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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 1996)
ay • February 8,|jj( tics The Battalion hursday ebruary 8, 1996 Aggielife Page 3 am Council compri* iate provost, collf;. Faculty Senate, st id Graduate State nate recommendafe roved, by Bowen, nd international m ms were the firstti L an A&M preside laid. “The presidei) utions are revised: n reject them.” ;e recommendati? ee-hour U.S. cult® national culturese ore curriculums. acuity membe: in ate themselves: nominated by tke agues for Senate p ns. Then the facui ! on the nominees, nere is one senr every 25 fe bers. le Board of Reger; legislative bot; considers recot dations from tli ty Senate and sir id by the governor - item for 6-year teras d secretary, saidtk lent and faculty it riginate at the Ur ;n proposed to then :ellor. >f the three goven re a common goals tudent involvemer: es of A&M. Coffe Copasetic Cafe offers smoke- free atmosphere, stylish decor e Talk recommendations I administration for i k&M des Dr. Ray lent, and the »Council. ts makes policy for M University By Kristina Buffin The Batealion U nlike many other col lege towns, College Station is not known for its coffeehouses. However, due to the recent ventures of Matt and Aaron Brown, there has been quite a java surge in Bryan-College Station. It all began with the open ing of Sweet Eugene’s two years ago. The brothers both graduated with management degrees and decided that in stead of getting a nine-to-five job, they wanted to be their own boss. “We both went to A&M Consolidated High School, and I went to A&M,” Aaron Brown said. “So we knew what College Station had and didn’t have. College Station has a lack of different and unique businesses in town, so we decided that this was the way to go.” Typical of most business men, the Browns saw the demand for a coffeehouse on Northgate and decided the potential was to great to overlook. “I started Eugene’s two years ago because there weren’t a lot of coffee places here,” Brown said. “We thought there was a need. With the college students and the foot traffic from campus, we have really good potential.” With the success of Eu gene’s, the Browns decided to expand their coffee busi ness to the Northgate area. The result was the open ing of Dead Lazio’s last spring. However, Lazio’s was not getting the type of re sponse the Browns had an ticipated, so in January, La zio’s got a facelift and a new name, the Copasetic Cafe. “With the type of ambiance and name, the crowd was lim ited,” Brown said. “It was a bit morbid and had a harsh atmosphere that people didn’t really like. Now it is more lighter and comfortable, and we’ve had a larger crowd.” Unlike Dead Lazio’s, Co pasetic Cafe uses much brighter colors for its decor. There are more couches and tables patrons can use to study on. “It is much more inter esting than the library,” Erin Williams, a junior in ternational studies major, said. “It is a different at mosphere. I was here a few times when it was Lazio’s, but it was kind of dark. And now it is a lot brighter.” Besides the change in am biance, the Copasetic Cafe is now a non-smoking establish ment. Sweet Eugene’s is also non-smoking, and Brown said they have not had any com plaints so far. “We have had only a good response so far,” Brown said. “We don’t have really good ventilation here, so when a couple of people light up, the entire place is engulfed in smoke. I don’t see it as a big problem because most people can go a couple of hours with out a cigarette.” For people who do smoke when they drink coffee, there is a small area be hind the cafe with a couple of tables. They are also planning on putting a bench in front of the cafe. “Some of the smokers just don’t come in,” Bran don Martin, a sophomore psychology major, said. “But some of the smokers come in; they just go out on the back porch. “It was absolutely nuts on Tuesday. I think people did n’t do so well last semester, so they come here because it is a cool place with coffee.” The Copasetic Cafe also of fers a place for the younger population to frequent. Typi cal of a college town, College Station does not offer many places for high school stu dents to go and hang out. “I come here fairly regular ly to relax and take it easy,” Kevin Colby, a senior at Allen Academy in Bryan, said. “It is nice because it is easier to study here if you need to meet with a big group of people.” The Copasetic Cafe offers the same coffee as Dead La zio’s but has expanded its food menu and is bringing in live music. “We have added more food like quiches,” Carol White, an A&M graduate, said. “We have a larger lunch crowd.” So for the coffee lovers in town who need their caffeine fix, there is a new place to put to their test. 41TTB; Dave House, The Battalion Copasetic Cafe offers its customers a relaxed atmosphere to study in. Java Jitters drive-thru brings quality, gourmet coffee to students on the go By Tab Dougherty " /.