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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1967)
K a t h i s Kathi Finds Time For Both Loves By WINSTON GREEN and LEE MORENO Hulabaloo, Caneck! Caneck! Hulabaloo, Caneck! Caneck! “Forceps, Miss Austin." Goodbye to Texas University So long to the orange and the white. “Clamps, Miss Austin." Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies, They are the boys who show the real old fight. “Gauze, Miss Austin." The Eyes of Texas are upon you . . . An appendectomy to the tune of the Aggie War Hymn and some good humored hazing by Aggie docs are all in a day’s work for this year’s Aggie Sweetheart. As a senior student nurse at Texas Woman’s Univer sity’s newly completed Dallas center, Miss Kathi Austin unselfishly divides her time between her two loves — nurs ing and Texas A&M. Kathi was chosen last fall to officially represent A&M as the Sweetheart of 10,000 Aggies. In doing so, she is able to fulfill a longtime dream — to be a part of Texas A&M. As a student nurse, she fulfils a life long desire — to help others. KATHI, BORN in Oakwood, Tenn., moved to Texas at the age of 14 and has lived in the Dallas area for the past seven years. She graduated from Sunset High School, where she was a straight “A" student. She was also a member of the National Honor Society and the Future Nurses of America club. She also has two younger sisters. Ronda is a junior at Sunset and “is dating a sopho more Aggie," according to Kathi. Becky is married and is a student at North Texas State University. “I’m going to be an aunt for the first time this spring," Kathi added, “and I’m really excited about it." KATHI’S WEEKDAY usually begins at 5 a.m. and ends about midnight “or thereabouts," she said. “I spend approximately 18 hours per week at the (Parkland) hospital," Kathi continues. “Besides my work at the hospital I am carrying 15 hours this semester." She is currently working on the surgical floor at the hospital, caring for the patients before and after surgery. “I’ve also worked in the emergency room and the child ren’s ward," she added. Kathi has had some thoughts of being a nurse in Vietnam. “NURSES IN VIETNAM,” she says, are doing work that doctors often do. Nurses there are sewing up patients and performing many of the tasks that normally require a physician. “I once considered being a doctor," say Kathi, “but changed by mind because I did not like what medical school did to women." According to Kathi, most women doctors are “de- feminized" by the fact that medical school requires them to devote their entire selves to the profession and they fail to find time to just be a woman." But Kathi enjoys being a woman. “How else could I have been chosen Aggie Sweetheart?” she asked coyly. THE S’S” BROWN-eyed brunette describes A&M with only two words — loyalty and friendliness. “No where else can you find a school that has stu dents so loyal to one another and so friendly to outsiders," she said. “It’s so wonderful that such a tradition stands throughout the years.” She admits that being a girl does have its drawbacks. “If I’d been a boy, I would have gone to A&M and probably been in the Corps," she says. “I guess I have been, more or less, Corps oriented. My cousin who gradu ated from A&M in the Corps was my first aquaintence with A&M. It was from him that I learned such words as ‘Cush’ and ‘dirt’ for dessert and pepper.” KATHI BELIEVES that the Corps and civilians are becoming more and more fused. She also “foresees the day when an Aggie Sweetheart will be a coed chosen from the A&M student body instead of being chosen by the present method. Being the Aggie Sweetheart, Kathi enjoys tremend ously the activities involved with her office. She loves to dance and meet people, but never does §he neglect the seriousness of her studies. According to Mrs. Glenn Fairbairn, Dallas Residence Director, “Kathi, like the other girls at the TWU nursing school, is very serious with her studies and is a credit to both the school and her chosen profession." KATHI DESCRIBES the new TWU Nursing Center in Dallas as being “really marvelous." The seven-story building was just completed in time for the spring semester. The center is located on Inwood road, just off Stem- mons Expressway. It not only provides residence for the nurses, but classrooms a join the building to provide labora tories and lecture halls. There is a large living room and recreational area in the center for the nurses. I REALLY enjoy the recreation room, even though I very seldom get a chance to use it, with all my studies and activities,” Kathi admits. “We all enjoy relaxing now and then by watching the color television provided for us there.” Kathi is looking forward to the spring activities at A&M of which she will be a part. She will be at A&M during the next two weekends for the Sophomore and the Fish Balls. When asked if she had a “special Aggie,” Kathi replied, “how on earth could I be content with just one, when I love all 10,000?" CAMPUS FRIENDS In the Student Union Building on the TWU campus, Kathi stops to talk over “old times” with two friends, Beatriz Garcia, (L) and Bruni Alaniz. HER AGGIES )K With a group of I* se: and her resident! recalls her mu as events at A&Mi: >m ing events while figl her scrapbook. THE NURSE’S WORLD The job of a student nurse in volves many different tasks. Here Kathi is shown talking on the hospital intercom, keeping files at the reception desk, writ ing new names on the hospital roster and making room checks.