably wouldn’t have been able to get hired on as a [legislative correspondent] and now be a [legislative assistant].”
A&M offers other policy internship programs as well, such as one geared towards agricultural policy, which guided the career path of Morgan Orem ‘23. She came to Aggieland as a graduate student studying agricultural communication and said that her two years at A&M, with the help of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Internship Program, or ANRP, and its access to the D.C. network, laid the foundation for her professional focus on agriculture policy. Orem said that, having grown
up on a farm, her sights have always been set on agriculture. She had no particular interest in policy until she started her internship with The Russell Group, a bipartisan lobbying firm focused on agriculture and food policy.
She said very few people understand the agriculture industry, and she realized working in policy would allow her to advocate for ranchers and farmers whil focusing on how policies will impact rural communities.
“[The Russell Group] was probably the best career choice I could have made,” Orem said. “I had intended to start on the Hill … but The Russell Group job came open and … about two and a half, three weeks into my internship, I was like, ‘Oh, this is what I want to do, this is where I want to be.’”
Orem recently moved up to Capitol Hill after two short years in D.C., accepting a position in
Senator Mitch McConnell’s (RKY) office.
“I was kind of just ready to be in the middle of it all, I would say, the middle of the chaos,” Orem said. “I was fortunate enough to be steered toward Senator McConnell’s office, and it was an ideal fit I felt like, and a good move at the time.”
Orem praised the ANRP program and said she owes her success to the network her internship allowed her to build. There is a large Aggie presence in D.C., and she encourages students interested in policy or A&M’s internship programs to focus on making connections for their future.
“Build your network, but focus on quality over quantity,” Orem said. “If they’re not quality people who also know the right people … or are [not] in it for the good of you rather than what they can get out of it, I think it’s completely useless to have a massive network.”
Left to right: Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stands before a group of cadets during Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins ’94 and Kennedy’s visit to Texas A&M’s AgriLife
Phenotyping Greenhouse on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins ’94 speaks during her and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s visit to Texas A&M’s AgriLife Phenotyping Greenhouse on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.
Photos by Adriano Espinosa — THE BATTALION
Photos by Sophie Villarreal — THE BATTALION
Top to bottom: A person holding a pair of Ukrainian flags marches outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The Washington Moment stands on a cloudy day in Washington, D.C.
Swan Song: How did I get here?
A&M
Opinion editor Charis “Chairs” Adkins graduates from Texas A&M with a bachelor’s in English on Thursday, May 8, 2025
By Charis Adkins Opinion Editor
Have you ever stopped, looked around and asked yourself, “How did I get here?”
Last month, I got a LinkedIn notification congratulating me on three years with The Battalion. Three years — an insane amount of time. Seven out of my eight semesters at Texas A&M. Almost one-seventh of my entire life.
I look back at those three years and wonder, “How did I get here?”
I joined The Batt in April 2022. Actually, I submitted my application in November 2021 to radio silence, and I was thankfully still not busy when they reached out with an interview request after five months. I only applied at the behest
of fellow Lechner-McFadden dorm complex resident Caleb Elizondo, who would eventually edit my stories and with whom I now serve as an editor.
I only applied because of Caleb, and I only got to know Caleb through a chance meeting on a dorm bus ride event to the H-E-B on Texas Avenue, which I only attended because I met my thenfuture roommate Jenna by chance on a Rec Center tour, and we only started talking on the bus because I said I liked her hat.
So many minuscule decisions; so many could-have-beens, so many what-would-have-beens. Where would I be if I hadn’t complimented Jenna’s hat back in 2021? If Caleb and I didn’t get to talking about The Batt over dorm dinners?
I have no idea, but I do know that I’m incredibly lucky everything worked out the way it did.
I was a little nervous at first about joining The Batt. I knew I was a strong writer — that wasn’t the problem. But everything I had ever written felt deeply personal.
For me, writing was just taking your inner monologue and regurgitating it onto paper. Seeing other people read my work — even high school English essays — made me nervous and, for some reason, embarrassed. And that was with largely impersonal topics going only to professors, as opposed to
opinions I hold near and dear going out to the entire student body and anyone else who cared to read. What if I couldn’t handle it?
It turns out I could, and I’m beyond glad I decided to give The Batt the proverbial college try.
I’ve seen this publication through four opinion editors, two faculty advisors, the former president Kathy Banks’ no-more-print scare of 2022 and more breaking news, hate mail and editors-in-chief than you can count.
