Changing your major is more common than one may think It’s common for students to feel troubled about their current course of study, and changing majors is more popular than most may think. Each student is different in their decision process. Valerie Wilson, an academic advisor for the Department of Communication, said she changed her major five times before discovering what was right for her. “Students can be really lucky if they do pick the right major first, I’d say that is more of the exception than the rule,” Wilson said. Wilson said a contributing factor to the popularity of changing majors is students may never have had experience in a certain area they once thought they were interested in. She said once students gain experience in a certain realm, they may realize it’s not for them. “I think that changing majors is smart because I think the only thing worse than realizing you’re in the wrong major is then staying in that major,” Wilson said. “I think it’s a good way to explore.” Agriculture communication and journalism senior Grace Crow said she had to explore her original major, agribusiness, before realizing it wasn’t meant for her. “I grew up around agriculture and showed animals so I figured it was similar to running a business,” Crow said. “I figured it might be something I would enjoy and thought it would set me up to find a well-paying job.” Crow said she approached college choosing what sounded like the smartest decision for her, but once she began the coursework, it wasn’t as enjoyable as she once imagined. When Crow realized she wasn’t happy in her first major, she said she sat down with her mother to reevaluate her options and came to a decision of what she wanted in a degree. “I think you definitely go through big changes throughout college and find out who you really are, and that just might cause you to change your major,” Crow said. Finance senior Nick Stebel explored two different schools and majors throughout his college career. Stebel said sometimes it takes time to realize your first major isn’t really what you want to do. “When I first chose my major when applying for schools, I looked through all the business categories and chose one that I thought looked interesting,” Stebel said. “I definitely was not well informed at all at the time.” Wilson said students who are unsure of their course of study and make the decision to change might open the door to unforeseen opportunities. “Since so many students change their majors, don’t worry if you have to change your major,” Wilson said. “It can lead to some really good things, and even just the process of exploring your options can help you develop a lot as a person. Don’t be afraid of going through that process.” Crow said the decision someone makes to change their major is a personal one that shouldn’t be affected too much by outside thoughts. “Be honest with yourself and pick something you really enjoy,” Crow said. “Don’t let other people influence your decision or make you feel like one major may not be as good as another because you can always find a way to use your education if you are passionate about the subject.” For A&M students looking for more information regarding a change of major, visit us.tamu.edu/Change-of-Major.

Professor David William Reed has become renowned among students for his visual teaching style, witty personality, and the unique recipes he shares with his class. Reed has been at Texas A&M since 1978. He teaches various graduate courses occasionally but has been consistently teaching HORT 201, horticulture science, for years. Students describe him as extremely personable, helping his old and new students with their plant problems. Reed said he’s been interested in plants ever since taking a plant science course at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, which prompted him to switch his major to plant sciences and agriculture. “I just really enjoy plants, mostly non-food plants,” Reed said. “My interest has always been in tropical plants and landscaping plants, the plants you grow for pleasure.” Due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, Reed said he was asked to choose a larger venue to teach in for the semester. As a basketball fan, Reed said he was delighted at this unforeseen opportunity to teach in Reed Arena. “They offered me three places to teach: Rudder Auditorium, Kyle Field and Reed Arena, and I said I picked Reed Arena,” Reed said. “Why? Because it's a flippin’ basketball stadium. How many people get to teach in a basketball stadium?” Reed, a Louisiana native, also dabbles in Cajun and camp cooking. He said he has a website featuring his recipes and was even featured on a show about the innovative ways people cook with fire on the Cooking Channel. “I have a recipe page, with all my South Louisiana recipes and I’ve been on the show ‘Man Fire Food,’” Reed said. “They filmed me showing how I roast a whole pig.” Renewable natural resources senior Jose Miguel Pineda said Reed is a fun professor who always brings a lot of energy to class. “It’s a lot easier to learn in his class when he’s able to keep our attention with all of his gags,” Pineda said. Business freshman Elissa Chauncey said Reed’s teaching methods are highly visual and contribute to keeping the attention of his students. “I believe Professor Reed does an amazing job at keeping students engaged even through Zoom,” Chauncey said. “He often brings different plants to lecture, sometimes comically large ones, and uses all sorts of visual aids.” Forestry junior Garrett James said Reed is an exhilarating professor, and he would recommend him to students who are looking to take any sort of plant-related course. “He has made each topic interesting this semester, especially when he does his demonstrations to help us visually understand things,” James said. “He’s easy to follow and anyone who takes his HORT 201 class will really enjoy it.” Chauncey said Reed's desire to see his students learn and succeed is evident in the way he teaches and makes himself available to students. “Professor Reed really cares about students understanding the material rather than just memorizing it,” Chauncey said. “He’s truly a great professor.”

