Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 2015)
NEWS The Battalion I 3.4.15 4 THEBATT.COM (Left) Dominque Christina and (right) Denice Frohman perform slam poetry pieces Tuesday night at an event in Rudder Theater. SUMMIT CONTINUED of the biggest inspirations for those of us that work here at the institute and those working in international agriculture around the world has been Dr. Borlaug himself,” Murano said. “The trigger that he has been for all of us working in inter national development in term of what it means to be a leader, what it means to get things done and pursu ing your goals relent lessly, basically action. ‘Do more talk less’ is what he would say. ” Murano said that the traits exhibited by Borlaug that made him a great leader are cer tainly imitable as long as people are moved by what they do. “ His story is certain ly simple. He wasn’t Superman. He was a regular person like the rest of us. He would go to these countries and see the abject poverty and malnutrition, he knew as an agricultural researcher could be fixed,” Murano said. Murano said she hopes that her address will help people to think about how to look within themselves to find ideas and inspiration, to continue to be leaders. “Certainly a better understanding of the impact one person can make, especially in, agriculture. That one person can make a difference when they follow these things,” Murano said. The Texas A&M University Hispanic Network was established in 2006 with the goal of increasing minority enrollment and hearing the concerns of Hispanic Aggies. The Network has many chapters across the "Certainly a better understanding of the impact one person can make, especially in agriculture. That one person can make a difference when they follow these things." Elta Murano, director of the Borlaug Inatltute nation that works with the university to increase diversity on campus. “We work with the university system almost direcdy. The summit is the yearly event where we all gather,” said Hispanic Network President Perfecto Solis. “There’s a lot of great work that Hispanic network does... It’s a lot of community outreach and getting the word out about Texas A&M.” Included in the community outreach are programs like “Phone-a-Fish,” in which the network will call famihes of students who have been accepted to the university but haven’t accepted admission. Solis said this allows them to form a con nection with the stu dent and the families. “We’ll call the fam ilies and answer any questions they might have,” Solis said. “We talk about the Spirit of Aggieland, we answer questions that the kids might have. We form that connection as sociated with T exas A&M and the Aggie Spirit.” Solis said the goal is to both educate and inspire participants by highlighting the work of a select group of Hispanics. “Its informational, and its also intended to be inspirational,” Solis said. “A lot of the awards are going to be given to very special people who have done very special things. It’s meant to refocus us on what the next year is. It’s an opportunity for break out meetings. We’re doing the best we can to support the university and support the Hispanic community.” Shelby Knowles —THE BATTALION Asit Biswas, the clerk who was ticketed for selling alcohol to a minor last month, was able to pay off his fine with money raised by students and friends. Students raise funds to pay local gas station clerk's ticket By Nikita Redkar A group of students put their Aggie spirit on dis play Friday as the nine stu dents paid off the city viola tion ticket of a Shell station clerk, Asit Biswas. Biswas was charged one month ago for providing al cohol to a minor. He said he strives to work hard every day and follow the rules and laws of the United States. The night Biswas was ticketed, a customer had been using a fake ID and a police officer happened to be standing out side. “I like it here very much and I like the system,” Biswas said. “But one day, I acciden tally made a mistake. A guy came in here and used one ID, and when a police officer stopped him he showed an other ID. So the officer gave me a ticket for selling to a minor.” Kevin Langford, agricul tural economics senior, said he has known Biswas for three and a half years and the whole incident was a misun derstanding. “We raised this money be cause Asit has one of the most amazing stories we have ever heard,” Langford said. “We knew the money we raised was going to a man who more than deserved it.” Four years ago, Biswas won the U.S. Department of State’s Diversity Program Lottery, a drawing of immi grant visas available to indi viduals from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Biswas said he emigrated from Bangla desh in 2009 and has been working at a College Station Shell to support his family ever since. “I got married four years ago, but my wife could not move to the U.S. because [her visa] took a long time to process and there wasn’t enough money,” Biswas said. “Six months ago my wife finally arrived here. I have been working four years for her to come here.” Industrial distribution se nior Michael Paine said he and his friends wanted to do something to try to help him out financially when they heard about the incident. “We ended up making a Facebook group to spread the word,” Paine said. “Af ter a lot of people heard what happened, one of our friends set up a GoFundMe account to make it easy for people to donate money.” In just 12 hours of the ac count’s link being open, all of the $2,000 needed to cov er the fine had been raised, Paine said. “Everyone who donated money knew Asit from times they interacted with him at Shell,” Paine said. “There were even multiple donations made by those that graduated a year or two ago that re member Asit.” Biswas said the day he re ceived the check from the students was one of the hap piest days of his life. “I didn’t know how the court works and I am so thankful for everybody who helped me,” Biswas said. “They are such good guys and all have big hearts. I am so happy right now.” Although the students do not condone selling alcohol to minors, they sided with the man who had grown to become their friend. “He’s got a contagious smile and he’s a very caring man,” said finance senior Mi chael Mullins. “He’s always interested in what’s happen ing in our lives, and we care about his as well.” Biswas said he loves Col lege Station and feels he has the friendliest customers. “People in the U.S. and students here are very friend ly,” Biswas said. “I feel very good working and living here.” : : m As you might expect, the people Involved In developing new medicines wear lots of different hats. What you might not expect is that one of those hats could be one like you might wear. The professionals at PPD have been working with healthy volunteers - people like you - for almost thirty years. You can be compensated when you participate in a medically supervised research study to help evaluate a new investigational medication at PPD. So when you volunteer to help create new medications at PPD, everybody wins. Learn how you can benefit while helping to Improve life for all of us by volunteering at PPD. Go online or give us a call today for more information. You’ll find studies to fit most any schedule listed here weekly. **.*«>» be a part of the FUTURE OF MEDICINE pm CURRENT RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES You must meet certain requirements to qualify, including a free medical exam and screening tests. AGE COMPENSATION REQUIREMENTS TIMELINE Men and Women 18 to 50 Up to S2000 Healthy & Non-Smoking BMI20-32 Weigh at least 110 lbs. Mon. 3/23 - Fri 3/27 Outpatient Visit: 3/28 Men and Women 18 to 55 Up to $2000 Healthy & Non-Smoking BM119-30 Females weighing at least 110 lbs. Males weighing at least 130 lbs Thu. 3/26 - Sun. 3/29 Thu. 4/2 - Sun. 4/5 PPW 800-866-0492 | I ppai.com GET LOUD! Tell us about your Aggie experience. We need to hear what you really think. Take the Aggie SERU Survey. Win valuable prizes http://seru.tamu.edu Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, grad students THIS WEEK V— i 'it get your picture taken for Texas A&M's 2015 Aggieland yearbook, if you didn't last fall. Your portrait sitting is free. m. pp -t < : si a. - h ? r 3 '4 U : ;.‘h Just walk in 9 a.m.-5 f>.M. Monday through fhursday in thf* Sttidont Mr:duj office. Suite* 1.400 of the MSC. March 12 will bo your la',t chance. //' f , your yearbook. Be in it.