MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2017 STUDENT MEDIA
Silver Taps
when 10:30 p.m. Tuesday where Academic Plaza
Ryan Daniel Aleksandrowicz 1/8/98 — 9/28/17
In honor of Aggies who have died, the Ross Volunteer Firing Squad will march in Academic Plaza and fire three rifle volleys of seven shots. Buglers from the Aggie Band will play a special arrangement of Taps.
TUESDAY NIGHT WE HONOR THE FALLEN
Dustin Cole McEntire 3/11/98 — 9/17/17
SILVER TAPS ON PAGE 3
VIA SEC
A&M is on a 13 game win streak that dates back to Sept. 21, including a 2-1 win over Arkansas for an SEC title.
Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
Several organizations worked together to ensure Silver Taps letters were translated to Hindi, enabling the families of Nikhil Bhatia and Shalini Singh to fully experience the Aggie tradition.
Translating tradition Parents of international students receive Silver Taps letters in Hindi By Kenya Robinson @_KenyaJ As the Aggie Family stood in remembrance of the graduate students who passed away earlier this semester, students and staff worked together to ensure that relatives of the deceased could read the letters written by their Aggie family. Nikhil Bhatia and Shalini Singh died after drowning in Lake Bryan on Aug. 29 and were honored at the October Silver Taps ceremony. The Indian Graduate Student Association (IGSA) and the Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC) worked with International Student Services and Traditions Council to translate letters from
English to Hindi. Graduate and Professional Student Council President Matthew Etchells and International Student Affairs Chair for GPSC Saloni Bafna, attended the funeral for Bhatia that was held shortly after his death. Etchells said he feels a deep obligation to represent all grad students, especially in hard times. “At the funeral, when I went up and hugged Nikhil’s mother, she just broke down crying,” Etchells said. “It was just a hard moment. I think everyone’s just looking for closure on different levels, but then I realized she didn’t speak English.” Etchells and Bafna represented the families of Bhatia and Singh at the Silver Taps ceremony in October, since many of their relatives could not attend. Realizing the challenges both families faced during the tragedy, Bafna said translating the Silver Taps letters would assist
A&M soccer wins SEC tourney title
Late goal by Emily Bates gives Aggies their third conference championship and 13th straight win By Grant Spika @GrantSpika
in comforting the relatives of Bhatia and Singh. “Shalini’s parents don’t have passports, so they couldn’t even come to her funeral,” Bafna said. “She had her brother and uncle there instead, so I knew then that the Silver Taps letters would be important to the families, especially after seeing how one family couldn’t get any closure because they weren’t here.” Etchells and Bafna reached out to Fnu Gompa Pranathi, president of the IGSA, for help. Pranathi gathered 20 students to translate the letters. “It took us a week and half because I had to find lots of people who were free, in the midst of midterms and everything,” Pranathi said. “I distributed the letters amongst IGSA members, Saloni and my roommates and other close friends. One of my friends who picked
With about two minutes left in the second half, Texas A&M junior midfielder Emily Bates received a pass in the top left corner of the penalty box and put a move on an Arkansas defender to clear up an opening on goal. She then placed a beautiful left-footed shot under the Arkansas goal keeper and into the back of the net, sealing the 2-1 victory to earn the SEC tournament title for A&M. The Aggies are now 17-2-1 on the year and have won 13 straight games after dropping their conference opener to Auburn on Sept. 15. This is the eighth conference tournament championship — third in the SEC — and 23rd consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for A&M head coach G Guerrieri and Aggie soccer since the program was created in 1993. Following the win, Guerrieri said he was elated and proud of his team’s ability to win through adversity on the field. “We’re going to really enjoy this and celebrate these young women,” Guerrieri said in a video on Twitter. “They are absolutely outstanding. They find ways to win no matter what happens.”
LETTERS ON PG. 4
SOCCER ON PG. 2
Nick Starkel back in action as QB Early offensive struggles led to change of quarterback midway through Auburn game By Angel Franco @angelmadison_
Hanna Hausman — THE BATTALION
Redshirt freshman quarterback Nick Starkel completed 11 of his 22 pass attempts for 184 yards and two touchdowns.
When Nick Starkel strapped on his helmet with seven minutes left in the second quarter, Texas A&M was desperate for some sort of offensive production. Despite Starkel’s efforts the remainder of the game, A&M fell to No. 14 Auburn 42-27. Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin said he decided to put Starkel in the game due to starting quarterback Kellen Mond’s inability to create any form of offense a quarter and a half into the game. Mond completed 5-of-11 pass attempts with a meager 16 yards through the air. “With the way things were going today, based on decision making on the field, we made a change,” Sumlin said following the game. “Based the way things were going on the football game, just like every other position on our team, it was time to give someone else a chance. Nick took advantage of that today. If [Mond] had gone in there and not done
what he had done, it might be a different story.” For the day, Starkel was 11-of-22 for 184 yards with two passing touchdowns. Following the game, Sumlin hinted that Starkel would be getting the starting nod over Mond next week for the last home game of the season against New Mexico. “He was our starter to start the year,” Sumlin said. “There wasn’t any indecision in the last couple weeks. It was all based on him being healthy and what he can do and how he can do it. Obviously, today he played pretty good, all things considered. He took pretty good care of the football. Moving forward, I think he’s earned his spot back and we’ll go down the road like that.” The last time Starkel saw substantial action was eight weeks ago against UCLA before he went down with a broken ankle. Sumlin said the post medical clearance approach was to make sure Starkel was ready to play considering he was out for significant amount of time. “I think what you’ve seen the last couple weeks is Nick is rusty, but he’s doing okay,” Sumlin said. QUARTERBACKS ON PG. 2