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-Camp offers Aggie
experience to transfers
By Amy Protas
The Battalion
xen students think about their first
introduction to A&M, Fish Camp usu
ally comes to mind. But not everyone
bnters as a freshman. Some people come after
attending junior colleges or other major univer
sities. The student YMCA realized this in 1987
/hen it developed Transfer Camp, or T-Camp.
Courtney Mayfield, director of public rela
tions and marketing for T-Camp and a speech
communications graduate, said the founders
felt that transfer students were missing out on
apportunities other orientation camps provided.
“T-Camp is geared to people who have had
the college experience before, just not the A&M
experience,” Mayfield said. “The campers have
seen other institutions of higher learning.”
Two weeks before school starts, the
campers are whisked away for three days to
Camp Hoblitzelle in Midloathian, just south
west of Dallas.
The camp’s three sessions hosted over
600 campers, 200 counselors and 50 co
chairs and directors.
Mayfield said T-Camp has fundamental
differences that distinguish it from Fish
Camp. The counselors are not dealing with
students who just graduated from high
school, so they do not try to explain to
campers what college will be like.
Most people do not understand that coming
to A&M can be hard for transfer students be
cause they are used to the academics, atti
tudes and surrounding town of their former
school, Mayfield said.
T-Camp’s main goal is to let the campers
leave with the feeling they have made
friends so they will not start school without
knowing anyone.
See T-CAMP, Page 4
-Camp eases culture shock for international students
By Amy Collier
The Battalion
Ti
Stew Milne, The Battalion
E-2 sophomore Jeff King spoke to the interna
tional students at 1-Camp about Reveille VI.
"aking on Texas A&M with all its tradi
tions can be a big adjustment for new
students, especially if they’re from a for
eign country and have not mastered the Eng
lish language.
The International Student Association
made the transition for some international
students easier by sponsoring the second an
nual International Camp (I-Camp) on Aug.
19, when 150 students from all over the
world were united to learn about the univer
sity they now call home.
Magali Hinojosa, a senior marketing and
international business major and president of
See l-CAMP, Page 4
Freshmen find Aggie
Spirit at Fish Camp
By Amy Uptmor
The Battalion
A t a secluded campsite in East
Texas, hordes of new students are
running around, screaming, with
their arms in the air. They are being
led around by older and apparently
wiser students wearing matching shirts
and overalls covered with, among other
strange symbols, fish.
Suddenly, the leaders call the new
students together with an odd hand
signal that is passed through the mass
es. All bend over and chant in unison.
It sounds like a strange pagan ritual,
but the trained Aggie eye will recognize
it as just another day at Fish Camp.
Fish Camp has become the premier
rite of initiation into the culture of
Texas A&M for incoming freshmen
since it was started in 1954. Approxi
mately 900 students serve as directors,
staff, counselors and crew for the sake
of welcoming freshmen and preserving
Aggie traditions.
Amy Bigbee, a junior chemical engi
neering major and second-year coun
selor, said working with Fish Camp is
the most rewarding activity she’s ever
participated in.
“Being a counselor is a chance to help change
lives,” she said. “Freshmen come to camp bewil
dered and leave confident about college. It’s the
most amazing thing to be a part of.”
Emilie Winn, a junior elementary education ma
jor, said she became a counselor because she want
ed to give something back to A&M.
“I love seeing the freshmen get excited about the
traditions and spirit of A&M that they see in the
Stew Milne, The Battalion
Freshman Kristen Kirby "humps it" during a yell practice at
Fish Camp.
counselors,” she said.
More than half of the incoming freshmen are
able to attend one of the five four-day sessions of
Fish Camp. While at camp, freshmen participate in
group discussions to ask questions about what to
expect during their first year in college.
Craig Ilschner, a freshman computer science ma
jor who attended session B Fish Camp, said time
See Fish Camp, Page 4
Ms
ExCEL gives new students insight
into multiculturalism on campus
ipecte By Jan Higginbotham
s The Battalion
,eo pi' : •. A t a school of more than 42,000
students, it is easy for students
]° 'B intimidated and fall
* en ^' through the cracks. This can be espe
cially true for minority students com-
to Texas A&M.
kExCEL, which stands for Excel-
■ Ijjnce Uniting Culture, Education and
jlj leadership, is a program sponsored
by the Department of Multicultural
■irvices, designed to make entering
■nority students feel more at home.
KCEL is a two-day welcoming or cel-
^ebration hosted the weekend before
^school starts.
■ “It is a time for new students to
Diet meet other ethnic minorities and to
iheet new friends,” Chantelle Free-
; 1 than, executive conference chair of
Casm ExCEL, said. “The whole idea behind
„ ExCEL is to start the idea of diversity
pth these students before they actu-
start school.”
If Although ExCEL targets ethnic mi-
florities. Freeman said all races
fi|re encouraged to participate in the
program.
| New students participating in Ex-
EL are divided up into teams of
about 10 freshmen. Two team leaders,
who were selected last spring, work
with the new students and help them
adjust to the challenges of college.
While in their groups, freshmen
participate in programs which intro
duce them to A&M traditions.
The program also offers Club Ex
CEL, a mixer for the new students,
and a culture extravaganza which
introduces the students to some of the
multicultural performance groups
on campus.
"The whole idea behind ExCEL
is to start the idea of diversity
with these students before
they actually start school."
— Chantelle Freeman
executive conference chair of ExCEL
A separate program is offered for
the parents of minority students,
which is designed to help parents rec
ognize some of the problems students
might experience in their first year
of college.
“We want to let them know that
the Department of Multicultural Ser
vices is here to help,” Freeman said.
ExCEL continues through the
school year with ExCEL Plus, which
offers workshops twice a month.
Workshops focus on studying, room
mates, relationships, the difficulty
in going back home for the first time
and other issues that challenge fresh
men students.
“I know that A&M is a big family,”
Freeman said, “but sometimes minor
ity students don’t see that. ExCEL
gives these students resources that
let them know they’re not alone.”
Rodney McClendon, coordinator of
student retention and development
and adviser to ExCEL, said the pro
gram is one of the most attractive fea
tures of the Department of Multicul
tural Services.
“This is one of the best mecha
nisms to help students and parents
make the transition from high school
to college,” McClendon said.
Texas A&M has the highest minor
ity retention rate of Texas schools,
but McClendon said that should not
be taken for granted.
“ExCEL is the main mechanism
through which I will try to boost our
retention,” he said. “This is a success
program, not a remediation program.”
Amy Browning, The Battalion
Primetime Posse was one of the multicultural groups introduced to the students
during the ExCEL weekend.
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