The Battalion
ISTATE & LOCAL
Friday, October 13,1989
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Bryan schools chosen as pilot
in national science programs
By Cindy McMiliian
Of The Battalion Staff
The Bryan Independent School District has
been chosen as one of five pilot sites for the na
tional Math Science Volunteer Program, and lo
cal coordinators of the program seem to think
the sky is the limit.
“We hope that through volunteer involvement
we can stimulate students’ interest in science and
math,” local MS VP coordinator Moreen Travis
said. “With changes in interest, changes in
achievement will come.”
Travis said students often go through school
thinking science is boring and not relevant to
their lives. They can’t see the connections be
tween the facts they learn and the real world, she
said. As a result, the levels of achievement in
math and science students around the nation
have decreased and the number of math and sci
ence professionals is falling.
“There is a tremendous shortage of profes
sionals in engineering careers, and there will be
an even greater shortage in years to dome,” she
said. “The profession as a whole is very con
cerned because they can see whatever cage we
have as a technological nation is eroding away.”
MSVP will try to improve the existing math
and science programs in public schools by bring
ing together local science, math and engineering
professionals with BISD teachers and students.
Bryan was chosen as a pilot site because of its
mid-range size, its ties with Texas A&M and its
geographic region, she said. The program will
benefit from A&M's educational resources and
volunteer faculty and students.
Volunteers will participate in in-service train
ing, research and development and curriculum
planning, Travis said.
Computer training for teachers and students,
career awareness programs, science fairs, school-
yard nature trails and other outdoor science fa
cilities are examples of the kinds of programs
with which local volunteers could assist.
The program will be implemented in all grade
levels, she said, but will focus on elementary
schools, which have the highest need level.
“Many elementary teachers don’t really feel
comfortable with science and don’t have an ex
tensive science background. They avoid teaching
it because they’re afraid of laboratory accidents
and don’t feel competent to deal with science as a
topic.”
Travis said she believes most teachers are true
professionals and knowledgeable about educa
tion, but could benefit from scientists’ sugges
tions in curriculum planning.
Two days of training recently took place with
volunteers from the USDA, GTE, Star Tel, Bra
zos Valley Museum, Texas A&M’s bioengineer
ing and civil engineering faculty and from the
Ocean Drilling Project headquartered at A&M,
she said.
MSVP receives funding from the National Sci
ence Foundation and local sources such as BISD,
the Austin Trust and A&M, Travis said. National
organizations also have done research in math
and science curriculum development, she said,
but MSVP brings these national results to the lo
cal level.
“Change usually takes a long time, but we’ve
already seen small changes in teachers’ attitudes
towards science,” she said.
By the second year of the program, some cur
riculum changes and major projects between
schools should be in the works, she said. In a few
years, program administrators hope results will
spread to other local districts, she said.
Foresters wood like awareness
National Forest Products Week aimed at educating public
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By Kelly S. Brown
Of The Battalion Staff
When you pick up a toothpick, it’s
unlikely that the thought of where it
came from ever crosses your mind
—just as a second thought is rarely
given to the origin of thousands of
other products made from the for
est.
National Forest Products Week
begins Monday and with it experts in
the field would like to see non-ex
perts awareness about forests in
creased.
While managing the Future of
America’s Forests is the theme for
NFP week, it’s probable that forest
ers had the future in mind decades
ago when the blueprints for trees
were created — forests in 1989 con
tain 200 billion cubic feet more wood
than they did in 1952.
The result of the growing stock in
the nation’s forests is a renewable
American resource, capable of fur
nishing important raw material for
domestic use as well as for expand
ing a global demand.
Forest land today totals nearly 737
million acres. From this number
one-third — 241 million acres — is
set aside in parks and wilderness
areas, or is otherwise unsuitable for
growing repeated crops of trees.
“Commercial forest” land, which
is the remaining 496 million acres of
the total forest base, is capable of
producing repeated crops of trees,
and is where production and har
vesting is permitted by law.