And let me be the first to say, it’s been an absolute pleasure.
Now, staring down the barrel of graduation and a cross-country move to North Carolina for law school, I find myself sentimental. I came to A&M a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed freshman ready to do … whatever it was college students were supposed to do. I was homeschooled, so suffice it to say that going from that to the largest university in the state produced a heavy culture shock.
As corny as it sounds, I found myself at The Batt.
From developing my narrative voice to learning to be OK with sharing my work, the basement of the Memorial Student Center offered endless opportunities for growth.
And once I joined the editorial team, it began to feel like a second home.
One thing I’ve realized, as I gear up for graduate school and the real world, is that it’s never going to be this easy to make friends again.
The Batt gave me a place to see my favorite people five days a week in probably the healthiest office environment I’ll ever work in, and for that, I’ll be forever thankful.
I love this publication. Before last semester, I was beyond ready to go out of state for law school — counting down the days, even. But then I became an editor and got to know everyone at The Batt, and now all I can think about is how much I’ll be leaving behind.
To all my editors — Basil, Caleb, Ryan and, tangentially, Nico — I’d like to apologize for my habit of double-spacing after periods. I’d like to say I’m working on it, but if I’m being honest, I’m not. I will absolutely keep doing it, and I can only hope none of my law professors care overmuch.
To the greatest opinion section in the country (I’m biased, but it’s true) — Maddie, Lilia, BJ, Kaleb, Josh, Wyatt and Sidney — thank you for your critiques, your ideas, your undying support and your endless talent.
To my current editorial family — my love Isa, Nico, Ian, Sophie, Caleb, J.M., Julia, Tenny, Theresa, Fallon, Braxton, Mathias, Matthew, Kynlee, Pranay, Adriano and Ashely — thank you for the laughs, the
hugs and everything else that makes this basement a home. I love y’all.
To those we’ve lost — Luke Wide, Chris, Hannah, Nikhil and Mikayla — may they rest in peace (don’t worry, they’re not dead; they just graduated or moved on — which is basically the same thing). I love y’all, too.
And, last but certainly not least, to everyone I’ve ever shot the breeze with in the office — Jstan, Steve, Youngchan, Zoe and all the others I don’t have room to mention — thank you for making it all worthwhile.
So here’s to late-night chats in the newsroom, side quests and the phrase “my goat.” Here’s to staying in the office long after the paper was exported, to podcast room fanfiction readings and to ridiculous Slack reactions. Here’s to rejected offers for rides, the 1 a.m. Whataburger runs I slept through and all the nights out I’ve missed. It’s been an honor.
I’m off to North Carolina now. Who knows what chance meeting or compliment thrown to the wind will set off another incredible threeyear experience?
When I look at the person I am today and wonder how I got here, I have my answer: The Batt and all the people in it. Thanks for the memories, I’ll take it from here. And don’t worry — this isn’t goodbye.
Photos by Ashely Bautista — THE BATTALION
Swan Song: If I had a nickel, I’d choose The Battalion every time
Social media editor
Sophie Villarreal graduates from Texas A&M with a bachelor’s in telecommunication media studies on Thursday, May 8, 2025
By Sophie Villarreal Social Media Editor
Please read this while listening to “Party 4 u” by Charli XCX — the vibes need to be right. Go ahead and pull it up. I’ll wait. Some people spend their entire life searching for a seat at a table they never belonged at. A table I thought I didn’t belong at o ered me an o ce instead.
In October 2023, I took a class labeled Media Writing II,
where we had the opportunity to create magazines in collaboration with The Battalion and Insite Magazine. This class — one that hadn’t been o ered since the late 1990s — reappeared again at an opportune time for me and The Battalion.
I was looking to launch my career, and The Batt was looking for a way to reintroduce itself on social media.
Working under Chris Swann and Ishika Samant, two visionaries in photography, taught me that storytelling isn’t just in the words; it’s in every frame, every color, every tiny visual decision that makes someone stop scrolling. They showed me how important design and visuals can be in shaping a narrative and how much thought goes into making something seem e ortless. Without them, we wouldn’t just be a di erent publication on social media — we’d be telling a di erent story entirely.
In March 2024, I was given the opportunity to become the
sole social media editor for The Battalion, and the rest is history.
From reaching over 10,000 followers on Instagram to posting crucial information on some of the biggest events, this year has been monumental for The Battalion, and I am grateful to have been behind the Canva designs curating our history as a publication online.
