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The 1995 unity festival brought over 1,000 students togeth
er Saturday afternoon to celebrate the diverse groups and
cultures that make up the Texas A&M community.
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Roger Hsieh/ The Battalion
'op: The crowd gath-
| ers to celebrate unity
Saturday at Whoop-
stock.
| Above: Angela Hino
josa of Ballet Folklori-
co Celestial performs
| the jarabe tapitio.
At right: Erica Bell, a
junior Biochemistry
major, paints a rain
bow on the arm of
Margaret Gordon, a
junior genetics major.
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By Gretchen Perrenot
The Battalion
any hearts, hands and minds came to
gether for one purpose Saturday at
Whoopstock Unity Fest ’95.
Over 1,000 people gathered on Simpson Drill
Field to celebrate unity while learning about
the diverse cultures represented by the A&M
student body. This year had the largest turnout
for Whoopstock yet.
The theme for the third annual festival was
“Unity: Today Our Campus, Tomorrow Our
World.” The programs lasted from noon to 6 p.m.
and offered a variety of musical acts, dance perfor
mances, sports and foods.
Whoopstock Unity Fest was originally celebrat
ed in 1992 in response to a Ku Klux Klan demon
stration that was held in College Station. The
event was organized to draw attention away from
the KKK rally and discourage protesters from con
tributing to the publicity of the KKK.
Veselin Skendzic, a former A&M student, said holding
Whoopstock in response to the KKK was a good idea.
“No other measure would have worked,” he said.
Elizabeth and Veselin Skendzic, both class of 1994,
are examples of unity among A&M cultures on campus.
Elizabeth is originally from Mexico and Veselin is origi
nally from Croatia.
The Skendzics met each other while studying at
A&M and later married. They now live in Wisconsin
and attended Whoopstock Unity Fest as a part of revis
iting A&M.
Abby Cook, chair of the Whoopstock Council, has
been on the Whoopstock staff all three years and said
Whoopstock was successful overall and without any dis
appointments.
This is the first year for Whoopstock to be an official
student organization, she said.
“We really don’t have any outdoor celebrations or
‘spring flings’ here,” Cook said. “People kept wanting
another Whoopstock every year and this fills that void.”
Cook said the main purpose of Whoopstock is to pro
mote unity on campus.
“Our immediate goal is to promote unity among the
different groups and organizations on campus,” she
said. “We have a lot of people who have a ‘my group,
your group’ attitude. This may give them the chance to
see groups they haven’t seen before.
“We want to break the stereotypes people have of dif
ferent organizations. Taking into account what makes
us different and appreciating it is important.”
Cook said the 30 people on the committee con
tributed greatly to the success and no last-minute prob
lems came up.
“We’re all really excited. It helps that we’re all here to
have fun and that there is no stress,” Cook said. “We had
the number of people show up that we had hoped for.”
Some of the other major attractions during the fest
were the bands and dance performances.
The International Music Club performed “Arabian
Nights.” The group encouraged the audience to dance.
About 35 people, many of whom had never heard
Arabic music before, stood up and danced in front of the
stage in belly dancer style.
Sleiman Hamaoui, president of the International
Music Club, said this is the group’s second year to per
form at Whoopstock.
“The first time we came to show support for the commu
nity as a whole when the KKK was here,” Hamaoui said.
“We’re all the same, no matter what our differences.”
Bobby Hall, of Bobby Hall’s Ice Cold Blues Band,
said his group enjoys performing for special events.
“It’s the most fun I’ve ever had without getting paid,”
Hall said.
Other musical performances were by Voices of
Praise, a gospel choir; Three-Amigos Guitar Club;
Lewis, an alternative band; Chris Wells and the Texas
Edge; and The Boxcar Poets, another alternative band.
Fade to Black, a student dance organization, had the au
dience whooping with their performance of the Tootsie Roll.
Darchele Smith, president of Fade to Black, said the
group came to Whoopstock to show that the group does
promote unity.
“A lot of people don’t think so because all of our
members are African-American,” Smith said. “We’re re
ally open to anyone, it’s just that historically that’s who
tries out.”
Kappa Alpha Psi performed a step show with canes
as props.
Vince Allen, president of Kappa Alpha Psi, said per
forming at Whoopstock was one of the fraternity’s ser
vice projects.
“This is a good chance to celebrate diversity,” Allen
said. “The Department of Multicultural Services has al
ways been a supporter of our endeavors and we wanted
to give back to them.”
Allen said Texas A&M University should support and
promote this type of cultural experience more often.
Germaine Hawkins, programs chair for Kappa Alpha
Psi, said Whoopstock was the perfect opportunity to
show the campus the diversity and talent that the
African-American culture has to offer.
Sharia Vaughn, member of the Aggie Wranglers, said
this is the Aggie Wranglers’ third year to perform at
Whoopstock.
“We do this every year to support the diversity Of the
university,” Vaughn said.
Ballet Folklorico Celestial, a Latin American folk
dance group, performed a series of dances with som
breros and full, fluttering skirts. Each song and dance
represented a state in Mexico.
Maricela Ortiz, member of Ballet Folklorico Celes
tial, said they wanted to help out by performing.
“We wanted to add to the cultural experience,” Ortiz
said. “We’re also selling pan de polvo cookies, which are
traditional Mexican wedding cookies.”
Participants in Whoopstock had a variety of foods to
choose from including crawfish, sold by King of the
Roadhouse, an Aggie student-owned bar on Northgate.
Ray Prewitt, co-owner of the bar, said he was encour
aged to participate by friends on the Whoopstock staff.
Prewitt said he believes the turnout would have been
even larger if there were not so many other programs
going on around campus and the town.
Another Whoopstock attraction with many partici
pants was the volleyball tournament sponsored by Evian
and Texas A&M Recreational Sports. The three volley
ball courts were in constant use throughout the day.
Many people at Whoopstock took advantage of the
sunny and breezy weather by playing all sorts of sports:
Frisbee, hackey sack, football and baseball.
Some people took off their shirts to catch some rays
and others brought their dogs and ferrets along with
them. At times over the course of the afternoon, people
stood up and danced or went on stage and did impres
sions of Forrest Gump.
To boost the bonding spirit, the Whoopstock emcees
had the audience members turn to the left and right
and give the person next to them a hug, even if they did
not know the person.
Heidi Feller, a sophomore community health major,
said Whoopstock is a good way to bring the campus to
gether and unite everyone.
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” Feller said. “Every
one can come out and be themselves.”
Louis Migliaccio, a sophomore biomedical science
major, said he came to Whoopstock to see all the differ
ent events.
“Most of the major organizations are represented
here,” Migliaccio said. “There are many different types
of food, music and people.”
° 5 P r1 f The groups that performed at Whoopstock Unity Fest ‘95 included
kup , r 'j the Aggie Wranglers (above), Fade to Black (right) and Bobby
jj50P f ' l | Hall’s Ice Cold Blues Band (far right).
1