While the vast forest land in
America is enjoyed by the multi
tudes, it’s owners are a varied crew.
Roughly four million private
landowners are those with the most
acreage and they control almost 58
percent of the commercial forests,
which is 275 million acres.
The government comes in second
as a major forest owner, with about
136 million acres of commercial for
est land being publicly held. Most of
this 28 percent belongs to the U.S.
Forest Service.
The forest products industry is
the distant third largest forest owner
as it maintains about 14 percent of
the commercial forest. It provides
more than 30 percent of the national
forest harvest. Private landowners
account for 48 percent of the har
vest, and government supplies 22
percent.
The productivity of America’s
forest is considered among the
world’s best with the application of
modern forest management tech
niques — where rising demand is sat
isfied but they still harvest less of the
forests due to forest managers ded
icated to good stewardship of the
land.
This is where forest product com
panies enter in. They find ways to
use wood far more effectively than
ever was thought possible. What
used to be regarded as waste, like
tree-tops, limbs and logging resi
dues, are now used in a productive
See Forest Week/Page 13
Play now, win later
with fictional folios
in stock market game
By Bob Krenek
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M students can test
their financial skills in a four-
month stock market game that
will be played throughout the
country.
A $25,000 prize will be
awarded to the college student
who compiles the most profitable
stock portfolio in the competition
that realistically duplicates stock
market trading without financial
risk to the participants.
The AT&T Collegiate Invest
ment Challenge uses Wall Street
Games, an educational game de
signed to help students learn the
trials and tribulations of the stock
market without any real risk.
For a registration fee of
$49.95, students will receive a
rules and instructions booklet, a
Standard & Poor’s Stock Guide
with information on public
stocks, a transaction ledger to
keep track of trading and profits
and a $500,000 fictional portfolio
with which to begin trading.
The competition begins when
the stock market opens on Nov. 1.
A full-service brokerage firm
with a toll-free number will be set
up so participants can conduct
trades just as with a real broker
age house. Wall Street Games
uses a computerized stock quota
tion network that provides up
dated stock prices via satellite.
A trading desk will be available
with employees trained to pro
vide assistance and conduct
(rades. All trades will be made
through these brokers during
stock market hours and will be
made in seconds with up-to-the-
minute stock prices to make the
competition as realistic as possi
ble.
The competition will end with
the closing of the stock market on
Feb. 28 and the competitor with
the most profitable portfolio will
win the top prize.
The top ten finishers will be
flown to the Bahamas for an
awards banquet and one week of
vacation. Students also will be
ranked monthly by campus and
by state. The top 250 students in
the country eacn month will re
ceive prizes. The total prize value
is $200,000.
There also will be a competi
tion between colleges with 50 or
■ his competition
realistically duplicates
stock market trading
without financial risk to
the participants.
more students participating. The
10 colleges with the highest aver
age portfolios will receive plaques
and the winning school will re
ceive a reception from AT&T for
Challenge participants. Texas
A&M finished 10th in the nation
last year.
Last year’s inaugural competi
tion attracted 11,250 players, of
whom 22 became millionaires
and 12 went broke. The winner,
Julie McRedmond of the Univer
sity of Illinois, increased her port
folio by 355 percent.
College professors and high
school students also are eligible to
compete in seperate divisions.
The entry fee for professors is
$49.95 and high school students
pay $39.95.
“The Challenge opens the
world of financial markets to stu
dents, and the knowledge they
gain can open new opportunities
for them when they graduate and
begin careers,” Wall Street Games
inventor Tim DeMello said.
The registration deadline is
Oct. 27. Call 1-800-545-1990 to
register or receive more informa
tion.
Applications now being accepted for
in the 1990 Miss Texas A&M University Pageant
Pick up applications in the Student Programs
Office, Rm. 216 of the MSC
Turn in applications by Tues., Oct. 17 at 5pm to Gelinda
Lara at the front of the Student Programs Office
General Information Meeting
Monday October 16 7 p.m. (507 Rudder)
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