The Battalion
irsday • July 30,1998
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Hundreds of student homepages —
Billions of bytes of information —
Who’s getting the hits and why do
they keep coming back for more?
Texas A&M’s Most
Popular Web Sites
Brian Finch
http://people.tamu.edu/~bkf3938
Alpha Phi Alpha
http://people.tamu.edu/~pio1906
China Club
http://people.tamu.edu/~chinacb
Joey’s Superman Page
http ://people .tarn u. ed u/~j ro4574
UNDERDARK
http://people.tamu.edu/~mjn021
By Gray Whitten
StaffWriter
S tudent-created web pages of
ten are considered a chore, a
burden and the worst part of
required computer classes at Texas
A&M, but some students take the
time to make their pages truly
stand out.
Cheryl Cato, team leader for the
Unix Systems Support Group, said
the idea of having the most popu
lar page at the University can be
very tempting, and some students
become very competitive.
"We tend to see the same peo
ple on the list," Cato said. "It pret
ty much goes back and forth be
tween a few names.
"There are some very talented
students out there. Some of the
graphics work is very impressive"
she said.
The University does not moni
tor content, and students are free
to establish pages of whatever
subject matter they wish.
Among the top subjects are per
sonal pages with resumes or cre
dentials, pages for student organi
zations such as the China Club
and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity
and hobbies such as comic books
or video games.
Brian Finch, a senior aerospace
engineering student, was sur
prised to learn that his page often
is at the top of the list of high-traf
fic sites at A&M.
"I didn't know I was #1," Finch
said. "It's been 2 years since I
added anything to my pages, so I
don't look at the stuff much."
Finch said he guesses the music
sections of his page and the areas
offering help to those making a
page of their own are the main rea
sons for its popularity.
"I have animated GIFs and gui
tar music from the Grateful Dead,
Allman Bros, CCR and Bob Dylan
on there, so I get lots of e-mails from
people who want to add to my col
lection and thank me," he said.
While working at Lockheed
Martin in Dallas this summer. Finch
said he is unable to update his page
as much as he would like to, but is
glad that his efforts are noticed.
Among the top organizational
pages is that of the Pi Omicron
Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fra
ternity at A&M.
The page features a history of
the fraternity and informational
links for members of the fraternity.
Gerome Bonner, a senior indus
trial distribution major and the
Webmaster for Alpha Phi Alpha,
said the page was mainly meant as
a tribute to all the brothers of the
chapter from previous years.
"We really wanted to get the page
When the going gets tough,
the Aggies get going —
The classic school road trip
Natalie Cobb
StaffWriter
O ne might say life is a series of
roads traveled. If that is the
case, then college students
live many lives.
College students and road trips
are synonymous. It seems it is a
dominant cliche of college life to take
a weekend excursion in a car packed
with several friends.
Whether they take road trips oc
casionally or every weekend, stu
dents and professors at Texas A&M
are finding that road trips are a great
way to get away from the stress of
college life.
Kathy Bailey, a senior psychology
major, said that she likes to take an oc
casional road trip to get out of town.
"We went to Galveston last week
end to go on a mini-vacation," she
said. "It was nice to get out of Col
lege Station for a while."
Bryan Odom, a junior industrial
distribution major, said road trips
help relieve stress brought on by
tests and classes.
"I love to go somewhere on the
weekends after I have been in school
all week," Odom said. "After a week
of tests or classes, my friends and I
are ready to get into the car and go
somewhere interesting for the night
or for the weekend."
Some students often take road
trips with no destination in mind.
Caleb Martin, an agricultural eco
nomics graduate student, said he
takes road trips quite often and finds
lots of interesting places to visit just
by driving around.
"We end up driving somewhere
at night and we will have no par
ticular place we want to visit,"
Martin said. "We just keep driving
until we find somewhere interest
ing to stop. We will stay there for a
while and then just drive back to
College Station."
Martin said that he and his
friends have done some crazy things
on their road trips.
