Nov.23 2009 The Battalion Print by The Battalion

thebattalion ● monday,

november 23, 2009

● serving

texas a&m since 1893

Flash dance at Kyle Field involves hundreds The echo of music had the fans at Kyle Field confused when a youth group of about 100 students started dancing two hours before the football game against Baylor University Saturday. Decked out in blue Carolina T-shirts, their 2-minute routine consisted of “You Make Me Wanna Shout,” “The Cupid Shufﬂe,” “Thriller,” “Single Ladies,” “The Casper Slide,” “YMCA” and “Bye Bye Bye.” “It was just a fun thing to do,” said Holly Nelson, Class of 2005 and original coordinator. “It was the biggest in front of Kyle Field.” The idea originated from YouTube videos and the T-Mobile commercial where everyone in a train station breaks out spontaneously into dance. This event was planned in the past couple of months. There were two tutorial sessions prior to the performance. “We have a youth group event every year,” said Kayla Allen, a senior accounting major. “It was just about [having] fun.” Luz MorenoLozano, staff writer

Stephen Fogg — THE BATTALION

A&M 38, Baylor 3

Bowling over Baylor Michael’s magic Texas A&M freshman running back

Third time’s a charm It took the Aggies three

What’s next

Christine Michael scores a touchdown in the Aggies’ 38-3 win against Baylor.

weeks to get over the bowl eligibility hump, earning the needed sixth victory with a 38-3 win against Baylor Saturday. Check out the game story at

Texas A&M vs. University of Texas 7:00 p.m. Thursday

Relying on the run Thanks to its running game, A&M is bowl eligible with just one game remaining in the season.

sports | 5

thebatt.com

Student meets first lady Obama Freshman Corps cadet receives award for art, service in D.C. ■

Samantha Johnson The Battalion

Courtesy Photo

This year marks the second donation of $10,000 from the Pepsi Bottling Group to The Big Event.

Pepsi CEO donates $10,000 to Big Event Meagan O’Toole-Pitts The Battalion Pepsi Bottling Group CEO Eric Foss visited the Mays Business School Friday to talk with MBA students about business in today’s market and donate $10,000 to The Big Event for the second time. “We want to create a better place to live,” Foss said, who made his first $10,000 donation to The Big Event in 2007. “That community approach varies by market, but the reality is we take sustainability very seriously.” The donation will help The Big Event, the nation’s top student-run service project led by Texas A&M students,

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have an even bigger impact, Foss said. “The things we spend our time and efforts on are really three things in terms of environment: water conservation, which we’ve pushed forward very aggressively in the last 12 months; energy, we’re one of the largest buyers of renewable energy credits in the world and are testing some alternative energy vehicles now; and from a packaging standpoint, we focus on recycling and light-weighting our bottles so that we have a better impact on the environment,” Foss said. Big Event Director Mallory Myers See Pepsi on page 4

A Texas A&M student traveled to the White House Nov. 4 to accept the Coming Up Taller Award from first lady Michelle Obama on behalf of the after school art program she participated in while in high school. Jessica Flores, a freshman biomedical science major and Corps of Cadets member, took part in the Young Artist Apprenticeship Program, an art program organized by the Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston her senior year of high school. “I really enjoyed the program; we got to do a lot of projects and work with different mediums,” Flores said. “It was great to work with other people and see how they interpret the art.” During Flores’ time in the program, Hurricane Ike hit Houston and the students were able to turn debris from the hurricane into an inspiring project. “We were doing molds of our hands, and we decided to use branches that had been broken during the hurricane as arms, and we each designed a section,” Flores said.

The Blaffer Gallery’s Curator of Education, Katherine Veneman, described the concept of the project. “It’s what’s known as an ‘exquisite corpse.’ Each of the students design individual segments that all work together,” Veneman said. “It was set up with a seat in the middle and radiating from the seat were the ‘arms.’ They made casts of their hands and then used tree branches for arms, the concept is ‘helping hands.’” The completed project is on display at the University of Houston. Veneman said Flores took a leadership role in the project, which is one of the reasons she was awarded the $1,000 Martha Meier Scholarship. When the Young Artist Apprenticeship Program was chosen as one of the 15 after-school arts programs to receive the Coming Up Taller Award, they asked Flores and Veneman to accept the award. “They asked me this summer if I would be willing to accept the award on behalf of the program, and I was shocked and excited,” Flores said. “At first, they weren’t be able to tell me where the ceremony was. We didn’t know See Art award on page 4

On TV: ESPN2

Watch the videos at thebatt. W Winter wonde wonderland Historic ddowntown Bryan was w ﬁlled with holiday hol cheer after Thursday’s Lights L On! celebration. Watch the tree lighting ceremony at thebatt.com.

Bust a move Fade to Black took the stage Saturday to showcase the dance ensemble’s best moves. Check out their contemporary, Latin, lyrical and hip hop dances at thebatt.com

Remember Parents remember their sons and daughters lost on the morning of Nov. 18, 1999, in the collapse of Aggie Bonﬁre as students honor their lives at the Candlelight Vigil.

11/22/09 9:05 PM