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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1995)
Hcmber 251 in— hh rink- aid an nt Monday September 25, 1995 The Battalion Aovielife onating for dollars 'K alcohol availj lations, >rs, is a ma: , UPD dire;] ive the distrj ■nder on u days theres i, or the odi unity servitl in alcoholai| ' judge mayi take it ofh said. tod: join the Ne pport during ? Station, ub formed inp; campus orga: Club and thi is to proraosf sociated willf social settiiil 5taff at mien connect^ related orga moments an re eligible! social event liversity. The: hip fund for; or information atiof he radio static s involved" aid. on, class a id interim; of '96, said r to work' “Plasma selling is a really interesting concept. ‘Dt’s a very good cause because it helps save peo ple. My grandfather used to have plasma trans plants everyday, and £7 thought of him when £7 started donating." — Brian Kircher plasma donor ' i WmYi :I ■ : -WM m ■ Wf wm ■ r w 1 . ■ ■ w—I ■SS ■C v ■ : 'Y? " '■ m ip Stew Milne, Thl Battalion Dave Thompson, a graduate physics student, donates plasma every Wednesday morning at the Westgate Plasma Center. By Amy Protas The Battalion S ome students short on cash have a unique solu tion to their financial problems — selling plasma. The Westgate Plasma Center pays $140 a month to donors willing to have a needle stuck in their arm twice a week. But not everybody can sell plasma. In order to qualify, prospective donors must weigh between 110 and 350 pounds and be at least 18 years old. Julie Tillery, a Plasma Center employee and a senior interdisciplinary studies ma jor, said the requirements are necessary for the donor’s and the recipient's safety. “The first time donors come to the center, the visit lasts about two and a half hours,” Julie said. “We do a physical and ask screening questions. Visits after that only last about an hour.” Most students find out about the center through word of mouth and from friends who donate. Alicia Anderson, a gradu ate English student, learned about the center from her roommate. She has been do nating plasma for four years. “The first time I went to the center was the night be fore Bonfire,” Anderson said. “I wanted to buy alcohol and I didn’t have any money. My roommate had always gone, so I decided to donate.” The first visit is usually the scariest. Donors don’t know what to expect because donating plasma is not the same as donating blood. The blood is taken, and then the plasma is removed from the blood through a cen trifuge. The blood is then put back into the donor. Selling plasma is not for the faint of heart. Zia Islam, a plasma donor and a junior mechanical engi neering major, said the needle is the worst aspect. “If you are scared of nee dles, don’t go,” Islam said. “The diameter is rather large and scary.” To make the experience less frightening, the atmos phere is relaxed and not one of a typical doctor’s office. Most of the workers at the center are students, and donors can read while the blood is being taken. Tillery said it’s a quick $15 an hour because all the donor has to do is lie down. Occasionally, however, a mishap occurs. Islam said he witnessed spurting blood and people fainting. “One time, I was giving plasma and the tube snapped,” Islam said. “Blood went everywhere. I wasn’t mad, though. Sometimes the pressure is just too much on the tubes.” Money is the main motiva tion for many people to sell their plasma, but it is also a good cause because antibodies in the plasma can be used to make certain types of medi cine. The center will pay ex tra if the antibodies are found in the donor’s plasma. Brian Kircher, a plasma donor and senior business ad ministration major, said when he came to A&M, it was the first time he had heard of plasma donation. “Plasma selling is a really interesting concept,” Kircher said. “It’s a very good cause because it helps save people. My grandfather used to have plasma transplants everyday, and I thought of him when 1 started donating.” Plasma selling has both its supporters and dissenters. Islam said he quit going to the Plasma Center after two months be cause he was concerned about the effects on his health. “I stopped going to the cen ter because I didn’t think it was worth the money,” Islam said. “I didn’t have time to eat right, and you can’t be 100 percent sure the plasma will completely regenerate.” Anderson said selling plas ma to the center has been the best job she’s had in college. “This is really the only place where you can be in control of your employment,” Anderson said. “You get to set your own hours. Besides hav ing to have a big needle in your arm, it’s great.” ;i it News Edik® Night NewsEiW* ER, Agcielife s. Sports Editor ro Editor iela Benson, Er'^|! nm, lason Brown, /likowski & Ly* , rial Cartoonist “ nmg, Robyn CalW' :a, Zarh Estes i Greathouse aj* 1 ” Students get education and [practical experience as co-ops it i u-edu | ay ' 5 headlines I By Amy Protas I The Battalion T he best of the professional and educational worlds are available to students before they even graduate from college. The cooperative education pro gram offers students the chance to work at a companies and alter nate semesters taking classes — all before they finish college. Students see co-oping as an opportunity to secure a job after they graduate. Pat White, an assistant di rector in the co-op program, said it is beneficial because companies are scaling down their number of employees. “In the past few years, big corporations have been limiting hirees,” White said. “Co-oping has become a ma jor method for companies to figure out who to hire based on experience.” White said companies like the program because each time the student returns af- ter a semester of classes, they have gained more knowledge to use