Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2003)
NEW THE BAT TALK)! if airs page 1 jriand will retire: as vice president president oversees I icular activities. ;e searches, a lot ether to find theperfej the perfect time,” sai nier Memorial 1 lent and a search com- have to find somebodi heir position at a pits- nxler to come and leal prestigious universit) iership in the Divisits 1 we don’t wanttotafc page 1 ent Thursday, Hi id Rochon will presec sentations will be iter 206. nmittee hopes tote uly. romise investors seemed D :s. The Dow Jonei ained 141 points ani 24 in trading arom :tion-spending per cer than economist re forecasting a OJ April was broadbasd ing less spending je-family homes toi d ventures, industrial complexes nent spending s rose by 0.2 perceni to an annual rate of t increase i housing, highways, her projects, truction by , by 0.3 percent® /n o an annual rate of le of the construct® is been holding f imy's slump. Buttls been largely we. 1 ' ess of compabjg: ig and hiring,*,! momic growth, mercial construct® guilders dropped!)! > a rate of $156.1 bi nd ing were reportei ce buildings. age 1 irtment at A&M has :rs who were on stir :s at UT and A&M garded Goldhammei md researcher, field-oriented ani /ed to do,” said Di ftheA&M geolog) success in industn 1 of assistant prole: it in pay. From to many of his su it after to teach.” i i\ii\\\i\u • Sale mn Oir&p n imd«r IV pinrVioUB JON ig the fall and spring semes- olidays and exam periods) al ’OSTMASTER: Send address 843-1111. sityin the Division of Student iDonald Building. Newoffl v/w,thebatt.com it by The Battalion. For cam- l, call 845-0569. AdvertisinJ rough Friday. Fax: 845-2678 tto pick upasinglecopyof -school year, $30 for tire fa* ;a, MasterCard, Discover, or Aggielife The Battalion Page 3 • Tuesday, June 3, 2003 Sweating it out in summer school Students share their joys and woes of the summer By Ashley Marshall THE BATTALION As the spring semester draws to a close each year, students must decide what to do for the summer. For thousands of Texas A&M students, summer school is the win ning option. Although some students dread the thought of taking classes during the summer, others thoroughly enjoy the experience. Bryan Osborne, a senior chemistry major, enjoys summer school more than the regular semesters because of the relaxed atmosphere. In fact, Osborne said he would rather take all of his classes in the summer. “Being up here in college and only tak ing one class is the perfect world,” he said. Jim Johnson, a professor in the Benz School of Floral Design, enjoys the laid- back environment as well. “Everything’s easier during the summer,” he said. “Parking is easier, getting around campus is easier, running errands is easier and it’s nice because more students tend to be in class on time.” “It makes school a softer atmosphere,” Johnson said. “You don’t look across the room and see stressed faces like you do in the spring and fall.” Since the majority of A&M students go home for the summer, parking and the flow of traffic are greatly improved around campus and the city. Commuting students are allowed to park in red and blue lots for the summer, alleviating some of the park ing congestion. Licia Dodson, a graduate student in finance, said this is a major advantage to summer school. “It’s nice that there are less people,” she said. “More open spaces means I can park where I want rather than wherever the wait for a space is shortest.” “I love that I can find a parking spot when I go to the Rec,” said senior English major Damaris Johnson. “But I do end up sweating from the walk to the front door because it’s so hot — and that’s before 1 even work out.” u Being up here in college and only taking one class is the perfect world. —Bryan Osborne senior chemistry major In addition to the rising heat, students may find the course load heavier and may need to redefine their study habits. Although students can receive credit in a month, classes may seem more rigorous because the same amount of material that would be learned during a normal semes ter must be covered in a fourth of the time. Tests are usually given every week, and with the exception of kinesiology, classes meet daily. “It’s like high school again,” Dodson said. But Johnson feels the professors have a certain amount of sympathy for students. “I think the professors know the reason we’re here in the summer is because most of the students are just trying to graduate, get married or get out,” Johnson said. “I think the professors are more understanding, laid back and in some ways more fun.” Justin Whitaker, a senior kinesiology major, has been in the Corps of Cadets for four years and enjoys the opportunities sum mer school gives him. Since the Corps is not active during the summer session, Whitaker says his hair is the longest