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Engineering students research laser-based technology aimed at increasing space travel efficiency A3

10 members of The Battalion’s graduating class say farewell to their time with the publication in Swan Song columns B1-5

From farm to table, Light family’s hosting journey By Kennedy Long Life & Arts Writer

Photos by Steve Carrasco IV — THE BATTALION

Clockwise from top: Survivors take the stage for a standing ovation and support from guests during the SARC “Beyond the Silence” annual survivor fashion show at The Shirley & Joe Swinbank ‘74 Agrilife Center on Saturday, April 25, 2026. A survivor is helped down the stage during the SARC “Beyond the Silence” annual survivor fashion show at The Shirley & Joe Swinbank ‘74 Agrilife Center on Saturday, April 25, 2026. A guest hugs a survivor during the SARC “Beyond the Silence” annual survivor fashion show at The Shirley & Joe Swinbank ‘74 Agrilife Center on Saturday, April 25, 2026.

‘Your voice and story matter’ audience broke up to take part in the stations SARC hosts fourth annual ‘Be- and“Ileggings. was a child, I w-as a college student, I set up across the room. Along the right side wanted this,” the model said as they of the runway stood two tables: one dedicatyond the Silence: Stories Worn never walked in jeans and a button up. ed for letters to the models and another for “This event in particular is my favorite drawings of feelings that the show evoked. Boldly’ fashion show, event event that we do,” Emerson said. “It’s foAs each letter and drawing was completed,

By Kynlee Joyner Editor-in-Chief Amid a sea of teal decor, a small figure stood out among the crowd. It wasn’t that he was a child in a crowd of adults or that he had an innocent smile plastered across his face. Instead, it was the serious script across his black shirt that didn’t quite match the pure happiness he was radiating: “Boys will be boys good humans.” On April 25, the Sexual Assault Resource Center, or SARC, hosted its fourth annual “Beyond the Silence: Stories Worn Boldly” survivor fashion show, headlined by 17 models. Survivors, advocates and representatives alike walked down the makeshift runway, different attire for each model representing the common theme for the night: Sexual assault isn’t caused by what someone is wearing. “To see people’s bravery, I mean, it brings me to tears every time,” SARC board member Tara Emerson said. “ … The thing I really love that it does is combat a lot of the stereotypes that what people were wearing or what they were doing or where they were impacted their assault in any way.” From ballgowns and tuxedos to pajamas and everyday wear, every outfit was showcased by models. And if the attire didn’t have the audience emotional enough, the models walking to a personalized narration in their voice did. “I was a child,” one model said as they walked the runway in a T-shirt and jeans. “Sexual assault is never the victim’s fault,” another said whilst walking in a cropped shirt

cused really on being able to tangibly support survivors. … They’ve experienced something this traumatic, and this is such an empowering way to show up. … One of the final phases that we sort of hope to see people get to is this incorporation and advocacy to be able to help other people that come behind them and also to claim their own voices again.” To portray the last step of healing — a common theme of the night — one model walked to a recording in which they read “I walk for children harmed in the very places meant to protect them and for every child whose silence was never a choice.” Amber Robertson, a four-year participant and founder of Brazos Valley Blessings — a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the cycle of poverty in the Brazos Valley — said that she walks each year not only for women of color like herself, but so that the women and families she works with feel comfortable opening up to her, ensuring that the event’s message extends far beyond the runway. “We just hope people, if you have a story to tell, even if you don’t feel comfortable saying it to those who love you … tell someone,” Robertson said. “Your voice is important. … Your voice and story matter.” When the show concluded, the models had one task left to complete: They gave a rose to someone who believed them when they opened up about their assault. Each rose was given to someone who created a space of safety, compassion and solidarity. As the models left the stage in search of the person they would pass their rose to, the