on the job. For many co-pps, the motiva tion to complete the program is money and experience. The aver age co-op makes $1400 a month, and 80 percent get offers to work at the company after graduation. Companies set different stan dards for what will constitute a good employee. White said the most prevalent attributes em ployers want are a relatively high GPR, a good attitude and good communication and leader ship skills. Diane Havalda, a senior chemical engineering major, said co-oping for Champion In ternational in Lufkin has helped ease the financial bur den on her family. “We have a lot of kids in my family, and it gets expensive,” Havalda said. “I can pay for mis cellaneous expenses without hav ing to ask my parents for money.” One of the main benefits of co-oping is gaining professional knowledge that can’t be obtained in the classroom. Havalda said she was never treated like a stu dent at work. “They treated me like I was an engineer, not just some, kid,” Havalda said. “I went in there expecting to be treated like some dumb college student but that’s not what happened at all.” "This gives students the chance to find out what they want to do and what they don't want to do." — Pat White assistant director of co-op program The lure of earning a lot of money for the first time is not al ways as tempting as it may seem. While some students use the money for school expenses, others see it as an incentive to party. Brian Lasher, a senior elec trical engineering major, said he learned a lesson the hard way after co-oping for Texas In struments. “After my first term in Dallas, I had lots of money,” Lasher said. “I had all this fun because I could but my grades suffered.” Switching between school and the professional world can take its toll on a student’s schedule. Havalda said it was hard to adjust after coming back from her job in Lufkin. “In engineering, students do most of their work in groups,” Havalda said. “When I came back, all the groups were al ready-set, and I felt like 1 was upsetting everything.” Co-oping delays a student’s graduation date by at least a year. This is one of the main rea sons engineering students typi cally don’t graduate on time. Charles Kulkarni, a senior chemical engineering major, said he did not mind the post ponement. “I figure I will be working 40 years of my life,” Kulkarni said. “I really don’t think one year will matter in the grand scheme of things.” Engineering colleges and de partments started the co-oping program at A&M in the late 1960s. Although most of the co ops are engineering students, White said liberal arts students are more apt to do internships, which do not alternate with aca demic semesters. “There is a difference between liberal arts and engineering job searching,” White said. “Liberal arts students want to know what different types of jobs are out there, while engi neering students want to know what different companies are hiring. Internships provide this difference.” One of the biggest decisions students have to make may be where and for whom to work. White said co-oping helps make this decision easier. “I think it’s a wonderful op portunity,” White said. “This gives students the chance to find out what they want to do and what they don’t want to do. This becomes very important espe cially after graduation.” Rosh Htthanah Members of the Hillel Foundation celebrate the Jewish New Year By Rachel Barry The Battalion N ew Year’s resolutions could be as simple as losing weight or making better grades in school. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, be gan last night at sundown and is a time for Jewish students to start their new year with a clean record. Rosh Hashanah is a time for looking back on the previous year and think ing about mis takes that were made and things that could be changed. Rabbi Peter Tarlow of the Hillel Foundation said. It is a time of contem plation and thought, he said, and it is also a time of a total exam ination of a per son’s life. “You can face yourself and not carry any guilt from one year to another,” Tarlow said. Ivan Goldwasser, president of Hillel and a senior chemical engineering major, said Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the High Holy Days and are the most important days in the Jewish year. “You can start off the new year with a clean slate and ask forgiveness for things done in the past year,” Goldwasser said. Tarlow said the Hillel Foundation, A&M’s Jewish student organization, provides a home away from home for Jewish students. He said Hillel provides the opportunity for Jewish students to learn how to organize a Jewish community. “It is a way of taking education that they re ceive on campus and putting it into applied ac tion,” Tarlow said. “It is often the most valu able educational experience many of the stu dents have.” Tarlow said Hillel provides a way to apply what is learned on campus to a person’s everyday life. “In school, kids get a lot of theory,” Tarlow said. “Our job is to make that theory move into practice.” Stacy Zaner, a junior ocean engi neering major and vice president of Hillel, said that it is a place for spiritual guidance and a way to stay in touch with her culture. “Judaism isn’t just a religion, it is a way of life,” she said. “When you lose touch with that, you lose touch with who you are.” Zaner said she did not know anyone when she came to Texas from New York but that Hillel has provided a second home for her. “It’s comforting when your family is not around,” she said. “Hillel is a family.” Hillel sometimes mixes Aggie and Jewish traditions by having a social activity such as a movie or dinner after services on Friday nights and then going to Midnight Yell Practice. The Hillel Foundation also offers classes in Hebrew for any one interested in learning the classic language.