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WMentors program celebrates 20 years of guidance for students
Robert Hynecek/Tiii Battalion
BY MARIANO CASTILLO
The Battalion
“lach Monday, students roll out of bed with
H hopes for a better week. This week studies
—Jwill be done every night, homework will not
• late and all classes will be attended. However,
ality soon sets in and Monday and Tliesday
s;a ght television becomes more appealing. The
: ticket! and a friend’s problems take priority over
tdies Papers and un-read chapters start piling
i, and on Wednesday night, the reminder note
: the test on Thursday is found. Then it happens
anxiety.
Shortness of breath, palms getting sweaty and
ghtmares of failing out come to mind as stu
nts try to calm the nerves of another wasted
?ek gone by.
^ With these issue in mind, a small group of fac-
w ;y members founded a program in 1979 to give
idents the opportunity to“just talk” to someone
tenever they needed. This group noticed stu
nts were feeling isolated and defeated in the bu-
lucracy of the fast-expanding campus. TWenty
ars later and 400 volunteers strong, the AT-
entors program is helping over 2,500 students
tear.
Today is the first day of ATMentors Awareness
eek, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the or-
nization and promoting the program to attract
be- ith new mentors and students to take advantage
this service. Mentors will wear buttons this
si: 2ek in order to promote themselves as-mentors,
inte: A mentor is a faculty, staff or administration
pro;? ember who volunteers a certain number of of-
0I1 , :e hours for students.
LuAnn Helms, a graduate assistant who helps
i hmtalw ' . jordbiate the ATMentors program, said one of
. ‘,te greatest aspects of the program is that it is
impjetely voluntary.
osenonesp.1 “Mentors don’t receive any bonuses or bene-
I have this if S) ” Helmes said. “The only benefit is they know
they are there to help students. ”
The ATMentors program operates through the
Student Counseling Services, and all of their fund
ing comes from donations. Most donations come
from various Aggie Mother’s Clubs and from the
mentors themselves.
Although the mentors are volunteers, the
structure of the program is defined and efficient.
Of the 400 current mentors, a group of about 10
volunteer to serve on the executive committee,
which elects a coordinator to oversee the group’s
activities.
Dr. Betty Milburn, coordinator of ATMentors,
said, together with the executive committee, she
makes an annual report to the members as well
as plan meetings and guest speakers.
The most recent annual report included a sur
vey reflecting the effectiveness of ATMentors at
A&M. The survey accounts for the opinions of
roughly half of the mentors. The results show, in
the 1997-98 school year, 68.5 percent of all men
tor visits were in regard to academic matters such
as career choices, finding a job and conflicts with
instructors.
Other major topics included relationships,
family problems, deaths in the family, grade trou
bles in a particular class, roommate conflicts and
depression.
Personal crisis such as suicidal thoughts or oth
er trauma accounted for 15.7 percent of visits.
Helms said because mentors are not professional
counselors, serious personal problems are not
handled best by them.
“If a student has a deep problem, we refer
them to the Student Counseling Service,” Helms
said.
Issues discussed with less frequency were fi
nancial, ethical. Corps of Cadets and safety con
cerns.
Peggy Philpot, a mentor for three years and a
worker in the MSC Student Programs Office, said
ATMentors has helped many students.
“I know that as society gets bigger, students
feel they can’t connect,” Philpot said. “We’ve got
people willing to reach out and talk to the stu
dents face to face. ”
Philpot said it was not difficult for her to ad
just to a role as a mentor.
“I’m a good listener; it comes naturally to me,”
she said. “I mainly see students who work in our
immediate office, and throughout the day, I make
small connections with them — such as saying
‘hi’ and smiling.”
Philpot said students are not the only ones
who benefit from mentoring. Most mentors find
their experiences rewarding.
“ [Being a mentor] has taught me that a lot of
people just need a listener,” she said. “Something
might be going on that we don’t know about and
can’t be solved until it is talked about. I learned
that I can make a difference. ”
Helms said that 20 years down the road, AT
Mentors will be much bigger, more resourceful
and more popular.
“In general, we want the ATMentor program
to expand in the future,” she said.
ATMentors recruits new mentors from all de
partments and offices. The program has a goal to
be able to refer students to other counseling ser
vices because of the wide range of issues brought
to them.
“There are many other mentor programs at
A&M that we want to cooperate with,” Helms
said. “We would like to make this a hub where
any student can call and find the most appropri
ate mentor.”
Philpot said ATMentors Week is a good op
portunity to inform students of the program.
“I think it is a great program,” she said. “I wish
more people would get involved and that more
students take advantage of it. Many students have
a stigma of going to the Student Counseling Cen
ter. It’s wonderful to get the mentoring process
out in the open. ”
vork, simply (■ E_
I; 1 tS Film critic Siskel succumbs to battle with brain tumor
way in noi
over, theligb I CHICAGO (AP) — Gene Siskel fell in love
,loesonekno vith movies as a child. Every Saturday the
nt and liberal!’ichoolboy Siskel would walk eight blocks to
ip ended upnoifis neighborhood theater on Chicago’s north
was pretty giddelo catch the newest films with his friends,
i trip is if eve# It would be many years before Siskel would
t li es _ n0 vwiihake movies his life’s work, giving the world
l n(| (0| .,,, he thumbs-up and thumbs-down film reviews
te and colleague Roger Ebert created.
“I can’t even imagine what it will be like
without Siskel),” Ebert said Saturday from his
ichigan home as news of Siskel’s death at
:ge 53 spread.
Siskel’s death ended a quiet but strenuous
tattle against complications that arose after a
Srowth was removed from his brain in May.