it’s been since he graduated high school. “It (summer school) was different in the fact that I didn’t have the struc ture I was used to,” he said. “It was weird not wearing a uniform to class and having facial hair, little things like that I had never experienced.” Summer school also offers a different format than regular semester classes, which Whitaker finds beneficial to his learning style. “I love summer classes because they’re so condensed and it requires me to keep up with my studies daily,” Whitaker said. “You don’t forget what was taught in lecture, because you keep up with it every day.” As a professor, Johnson finds the every day style of teaching rigorous, but also ben eficial for helping students retain informa tion taught in the classroom. “There’s a continuity you can have in summer classes you can’t have in the fall or spring,” Johnson said. “I tell my advisees to take the courses they hate the most in the summer because day-to-day continuity helps them focus on the material and really learn it. And it’s also over quicker.” Gracie Arenas •THE BATTALION uia iyiiuw nit icasun icam 11. / Viin 11 a aisu uvci ljuiliyci. • inn dmi Recent college grad finds his niche in booming invitation company THOMAS FRANKLIN • KRT CAMPUS Fairleigh-Dickinson University graduate Zak Kunish displays some of his company’s products at the National Stationary Show in New York City By Teresa M. McAleavy , KRT CAMPUS Zak Kunish isn’t one to turn down invitations. The guy does, after all, make a living creating exclusive invites for special, high-end occasions, like a baby shower for media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s wife, Wendi. So some folks who know him were surprised when the Wyckoff resident opted to say “Thanks, but no thanks,” to join ing 2,000 fellow graduates at the podium Wednesday for Fairleigh Dickinson University’s commencement ceremony. Until they learned he had business to conduct. “That’s Zak,” says Leo Rogers, director of FDU’s Rothman Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, the program from which Kunish just earned his bachelor of sci ence degree. “He couldn’t be here for an awards ceremony Sunday, either, because busi- (l pess came first.’ But don’t pity Kunish for missing the graduation festivi ties. At 20, he owns and operates ZAK & Co. Inc., a Midland Park-based business that designs original, funky, three-dimen sional invitations for select retailers and event planners. As many of his peers graduating throughout the country face one of the toughest job markets in recent decades, Kunish’s most pressing concern is continuing to grow a business that he said doubled its sales for 2002 in the first four months of this year. “I loved my entire college experience and wanted to be there, but it just happens that the biggest industry trade show of the year falls on the same day,” Kunish says during a brief break from wooing potential customers during the four-day National Stationery Show at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Manhattan. After a visit to the trade show a few years ago, Kunish incor porated ZAK & Co. in ^September 1999. He had been dabbling in invitation designs since he was 14, and even sold some of his offbeat originals through a local stationery store. “I always knew I wanted my own business, so I decided to follow my passion,” he said. Kunish plunked down about $2,500 in savings for start-up capital. Although he declines to say just how much revenue the business has generated, the one full-time and two part-time employees who fill orders that get shipped across the country and to Puerto Rico point to growth. So does operating from a rented 1,250-square-foot stu dio in Midland Park. “It’s very profitable; I’m very happy,” he says with the confi dence and purposeful evasiveness of a seasoned chief executive. The invitations range from about $8 each to $90 each, retail, with the average selling some where between $20 and $30. “Our invitations are high- end,” Kunish says. “We only sell to select retailers and corporate and private event planners.” Rogers, who heads the entre preneurial institute, says it’s rare, even for those students eyeing eventual ownership, to see one graduate with a profitable busi ness already up and running. “Most entrepreneurs have an idea but go to work for someone else first,” Rogers says. “It’s not that common to be out there as an employer at his age.” And if the folks he already does business with have any thing to say, Kunish doesn’t have much worrying to do at all. In addition to offering the origi nal invitations, Kunish sells tai lor-made announcements, place cards, menus, programs and other event accessories to many customers who plan to keep the orders coming. When she asked him to fill a last-minute order, Bernstein says Kunish delivered it in the middle of the night so she could make an early morning flight to Aruba. Avril Lavigne's "SkSer Boi" to become movie Teen pop-punk sensation Avril Lavigne is going Hollywood: The 18- year-old Canadian singer's high school anthem "SkSer Boi" will be adapted into a movie about teen rebellion and romance - sort of "Flashdance" meets "Footloose" for the Y Generation. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount Pictures has optioned the song and signed writer-producer David Zabel, of "ER" and "Dark Angel" fame to adapt its lyrics. The song, off Lavigne's 2002 CD "Let Go," which sold five million copies, is about a skatepunk boy who falls in love with a high school ballet dancer only to be spurned because the girl fears her friends will not approve of him. Years later she comes to regret her decision, when the skater dude becomes a music star "rockin' up MTV." No word on whether the waifish Lavigne, a self-proclaimed tomboy and roller-blader, will be featured in the flick. Lavigne will also be one of a host of Canadian musical acts slated to play a concert in Toronto aimed at convincing PEOPLE IN THE NEWS tourists that it's safe to visit Canada despite the SARS outbreak which has claimed 27 lives in the city. Pageant queen brings lawsuit against Web site WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A judge has ordered the operator of a raunchy Web site to stop posting details of an alleged sexual relationship he had with a former beauty queen who promotes abstinence and sobriety. The temporary order forbids Tucker Max, 27, from "disclosing any stories. facts or information, notwithstanding its truth, about any intimate or sexual act" involving Katy Johnson, a two-time Miss Vermont who founded a "Sobriety Society" and has a Web site of her own filled with tips on living a virtuous life. Johnson, 24, acknowledges knowing Max but denies having a sexual rela tionship with him. She sued Max last month, arguing that he was using her name and pho tograph on his Web site to promote his "career as an authority on 'picking up' women." Max's attorney, John C. Carey, called the order "inconsistent with the free dom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution." Circuit Judge Diana Lewis imposed the order May 6. John Seigenthaler, the founder of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, questioned whether the order will stand. Federal courts have found that the same First Amendment protections that protect newspapers and television should be extended to the Internet, he said. Max's Web site includes an applica tion for women who want to date him and promotes his book, "The Definitive Book of Pick-Up Lines." '\OWOPi;N24 HOURS!!!' ‘NOWOPEN 24 HOURS!!!' *NOW OPEN 24 HOURS!!! * Great Mu\t Gags & ^ ts DVDs yttStfovtes ?r Tr. The New Adult Superstore • Bryan, TX SUPER VIDEO SALE Bachelorette OVER 300 VIDEOS Pa hy SuppU es $ AS LOW AS 7.99 Noveltj es Magazines FOR ALL THOSE JUNE WEDDINGS BACHELORETTE ITEMS 10% OFF -v Wj ** MOVIE RENTALS AVAILABLE ** ** 13 VIDEO VIEWING ROOMS ** 1230 S. COLLEGE AVE BRYAN • 979-822-8515 MUST BE 18 & HAVE VALID ID TO ENTER JB^«.sc^ovoJREesoaL.rseh. n«. You may qualify for a clinical research study if you have any of the following conditions: "’O' i ~3s. NECK OR BACK PAIN? • Recent onset of muscle pain in the neck or back with spasm (involuntary contraction) ~ • Must be 18 to 75 years of age Discovery - • Up to $200 paid for time and travel. r ^ ' .. O' FACIAL ACNE? • Male and Female 13-30 years of age; • Up to $100 reimbursed to qualified participants for time and travel. JrT O Jg |979) 776-1417 .non free (888) 438-9586 Medical assessments, study-related diagnostic tests, and investigational medication are provided to qualified participants at no charge. new balance change your life MARATHON / HALF MARATHON TRAINING 1 USA FIT has a fourteen-year track record of helping people of all ability levels and physical potential. Our 28 week marathon training program costs only $95 for ri# members and $65 for returning members, and participants receive day-by-day training schedules, v.-eeidy runs, weekly informational and inspirational seminars, and a AG FIT marathon training T-shirt. Whether you are a couch-potato, walker, jogger, or marathon veteran, AG FIT is the most enjoyable and inspiring way to get in shape. Come to any of our sign-ups at Aerofit on Carter Creek 4455 Carter Creek Parkway, Bryan, TX 77802 dressed to run with a check made out to USA Fit on Saturday, May 31,2003 at 7:30AM and Saturday, June 7,2003 at 7:30AM. For more info, call our hot-line number below, or check out our website at www.usafit.com. SIGN UP DATES MAY 31 AND JUNE 7, 2003 AT 7:30 AM SIGN UP LOCATION AEROFIT ON CARTER CREEK M /—/-t- 4455 Carter Creek Parkway, Bryan, TX 77802 $ ^ I / / Contact us: 979-823-1022 change your ife