| 11 IBH
The Big Event’s 547 jobs
exceed previous record
BY BROOKE HODGES
The Battalion
Lauren May, a Rock Prairie Elementary third
grader, wanted a couple of rooms painted, so she
sent her form to The Big Event office and on Sat
urday five Texas A&M students showed up to do
the job.
“My mom really doesn't like to paint and she
said if 1 wrote a letter they might do it for me.”
she said.
Students came out and painted her bedroom and
playroom blue. May said.
“They let me help and there were really, real
ly nice to me.”
After a short rain shower Saturday morning,
5,100 students showed up to participate in the
19th Annual Big Event.
“The day was wonderful. We had a short scare
with the rain from 8 to 8:30, but then everyone start
ed s/iowing up,” said Bowie Hogg, The Big Event
student involvement executive and a junior manage
ment major.
This year's 547 jobs were the largest number
in the history of the single-day, student-run ser
vice project, Hogg said.
The day began at 9 a.m. with M. L. “Red”
Cashion, retired National Football League ref
eree and Class of '53, addressing the crowd of
student volunteers.
“The speaker was wonderful, he talked about
how special [The Big Event] was and how it
meant so much to everyone,” Hogg said.
Cashion's speech consisted of a story about an
elderly woman who had been signed up to receive
help from The Big Event volunteers by a friend
and did not know about it.
“He really got everyone motivated to go out,”
said Adam Sheedy, a Big Event volunteer and a
junior business major.
Volunteers then went to The Big Event
Headquart-ers near the Bonfire site to. receive
their job assignment and supplies and set out for
their job sites.
“Everyone was in and out of headquarters with
their supplies in 22 minutes,” Hogg said.
Sheedy said he got to his job site around 10
a.m. and was done in about two and a half
hours.
“Our job was about a four-to-six people load.
We went to an elderly woman’s home,” he said.
“We washed her windows, cleaned the porch,
raked the yard and cleaned the front yard.”
“Aou could tell she couldn’t do the job herself,
and it felt good to do something we knew she
couldn't do,” Sheedy said. “1 wish we could have
done more for her, but the rain stopped us.”
The jobs were all completed very quickly,
Lisa Cassidy, director of The Big Event and a se
nior marketing major, said.
“We wrapped everything really, really early,”
Cassidy said. “The students were really, really
great.” ‘
STUART VILLANUEVA/The Battalion
Dan Peek, a sophomore general studies major, and other students from Univer
sity Towers (center and left) paint the porch of 90-year-old J. 0. Perkins as a
part of Big Event on Saturday. College Station resident and former NFL official
M. L.”Red” Cashion (left)address Big Eypnt volunteers at the opening ceremony.
Men’s tennis tops
No. 2 Pepperdine
BY AL LAZARUS
The Battalion
Texas A&M was perfect at home.
Pepperdine was just plain perfect.
Something had to give Friday night, and
a hometown hero, a scrappy sophomore and
610 fans at the A&M Varsity Tennis Center
made sure it was not the Aggies.
Buoyed by A&M Consolidated product
Cody Hubbell’s come-from-behind win and
aclutch, match-clinching performance from
sophomore Jarin Skube, the llth-ranked
Texas A&M men’s tennis team scored a 4-3
victory over previously undefeated No. 2
Pepperdine in front of the largest crowd ever
at the Varsity Tennis Center.
“The crowd was unbelievable,” A&M coach
Tim Cass said. “Our kids really feel comfortable
here, and there’s no doubt that this is a really
tough place for a visiting team to come into.”
The Aggies (10-5) proved it with Fri
day’s win, which notched their home record
this year to 8-0. It was also their second over
a top-five team, the first coming Mar. 5
against No. 4 Florida.
After losing the doubles point to the Waves
(18-1), A&M quickly recovered in singles
thanks to dominating performances from ju
niors Shuon Madden and Dumitru Caradima.
Madden, ranked No. 2 in the nation, beat
18th-ranked Robert Kendrick, 6-4, 6-0.
Caradima then finished off No. 53 A1 Gar
land, 6-2, 6-4.
“1 was kind of concerned after doubles,
because we usually don’t lose the doubles
point here,” Caradima said. “1 knew then that
we had to step up in singles and try to be on
top from the beginning of the matches.”
Needing two victories in the remaining
four matches, A&M got the first from the
87th-ranked Hubbell, who dropped the first
set to Pepperdine’s Sebastien Graeff before
recovering to win, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
That set the stage for Skube, who already
had won the first set and was about to play a
tiebreaker for the second. Leading 6-4 in the
tiebreaker, Skube cranked a cross-court win
ner by Pepperdine’s Anthony Ross to win the
match, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Skube said he took his cue after seeing
Hubbell clinch the Aggies’ third point.
“I saw Cody run up to the net, and 1
knew I had to do it,” he said. “1 wanted to
close it out then, because I had put so much
energy into the first two sets that I wasn’t
sure if I was really going to be able to win
a third set.”
In doubles play, Madden and Caradima
scored the Aggies’ lone victory — an 8-5
win over the third-ranked duo of Graeff
and Ross.
