Category: Featured

Categories
Featured News

Arboretum encourages ecological awareness

By Kate Mallory

Contributing Writer

Each tree in the arboretum is numbered and labeled with biological information.

A group of students and professors has worked to install the new arboretum on campus in an effort to help the University community learn about and appreciate the many different types of trees on campus.

All of the trees marked with orange numbered plaques are part of the University’s new campus arboretum. An offshoot of the Campus Greening Initiative, the project was designed to maintain and promote sustainability for the campus landscape.

The arboretum was envisioned as a place where students and faculty could learn about botany, ecology and environmental sustainability. President Bravman will preside at the arboretum’s official unveiling at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 1 in the Grove.

Over the last three summers Bobby Mullin ’11 and Nick Gonsalves ’11 worked with Mark Spiro, associate professor of biology,and Duane Griffin, associate professor of geography, to identify, catalog and measure the diameters, breasts and heights of more than 1,700 trees on campus. This comprehensive inventory can be viewed in an interactive map.

The project’s centerpiece is the half-mile walking tour that highlights 73 trees on campus. The walking tour extends throughout the entire campus, including the Grove, a remaining portion of a large forest that dates to the 1770s.

“I’ve already used some of the data from the project to explain the historical origins of the Grove,” Gonsalves said. “I hope this data keeps the University accountable for what it plants—and removes—with an emphasis on favoring native species better adapted to the local environment.”

The group has done other work on the new arboretum, including collecting herbarium samples, which involves cutting off parts of the tree and drying them, and creating individual web pages for the 95 tree species in the arboretum.

The question pending for the arboretum is what will happen after the seniors who have spearheaded the project graduate. While Griffin and Spiro will remain involved, they will need more student volunteers to keep the project alive.

“We will need people, hopefully some kind of full-time position, to keep the arboretum going because there are day-to-day challenges I do deal with,” Gonsalves said.

“For instance, just the other day, a tree tour post was taken from the ground, and now we have to go through the effort of reinstalling it. Another issue is the tree plaques themselves. The plastic has started to bend due to the stress of the hot weather we’ve had in the past weeks. Obviously this can be remedied, but only if people keep working on the project,” Gonslaves said.

With a growing interest in the green movement on campus, the founders of the arboretum may not have a problem finding caretakers. Patrick O’Keefe ’13, vice president of the Bucknell Environmental Club, believes the arboretum will have ardent supporters on campus.

“I think this project will be very beneficial for the University community. Not only will students be able to learn more about the environment, but they’ll also learn how to appreciate our environment,” O’Keefe said.

Gonsalves hopes students will attend the official unveiling on Oct. 1.

“We encourage any ecologist, tree fanatic or just somebody with just a slight interest in gardening to come,” he said. “I hope there will be plenty of educational opportunities coming from the arboretum besides the obvious ‘Oh, I’ve always liked that tree and now I know it’s a white oak.’”

Categories
Arts & Life Featured

Getting a bird’s eye view: University flying club takes off

By Jessica Rafalko

Writer

Aerial photography is one possible activity resulting from joining the University's flying club.

If you ever find yourself hyperventilating on an airplane, wracked with fear and without a Dramamine, you might hope to be seated next to Steve Krivoshik ’11. Krivoshik, a certified private pilot, is the president of the University’s flying club. The club seeks “to promote and encourage aviation in the college environment,”according to the flying club’s promotional flyer.

New to campus this year, the club’s creation was driven primarily by student interest. Krivoshik learned from Heritage Aviation, a fixed base of operation for flight in Selinsgrove, that students at Susquehanna University had already established a flying club. Working with the names obtained from Heritage, Krivoshik and his like-minded peers managed to attract approximately 20 students to the club.

Michel Ajjan ’14 learned of the club through flyers and the message center.

“I’ve always liked civil aviation … even since I was a child. I think flying is awesome, being able to be that high up in the sky and see the world from a different point of view is really cool,” Ajjan said.

Ajjan took an aviation course in high school and was a student employee at Washington Dulles International Airport. His attitudes and interests are typical of the club’s members.

“The majority [of members] are interested in someday having a private pilot certificate,” Krivoshik said.

