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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1983)
Weirus □hi ‘Aggie Spirit’ I by Dena L. Brown . Battalion Reporter , HI jRichard “Buck” Weirus, Class r (|f ’42 and former executive di- |ctor of the Association of For et Students, is a “good of Ag” ■the Texas A&M tradition, the Bresent executive director of the jprmer students’ association roup de: ‘! s i “No one exemplifies the ^Tyl/ lgie Spirit like Buck Weirus,” / \) director Randy Matson said. Last year, the Former Stu- ents Association named a Ipirit Award” after him in hon- oi of his spirit and contributions resenting5|to Texas A&M. The award is given to University students who Contribute to student life Bough involvement in student (mbs and organizations. Weirus, 62, retired from his position as executive director in |980, but stays busy with swim- (111 g, aerobics and consulting pith other schools’ alumni asso ciations. 350AMt Opolojjv!]; tiizaiion:^ or ^ryoneis* how jor from\ ! [In high school, Weirus was ac- |ve in dance band, glee club and ■)TC. When he was a high school senior, a representative junior fa jifcm Texas A&M, wearing “his 1 h Show. Hots and britches,” came to talk the firstto<jjo students about attending livestodsklftxas A&M. Weirus said. ' Buck Weirus The ROTC and that repre sentative convinced him to go to Texas A&M, he said. Thirteen of his 81 classmates also came to Texas A&M, and all of them graduated, Weirus said. Weirus said he was one of the students who had to struggle to earn a degree. While he was not really an outstanding student, he said, he still spent most of his time working through school. He was a member of the Sing ing Cadets his first two years at Texas A&M but quit to play drums for the Aggieland Orchestra Dance Band. The band performed at student dances and around the College Station area. Weirus also sang novelty tunes such as “I like cake and no mistake ...” He played Benny Goodman songs with other members of the band during in termission. Since none of the members of the group had the music for the songs, they learned the tunes by listening to records, Weirus said. Weirus also was interested in swimming. He says that although he learned to swim while in Boy Scouts, he took swimming courses at Texas A&M, which resulted in an offer from the swim team coach to work out with the team. After swimming practice in the evenings, Weirus waited on tables of people who were late for dinner at Duncan Dining Hall. Usually he would find him self waiting on his swimming buddies after having just finished swimming with them, he said. Weirus worked at Duncan for three and a half years and also at Sbisa Dining Hall for a year. Activities sometimes inter fered with academics for Weirus. He once got so behind in a math class that he had to convince the professor to give him a grade of incomplete in the class and let him finish it over the summer. Learning to meet people and Other schools just don’t have the Texas A&M spirit and emotion. Something happened to these people when they came to A&M. It’s some thing I can’t describe. — Buck Weirus how to love and cooperate with everyone was the greatest thing about college, he said. “A&M is a great equalizer, ev erybody’s on their own ... and you have to prove yourself,” he said. In December 1943, Weirus graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in industrial edu cation and in 1944 went over seas. During World War II, he served as a captain in Europe in a field artillery unit. Some of the friends he made at Texas A&M were killed in the war, he said. Following the war, Weirus went back to San Antonio to work and joined the city’s Aggie Club, of which he served as vice president and president. In 1961, he began working full-time with the former stu dents’ association as director of fund raising. He became execu tive director in 1964. During his term of office, the Century Club was started and the alumni office was built. Af ter he retired as executive dire ctor, he was promoted to colonel in the Army reserve. Other schools just don’t have the Texas A&M spirit and emo tion, he said. “Something hap pened to these people when they came to A&M,” he said. “It’s something I can’t describe.” O 1 A NEW CLASS IN STUDENT LIVING! • compact, efficient space • 3 minutes from campus • security/cqvered parking • washer/dryer in every unit ♦ CHANCE FOR FREE TRIP TO EUROPE* (* subject to total occupancy) 846*8960 ' Award recognizes campus involvement id costs a tour nited Nsv| lay. For ISC or all by Dena L. Brown Battalion Reporter Kepi) Wei ' run jAward was given for the first mme in the spring of 1982 to rec- .ognize students for their efforts jand involvements in campus ;life. I' r a thir i Student