MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I ©2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE
Student-run service project breaks attendance records with a big 'thank you' to B-CS residents
By Josh Hopkins
IWT ore than 21,000
1^^ /H students streamed
I ■ to the far reaches
JL of West Campus
to Research Park early Satur
day morning to embark on the
largest single-day student-run
service project in the nation —
The Big Event.
Students canvassed Bryan-
College Station, serving resi
dents by pulling weeds, rak
ing leaves, painting homes and
more.
Robert Killion, industrial
distribution junior and The Big
Event outreach executive, said
The Big Event saw a large in
crease in students participating
and job requests compared to
last year.
Killion said this year’s esti
mated attendance of between
21,000 and 22,000 volunteers
was a solid increase from last
year’s 20,000. Killion said stu
dents served around 2,500 job
sites.
Event organizers tie The Big
Event to the A&M core values.
“Texas A&M had instilled
the value of selfless service in its
students for generations,” said
assistant director Megan Rans-
leben at the opening ceremony.
“It is because of this that The Big
Event was started 33 years ago.
Today we have the privilege to
live out this value through serv
ing 2,500 residences in Bryan
and College Station.”
BIG EVENT ON PG. 4
(Left) Teammates celebrate with No. 8 Logan Nottebrok at homeplate. (Right) Logan Taylor beats
the tag Sunday.
A&M baseball whips Missouri
14-6 to clinch weekend series
With LSU loss, Aggies move
to top of SEC West standings
By Andre Perrard
The Texas A&M lineup showed
Sunday why it is a pitcher’s
nightmare in a 14-6 win over the
Missouri Tigers to take the weekend
series win.
The wins over the weekend place
the Aggies atop the western division
in the SEC. Also, with LSU losing
this weekend, the Aggies might find
themselves at No. 1 in most, if not
all, major baseball polls come Mon
day afternoon.
“Well, we are off to a really
good start,” said A&M head coach
Rob Childress. “Today we found
something out about our team. We
hadn’t been in this situation before
where we are playing to win a se
ries on Sunday. We responded quite
well. So far, so good. I am proud of
our guys and the new month will
start for us on Tuesday.”
The series got started Friday night
in front of a record crowd of 7,391 at
Olsen Field, the largest crowd since
the stadium underwent renovations
in 2012. A&M overcame a sixth in
ning charge by Missouri with four
runs of its own to earn a 7-4 win to
start the series.
Aggie starter Grayson Long had a
good night, surrendering only three
earned runs, but Andrew Vinson
came in behind him to effectively
shut down Missouri (20-9, 6-3
SEC). Vinson pitched three innings
of scoreless baseball out of the bull
pen to earn the win on the night.
Saturday saw a different outcome.
The Aggies (27-2, 7-2 SEC) took
an early 2-0 lead, but Missouri
BASEBALL ON PG. 3
COMMUNITY
Professor Rodney Hill and wife Sue Hill created the
wood carvings seen in the MSC.
The Big Event
lends a hand to
long-tenured prof
By Lenae Allen
As part of The Big
Event, cadets from
Company D2 helped clear
the yard of Rodney Hill, a
man with 46 years of Ag-
gieland history to tell.
Hill joined the faculty at
Texas A&M in 1969 after
receiving architecture de
grees from the University
of California-Berkeley and
Texas Tech.
He first taught in the De
partment of Environmental
Design and in 1980 moved
to the Department of Ar
chitecture. In 46 years of
teaching, Hill has helped
make the visualization and
the architecture programs
what they are today.
Hill said visualization
started as a graduate program
in 1989, and the architec
ture department didn’t have
the undergraduate program
until about four years ago.
“We would construct
special classes for [those
students] in their junior
and senior year so that they
could go other routes to
experience visualization,
rather than taking mechani
cal or electrical systems and
structures — those things
wouldn’t do them any good
at DreamWorks,” Hill said.
Hill’s creative nature is
expressed in his house and
his yard. The Hills have an
elaborate environmental
design in their garden and
greenhouse.
“The best part was the
back yard,” said Sam Hil-
gendorf, human resources
freshman. “You go in there
and it’s like you’re in a for
est. They’ve got tons of dif
ferent types of plants.”
Inside the house, many
of Rodney Hill’s handmade
wood carvings decorate the
walls. The wood carvings
are similar to the six-panel
wood carving done by Hill
and his wife Sue inside the
Memorial Student Center.
Among the hustle of rak
ing leaves, the Hills worked
alongside the students.
“They didn’t have to buy
us lunch, and they bought
us pizza,” said David Wolff,
agricultural and biological
engineering senior. “[Sue
Hill] was out here helping
us with the yard work. She
certainly didn’t have to do
that.”
Hill said he was apprecia
tive of The Big Event and
the cadets who worked on
the yard for what they did.
He said it was important that
students know the power of
volunteerism at A&M.
“It’s taking care of every
one,” Hill said. “You find
people that want to come
and interview Aggies be
cause Aggies don’t lie, cheat
or steal, and we’re hard
workers. You leam to give
a lot when you’re here.”