The club offerings include screenings of aviation-themed movies like “Top Gun”; tours of airplanes, airports and towers; and the opportunity to hear professionals in the field speak. The club has also already attended one of the weekly barbecues offered by the Penn Valley Airport for aviation enthusiasts and professionals. The club intends to make these barbecues a regular outing, in an effort to keep club members in constant contact with others in the aviation field, Krivoshik said.

These activities provide both entertainment and a degree of pre-professional preparation for those interested in pursuing a career in aviation. The club intends to learn about careers such as “commercial pilot, Tower controller, Ground crew, maintenance and [airport terminal] operations,” Krivoshik said.

Though still awaiting official recognition from the University, the flying club is interested in pursuing partnerships between pre-existing clubs on campus. Aerial photography is one area of intersecting interest between aviation and art buffs, Krovshik said. The club also hopes to pursue partnerships with the business and women’s clubs as a means of exploring flight as an industry and the impact of female aviators on the field.

Associate professor of management Michael Johnson-Cramer will serve as the flying club’s adviser. An adviser’s responsibilities include “supporting our students as they take initiative, try to do interesting things and explore those activities that interest them,” Johnson-Cramer said.

The club’s activities at present are all non-flying, but both Krivoshik and Ajjan have already flown independent of the University: Krivoshik this summer while obtaining his private pilot’s certificate, and Ajjan in a class he took as a high school junior. The club supports members with dreams of flight, and may help students study for the private pilot written exam.

Interested students are encouraged to join. If the mere mention of airplanes doesn’t make your stomach drop, the flying club may be a great place to explore aviation and its related careers and hobbies.

“There are clearly many careers that can be linked to academic studies … many of which do not even involve having any time behind the controls of an airplane,” Krivoshik said.

Categories
Arts & Life Featured

Griot Institute celebrates culture

By Carolyn Williams

Contributing Writer

The Griot Institute hosted a welcome back performance by Soul in Motion this year.

The University’s Griot Institute for Africana Studies, which launched in January, has an exciting semester planned to conduct an interdisciplinary exploration of culture and art. Griot is a traditional West African figure that functioned as a storyteller, historian, artist and spokesperson, according to the Griot Institute for Africana Studies mission statement.

Professor of English Carmen Gillespie is the new program director. “We’re hoping to fill a niche that will enable interdisciplinary staff, students and community to discuss and explore these topics together,” she said.

This year, the Griot Institute has already hosted a welcome back performance by Soul in Motion, an African dance and drumming troupe. Emily Conners ’14 attended the event. “It was really interesting to see a form of dance from another area of the world. It’s great that Bucknell celebrates different cultures.”

The Griot Institute also organized the Facing RACE Installation last February. Students and faculty created various forms of written expression, including poetry, nonfiction writing and journal entries that explored their perceptions and personal definitions of race. The three-hour event concluded with a one-man show by E. Patrick Johnson, a performance artist and chair of the department of performance studies at Northwestern University.

According to Gillespie, one of the Griot Institute’s aims is to make possible “not just lectures, but interactive events which bring together constituent bodies, examining more in-depth, pondering questions.”

The program hopes to introduce interdisciplinary prospective courses to complement a series of lectures by staff members and guest speakers. One topic for these classes, currently under consideration, is the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings.

In October, the Institute is planning a group-read inspired by writer Toni Morrison. In a speech given by the Nobel Prize winner, titled “The Dancing Mind,” Morrison worries that as a society we have lost the ability to disengage ourselves at length from our electronic “necessities” and simply read a book that we were not assigned. Today, pressured by busy schedules and increased expectations, many people have let the art of pleasure reading fall by the wayside.

University students will try to take Morrison’s advice this October by gathering to read for eight hours straight. Gillespie calls this “deep reading,” and says that practicing extended readings of unassigned books is a critical part of sustainable life and intellectual engagement. The date and location of this event are currently undecided.

In the semester since its formation, the Griot Institute has had the support of over a thousand students, faculty and staff members, as well as individuals from the Lewisburg community. The Institute looks forward to hosting a number of events throughout the rest of the school year, open to the public.

“Our long term goal is to help to tell the story of Africana studies in a way that will help Bucknell come away with new answers and new questions,” Gillespie said.