"We ended up in Molton, Texas,
one night and sang karoake at a
honky tonk with a bunch of people
we didn't even know," he said.
Kasey McGraw, an agricultural
economics graduate student, said
meeting new people is one of the
best parts about taking road trips.
"We meet lots of interesting peo
ple on our road trips," McGraw said.
"The best part of the trips are com
ing home with lots of new friends."
Although some students prefer
to take a spontaneous road trip
with no particular place in mind,
others demand exact planning for
the ultimate destination.
Jennifer Presley, a junior English
major, said she is planning to take a
road trip to the Winedale Shake
speare Festival soon.
"1 am going to the Shakespeare
Festival in Winedale, Texas, on Au
gust 9," Presley said. "Winedale is
not too far from College Station, so it
is easy to take a road trip there on the
weekend. We are also going to take
a road trip to Dallas to go to Six Flags
one weekend."
Student road trips often are con
sidered an essential part of the col
lege experience.
Sean Koehler, a junior construc
tion science major, said that his best
memories of college so far have been
made during road trips.
"Road trips are the best weekend
activities, and are my best memories
of college," Koehler said. "You're
able to jump in the car, take off and
just drive until you find something
interesting to see."
Koehler said road trips are an in
expensive way to get out of town,
and that is why so many college stu
dents enjoy the trips.
"Road trips usually don't cost
very much money, and they still en
able you to get out of College Station
for a few days," he said.
Being a student at A&M is not
the only qualification for taking
road trips, however.
Dr. Dudley Smith, an associate
professor in soil and crop sciences,
said that he and his wife take road
trip vacations almost every month.
"Last week I returned from a
4,300 mile road trip to the Mid-At
lantic states and to the barrier is
lands off the coast of Florida — it
was an awesome trip," Smith said.
"The good thing about a summer
road trip is that the cities help put the
country back into the Aggies."
Whether they travel around the
state or journey across America, stu
dents and professors at A&M say
that road trips are an interesting way
to get out of town for the weekend.
Road trips providing a chance to
clear their heads, relieve stress and
make many great memories along
the way.
up as a dedication to the older broth
ers who came through before," he
said. "We have a list of all the broth
ers who have ever been through the
chapter, and group pictures."
Bonner said the page was meant
as a source of information, but also
as a form of communication.
"We have a chat room that al
lows brothers from all around the
nation to log on and communicate
at any time," he said. "The page
also gives our fraternity brothers a
chance to visit and sign the guest
book, as well as people who are
not involved in the frat. We really
do appreciate that most of all."
Bonner said the page still is
new and the brothers plan to up
date it on a regular basis to keep
information up-to-date.
"There is an events page. We
have a section for our community
service activities. We do Adopt-A-
School and Adopt-A-Highway,"
Bonner said. "What most people
see us doing are the step routines,
but that is maybe only five percent
of what we do. We are a commu
nity service organization."
Also ranking high on most days
is the China Club page.
The club, an organization serv
ing Chinese students, visiting
scholars and their families at
A&M, is one of the largest and
most active international student
organizations at A&M.
The China Club page features
lists of upcoming evens that club
members may be interested in, a
phone directory of members, as
well as new student information
and recognition of those who have
donated to the organization.
The elegant layout of the China
Club page along with its simple
tasteful graphics make it obvious
why it is a popular page among
students.
Not all popular pages are seri
ous in nature. Many are created
purely for recreational reasons.
"Joey's Superman Page: The
Green Glow of Kryptonite," a trib
ute to Superman and all of his
forms in comic books of past and
present, features information in
sections according to the various
phases of the hero's career.
For the gamers of the world,
UNDERDARK features strategies
and add-ons for the popular PC
strategy game, Warcraft II. The
popularity of the game has boost
ed the rankings of this page on a
consistent basis.
Like so much of the informa
tion and sites on the Internet,
many homepages still fall into the
ranks of mediocrity. But a little bit
of searching will reveal the talent,
artistry and innovation that exists
in the student body of A&M.