SARC members taped them along the wall or pinned them along a string, showcasing the waterfall of emotion felt by audience members and models alike. “It feels like family,” Robertson said. “Like, even if you’ve only met them for 30 minutes, by the end of the experience … they will hug you. Anybody will tell you, ‘I love you, and I’m here if you need me.’ So the family of this is amazing.” Robertson expanded, noting that this feeling of solidarity is what helps others open up about their assault. But even for those who aren’t ready to speak up just yet, Emerson explained how “Beyond the Silence” can still bring comfort to those in attendance. “I think that when people do experience something like this, it’s extremely isolating,” Emerson said. “It is really hard to speak up, and if that is someone’s choice to keep it to themselves, I think it’s important to honor that. But they can still work on their healing in their own ways and coming here to see that there are so many different people, different walks of life, different ethnicities, different ages, different identities that represent people who are survivors. And so I think that could be a really empowering thing to just come and be inspired.” First-year participant Christopher Williams asserted that everyone’s story is one worth being told for those who are ready to speak up or find their voice through the event. “Even if you’ve faced adversity, even if no one’s listening right now, you have value,” Williams said. “You matter, what happened to you still matters, and it always will.”

It takes an hour and a half to walk the perimeter of the Light family’s ambition. With the din of birdsong coming from the canopy above and the endless crunch of gravel underfoot, Brian and Amanda Light ‘18 weaved through the years of their labor. It was a hike through their own history — a 90-minute patchwork of trial and error that had slowly transformed a stretch of Texas dirt into the Ronin Farm. “I used to walk around here thinking it feels like someone else’s life’s work,” Brian said. “But more recently, it’s started to feel like our own life’s work.” Across 15 acres and 15 years, the couple has looked over a sprawling cast: renovated barns, pigs, a pregnant cow, 80 chickens, a rather vocal turkey, a beehive, three dogs and an African spurred tortoise aptly named Trouble. It’s the backdrop against which they’ve built a business and, most importantly, raised three kids, Amanda said. “That’s what we’re raising at this time, which is not very much for us,” Amanda said. “We joke that it’s not very much, and people are like, ‘Oh, that’s a lot.’” With anywhere from 65 to 80% of Ronin’s vegetables coming from their own land, the Lights said the Texas climate is what allows them to produce almost year-round, the couple learning what works and fails through a system of faith and adaptability. “And neither of us have agriculture backgrounds, so everything that we’ve done for the last 15 years, we’ve fully learned on books, YouTube, trial and error,” Amanda said. After buying the property in 2011 from the daughters of Don Ganter, a local celebrity and the founder of Dixie Chicken, the Lights renovated one barn to accommodate a professional kitchen and slowly cleared the nearby woods of Ganter’s belongings. Officially licensed in September 2012, the Lights introduced Ronin as a catering company, Brian said. “He [Ganter] was a total pack rat,” Brian said. “ … So when we were building this out, we were like, ‘Maybe one day we should string up some lights and do a dinner out here.’” When January 2013 wasn’t booked out, the Lights decided to do just that. “Ganter used to build all of the chairs and tables for the [Dixie] Chicken on this property,” Brian said. “So there were a bunch of pieces, and I was kind of like, ‘Okay, I see what I’m doing here.’” Using Ganter’s abandoned table supplies, the Lights created an outdoor oasis framed by a generous canopy, a few strings of lights and the Texas starscape above — all centered around the glow of the full moon. The idea for the first Full Moon Dinner came from a Japanese cookbook, Brian said. The book detailed a group of locals in Osaka, Japan, who were known to have a moon viewing party on a boat that floated the river every October. “I said, ‘Okay, we don’t have a river, but we have a little forest,’” Brian said. “And on the Tuesday before [the first dinner], we had four people — two of which were my parents — and I was talking to my mom, I was like, ‘Mom, it works in Japan,’ and she said, ‘Brian, you’re not in Japan, you’re in Bryan-College Station, this may not work.’” By that Friday, though, the Lights had a guest list of 16. The next three months of Full Moon Dinners further proved to be a successful business venture for the farm, Amanda said, with more and more guests asking if the farm was available for weddings, corporate gatherings and Texas A&M events.

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