rsday • July 83,1998
The Battalion
GGIELIFE
&M Floriciilture and Horticulture
Society reaps tlie fruit of its labors
I By Natalie Cobb
Stajf Writer
ton ie Texas A&M students just
Iproved to their peers that they
pan be a little green and still be
bat in the nation,
rhe members of Texas A&M's
ticullure and Horticulture Soci-
dS) recently returned from
rerican Society for Horticul-
ISciences Conference, where
The award is based on a report
the club members compiled that
provided detailed information and
descriptions of all the activities and
projects the club participated in
throughout the year.
Jana McCormick, a junior horti
culture major, said winning the con
test was exciting and it required a lot
of preparation.
"We prepare all year for the con
ference," McCormick said. "We
culture major, said A&M's horticul
ture department is ranked second
in the nation behind Cornell Uni
versity in New York.
Mullin said A&M's high rank
ing in horticulture is a big honor.
The ranking of second is due to
A&M's lack of an arboretum.
Mullin said there are plans to
build an arboretum on campus, pos
sibly next to the
George Bush Library.
"We are ranked second in the na
tion instead of first because we don't
have an arboretum and Cornell
does." Mullin said.
"We have started talking about
building one in the future with the
help of Barbara Bush," she said.
Mullin said building an arbore
tum would bring prestige to the en
tire University.
"It would be a great asset to cam
pus and to the horticulture depart
ment," Mullin said.
Although the horticulture depart
ment at Texas A&M is known
throughout the nation for its faculty,
education and student club, it also
is known throughout Bryan and
College Station for its fall and
spring plant fairs.
These fairs are the
biggest events FHS
plans for the
school year.
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McCormick said the club adver
tises in the community and on cam
pus to promote the events.
"These events are the biggest
fund raisers the club has," Mc
Cormick said. __________
The plant fairs
not only provide
the club with
money, but they
also give the
members some
thing money
can't buy.
"The fairs are
also great experi
ence for us to
raise and sell the
plants we have
worked on for a
whole semester,"
she said.
Doug
Maxwell, a horti
culture graduate
student, said a lot
of work goes into
planning the
spring and fall plant fairs.
"We work every Wednesday
night during the school year on the
plants in the campus greenhouse,"
Maxwell said. "The horticulture
building is turned into a full service
nursery when the spring and fall
fairs are going on."
The fall and spring plant fairs are
held on a Saturday during the se
mester, and provides the horticul
ture students with hands-on experi
ence in raising and selling plants.
Mullin said the experience is one
of the best parts of being a horticul
ture major.
"We have a very close knit facul
ty always willing to help us." Mullin
said. "The on-campus greenhouse
also allows us to practice and perfect
"We have a very
close knit faculty al
ways willing to help
us. The on-campus
greenhouse also al
lows us to practice
and perfect our hor
ticultural knowl
edge.”
— Jennifer Mullin
president. Floriculture and
Horticulture Society
our horticultural knowledge."
Mullin said many students do not
realize why horticulture majors are
so important to society.
"A lot of students will ask me
___________ what I will do
with a degree in
horticulture,"
Mullin said.
Mullin said a
lot of the fields
that horticultur
ists work in are
not very obvious
to those not fa
miliar with the
applications of
the study.
"I tell them
that we have
bio-technologi
cal scientists,
landscape de
signers, molecu
lar biologists
and many other
people that ben-
““ efit society
science of plants,"
through the
Mullin said.
Mullin said few people realize
what the field of horticulture has
done to put food on their tables.
"Horticulture plays an important
part in many people's lives since
horticulturalists are the scientists be
hind the research on fruits, nuts and
crops that are major foodstuffs for
people around the world," she said.
The members of FHS believe the
national awards, community pro
jects and a solid education provide
the horticulture department at
A&M with a solid groundwork for
the future.
They said they hope A&M will
continue to be a name synonymous
with horticultural success.
Student radio DJs promote home
town bands on community radio
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By Gray Whitten
StaJfWriter
T hanks to a student-run show on local ra
dio station KEOS 89.1 FM, musicians in
the Brazos Valley have an opportunity to
find new fans and support they may not get
from touring alone.