The newest art exhibition in the Memorial Student Center explores not only the different types of printing techniques but also highlights the cultural significance of these works dated from centuries ago. The J. Wayne Stark Galleries opened its new exhibit, “Pressing Matters: Prints from the Permanent Collection,” on Wednesday, Oct. 14 and will remain on display until Sunday, Dec. 13. Operating hours are limited to Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. as a precaution because of COVID-19. According to the University Art Galleries’ website, this exhibition is part of their permanent collection, and it specifically outlines part of the history of printmaking and features the development of different printing processes. “The permanent collection of the J. Wayne Stark Galleries focuses on American paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs of the 19th and 20th centuries, with a strong emphasis on Texas art,” the website reads. “[It] is home to sculpture and various decorative arts, and provides educational programming to inform guests of all ages about art.” Molly Painter, marketing and communications specialist for the University Art Galleries, said many of the prints in this particular exhibit are some that visitors may have never seen before. “This exhibition features prints made from a wide range of interesting printing methods [and] includes various printmaking techniques, like engravings, etchings and aquatints,” Painter said. “Viewers can examine the works close up and see how artists employ different ways of achieving visual effects.” Furthermore, Painter said visitors will be able to learn more about the unique printing processes and even compare them with one another. “[This] exhibition features works from the 18th through the 20th centuries, so guests can see how various printmaking techniques and subject matters have both changed and stayed the same over time,” Painter said. “[It] also does a great job of educating students about printmaking techniques, which are popular with modern day artists and non-artists alike.” Through this exhibit, Director of the University Art Galleries Catherine Hastedt said visitors can specifically learn more about the intaglio and planographic printing processes. “Intaglio prints … are where a plate is incised either with a sharp tool or with acid. After the plate is inked, it is wiped off and what is left is the ink in the incised areas. Paper is pressed onto the plate and the ink in the grooves is transferred to the paper,” Hastedt said. “A planographic process … is essentially the opposite. You remove everything from the plate that you don’t want printed so that only the high spots get inked.” Hastedt said while the exhibition does focus on the processes involved in making each print, she also hopes visitors will see the hand of the artist in what they are trying to express in their work. “When you say to students that something is a print, their first interpretation is something printed from a computer,” Hastedt said. “Most people really don’t understand the various printing processes and how they work because outside of art making they really aren’t used anymore. It is important that people don’t lose sight of the impact that these printmaking processes had on the development of the world both in industry and the arts.” Painter said she motivates the students on campus to take the time to explore this exhibition for themselves. “This show is a great example of the holdings in our collections,” Painter said. “I always encourage students to come visit the galleries because I think they’re surprised when they see the amazing range of art we have right here on our campus.”