Now that we’re done with the cover letter portion of this, it’s time to talk about what makes a century-old publication still run like a bat out of hell: the people.
Many of the best and worst moments of my life have taken place in the newsroom. If I wasn’t there, I would receive texts saying “meet me in the o ce,” “we’re in the o ce,” “when will you be in the o ce,” “be at the o ce in ve” or “have you told the o ce yet?”
I didn’t think my safe place at Texas A&M would be a windowless liminal space in the basement of the Memorial Student Center that was 15 feet from a bathroom and less than 200 feet from a Panda Express (I’m not sure the smell of orange chicken and sound of ushing will ever leave my brain).
These beige walls plastered with the history of Aggieland became the place where my story would unfold, thanks to the amazing people in it.
For some reason, there were 20 other people who had nothing better to do on a Wednesday night in College Station than go into L400 and create a newspaper — one we hoped people would read and not in turn use to make their PERF 156 nal project garment. But hey, whatever gets you to pick up the paper.
There were so many amazing memories created in that o ce. I am even more grateful that while there was havoc during headline party, I was able to seek asylum in the multimedia o ce.
We created many rsts in that o ce. We created the rst lifestyle podcast for The Batt, the rst multimedia video package and this sta ’s rst Editor Night Out. Even when I was not in the o ce, the vacancy sign was never on. It became the room where people did Zoom therapy, studied for SPAN 302, lled out their rst real job application and, for some, received the phone call of a lifetime.
At the weekly Editor Nights Out that were introduced by yours truly, we became more than coeditors working on a newspaper — we became people to lean on, trusted con dants and even best friends.
We’d play Jackbox until we couldn’t stand how hard we were laughing, we’d play an absurd version of go- sh that Ian Curtis and I created on the rst Editor Night Out and we may have indulged in our fair share of beverages. Each ENO brought us closer together, and I wish there was more time for us to run it back.
I am so happy that I found a place to call home for the latter part of my time at A&M.
The Battalion has changed my life in more ways than I will ever truly admit. Before I joined, I had a set plan.
That plan did not involve applying for a job in policy and moving thousands of miles away to a city where I knew nobody, all to begin the journey of my dream career, or working in politics after law school.
No matter where the 2024-25 Battalion Editorial Sta ends up in this world (which is pretty much all over the place, because this is the most talented group of people I have ever worked with), we will always have L400.
I have no doubt that some of these people will be my bridesmaids one day — I know because I texted Ian Curtis he’d be one after the rst night at this year’s TIPA conference.
There are some special thankyous I would like to make while I have your attention. I am usually limited to 280 characters, so
getting to write all my thoughts out is pretty cool.
Kynlee Bright: Thank you for being the best little sister I could ask for. I am so incredibly proud of you and the human you are becoming.
Theresa Lozano: I don’t think I could leave my baby in better hands than yours. Your work ethic and passion for journalism are what I hope people strive for. Thank you, my beautiful friend. Ian Curtis: cheers to Ian and friends. In your own way, you have reminded me what true friendship looks like. No matter where we are or what we’re doing, I will always have an energy drink for you, my friend.
Chris Swann: To the man that I shared more than a job title with, I love you. Thank you for being my rock and work husband. No one will ever replace you and I hope I never lose communication with the guy who made me believe I could be friends with men again. Isa Garcia and Charis Adkins: muah, muah, muah. I do not know what life will look like without you two in it constantly, but you two will never not be my favorite pairing who challenged me this year.
Ariana Morganti: Thank you for being you. You will forever be the friend I never knew I needed.
Angelina Leal: Thank you for letting me be your lame friend in the student newspaper and yearbook in highschool. Because of it, your name is now in a newspaper!
Thank you to my parents and my siblings for their support. From listening to my radio show at midnight to making burner accounts to get The Battalion to 10,000 before I graduated, your dedication was never ending. I hope I made y’all as proud of me as I am to call you my family. For Alli Baker and Kaci Williams, get ready. I’m heading to Dallas!
What I learned: Don’t plan too much. Sometimes the best things that happen in your life are the ones that were unplanned. If I had a nickel for every time The Batt changed the course of my life or took a year o of it, I could probably buy the sports desk a functioning computer.
This is Sophie Villarreal, social media editor for the last time, over and out.