* ^ By Tab Dougherty The Battalion C offee — it’s bitter and leaves a bad aftertaste. It makes your stomach upset. Right? Not anymore, thanks to a local coffee shop, Java Jitters. William Krigbaum and Sharon Miczek, owners of Java Jitters, felt College Sta tion needed something special. “We thought there was a need here to supply the stu dents with good quality coffee,” Krigbaum said. “There were not really too many of them (coffee shops) here, and they’re a growing fad. People’s tastes start changing. They are realiz ing that a gourmet coffee is much better than these canned coffees that you get.” Krigbaum said although the coffee shop phenomenon started far away from Texas, it has managed to become quite a craze in the South. “The movement toward these better coffees started up in the Pacific Northwest and is moving in this direction,” he said. “We just got here before the fad really caught on.” Krigbaum chose to open the shop in College Station because of the favorable location on University Drive. “You can have a good product and reasonable prices, but the most impor tant thing is location,” he said. “We were thinking about locating it at a college or university, and a friend of ours suggested that we come here. We liked the area. We liked the University.” Java Jitters has only been open for two months, but Krigbaum said the student re sponse is getting better. “It’s a learning process,” he said. “The people under stand that coffee doesn’t have to taste bad. “There are people that don’t like the taste of coffee and still enjoy our product because we can flavor it so that they don’t even taste the coffee.” Java Jitters offers many types of gourmet coffee and runs weekly specials. “We offer lattes, mochas, espressos, our house blend, iced lattes and mochas, iced teas and Italian sodas,” Krig baum said. “Eventually, this summer, as the warm weather shows up, we’ll be getting in machines to serve it frozen. Dave House, The Battalion A&M students enjoy the service and coffee at Java Jitters. “The thing is that a lot of the students don’t understand this will help them get a little jump start in the morning. It’s a caffeine kick.” Valarie Glassel, a fresh man political science major, said she likes the staff and the different flavors of coffee at Java Jitters. “Try the Screaming Mon key,” she said. “It’s awesome.” Penny Lange, a College Sta tion resident, said she likes the idea of a convenient drive-thru and walk-up coffee shop. “For those who don’t want to go in and wait in line or have a sit-down cup of cof fee, this is a really great idea,” she said. Krigbaum said one of the things that makes Java Jitters different from similar shops is speed. “It’s just a matter of a minute, and you’re in-and-out,” he said. Another one of Java Jitters’ defin ing characteristics is the quality of its beans. “We get our beans in within seven days from the time they are roast ed,” he said. “We grind the beans right here just before we make the coffee.” Krigbaum imports some of his coffee from Alaska. “I could not find a good cup of coffee here,” he said. “I couldn’t even find good beans here. I could not get what I felt was a good cup of coffee. “I like something that, when I first taste it first thing in the morning, it’s not bitter and it does not leave an aftertaste. Krigbaum said Java Jitters’ coffee is different from other coffee shops. “What we serve has a full body without the bite, and it does not leave an aftertaste,” he said. “We try to offer a quality cup of coffee at a rea sonable price.” Krigbaum said the reason the coffee does not have the harmful acids and after taste is partly be cause of the brew ing process. “The longer you sit there and brew coffee, the more acids you get out of 1 it,” he said. “We brew it so fast that it pushes the water through within a matter of seconds so that the water doesn’t sit there and leach all the *■ acids out of the coffee. There fore, your stomach doesn’t have all the acids and every thing else in it so it doesn’t af fect you in the same way.” >r, Night News Emit* elite Editor , Sports Editor no Editor iich, Graphics Editc* aphics Editor Ha Benson, Linn Bow# 1 , Mic helle Lyons, Heal^ y Walker riel Barry, Kristina ::a, Thomas Doughed! ohn LeBas, Amy ! ance, Stephanie Christ 0- , Rob Clark, Erin Fitz# ejia, Chris Miller, JeP° Ison kriwan, Amy Brownie an Zimmerman Irak, Michele Chancell ^ Coodwin, lohn Lemoft' Quezada y, Mandy Cater, Am# ILM University in lliefl - lism. 331.3; Tax: 845-2647 lorsement hy The BalF 45-2696. Lor class#* 1 I Mc Donald and offi ce 3- • t udent to pick up a snf t school year anti $50F ss, call 845-2611. ay during the fall aw cr sessions (except# Second class pos# Tuilding, Texas A&W A&M professors show students magic of chemistry in Road Shows By John LeBas The Batealion D r. John Hogg never suspected chemistry would interest the police. Hogg, a professor of chemistry and an under graduate adviser at Texas A&M, had been using his wife’s minivan to travel around Texas and share the importance of science with students through “chem istry magic shows.” But when a drug-sniffing dog alerted police to the presence of chemicals in Hogg’s minivan at