Categories
Arts & Life Featured

An Interview with Seth Meyers

By Courtney Flagg
News Editor
Courtney Flagg ’12 interviewed comedian Seth Meyers before his Center Stage performance Saturday night on Sojka Lawn. Discussing everything from pre-performance jitters to advice to fellow performers, Meyers reveals the secrets behind his success.

What’s it like being back on a college campus? Had you heard of Bucknell before this?

It’s exciting, I mean I always had a great time in college and I do a lot of these college shows, particularly these early-in-the-college-year shows. People seem to be in a good mood–school hasn’t gotten them down yet. And I have heard of Bucknell before, I grew up on the East coast so I knew a bunch of people who went here.

Are you nervous to go on tonight?

Well, I feel like it‘s bad if you don’t feel any sort of butterflies at all because you‘re getting put in front of a large group of people to perform. The entire night is sort of your responsibility. So you want to have some butterflies but at the same time you don’t want to be too nervous.

What do you get most nervous doing?

I get most nervous doing Weekend Update on the air, just because it’s hard to forget that six million people are watching you.

How do you get your material?

With Update it’s nice because you kind of just let the dudes lead you. They say “you need to write jokes about this, this and this.” But with sketch writing it’s a different approach. You might be inspired by who the host is that week, or you might be inspired by something you saw on TV, or something you read about, or an idea you come up with at 2 a.m.

What’s an idea that you came up with at 2 a.m.?

I wrote a scene for Jon Hamm, called Jon Hamm’s John Ham, which is about a ham you can eat while going to the bathroom.

Were you always funny? How did you become interested in comedy? Where you the class-clown type?

Well, I always liked comedy. I think I was considered to have a good sense of humor growing up. People that I went to high school with I think would’ve told you I was a good fit for Saturday Night Live.

How did you get from Northwestern to SNL?

I was in Northwestern and I started doing improv stuff in Chicago and ultimately I was doing a two-person show in Chicago and some scouts from SNL came and saw that show. I just got lucky that they came that night and saw me.

Favorite guest host?

There are so many great guest hosts. Obviously someone like Justin Timberlake–he’s come back I think it’s three times (I’ve been lucky enough to have been there for all three). He’s an exceptional host. The multi-time hosts are some of the great ones in recent years. People like James Franco, Jon Hamm and Justin Timberlake are some of my favorite.

Favorite musical guest? Least favorite musical guest?

Yes! Wilco. I’m a huge Wilco fan and I was really happy when they finally did the show. Arcade Fire as well–they’re coming back this year and I’m really excited about that. A lot of my favorite bands have played on the show.

Are you looking forward to anything in particular that is going to happen this year?

Well, we have four new cast members, which is really exciting, and it’s been a while since we’ve brought on that many new people so that will be fun. And Amy Poehler is hosting the season premiere.

Do you have a favorite co-worker?

Amy Poehler. Even though we don’t technically work together anymore. She left me …

Well in the past you did! Was she the easiest to work with?

Yes. Easiest and most fun.

Do you have a favorite skit or sketch?

Yeah, I really enjoyed the Tina Fey/Sarah Palin stuff. I wrote a lot of those with Tina and that was really fun. On the sillier side, I wrote a scene with Christopher Walken years ago called “Pranksters”–it was a prank show.

How do you keep your composure during the sketches?

I don’t know how well I keep my composure during some stuff … I think people want to know you’re having fun out there. I feel like I have the right to laugh at other people. I try not to laugh at myself. When other people are being funny, I don’t fight it.

What are your plans for the future?

I have found, up to this point at least, that it’s very hard to plan in this business. I think it’s important to do a good job with whatever you have in front of you and just wait for things to present themselves. So no long-term plans yet. A lot of short-term plans, though.

Do you have any advice for students who want to break into the business?

Well, I think the biggest thing is just to work at it all the time and try and get up on stage as often as you can. When you’re young, use as much of that time to get the failing out of the way because you will fail a lot in this business so you might as well start now because you can knock those failures out of the way.

Lightning Round Questions:

Favorite food?

Chicken

Least favorite food?

Uncooked chicken

Favorite movie?

Chinatown

Favorite book?

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Man-crush?