activities, accom- ce will stsi jjjlishments, leadership positions find other involvement in cam- I $6thtda'|>us activities are the main con- SpecialOifideration for the award, the di- Kctor of student activities says. Ttificatefej Dr. Carolyn Adair calls the ill be aMKftudent life program, which in- •ophieswi fcfiides participation in clubs and finishing! [organizations, the “other educa tion.” She says that being in- umc UFO talk TStrora 3 weting ing I Tonight in Rudder Theater, Philip j. Klass will discuss Un- stedinac® identified Flying Objects in a speech sponsored by MSC Great 00m 151.1 .issues. B The title of his speech is “Ear- Bbound? An Exploration of i fjFO Myths.” I Klass is a member of the Insti- Stute of Electrical and Electronics [Engineers and of the American Hssociation for the Advance- rtnent of Science. He is the senior [avionics editor for Aviation a mp [Week and Space Technology r agazine. Klass is the author of three Ibest-selling books on UFOs, in- a re jiujidiludmg “UFOs Explained.” S 3 program, which is free Band open to the public, begins at B8 p.m. IATIONALLY ACCLAIMED SINCE 1959« FROM EAST TO WEST STUDENTS SAY WE’RE BEST1 volved “provides a set of experi ences complimentary to the for mal education process.” She adds, however, that in volvement can’t be measured by grades or terminated with a de gree. So, how can student leaders be recognized? In the fall of 1981, Jack F'ritts — president of the Association of Former Students at the time, — Adair, and student body pres ident Ken Johnson developed an award strictly for activities. F'ritts wanted to name the award after Buck Weirus, a gra duate of the Class of ’42 and re tired executive director of the former students’ association. Students selected for the award must be in good academic standing with their college, but other than that, grades will not be a factor in the selection of award recipients. A committee of faculty and students will review applications for the awards. The awards, given to as many as five fresh men, 10 sophomores, 15 juniors, 20 seniors and two gra duate students, will be pre sented during the opening cere mony of Parents’ Day weekend. Weirus says that Texas A&M has never really had a program honoring the average student who has paid the price of not being able to study enough be cause he is involved in student activities. Those students receiving the award will be given a framed certificate and a Seiko quartz watch with the word “Spirit” printed on the maroon face of the watch. Applications for the award must be returned to the Former Students’ Association office by 5 p.m. Friday. 3WNHALL 7 IN CONCERT THURSDAY, MARCH 3rd 8:00 P.M. G. ROLLIE WHITE COLISEUM Tickets- $7, $8, & $8.50 MSC Box Office 845-1234 Option Pass Period Feb. 7-11 General Sales s&ie*,. 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HEWLETT PACKARD CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO ATTEND A SEMINAR FOR TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY ON CONCEPTS FOR THE 80 S (Productivity Tools for Education & Research) Seminars and product exhibits for faculty and staff Tuesday, February 22, 1983 Wednesday, February 23, 1983 University Center/Exhibit Hall 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. What HEWLETT miftM PACKARD SEMINAR AGENDA Seminar Time Location HP-IB (IEEE 488) Measurement Systems - Implementation of HP-IB instruments/ controllers into measurement systems 2:00 - 4:30 p.m. Feb 22 9:00 - 11:30 a.m. Feb 23 1:30 - 4:00 p.m. Feb 23 501 Rudder 501 Rudder 501 Rudder The HP 9000, 32-bit Engineering Workstation 8:30 - 10:00 p.m. Feb 22 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Feb 23 510 Rudder 510 Rudder Hewlett Packard Personal Computers 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Feb 22 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Feb 23 510 Rudder 510 Rudder Hewlett Packard Gas Chromatography 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. Feb 22 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Feb 23 504 Rudder 502 Rudder Office Automation 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Feb 22 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Feb 23 510 Rudder 510 Rudder Trends in Distributed Data Processing 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Feb 22 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Feb 23 510 Rudder 510 Rudder Software Development Systems - Use of software development systems for hardware/software microprocessor analysis and emulation 9:00 - 11:30 a.m. Feb 22 only 501 Rudder NMOS III Technology at Hewlett Packard 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Feb 22 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Feb 23 504 Rudder 502 Rudder ! HEWLETT PACKARD