Swan Song: I’m the imposter
Associate news editor
Tenny Luhrs graduates from Texas A&M with a bachelor’s in communication on Thursday, May 8, 2025
By Tenny Luhrs Associate News Editor
Graduation should — theoretically — be a time of excitement, of starting down a new path. You’ve spent four years honing your craft, so you should have an idea of what your future will look like and some con dence that you have the skills to get you where you want to be, right?
Well, I have to admit, with only one week left of college, I’ve never had worse imposter syndrome in my life.
I’ve always loved politics and knew that my career would somehow involve contributing to the greater good, but my love for journalism is still in its honeymoon phase. Being a news reporter was never on my radar until about two years ago, when my professor for a composition class encouraged me to pursue writing.
It was news to me that I might be a good writer, and I knew I didn’t want to be a novelist or anything of the sort. So once I got to thinking about how to incorporate my passion for politics with writing, pursuing journalism
was a no-brainer.
When I transferred into Texas
A&M my junior year, I was intimidated by The Battalion. I told myself that I needed more writing experience rst, that I needed to be better before I could even apply. So I spent my junior year writing for Her Campus, an online magazine, and eventually moved up to the senior editor position. Though my work with Her Campus was not necessarily journalistic, it gave me some con dence in my skills, my ability to learn quickly and my eagerness to continue improving.
In the fall of my senior year, I nally worked up the courage to join The Battalion’s news desk. Immediately, I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life. I have never taken a journalism class, so this publication has taught me everything I know.
I’m sure my rst few stories weren’t great. I was riddled with anxiety every time I had to do an interview and I had never really written in AP style, so I had a lot to learn. But my editors supported and encouraged me and gave me the con dence to become an editor this spring. I still have doubts. Being a writer for my campus’ newspaper is one thing, but being a “good” writer in the real world, up against all the other journalists who have been reporting for years, is a title
I’m not sure I hold. The Battalion has been an amazing opportunity to grow as a writer. I do believe I’ve made vast improvements in my short time here, but will it be
enough?
I currently don’t have a job lined up and no plans for grad school, so my future looks very uncertain right now. With each passing day without a plan, I grow more insecure. I know my resume might pale in comparison to other recent graduates who had time to get amazing internships and work for multiple publications during their undergrad, and I’m kicking myself for not deciding on journalism sooner. But at the same time, I didn't know what I didn't know. Until last year, I didn’t know I wanted to pursue news, I didn’t know I had
what it took to be an editor and, truth be told, I still don’t know if I will be able to break into the industry. But what I do know is that The Battalion will have been instrumental in my life no matter where I end up. My eeting time here has given me so much. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about news and writing, I’ve made amazing connections with my co-editors and beyond and I’ve been pushed to do things I didn’t feel ready for. Being a part of The Battalion made me live outside my comfort zone; it pushed me to stop
thinking about how unquali ed I might be and to just start doing. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity this publication has given me, and I won’t forget the people who helped me along the way. Even if I don’t end up exactly where I want to be, I know I’ll end up where I’m meant to be. And wherever that is, I hope I am lucky enough to have people around me that are even half as great as those I have spent the past year with.
So, to The Battalion: I owe it all to you, and I can’t thank you enough.
Steve Carrasco IV — THE BATTALION
Swan Song: So, 5,500 gallons of fake blood later, I’m graduating
News editor J.M. Wise graduates from Texas A&M with a bachelor’s in biology and a minor in English on Thursday, May 8, 2025
By J.M. Wise News Editor
I would like to start o by thanking the two most important people in my life: God and
lesbians. And yes, these seem to be total opposites to most people, but then again, I’ve lived my life as an enormous mess of juxtapositions.
I’m not planning on stopping now.
Living in the 21st century at Texas A&M makes my head want to explode. I wake up in my apartment in the bar district that’s next to one of the largest Catholic churches in central Texas. Then I check my email, where someone is calling me a slur for writing an article about science. Or politics. Or maybe even just because they want to.
Despite the overwhelming negative attitude of the average
A&M student, I’ve never felt the need to justify my existence or my interests to my friends at The Battalion.
To our fantastic editor team: You will always remain my huckleberry, the conclave to my papacy and the Sue to my Elizabeth Sparkle. One day, when the Memorial Student Center’s Wednesday night cleaners wipe my Monstro Elisasue body o the sidewalk, we will be reunited.
This is a threat.