Colin Farrell

Woman-crush?

Anna Wintour

Favorite TV show–not SNL?

The Wire

Favorite childhood TV show?

Cheers

Favorite Disney Movie?

The Rescuers

Favorite sports teams?

Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Steelers

Favorite word?

The F-word

Favorite boy band?

The Beatles

Favorite alcoholic beverage?

Just good old-fashioned beer

Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Team Frankenstein

Guilty pleasure?

Video games–FIFA (soccer)

Boxers, briefs or boxer-briefs?

I guess boxer-briefs

Best cheese?

Gouda

Favorite foreign country name?

The Netherlands

Favorite place in NYC?

The West Village

Fan experience?

Once, somebody in a store asked me how they knew me and I said “Saturday Night Live” and they said, “That’s not good enough.”

Categories
Arts & Life Featured

Center Stage entertains campus

By Brent Walkoff

Contributing Writer

Photo by Edward Louie
Student band BigFoot opens the Center Stage festivities Saturday evening.

From bread bowls to impromptu dance parties, this year’s Center Stage event seemingly had it all. Held on Saturday, Sept. 11 on Sojka Lawn, Center Stage 2010 featured music, a cappella groups, free food and Weekend Update host Seth Meyers.

The event, organized by Activities and Campus Events (ACE) and free for all University students, was a hit.

“I think Center Stage went amazingly well,” said Mary Evans ’11, Vice President of Advertising for ACE. “People came to the performance early to grab seats and most stayed the entire time. And the number of people who came was fantastic,” she said.

Evans estimates that around 2,000 people attended the event.

Student band Bigfoot opened the evening, performing cover and original songs. The background tunes accompanied many students’  favorite aspect of the night: the food. From soup to cookie dough on a stick to hot apple cider, there was no lack of happy, full college students. The soup in bread bowls seemed to be a particular favorite of the crowd.

“The soup, now that was good. That was really good,” Connor Beach ’14 said.

Bucknell’s various a cappella groups came next, each group taking the stage to perform a few select songs. The Silhouettes, Two Past Midnight, Beyond Unison and the Bison Chips all sung their own musical selections. Although the performances seemed somewhat drawn out at times, the groups took the stage professionally and enthusiastically, a testament to the amount of time they put into practicing. As entertaining as the groups were the highlight of the night was unquestionably the routine put on by Seth Meyers.

By Reynolds Risseuw
Seth Meyers entertains the campus with his comedic stylings on the Sojka Lawn.

Meyers, head writer and anchor of Saturday Night Live, took the stage with a big smile and confidence in his step. What followed can only be described as a stand-up routine brimming with the kind of humor that college students have come to know and love. From sex to drugs to drinking and back to sex, Meyers covered every topic a typical college student could want. Meyers’ routine was met with laughs and cheers. A few students even appeared to be in physical pain from laughing throughout the night.

“I like how he tailored it towards the college student. His routine was very college oriented; his jokes were clearly designed for us,” Beach said.

His routine struck home. Even the occasional hiccup during his bit, such as a few students sitting front and center leaving during his performance, did not faze him. He was able to use such situations to his own benefit, quickly firing off a poke at the students.

“It was obvious that the students were having a great time and that’s what I wanted to see. People were laughing, myself included, for every Seth Meyers joke and I heard several people say afterward that he was the best comedian we’ve had at Bucknell,” Evans said.

Categories
Featured Sports

Volleyball gets win at Canisius

By Cooper Sutton

Contributing Writer

The women’s volleyball team played three matches at the Niagara/Canisius Invitational this past weekend, winning against Canisius but losing against Indiana and Niagara.

The Bison started the tournament poorly, losing in three straight sets to Niagara. Young players kept the Bison afloat, as Ragin Jackson ’13 and Morgan Mientus ’14 both posted hitting percentages of nearly .500 apiece.

The team struggled even more against Indiana. The Bison failed to score more than 18 points in any set and was out-hit .271 to .013. “The Indiana match was a tough loss, the energy was definitely not there, and we lost focus,” Mientus said. Indiana came into the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record.

The highlight of the tournament came against Canisius in a 3-1 victory. The Bison came out strong, taking the first set 25-22. After losing an extremely close second set, the team took off, winning the following two sets for its second victory. This turnout was the Bison’s “most solid match of the season,” Mientus said.