the school where his wife teaches, he knew it was time Chemistry Road Show obtained an official means of transportation. “I’m still not sure the police quite believed (my ex planation),” he said. The Chemistry Road Show, a program designed to stimulate interest in science through the educa tion and entertainment of chemical demonstrations, now travels around the state in a van purchased with corporate donations. The Road Show began as the brainchild of Hogg and Dr. Larry Peck, an associate professor of chemistry. “Both Dr. Hogg and I have been doing (informal) chemistry shows for a number of years,” Peck said. The program was formalized about four years ago, and as its popularity swelled, it became neces sary to seek outside financial support. That support came in the form of chemical com pany donations. Funds provided by BASF Corpora tion, Dow Chemical, U.S.A., Hoechst-Celanese and Monsanto paid for the new van. A $50,000 donation by ARCO has been used to buy equipment and salary expenses. Erik Walke, a chemistry graduate student, has worked with the Road Show since Jan. 1995. Walke Usually travels one day a week, and he performs the shows for school audiences and other groups throughout Texas. Although the demonstrations have been done for adults, Walke said the show is geared towards students in a school environment. “The main reason for this is that in schools, it’s entirely ap propriate to have some focus on education,” Walke said. “We don’t want to make it a lec ture, but at the same time we want students to realize it’s not a whiz-bang fire works show.” The Road Show is generally performed for students at the third grade level or above. Walke said more than half of the shows are done for ele mentary school children, and the rest for high school and college students. Walke said despite the differences in audience’s ages, the fundamental na ture of the show allows al most universal application. “The most important thing for students to know is that science in general is comprehensible to every one,” he said. Hogg said the show helps students become in terested in science. “It’s important to make children aware that science is an important part of soci ety and of how chemistry in particular relates to practi cal phenomenon,” Hogg said. For younger students especially, Walke emphasizes that science is different than mag ic in that magic relies on illusion, whereas sci ence is tangible and explainable. Of course, the Chemistry Road Show may seem like magic to some students. Walke relies on a host of chemical re actions to relate science to the real world, from acid-base color changes to magnesium combustion. Walke said a favorite among students is the igni tion of hydrogen-filled balloons. “Maybe three out of four students pre fer the explosions, which is not terribly sur prising,” Walke said. “But we don’t want to do all explosions because of the / safety issues and because we want to show that science is not all fireworks and pyrotechnics.” Nevertheless, Hogg ac knowledges the impor tance of impressive demonstrations in the educational process. “Students are more likely to remember the excitement and impact of a demonstration,” Hogg said. Walke makes his trips, which sometime include overnight stays, during the spring and summer semesters when most schools are in session. “We’d like to have the program develop to where we can go to schools with year-round education pro grams,” he said. The Road Show accommodates as many re quests each semester as is possible, on a first- come, first-serve basis, Walke said. The free demonstrations are preferably performed for en tire schools or several classes at a time, in the in terest of reaching as many children as possible. Al though there is officially a 200 mile radius travel limit, the Road Show has gone as far as Corpus Christi and southern Oklahoma. Funding still remains to be an important issue, and the program relies on extensive help from others within the department of chemistry at A&M, Walke said. But the impact of the program will hopefully ensure its continued progress, he said. The reactions from teachers and students have been positive, Hogg said. “They almost always ask us to come back,” Hogg said. The Road Show has received stacks upon stacks of thank you letters from students and teachers, he said. “The results that we see in the attitudes of the students is overwhelming,” Peck said. “We feel that it’s important as part of our careers to reach out to them.” Walke said he enjoys the interaction with stu dents and teachers, and providing teachers with an additional educational resource. “The most interesting thing to me is nearly al ways the reaction of the students and the questions I get from them,” he said. “Also, my interaction with teachers has been so positive that it has shored up my faith in the future. I like being able to help those dedicated teachers and give them and their students something to remember. “Anytime we can arouse curiosity and hopefully change some attitudes on science, we’ve achieved some tangible success.”