For the news desk, which I lovingly rebuilt from scratch after terrible management: Buckle up, losers. I’m not here to hold your
hands anymore. You’re much stronger than you believe, and if you want to succeed, you will do it. Just … please try. I know that we’ve covered some nationally acknowledged news during my time at The Batt, but I wish I had four more years here. I can only imagine the changes and the people who will come through campus as we watch history being made. It may be painful, and the backlash to whatever you write may make you want to give up.
But I want to encourage everyone who has a human soul to continue to create. I applied
to write for an award-winning collegiate newspaper because some freak wrote about Texasshaped wa e irons.
I’m a biology major going to Tulane to study tropical medicine. You’d think I wouldn’t t in a newsroom.
You would be right. I don’t t in just any newsroom, but in The Batt’s dark, crowded and unusually productive basement hellhole of an o ce, I t in perfectly ne. *The
Swan Song: Exit code 0
Web editor Caleb Elizondo graduates from Texas A&M with a bachelor’s in computer science on Thursday, May 8, 2025
even bothered to consider any alternatives. Why would I ever second-guess what I was supposed to do? I was so sure this was predestined that — for a long time — I barely took any initiative to
By Caleb Elizondo Web Editor
When I was in the fourth grade, I joined my elementary school’s LEGO robotics team. All the other kids were, of course, eager to play with LEGOs and naturally shoved each other aside to be the ones building the robot. Being a timid child, I was soon sidelined and got stuck programming it. Fast forward to high school, and I was teaching myself Java, Python and even a little C++. To me, there was something a bit magical about programming. Building is always satisfying, but building
more than your mind and a keyboard is truly special. The plan was simple: go to college, major in computer science, get a
teaching, and eventually learned there’s no joy stronger than helping others and watching them succeed.
looks like the plan worked out: I’m set to graduate and even have a cool job lined up in Seattle. That was never in doubt (even if there were some stressful moments here and there, shoutout Philip Ritchey), but what surprised me the most was that eventually, Texas A&M became more than a place between high school and my
A&M is a complicated place, and I have a lot of complicated feelings towards it. That being said, I'll always remember this campus as the place where I gained a love of learning, gured out just a little bit more about myself and started to break out of my introverted shell.
make it happen. I took programming courses in high school, but breezed through my assignments — doing only the bare minimum — and gave my classmates the answers so we could play a bootlegged copy of “Halo” together. I only bothered applying to two colleges and ended up at the one that didn’t “CAP” me (hiss). While my friends and classmates stayed up late to study for the dreaded engineering physics nal freshman year, I pulled an all-nighter playing “Donkey Kong Country Returns” on the Wii from start to nish just to prove I didn’t need to study. School, to me, was just a place I had to be between now Yet somehow, despite all the arrogance and self-sabotage, it
I, like most computer science students, thought my major was just about programming — only to discover computer science is just another word for math upon starting my real coursework. And I hated math — well, I mostly hated having to study, for once. But little by little (I even had to go to o ce hours once), I began to appreciate the challenge. It turns out learning, even just for its own sake, is immensely satisfying. One of the things that surprised me most was that I gained a love for teaching. I’ve never had a formal teaching role, but I realized that I was doing so to some extent everywhere I went, whether it was as an editor at The Battalion or as a friend, a classmate or a peer in a student organization like Formula Electric. It was never something I sought out; in fact, it actively clashed with my introverted, timid self-image. Yet somehow I kept
I’ll also remember A&M for the people I met along the way. Ryan Lindner, Charis Adkins and Ana So a Sloane, y’all were amazing opinion writers, editors and friends. Thanks for sticking with me and the opinion desk when it was just us. Micheala Rush, Kyle McClenagan and Caleb Powell, y’all were amazing mentors, and I owe you all my success at The Battalion and beyond. Zoe May, thank you for picking me as your partner-in-crime (otherwise known as managing editor). Nico Gutteridge and Ian Curtis — our editor-in-chief and managing editor, respectively — thank you for your friendship (and putting up with my senioritis). You both have incredibly bright futures. Thanks and Gig’em. You made the drive to College Station worth it.
LIFE & ARTS
PhilSA: From the court to the stage
Philippine Student Association shares Filipino culture, builds community on campus
By Liam Bramble Life & Arts Writer
Since it was founded in the 1980s, the Philippine Student Association, or PhilSA, has been building community through culture, dance, philanthropy and more. Now a massive organization on Texas A&M’s campus, the group continues to offer students a place not just to connect with their roots, but also to find a second family.
After performing their cultural dance set at this spring’s GoodPhil, a four-day competition in which multiple Filipino student organizations compete in categories such as sports and dance, members of the PhilSA team walked off the stage in tears — but not out of sadness.
