ary 1,1
ammmmmMmmMMmmMm
Tuesday, February 1,1994
Page 3
e
is andl
- and c?
rk outf (
mote aii|
on a bal
also lea:
- tin g pit]
-ss on i;
In't sell
aid he c;
iston.
and 1
itil the;:
11 15,11
36111
lilt
nut tha;
>ut it/ 1
1.
■ prosei
id c‘
hat the;
penalh:
1 in char;
going to,
y.'"
spend tq
■/i/eediloi I
life edito
rts edilw
I, Photoedi
al Secfaes
Sacrifice and sanity
Aggie student parents committed to kids, classes
» x/f «. ut said the hardest part of being a student weekend," Little said. "But lately it 1
By Margaret Claughton
The Battalion
M ost parents are in agreement
that having children, even one,
is definitely a full-time commit
ment. And many students will admit
that college level courses, even when
taken in moderation, are among the
most time consuming and challenging
undertakings. Judging from this, those
who succeed in balancing both parent
hood and an academic career must in
deed be the kings and queens of time
management.
Student parent Tammy Oliver, a ju
nior English major and mother of two.
said the hardest part of being a student
parent is deciding what is going to be
sacrificed.
"Sometimes you sacrifice school and
sometimes you sacrifice time with the
kids," Oliver said. "And sometimes
you sacrifice both for sanity. It balances
out eventually. But it always seems like
something has to give."
Indeed many student parents do sac
rifice a lot of family time for an educa
tion they hope will provide them with
admirable credentials.
Ellen Little, a senior recreation and
parks major, lives six hours away from
her husband and 13-year-old son in
Del Rio.
"We used to get together every
Kyle Burnett/The Battalion
Ann Renner (center), a '91 graduate and single parent of two, Jessica and
Michael, came back to A&M to get a special education endorsement.
weekend," Little said. "But lately it has
been more like once a month."
Little is the publicity vice president
of SOTA (Students Over Traditional
Age.) In addition, she teaches first
grade Sunday school and has a class
load of 15 hours at A&M. At the same
time, her husband is a law enforcement
park ranger at Amistad National Recre
ation Area.
"I have my life here and he has his
there," Little said. "It's difficult, but
we'll see each other on Valentine's
Day."
Oliver said she thinks the time short
age is sometimes hard on the kids.
"They don't get all of my attention,
especially if I have to study. It's hard
for them to understand," she said.
James Loy, a veterinarian working on
his Ph.D., agrees.
"Our daughter Allyson doesn't un
derstand deadlines and commitments.
Her needs can't be put off," he said.
"We must always tend to her first, then
worry about school."
In addition to time constraints, going
to school while being a parent requires
financial sacrifices as well.
"I was requested to come back to
school by my job," said Ann Renner, a
'91 graduate and single parent of two
children. "I take two classes now which
all together cost me $450. That's a big
chunk out of a budget as tight as ours."
Renner works at the Burleson Coun
ty. Vocational Work Program for special
education students and commutes to
her office in Caldwell. She has a degree
in education from A&M, but was re
quested to come back and get a special
education endorsement. Her two chil
dren, Jessica, 11, and Michael, 8, have
been right beside her all through her
academic career.
"My kids have grown up at A&M,"
Renner said. "They've come to class
with me and even taken naps on class
room floors."
See Sacrifice/Page 5
A league all his own
Nautical archaeology
professor known as
pioneer in his field
By Paul Neale
The Battalion
Dr. George F. Bass digs shipwrecks.
The words "first" and "oldest" are the
key words when Bass, professor of nauti
cal archaeology at Texas A&M, recounts
the excavations he has been involved
with.
"Every wreck we do has many firsts,"
he said.
Many of the sites he has excavated
have produced new findings in the field.
Bass is currently involved with the exca
vation of the Bronze Age shipwreck at Ulu
Burun, Turkey. From the 14th century B.C.,
the wreck is the oldest in the world.
The site, discovered in 1983, produced
the oldest glass ingots, the oldest tin in
gots, the oldest known book, the oldest
known seagoing hull, and the first gold
scarab of Queen Nefertiti ever found.
The excavation yielded fifteen tons of ar
tifacts all together.
He describes such excavation as
"studying the history of technology in a
sense by uncovering these well-dated
groups of artifacts from each century of
antiquity."
His findings were published in a 40-
page cover story in the December 1987 is
sue of National Geographic and were
documented in a film for the television
series "Nova."
Bass left the University of Pennsylva
nia in 1973 to found the Institute of Nau
tical Archaeology, an institute that has
been a part of shipwreck research on four
continents. In 1976, Dr. Bass came to
Texas A&M and the private institute be
came affiliated with this University.
"The institute has the potential for
making Texas A&M University the lead
ing institute for archaeology in the
world," Bass said. "I think we're already
well recognized."
He said the only program comparable
to Texas A&M's is that of East Carolina
University in Greenville, N.C. Most of
their research takes place off North Car-
Kyle Bumett/THE Battalion
Dr. George F. Bass, a nautical
archaeology professor, stands in front of
a photo of the Bronze Age shipwreck.
olina and Bermuda, he said, and is strict
ly concerned with the New World (the
Americas.)
Bass's continued work also includes
an 11th century medieval shipwreck in
Turkey with a cargo of 10,000-20,000 Is
lamic glass artifacts.
The medieval wreck excavations have
provided the world's oldest chess set,
weapons, tools, and the earliest example
of the modem hull.
Bass has received many rewards
throughout his career. He was one of fif
teen to receive the National Geographic
Society's Centennial Award in 1988. Fel
low recipients that year included Sir Ed
mund Hillary, Jacques Cousteau and
John Glenn.
His sixth and most recent book, "Ships
and Shipwrecks of the Americas," was
published that same year.
During the summer, Bass still visits the
site of the Bronze Age shipwreck at Ulu
Burun, Turkey. Although Bass limits his
diving now, for thirty years, he dove
twice a day for three months of the year.
ison
Mary Macro*
avalela
y Magee, M*
.rrloQueiaJi
II anH sp' il '<*
and examp
sAJMl'
rsily in ^
t 013 Reed*
assilied adve'
5 p.m.
r full ye JI
►
S T U 13 E N T
FOUNDATION
12th Man Student Foundation
Invites YOU...
First General
Meeting
When: Wednesday, February 2nd 7 p.m.
Where: MSC Room 206
Guest Speaker: Tedi Zalesky, Compliance Director
'V
Thursday
February 3rd
5-7pm
New members welcome.
Come experience what Texas A&M Athletics is all about.
WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY 2
8:00 PM
RUDDER AUDITORIUM
SPONSORED BY MSC FILM
SOCIETY
SPECIAL
FREE
SCREENING
600 SEATING TICKETS WILL BE
AVAILABLE AT-THE-D00R, NIGHT OF
SHOW STARTING AT 7:30 PM.
Ticket Holders Only Will Be Admitted.
The MSC Film Society has been
requested to limit seating to 600.
LIMITED SEATING
FIRST COME FIRST SERVED