Students continue to show their Aggie pride by watching football games. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, more students are exchanging the football stands for a TV stand. Due to the limited tickets available for each football game, many students have watched the games from home with friends or family. Others who have chosen to attend in-person games have noticed a change in the atmosphere because of the increased safety measures. Visualization sophomore Tessa De La Fuente said she bought a sports pass this year and has attended home games while taking precautions like packing hand sanitizer and staying in her designated seat. “It is a joy to be back in the stadium for football. It feels less congested because there are less people,” De La Fuente said. “I feel a bit uncomfortable because some people are not taking COVID-19 seriously and don’t keep their masks on. I wear my mask all the time, [and] I don’t link arms during the war hymn.” Even with these measures in place, many students have decided not to buy a sports pass this year. Biomedical sciences junior Jacob Menchaca said he wanted a safer alternative. “Right now, I am watching the games on TV at home,” Menchaca said. “I chose not to attend games in-person due to the spike in COVID-19 cases among Texas A&M students and faculty near the beginning of the semester. Many of my friends also decided not to go to games in-person for the same reason, and going to games without my friends would not be as fun.” Moreover, university studies junior Sarah Gaucher said she chose to attend watch parties with a small group of friends rather than risk getting sick within a larger crowd. “I wasn’t sure what to expect. I couldn't trust the university to make sure that they were being safe about having big gatherings or enforcing masks,” Gaucher said. “I also didn’t know how the games would be. I went to the games for the experience, [but] with 25 percent capacity, I wasn't sure the experience would have been as fun.” Although he chose not to go to in-person games as a precaution, Menchaca said he does admit the atmosphere from home is not as exciting. “Watching virtually is nowhere near the same experience as going to Kyle Field,” Menchaca said. “The energy generated by the fans in the stadium is truly a great experience. If the incidence of COVID-19 decreases, I may plan on watching a game in-person in the future.” Gaucher said while watching through a screen is not her ideal way to see the games this semester, there are some benefits. “It’s unfortunate, but I am grateful for the memories I do have from previous years,” Gaucher said. “I like that I don't have to dress up and [stand] in the heat. It is much more chill in the comfort of your own home.” Similarly, Menchaca said watching from home presents specific options that would not have been likely if attending in-person games. “For one thing, I don’t have to worry about succumbing to the Texas heat,” Menchaca said. “It is also more convenient, and I can watch the game with more friends and family as none of us would have to buy tickets.” Regardless of where students are watching this semester, they have found ways to come together still to continue being involved in the games. “The ability to be part of the 12th Man is an experience that every Aggie should have,” De La Fuente said. “You feel like a part of something bigger. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of football, but I will always be a fan of Aggie football.”

On average, nearly 20 people per minute in the U.S are physically abused by an intimate partner. In one year, this equates to more than 10 million people who experience domestic abuse. Domestic Violence Awareness Month uplifts the voices of these victims and promotes the resources available, as well as spreads awareness about domestic abuse. Twin City Missions Domestic Violence Prevention and Outreach Specialist Anne Santerre-Ruble said this month is significant because she believes creating awareness and educating others can be important. “We want to just talk and start the conversation about domestic violence and to create that awareness and hopefully bring it into light, and also help other people who might be experiencing domestic violence and may not know or know what to do when they’re in that situation,” Santerre-Ruble said. “So just reaching our community with the knowledge and skills that they need to be safe and have healthy relationships.” Santerre-Ruble said Twin City Missions offers a domestic violence program that provides multiple resources such as residential services through Phoebe’s Home, counseling, case managers, child advocacy and prevention outreach. “Phoebe’s home [is] an emergency center where people can come to seek a safe place to stay for a temporary time, and it offers nutritional meals, laundry facilities, toiletries, clothing, transportation and recreational activities for residents,” Santerre-Ruble said. Twin City Mission hosts weekly events educating others about domestic violence through movie nights, book discussions, candlelight vigils and panels. Santerre-Ruble said in preparation for the month, they wanted to focus on how domestic violence affects the Brazos Valley. “I think domestic violence is something that’s like, ‘That’s something that doesn’t happen here so we don’t have to worry about it,’ but in reality it does happen in the Brazos Valley, so we’re just thinking of creative ways that will engage people instead of just lectures,” Santerre-Ruble said. Communication junior Haley Tadlock serves as the vice president of philanthropy for the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, whose national philanthropy is domestic violence. Tadlock said they usually volunteer each semester at Phoebe’s Home, but they were unable to this fall due to COVID-19 restrictions, so they came up with alternatives to benefit the community. “We have been putting on a semester-long supplies drive for them,” Tadlock said. “We have collected canned goods, toiletries, paper towels, toilet paper, restaurant gift cards and gas gift cards. I take the supplies we have collected to the shelter every two weeks.” Tadlock said this year Alpha Chi Omega will be hosting a virtual Domestic Violence Awareness Week on Oct. 19-23. “Our Instagram will feature our own members’ perspectives, thoughts and testimonies about domestic and dating violence,” Tadlock said. “We want to have a very strong social media presence and spread the word about DVA.” Texas A&M Counseling and Psychological Services, or CAPS, offers resources for those who are victims of domestic abuse through counseling and workshops. CAPS Director Dr. MaryAnn Covey said the counseling center works on building confidence, self esteem and how to identify red flags of different types of abuse. “We try to empower people to see their own confidence and self esteem,” Covey said. Covey said she hopes students will seek out services to help them increase their own strength, and stressed the importance of seeking help for long-term progress rather than a quick fix. “I often tell students you’re stronger than you know you are, you don’t even know what you’re capable of,” Covey said. “That strength that you have, you haven’t really tapped into it yet and to really encourage their own self reflection to believe that ‘Yes I can do that.’”