“After our cultural team performed at GoodPhil this year, right when we walked off that stage, we all started crying, even before we learned that we even placed and
got first place at GoodPhil,” public health sophomore Ellianah Garcia said. “We had put so much time and work together and so much love that, no matter what, we were all proud of what we did.”
Founded more than 40 years ago, PhilSA was the first Filipino Student Association in the state.
Since then, it has expanded into the largest Asian organization at A&M.
Open to students of all backgrounds, it provides opportunities to learn, compete and build long-lasting friendships.
“I feel like I found my family and who I am within this org,” Garcia said. “Even though not everyone is Filipino, everyone finds a home here.”
One of PhilSA’s most visible ways of spreading Filipino culture is through dance. Garcia said she rediscovered a former passion for dancing after joining the PhilSA cultural dance team.
“I found my love for dance again,” Garcia said. “A big part of Filipino dance culture is storytelling, or really having nature-like aspects depending on where the dance is from in each region.”
For biology junior Gabriel Javaluyas, the cultural side of PhilSA
is at the heart of the organization.
“Our cultural dance team really does bring that sort of culture to life through dance,” Javaluyas said.
“Each year, we have two showcase competitions — Isang Mahal in the fall and GoodPhil in the spring.”
Off the stage, PhilSA hosts language and history workshops to teach members about Filipino heritage.
One event, Matuto Tayo, focuses on teaching Tagalog phrases to participants.
“In our general meetings, we also have little history moments where cultural curators explain aspects of Filipino culture, whether it’s current events or heritage facts,” Javaluyas said.
Electrical engineering junior Koen Kok said cultural events offer hands-on ways for students to learn about Filipino traditions, even if they have no prior cultural background.
“They’ll teach Filipino games or Filipino dances, even show a little bit about the food,” Kok said.
Javaluyas said GoodPhil, which gathers Filipino student associations from across Texas and Oklahoma, is a highlight of the year for many members.
“If you want to play sports for
PhilSA, you can play any of the sports that we have for [intramurals] or for GoodPhil,” Javaluyas said. “It’s really beautiful how you can see all the FSAs come together and make friends during GoodPhil.”
For Kok, sports are a major way to build connections within PhilSA.
He competed in soccer and ultimate frisbee at GoodPhil this year.
“It helped me join a group that played soccer and ultimate frisbee,” Kok said. “It helped me find a little bit of a community and friendship.”
PhilSA’s activities also extend to philanthropic efforts that make a difference in the Bryan-College Station area and beyond.
Garcia said the organization ties giving back into its events in interesting ways, such as the fan pageant and its annual date auction.
“Philanthropy can be really big or small,” Garcia said. “I really like how PhilSA incorporates philanthropy in so many aspects, rather than just donating money.”
This year, PhilSA partnered with the Puso Foundation during the GoodPhil closing ceremony, raising nearly $1,900 for children and families in the Philippines.
“It’s important for PhilSA to give back because we’re the biggest
Asian org on campus,” Javaluyas said. “It’s only right we use that to help others.”
Kok said one of the most rewarding aspects of PhilSA’s philanthropic events is seeing the direct impact the org has overseas.
“The date auction helps pay for kids’ lunches and teachers’ salaries in the Philippines,” Kok said. “They’ll send us videos of the children saying thank you. It always feels nice.”
For many students, PhilSA has become more than just a cultural group: It has become a place to grow and belong.
Garcia said her experience in the organization helped her build lifelong friendships.
“It’s really beautiful that no matter what, even if they’re not on a team, people still find their community here,” Garcia said. “I found my family and who I am within this org.”
Javaluyas, who rose through the organization’s ranks to become copresident, said the organization has had a transformative impact on his college journey.
“It’s beautiful how a student organization can change someone’s college experience — it definitely has changed mine,” Javaluyas said.
Building community beyond campus life
Young Professionals of Aggieland helps young adults develop roots in Bryan-College Station
By Mollie Blake Life & Arts Writer
After college, many young professionals find themselves in a difficult transition period; no longer students, they’re still searching for community.
In Aggieland, one organization is working to make that transition a little easier.
Young Professionals of Aggieland, or YPA, provides social, professional and service opportunities for individuals in their 20s and 30s looking to put down roots in the Bryan-College Station area.