Even with a record of 2-7, the team still believes it can turn things around.

The most notable Bison feat of the tournament belonged to Jackson, who was named to the All-Tournament Team. “Getting named to the All-Tournament team was definitely due to my team having my back and pushing me to be my best, and all of us playing well,” Jackson said. She tallied 19 kills in the tournament, 14 of which came in the win against Canisius.

The team will need Jackson’s help again this weekend to perform well at the Columbia Classic, where they will play Columbia, Fordham and Fairleigh Dickinson.

Categories
Featured Sports

Offense propels Bison to four wins

By Chris McCree

Contributing Writer

The men’s water polo team went 4-1 at the Bucknell Invitational this past weekend. The team hosted an eight-team invitational and played five games over three days. The Bison cruised by Toronto, Diablo Valley and Penn State Behrend in their first three contests, but faced stiffer competition in their next two contests, beating Brown and losing to No. 16 St. Francis.

Beau Caillouette ’12 was an offensive stud for the Bison with 10 goals over the weekend. He scored four goals Friday to lead the team to a 15-4 defeat against Toronto.

Brian Barron ’13 and Captain Richie Hayden ’11 each had five goals to contribute to the high-powered Bison attack. Over five games, the Bison scored a total of 74 goals, including a 26-goal outburst against Penn State Behrend.

“The invitational went well, but we need to improve our team defense so that we are able to hold teams to under seven goals,” Hayden said. After holding Toronto to four goals and Penn State Behrend to three in their first two games, the Bison defense let up nine goals in each of their last three games.

The highlight of the weekend was the team’s 13-9 victory over Brown. Brown had outscored its previous two opponents by a margin of 22-11. The Bison jumped to an early 3-0 lead thanks to two goals by Paul Reamey ’11 in the first period. Hayden upped the intensity by causing two Brown players to get ejected from the game. Brown was able to bounce back thanks to a four-goal effort by senior Gordon Hood, but the Bison defense proved to be too much for Brown to complete the comeback.

The Bison concluded their weekend with a 9-5 loss against St. Francis. Although they were tied with the Terriers at the half, the Orange and Blue were outscored 6-2 in the second half.

“We struggled to execute our game plan and it hurt our overall performance,” Hayden said.

The Bison plan to use this weekend as a launching point for the rest of the season.

“I think we have a bright season ahead,” Hayden said. “We have the raw talent to be successful, but when it comes to winning championships, we need to master our defense if we want to be successful. If we can come together as a team and execute our game plan, we will be successful come November.”

Now 6-2 , the Bison will play in the ECAC championship next weekend as a number-one seed and then will begin their conference events upon their return.

Categories
Arts & Life Featured

Silly Bandz craze hits universities

By Ashley Miller

Contributing Writer

Two years ago, if someone asked you if you had any Silly Bandz, you probably would have had no idea what they were talking about. Today it’s nearly impossible not to know what they are. Everyone—men and women, preschool children and college students—wears the colorful rubber bands that come in varying shapes.

Silicone rubber bands were originally introduced to become a more eco-friendly office supply product before they were adapted by BCP Imports to be made into toys for children, according to sillybandz.com. Now Silly Bandz is a multinational name with literally hundreds of designs.

Originally Silly Bandz were shaped as animals. Today you can get them in the shapes of words, texting lingo (such as LOL), Marvel Action Heroes, your favorite sports team or even Justin Bieber. They come in multi-color, glow in the dark and tie-dye designs. Fanatics can even customize their own or write letters to the company suggesting design ideas. The company is also beginning to make Silly Ringz.

Knock off brands like Faith Bands, Crazy Rubber Bands, Zany Bandz and Rubba Bands have been following Silly Bandz’ lead. While Silly Bandz are limited to certain stores, you can find these knock-off brands nearly anywhere. If you aren’t interested in the name, these bands can be purchased for a much cheaper price, though the variety is more limited.

Silly Bandz do not seem to be exclusive to the younger generation. Latina singer-songwriter Shakira wore Silly Bandz on the cover of her new album “Sale el Sol,” they’ve been seen on professional athletes, and Haley Williams, lead singer of Paramore, wore the bands on the cover of Spin Magazine.