‘There was a history there, a respect that
’m never really going to replace in my life. It’s
;oing to be tough,” Ebert said.
Writing for rival newspapers, the young
dskel and Ebert were fierce competitors, al
ways trying to out-scoop each other.
The icy relationship warmed when they re-
actantly teamed up to co-host the public tele-
. ision program ‘‘Sneak Previews” in 1975.
• ‘‘For the first five years that we knew each
MO
ELF.
other. Gene Siskel and I hardly spoke. Then it
seemed like we never stopped,” Ebert wrote in
a column titled ‘‘Farewell, my friend” on the
front page of Sunday’s Chicago Sun-Times.
‘‘Siskel & Ebert,” as their show was later
known in syndication, became a household
name.
Ebert said Saturday that the show would
continue with revolving guest critics.
‘Tn the future, we will see,” he said.
‘The two thumbs up has become an icon
in the film industry,” said Paul Dergarabedian,
a spokesperson for Exhibitor Relations Co.
which compiles box office receipts. ‘The av
erage person would look toward them about
whether to take their hard-earned dollars to
the box office.”
Despite his fame, Siskel stayed in the Mid
west, resisting the lure of either coasts.
‘The boys always wanted to stay in Chica
go — they felt that was neutral territory,” said
Mary Kellogg of Buena Vista Television, who
developed a close friendship with Siskel in the
14 years they worked together on the show.
Orphaned by age 10, Siskel threw himself
into his family life with a passion close friends
were quick to remark on. He met and fell in
love with Marlene Iglitzen while working at
WBBM-TV in Chicago. They married in 1980
and had three children, a boy and two girls.
His passions drove him — from the movies
he had loved since a boy, the words he grew
to love as a newspaper man, the enjoyment he
got as a Chicago Bulls fan and for his family.
At the time of his death, Siskel had taken a
leave of absence from his work not only with
the ‘‘Siskel & Ebert” television show and the
Chicago Tribune, but also as a film critic for
‘‘CBS This Morning” and WBBM-TV, and as a
columnist for TV Guide.
Thousands of letters and e-mails from his
fans poured into Buena Vista, which distrib
utes his show, in support of Siskel’s leave of
absence.
In Sunday’s column, Ebert recalled how
Siskel strove to deflect attention away from his
illness and toward his film criticism after his
surgery.
‘‘Although it was obvious sometimes that
he walked slowly and was in pain, I never
once heard him complain. He carried on with
a bravery that is hard to imagine,” Ebert wrote.
here. ^ THE PRINCETON REVIEW
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^.0 <& GO
The week of February 21 - February 25
At< 1 229
Dr. Hayes
Actl 230
Part l
Mon Feb 22
llpm-lam
Part II
Tue Feb 23
i I pm-lam
Part III
Wed Feb 24
llpm-iam
Part IV
Thu Feb 25
llpm-iam
Part I
Mon Feb 22
5jjih-7jiih
OR
7pm-‘>pm
Part II
Tue Feb 23
5pin-7pm
OR
7pm-‘>pm
Part 111
Wed Feb 24
5pm-7pm
OR
7pm-9prn
Part IV
Thu Feb 25
5ptn-7pm
OR
7pm-9pm
Ban a 303
Dr. Anthony
Part l
Mon Feb 22
8pm-11 pm
Part II
Tue Feb 23
8pm-11 pm
Eton 202
Dr. Mabry
Part I
Mon Feb 22
9pni-11 pm
Pari II
Tue Feb 23
9pm-llpm
Part III
Wed F eb 24
9pm-1 l|)in
Gem* 301
Ellison
Part I
Sun Feb 21
8pm-1 Opm
Part II
Mon Feb 22
8pm-10pm
Part III Part IV
Tue Feb 23 W ed Feb 24
8pm-I0pm Spin-1 Opm
Mgmt 363
Mktg 321
Part l
Mon Feb 22
6pm-8pm
Part I
Sun Feb 21
8pm-11 pm
Tickets qo on sale Sunday at 7:00 PM.
4.0 & Go is located on the corner of SW Pkwy and Tx Ave, behind KFC next to Lack's.
Check our web page at http://www.4.0andGo.com
May Graduates
Official Texas A&M
Graduation Announcements
on sale
Jan. 11 - Feb. 26, 1999
For Information and to place your order
access the Web at:
http://graduation.tamu.edu
All orders must be placed over the Web
All payments must be received by February 26
MSC Box Office
845-1234
Mon-Fri 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
TZOB University Ocivm
TICKETS GO ON SALE MONDAY 5PM
www. aggt&c&n tral. cam
MON
Feb 22
TUES
Feb 23
WED
Feb 24
THUR
Feb 25
CHEM
107
6-8
PM
CH
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CAPA
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PHYS
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ECON
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Part
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PRAC
202
PM
I
II
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TEST
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lO PM
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CH
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PRAC
227
MID
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7
TEST
Texas Aggie
Athletics This Week!
Golf (W) Monday and Tuesday
GTE "MO"ntorial
Basketball (M) Wednesday 7:00
vs. Oklahoma
Baseball Friday 3:00
vs. Oklahoma State
Tennis (W) Friday 3:30
vs. TCU
Tennis (W) Saturday 1:30
vs. Oklahoma State
Basketball (W) Saturday 2:00
vs. Colorado
Baseball Saturday 2:00
vs. Oklahoma State
Baseball Sunday 1:00
vs. Ohlahoma State
Tickets off campus
Kroger in College Station
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‘HAVING FUN ALL WRONG 1
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THURSDAY 125 TD
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