For two Tuesdays now, Reed Arena has once again pulsed with blue spotlights and echoed with the voices of students singing praises. The mask mandate and faded red seats stood as markers for social distancing served at a reminder of COVID-19 protocol. A Zoom feed broadcasted the event to students unable to attend in person, their remote participation adding to the faces of the 1,500 who secured tickets for the limited-seating event. For over 20 years, Breakaway ministries have provided Christian students a place to gather on campus and experience worship and a sermon with their peers. Back in person for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak, Timothy Ateek, the Breakaway Ministries director of four years, encouraged the crowd. “Even though we haven’t been meeting in Reed for seven or eight months, nothing has changed about the point and purpose of Breakaway,” Ateek said. “In my opinion, [the regulations] are worth it. We will do whatever we need to do to be back together.” Students wanting to attend in person reserved a free ticket online, so crowd size didn’t exceed 1,500. Taylor McNeal, agricultural communication and journalism junior and Breakaway volunteer, said the ministry worked hard to create a safe environment for all students able to attend. Attending in-person Breakaway for the first time, kinesiology freshman Claire Mallory said she was pleased with her experience. “I was really surprised by how many people actually followed the rules, and I think everyone did whatever they could to stay in person,” Mallory said. “I honestly don't think [the ministry] could have done anything differently. They definitely followed all the COVID guidelines.” Ateek said with more and more organizations turning again to in-person groups, adhering to COVID-19 guidelines becomes imperative. Brittney Haby, agricultural communications and journalism sophomore and volunteer with Breakaway, said everyone in attendance followed the rules for the most part. “I truly believe students did an excellent job following the rules,” Haby said. “When Timothy Ateek asked that we don’t make the night about rights, but make it about Jesus, I saw the very few that were not wearing a mask or wearing them improperly, put them on correctly for the remainder of the night.” Haby said the attendees were asked to follow COVID-19 guidelines to preserve the opportunity for their religious services to continue in person. “My team requested that we act as a good example, to pay the small price of abiding by the rules so we can have the wonderful outcome of joining together in the name of the Lord,” Haby said. David Holt, agricultural communications and journalism sophomore and Breakaway volunteer, said the event still held the same meaning despite the new format. “It was different, but comforting,” Holt said. “No matter the circumstances or guidelines, we are still praising the same God, which makes the experience all the same.” In-person Breakaway looks to continue with the same regulations and ticket procedures for the foreseeable future, Ateek said. “I was honestly so overjoyed that it brought me to tears,” Haby said. “Sure, I was glad that we were still able to participate in Breakaway online when we couldn’t gather in person, but when so many believers come together to worship the Lord, the Holy Spirit moves in such powerful ways.” Editor’s note: David Holt is a sportswriter for The Battalion.