COURTESY OF TEXAS A&M SPORTS INFORMATION 0
A crowd of 610, the largest ever at the A&M Varsity Tennis Center, celebrates
the Aggies’ 4-3 victory over Pepperdine on Friday.
Former students join foundation
BY MAUREEN KANE
The Battalion
Kathryn Hughes, Class of ’86, Chad Wootton,
Class of ’96 and Elizabeth McKee, Class of ’99, all
have something in common — they were recently ap
pointed as development professionals for the Texas
A&M Foundation.
The foundation is a private, nonprofit coiporation
that directs major fund raising and manages gift as
sets in support of educational excellence at Texas
A&M University. The foundation currently employs
16 development directors, each of whom is assigned
to one of A&M’s nine colleges, the Office of Student
Affairs, or the Bush School of Government and Pub
lic Service.
“I’m raising money for student organizations as
a whole. Each organization has their set pathways
of fund raising — whatever area their group falls
under. I’m involved in raising funds on a depart
mental level,” said Hughes, the new director of de
velopment for student affairs.
Hughes’job includes visiting prospective donors
interested in giving money to student organizations.
Donors are often former students who were involved
in specific student organizations during their A&M ca
reers and want to ensure that these organizations will
continue to be funded for the benefit of future students.
Right now, Hughes is working with Vice President
for Student Affairs Dr. J. Malon Southerland and his
staff to determine fund raising goals for the Depart
ment of Student Affairs.
“One of our goals is to create endowments for
some programs on campus. MSC Opera and Per
forming Arts Society (OPAS) and Muster are two
we’re working to get endowed,” Hughes said. “There
has been talk of a student leadership retreat center —
that’ll be something we’ll be working to fund as well.”
Wootton is the new director of development for
the Dwight Look College of Engineering, and works
primarily with civil engineering, engineering tech
nology and industrial distribution.
Wootton said his direct interaction with the stu
dent body is limited, but the engineering department
as a whole has traditionally hosted banquets for stu
dents receiving scholarships to meet their donors,
providing an opportunity for students and donors to
interact with the engineering’s development depart
ment staff.
“We work with department heads and faculty
who work directly with students. They tell us what
kind of general departmental support is necessary
to meet the needs of our students,” said Wootton.
“Our primary role is to provide contact with former
students, industry and anyone else who wants to
give money to higher education.”
Wootton said that since public funding for the Uni
versity is limited, the foundation works to increase pri
vate ftinding and support in the form of scholarships,
unrestricted funds and faculty fellowships.
“Each year, public funds shrink. We’re lucky to
have donors who make investments that will benefit
our student body. Our job is to find donors and match
them to the needs indicated by faculty and staff,”
Wootton said. “Almost all of the fund raising that the'
See Funds on Page 2.
Senior Week celebrates
final days of coUege life
BY KIMBERLY OLSON
The Battalion
With graduation nearing, Class of 2000 Aggies are
celebrating their last days at Texas A&M with Senior
Week.
Senior Week, this Monday through Friday, is
packed full of events for
seniors, like an ice cream
social at Vice President for
Student Affairs Dr. J. Mal
on Southerland’s home
Monday from 3:00 to 5:00
p.m. and Awesome Blos
som night at Chili’s Tues
day from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Karaoke night is
Wednesday from 9:00 p.m.
to 2:00 a.m. at Shadow
Canyon.
“Senior week is a week
of play days just for us,”
said Stacey Hargrave, Class of 2000 gift chair and an
industrial distribution major.
A carnival will be held at the Clayton Williams
Alumni Center on Thursday from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.
The carnival includes a dunking booth and human
bowling.
Aggie rings can also be picked up at the Association
of Former Students from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Thursday.
Senior Week concludes with Ring Dance. Ring
Dance 2000: Millennium Dance Party will be Satur
day in Rudder Complex and the Memorial Student
Center from 9 p.m. to 1:00 a.m,
“Ring Dance is the last preparation for seniors before
they go out into the real world,” said Summer Harbert,
Class of 2000 historian and a community health major.
Ring Dance will feature
entertainment in seven rooms,
each with a different theme.
“Country, Latin, swing,
karaoke, eighties, top forties
and a piano bar are the types
of rooms which we will have
at the dance,” said Kim Bai
ley, Ring Dance director and
a senior sociology major.
Proceeds from the event
will go towards the Class of
2000 gift for the University,
which will be announced at
the dance.
Seniors had the opportunity to vote on several op
tions for the class gift in last week’s elections: a Jum-
botron at Olsen Field, Class of 2000 street clocks,
YMCA building renovations and a Class of 2000 per
petual fund.
Seniors were also given the chance to vote on mak
ing a donation to the Bonfire memorial in the name of
the Class of 2000.
"Country, Latin, swing,
karaoke, eighties, top for
ties and a piano bar are
the types of rooms which
we will have at the dance. ”
— Kim Bailey
Ring Dance director
•NeoSwing
Aggie dancers
to make appear
ance at 2000 Sum
mer Olympics.
Page 3
•NCAA tourney down to
two teams.
Page 9^
•This lane is closed.
Texas ban on Internet car
buying makes
no sense.
•Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at
1:57 p.m. for details about a
drug bust in Bryan.
'Check out The Battalion
online at
battalion.tamu.edu