Through monthly events, a growing membership base and a mission centered on belonging, YPA offers a way for newcomers and longtime locals alike to build connections beyond Texas A&M.
Looking ahead, YPA President Garrett Cline ‘13 said the organization’s goal is simple: grow with its members.
“Getting better and better events, finding out what our members want, what they need, and serving those needs better,” Cline said.
“ ... Because the more you grow membership, the more people can network.”
Founded by the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce,
YPA serves a demographic often overlooked in college towns: young workers in the early stages of their careers.
“There’s been a growing scene of young talent that’s staying in BryanCollege Station,” Cline said. “As it grows and comes into its own, the city is becoming more than just the university.”
With a calendar packed with networking mixers, health and wellness activities and service projects, YPA offers something for everyone.
“We try to have a couple [events] each month. … For professional development, we might have a resume writing workshop or a business card mixer,” Cline said.
“For social and networking, we may have a happy hour at a local business. … For health and wellness, we may offer a free event at a yoga studio or a gym.”
By focusing on serving those caught between student life and established professional circles, YPA hopes to retain young talent and help members make Bryan-College Station feel like home.
“This is an opportunity to kind of mix the two,” Cline said. “Take those young grads who decided to stay in College Station and those people who come in from out of town … give them a way to build a network here and truly feel like they’re home.”
For Events Director Hailey Norris ‘22, YPA has been a lifeline not just professionally, but personally as well.
After graduating from A&M, Norris said she struggled with
loneliness and feeling disconnected from the community.
“YPA gave me the community I didn’t know I needed,” Norris said. “I didn’t realize how lonely I really was or how little I actually knew.”
Norris said the organization’s wide range of events, which range from golf outings to Lake Bryan cleanups, all share one goal.
“The community is the YPA,” Norris said. “The whole point of YPA is to help young professionals build a community and find a place to have friends and flourish here in Bryan-College Station. We can’t do any of it without the community.”
Vice President Trent Vanadore ‘14 said the group’s members come from all industries.
Whether they work in education, healthcare or any number of other professions, Vanadore said members are drawn to the YPA by a desire to build relationships and be part of something larger than themselves.
“It’s really a variety of people,” Vanadore said. “Everything from bankers to people in construction and many other areas. I think what brings everyone together is just the ability to be a part of something bigger and find community.”
As Bryan-College Station continues to expand, YPA hopes to remain a welcoming space for newcomers and recent graduates transitioning into life after college.
“There’s so much talent and amazing people coming out of A&M, and so we just hope that we’re an organization that, as they transition away from student life into careers, we can be a place they can land,” Cline said.
Photo
A&M opens NCAA Tournament at home against Quinnipiac Bobcats
Aggies look to defend title entering as top-10 seed for second time in three years
By Roman Arteaga Senior Sports Writer
Thanks to a stellar Southeastern Conference season that saw No. 2 Texas A&M women’s tennis go 14-1 followed by an appearance in the SEC Tournament nal, the Aggies will stay home and host the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
In a pool of four teams in the opening rounds, A&M will be matched up against the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s Quinnipiac Bobcats in the rst round of the tournament.
Coming o a heartbreaking loss to No. 1 Georgia in the conference tournament nal, A&M showed incredible heart, baseline ball-striking ability and mental toughness. However, many errors in the closing games of the Aggies' matches ultimately led to their downfall as the Bulldogs prevailed 4-2.
The 2024 ITA National Player of the Year, No. 2 senior Mary Stoiana, was immaculate once again. While matched up against No. 1 senior Dasha Vidmanova, Stoiana was once again the better creator. With accuracy from the baseline, she bullied Vidmanova around the court while her superb touch at the net allowed her to capture easy points. After breaking once in the rst set, she would break again to seal a straight-sets win, 6-4, 6-3. In the rst round of the NCAA Tournament, A&M will face Quinnipiac. Representing the MAAC, Quinnipiac is coming into this matchup with a 12-8 overall record and high momentum after clinching the MAAC Tournament title.
The Bobcats are lled with solid ball strikers and high-energy players. Led by three-time high school Boston Globe Player of the Year sophomore Caroline
Schulson and junior Vera Sekerina, the Bobcats are currently on a 10game winning streak and will be looking to continue their success in this tournament.
Perhaps the biggest narrative surrounding this matchup is how the Aggies will respond to the high-energy Bobcats.
While it is a severe underdog in this matchup, Quinnipiac will give itself a chance. If they kill all Bobcat hopes early, the Aggies should sweep.