A Texas A&M student had the rare opportunity to intern at the White House this last summer. The White House Internship Program provides students the opportunity to serve on the White House team by participating in meetings, providing support for staff members and performing various tasks based on the department they are placed in, according to the White House website. Business management senior Nathan Mize took part in the program from June 24 to Aug. 7 after learning about the internship opportunity from a relative. “I had a cousin-in-law who did the internship program three years ago,” Mize said. “Last December, I filled out the application. I heard back from them in March, did a series of interviews, did a lot of application stuff and security clearance, and I was notified in April that I had gotten the internship.” With his acceptance to the program, Mize became one of 90 interns who would serve as part of the White House team. Mize said he applied because of his career path interests and the opportunity to work with President Donald Trump’s administration. “I knew it was… a career I might want to enter into,” Mize said. “I was using this summer as an opportunity to see it and gain more insight if that’s something I would want to do full time. I’m also a supporter of the president; I felt like getting to play a super small role in his administration would be the chance of a lifetime.” After getting accepted to the program, Mize said interns could indicate which of the 30 offices they would like to work. Mize was placed in the White House Management Office. “Our job — it was kind of a wide array of things,” Mize said. “We were basically the communication hub for all White House offices. So, [anything] coronavirus-related, we were the people reaching out to every office in the White House and letting them know the updates.” The internship program functioned differently this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, Mize said. “[The pandemic] shortened it from 12 weeks to six weeks,” Mize said. “Also, we were normally going to have about 10 different speaker panels with different speakers, but we only got to go to three. For the most part, though, it largely remained the same as far as the duties, tasks and responsibilities.” The internship program afforded Mize the unique opportunity to see the inner workings of the White House. “I definitely walked away with so much more insight than I ever thought I would come out with at the beginning,” Mize said. “What I was most impressed by was the amount of people that are there… to work for the president, just ordinary people that are like doing their best every single day, doing the small things right.” Mize attributed his time at A&M as part of the reason he could perform well as a White House intern. “Being a student at Texas A&M provided me with a really unique chance of being a good intern there just because of the core values that we hold dear,” Mize said. “I would say that the biggest core value that I took away was selfless service, and that really added to my ability to be a good intern there and represent Texas A&M well.”

The celebrations might look a little different this year, but Aggies will continue to remember the progress the LGBTQ+ movement has made during the month of October. LGBTQ+ History Month is a time dedicated to remembering the important people and moments that brought the LGBTQ+ community to where it is today. Beginning in 1994, this month includes National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 and the commemoration of the first “March on Washington” in 1979. It serves as a reminder of how far the community has come in hopes of achieving acceptance and provides a unique opportunity for people outside of the community to learn about its history. This month-long commemoration is deeply meaningful to each individual for different reasons. Communications junior and president of MUA Aggies Erik Fontaney said to them, LGBTQ+ History Month means reflecting on the beginning of the gay liberation movement. “It means acknowledging the Stonewall riots and the most marginalized people in the gay community: butch lesbians, effeminate young men, male prostitutes, transgender individuals and homeless youth,” Fontaney said. “I’ll be celebrating this month by watching some queer documentaries on Netflix.” Chemistry and geology junior and president of Out in STEM, Daniel Hou, said the act of celebrating LGBTQ+ lives and stories is in itself an act of rebellion, and it’s no secret that queer people, especially queer people of color, are still fighting for recognition and paying with their lives. “It was a mere 36 years ago that a fight between LGBTQ students and the Texas A&M administration quite literally reached the U.S. Supreme Court,” Hou said. “It was a mere eight months ago that a rally ‘counter-protesting’ Draggieland truly shocked and appalled queer students at A&M.” Hou said the drag night very much outshone the hatred, and he is marking the holiday by attending the Coming Out Monologues, a virtual collection of stories, videos and poems hosted by the LGBTQ+ Pride Center. International studies junior Alexia Hernandez said for her, LGBTQ+ History Month means reflecting on the people who fought for sapphic love to be normalized and recognized as legitimate. “The acceptance I feel from my peers and my ability to be open with who I am can only be attributed to the folks who endured the pain, fear, ostracism, discrimination and struggle of what it means to take part in queer love for women,” Hernandez said. Hernandez said it’s important for her to feel connected to the queer community, even in a socially distanced manner. “I’ll be celebrating by consuming more content from LGBTQ+ creators, especially diving into queer music, artwork and writings,” Hernandez said. “I resonate a lot with the messages and the sentiment of these works of art.” Aerospace engineering junior Amy John said she has been deeply affected by the LGBTQ+ movement and its history. “LGBTQ+ History Month means visibility and validity to me,” John said. “It warms my heart knowing that people have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice for inclusivity because that’s something we don’t have yet.” John said the current attitude of tolerance toward the LGBTQ+ community is not enough. Though this month is designated for LGBTQ+ history, we also must acknowledge its future and what still needs to be done, John said. “We need acceptance and we’ll continue to fight for it,” John said. For more information on events happening throughout the rest of October, visit A&M’s LGBTQ+ Pride Center.