"First Cut", hosted by Jon Campbell, a grad
uate student in entomology, and Jonathan
Hudson, a senior biomedical science major, airs
every Monday night on KEOS from 11 p.m. to
1 a.m.
The program features album tracks from lo
cal rock bands as well as live in-studio perfor
mances and interviews with band members
and friends of the hosts.
Campbell said the origins of the show and
his involvement with the station is not a glam
orous story.
"We started out doing operations at the
station, and little grunt work ... switching cas
settes and running station IDs every hour,"
he said.
"Then we finally got a shift from one to
three in the morning. It was right after these
guys we knew from Lechner [Hall] did a show.
It was crazy stuff," Campbell said.
Campbell and Hudson said they chose the
idea of hosting a local music show as a way of
standing out from other shows.
"We were trying to think of a format, and
there wasn't a local music show yet, so we got
interested in that," Campbell said.
Campbell said the show gained momentum
with time.
"When it started out, it was kind of slow,"
he said. "We played Jester, a band from Hous
ton called Shed and Peeping Tom back when
they were just a cover band. We only had two
or three CDs of purely local stuff."
Campbell said the drought of albums by lo
cal artists has turned into a welcome flood.
"Now we have more than we can play in
one show, including both the local and re
gional bands."
Campbell and Hudson said in the early
days of the program, the local artists had to be
supplemented with bigger names, so they
would play music from bands that had recent
ly toured in the area.
Hudson said he hosts the show in order to
benefit the local music scene, as well as the en
tire community.
"We just thought it would be cool to help
out," Hudson said. "We figured it would be
something different, and it's a good way to get
more music for the station."
The show was named in a last-minute
brainstorming session after the original title,
"Exposure," was taken by another program
that was created shortly after "First Cut" went
on the air, Campbell said.
"I think we have the better title now, any
way," he said.
The two DJs have been lucky enough to be
come friends with many of the musicians that
they promote on their show.
"We're very good friends with Blue Earth,"
Campbell said. "We knew the guys in Jester
before their band kicked the bucket. Peeping
Tom was another band we knew before they
lost their lead singer, who is now a part of
Blue Earth."
Jeremy Renaud, a member of the band Blue
Earth, said he is a big fan of "First Cut,"which
he affectionately calls "The Jon and Jon Show,"
and thinks the support they give the local mu
sic scene is important.
"I've been in this town for four years and
my favorite station is 92.1, but they play the
same mainstream stuff over and over every
day," Renaud said. "What I like about KEOS
and "The Jon and Jon Show" is that they are
serious about local music. They're there at
every show. Pushmonkey, Vallejo, whatever.
They're there. They cover it and they're seri
ous about it."
Renaud's bandmate Rob Chickering was
also quite enthusiastic about the idea of local
music support by students on the radio.
"Phenomenal. Cutting edge. I think they're
definitely a good thing for this town," Chick
ering said. "It's definitely a plus that they can
play new stuff from just about anyone without
any real restrictions."
Other bands from Bryan and College
Station have shown support for the
show by playing exclusive on-air per- jIL
formances, giving interviews and
promoting the station and its for
mat to others.
Campbell said that radio will
most likely remain a pastime for
him after graduation.
He said a career in the radio
industry would not allow him
the freedom he has today.
"I thought about it a lot
for a while, but it's really
just a release — it's fun,"
Campbell said.
Professional radio sta
tions don't allow the free-
dom that community radio
affords, Campbell said.
"We've heard that the ra
dio industry is all scripted
now," Campbell said. "You
may get to improvise once in a
while, but we get to do that here ’
all the time. We can play whatev
er we want to. It's pretty lenient."
Hudson said the idea of a talk
show together with Campbell
would sound something along the
lines of MTV's "Lovelines."
"He's always rattling something off
and I'll be the one to play some music and
try to get us back on track," Hudson said.
When the signal power of KEOS is boosted
tenfold in the next few months, "First Cut" will
reach more listeners than ever.
And as far as local musicians and their fans
are concerned, it can only be a good thing.