Another key for the Fightin’ Farmers is the doubles point. While they have two sets of duos ranked in the top 90, they have lost two of the last three doubles points against their opponents. If A&M wins this point and takes advantage early, the hopes of Quinnipiac taking four singles points will diminish and ultimately lead to an Aggie win.
The No. 43 Rice Owls are a potential second round matchup for the Maroon and White. The group plays primarily from the baseline and loves to throw shots at the corners.
Led by junior Darya
Schwartzman and sophomore Divna Ratkovic, the Owls were able to put together a solid 17-6 campaign in the American Athletic Conference, picking up wins against then-No. 49 Wichita State and then-No. 54 Florida International along the way.
Even though it was downed by then-No. 6 Memphis in the AAC Championship, Rice has won ve of its last six matchups and is in great form.
The Maroon and White will have to rely on their consistency to contend with the Owls’ superb work from the baseline. Net play, drop shots and half-volleys will be crucial for A&M as Rice is not big in coming up to the net.
Another key for the Aggies is defense. Already proven to be elite when not in control of the rally, the Fightin’ Farmers will have to continue keeping the ball in play to force the Owls to commit errors, as they have proven to be error-prone from the baseline.
A&M will open its tournament at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 2, at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
Aggies take on Volunteers in Knoxville
No. 4 Texas A&M aims to bounce back in road trip against No. 2 Tennessee in regular season finale
By Olivia Sims Sports Writer
No. 4 Texas A&M softball heads to Knoxville, Tennessee, to take on No. 2 Tennessee for its second top- ve matchup in Southeastern Conference play this season. The Aggies are 2-3 in their last ve games and 1-3 in their last four conference games.
The Maroon and White have struggled to get runs across the board in their most recent losses, which is something that hasn’t been a problem for this intense o ense all season.
They have been outscored 2312 in their last four SEC games, a telltale sign something needs to change before heading into No. 2 Tennessee.
“I was not in a great space of where we were trending the rst two games,” coach Trisha Ford said after Sunday’s win over then-No. 9 Arkansas. “Our energy was o . … That’s what concerned me a little bit.”
Heading into its nal conference series of the regular season, A&M will look to keep up the momentum coming o a 2-0 shutout win against Arkansas. Ford made a couple of lineup changes in the series nale against the Razorbacks, putting graduate Mac Barbara behind the plate, which allowed freshman right elder Frankie Vrazel to enter the lineup and give the Aggies more o ense.
Barbara has been a key piece of this Aggie o ense, with ve home runs in conference play and
a team-high 25 RBIs. Barbara is not the only one who has been trending up, as freshman second baseman KK Dement has been phenomenal for the Aggies in conference play, with four home runs and 21 RBIs for the rookie.
Heading into a battle with the No. 2 team in the country, the Aggies need to be prepared to handle a dynamic o ense from the Volunteers.
The Vols are led by redshirt sophomore third baseman Taylor Pannell, who currently ranks top 10 in the SEC this season in batting average, slugging percentage, onbase percentage, hits, home runs and RBIs.
Tennessee is coming o a series win against No. 16 Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi as it heads back home to host its last conference matchup.
The Vols are 14-7 in conference play with series wins over then-No. 13 Georgia, thenNo. 2 Oklahoma, then-No. 17 Mississippi State and then-No. 1 Texas.
The Aggies have been great on the road with a 10-1 record, with their only conference road loss being at Missouri in a series they had already clinched.
When it comes to pitching, both A&M and Tennessee have star pitchers that will likely be seen more than once this weekend.
For the Aggies, senior lefthanded pitcher Emiley Kennedy is 17-4 on the season with a 2.71 ERA. The Vols' bullpen is led by junior pitcher Karlyn Pickens who is 11-3 with an impressive 1.25 ERA. It will be a dog ght to the end in all three games. Tennessee has been trending upwards recently with a massive series win over then-No. 1 Texas while the Aggies have struggled recently.
The rst game is set for 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 1.
Photos by Adriano Espinosa — THE BATTALION
Top to bottom: Sophomore Lucciana Perez reacts to winning a set during Texas A&M’s match against Georgia at Mitchell Tennis Center on Sunday, April 13, 2025. Senior Mary Stoiana reacts to a won point during Texas A&M’s match against Georgia at Mitchell Tennis Center on Sunday, April 13, 2025.
Rocio Salgado — THE BATTALION
Steve Carrasco IV — THE BATTALION
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