College students have not been immune to the craze; you can spot someone sporting the Silly Bandz from most locations on campus.

“They make my day. I have a raccoon and a caterpillar,” Mark Sabbas ‘14 said.

“They are the coolest thing ever,” Alexander Vining ’14 said. “My favorite ones are the ones that glow in the dark.”

Silly Bandz are popular right now for all ages, and it looks as though the trend is not stopping here.

Categories
Featured News

BUID to be accepted off-campus

By Jessica Domsky

Contributing Writer

Several businesses in downtown Lewisburg will begin accepting BUID as payment.

Several stores and restaurants in downtown Lewisburg began accepting BUID campus dollars this week as an alternative form of payment.

Dwellings, CVS, Market Street Deli, What’s in Store and Zelda’s Café are among those accepting campus dollars. The new agreement has already proven beneficial.

“We had our biggest sales day yesterday in terms of campus dollars use,” said Scott Stieler, owner of Zelda’s Café. “I think that it is a great service and makes it easier for students to grab a meal outside of the traditional dining plan.”

The new use of BUIDs is also popular with merchants besides restaurants.

A CVS employee said that he thought the use of BUID brought more sales to the store and recommended that other downtown stores start accepting campus dollars.

Mya’s Café, Retrah, Sheetz and other local businesses are expected to add the service in the near future.

The Barnes & Noble at Bucknell University bookstore will also start accepting campus dollars within the next week.

“Campus dollars are another payment option for students that they will definitely benefit from. We are very excited for it to get started,” Bookstore Director Vicki Benion said.

Campus dollars, along with the new bookstore location, give students incentive to start spending more time in downtown. The new service aims to promote both business and University and community relations.

The new use for campus dollars is off to a prosperous start as students and downtown employers both seem satisfied with the change.

“Being able to use campus dollars downtown has been very helpful, especially for us seniors who live and eat downtown anyway,” Rebecca Ryan ’11 said. “I look forward to its expansion in the future.”

Categories
Featured News

Student Mailroom adopts electronic package system

Mario Signore '11 and Robin Hammersley '11 are adapting to the new system as mailroom employees.

By Meghan Finlayson

Writer

The University is transitioning to a new system for receiving packages for the 2010-2011 school year. Instead of receiving a paper slip in their mailboxes, students now receive a notification by e-mail.

“A couple of years ago BSG asked the director of this department, Lisa Hoover, if we would look into [changing the system] because they felt that the students would benefit from getting an e-mail,” student mail services coordinator Mary Scoma said.“This way we have instant access.”

After receiving an email, students can bring their BUID to the package desk. The new scanning system will scan their ID; then they can sign for their package.

Benefits from the new package system include increased efficiency. Instead of having to check their mailboxes for packages, students are alerted immediately.

“A lot of people have their Blackberries or iPhones with instant e-mail access, so they don’t have to go back to their room all the time to get an e-mail. They can be notified that they have a package and stop by to get it,” mail service assistant Mindy Yost said.

Students seem to be pleased with the new system.

“Last year I would sometimes forget to check my mailbox, and would have packages sitting in there for weeks, but now it is so easy because I get the e-mail, and can drop by the mailroom with my ID to pick it up” Kate Monahan ’13 said.

Another goal of the new package system is to try and reduce the University’s ecological footprint.

“We used to write all the packages on yellow cards and put them in the mailboxes … but now 95 percent of the signature packages are going through the new package system … anything that we signed for, we put into the tracking system and the students receive an e-mail,” Scoma said.

Yost agrees. “We are trying to go greener in our department, and it does save on paper,” she said.

“I think eliminating the note cards from the mailboxes is a step in the right direction for making Bucknell a greener campus” Katherine Griffith ’13 said.

The new system aims to improve the effectiveness of the mailroom.

“If there’s ever a question about a package, all [students] have to do is bring their tracking number for the package and we can go online and see where it is,” Yost said.

While eventually all packages will be processed in the new system, the conversion to an entirely “green” package system is not yet complete.  “We can’t process every package through the system right now. Students still need to check their mailboxes,” Scoma said.