The people who protect and serve the Texas A&M community are recognized everyday but there are some common misconceptions that the student body may hold. The Texas A&M University Police Department has been serving the Aggie community for many years, by protecting the community and providing beneficial resources such as self defense classes and counseling. Police Chief Mike Johnson said in the department’s mission statement, it focuses on providing a safe and secure environment through education and the cooperative spirit of all university community members. “What's key to that is we learn from each other,” Johnson said. “Whether we're learning from the community in better ways to keep them safe and try to listen to them and then also providing opportunity for things that we pick up on to pass on to our community as well.” Serving the community for 25 years, Johnson said he expects his officers to act with professionalism in everything they do and to commit themselves to representing that while on duty. “We really work hard and we have a great work environment and I've just enjoyed working here over my 25 years that I've been here,” Johnson said. “So [I’m] just proud of everyone I work with and we're going to continue to do the best we can in our endeavor to keep the campus safe.” Lieutenant Bobby Richardson said he chose to work for the university over a city department because he’s an Aggie, and many other officers that work with UPD feel the same connection. “There's other places to work, but being an Aggie, this is the best place to work is the university police department,” Richardson said. “So it's kind of like Aggies helping Aggies. You look at our department, our chief of police Chief Johnson, he's an Aggie, our assistant chief of police, he's also an Aggie. We're all Aggies and we're here at the university police because we love being an Aggie and love working for the university.” Richardson said there are many similarities between university and city police departments, but one difference is that university police deal with an ever-changing student community. “We reach out and try to interact with our community,” Richardson said. “One of the challenges we have is every year our community leaves and changes. We have a group graduate, a new group comes in. Whereas you have people that live in the cities in Bryan or College Station that have lived there 30, 40, 50 years.” When reflecting on her favorite memories while serving the community, Sergeant Jennifer Enloe said she liked participating in AWARE, a women's self defense program. “It's really nice and uplifting to see some of the women that come through that don't necessarily have the ability to be so confident themselves,” Enloe said. “By the time they walk out of that door, they've just shaped into just a new person. That's really what our goal in law enforcement is to make sure that we treat people with fairness and civility and all the other things that we also educate them to be able to take care of themselves if the occasion arises.” Police officer Thomas McCorkill said working for the University Police Department has introduced him to people he normally would not have met and has given him the opportunity to help them. “To be able to provide a safe environment to these students, go out, talk to them, whether I stopped one of them on a traffic stop or I'm just out walking and I stopped and talked to them, gave them directions, things like that,” McCorkill said. “It's allowed me to meet a wide variety of individuals. We have foreign exchange students from all over the world who bring their own unique cultures and they bring their own food and ways of life and their own dialects.” When thinking about working for the University Police Department, Richardson said he feels a connection to the students because he has walked in their shoes. “You're very empathetic toward what they're doing and what they're trying to accomplish,” Richardson said. “Being a proud Aggie, I couldn't think of a better place to serve.”

In a campus-wide email sent out by the Office of the Provost on Monday, Oct. 12, Provost and Executive Vice President Carol Fierke announced an opening of new study spaces across campus. These study rooms will be open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in various academic buildings, including the Liberal Arts and Arts & Humanities building, the Academic Building, Blocker and the Harrington Education Center Classroom building and tower. The announcement also mentioned the creation of “Zoom Zones” within Evans Library where students can connect to their remote classes. There will be signs posted to direct students to these designated areas. Online classes can also be done freely on the non-quiet floors of Evans, as well as on the first, second and third floors of the Business Library and Collaborative Commons. The opening of these new study spaces adds to the increased number of study zones created around campus to encourage students to study while staying distanced, safe and connected to the internet. Other areas students can study include the Leadership Learning Centers on the Quad, the white tents located around campus, the new covered area next to the Student Services Building and all libraries except Evans Annex. All of the study spaces and Zoom Zones will require physical distancing and face coverings.