Author: Amanda Ayers

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University receives KEEN grant to strengthen engineering

By Meghan Finlayson

Staff Writer

This past summer, the Kern Family Foundation gave the University a $75,000 grant to be used over two years. The grant was created for engineers to promote an action-oriented entrepreneurial mindset.

The Kern Family Foundation focuses its funding towards long-term programs that promote systemic change. The Foundation created the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) in 2005 as a collegiate initiative to increase the quantity and quality of U.S. engineering talent. The longterm goal of the program is to help students learn how to contribute economic and technical commerce in their communities.

“[The grant] fundamentally provides support to the College of Engineering for introducing students to a more entrepreneurially-minded approach to their engineering education through course work, speakers and site visits,” Dean Keith Buffinton said.

The KEEN program supports select private U.S. colleges and universities that offer strong engineering programs. The University was one of five universities selected this year.

“We were selected to become part of the KEEN group through a competitive proposal process,” Buffinton said.

“Bucknell’s reputation in undergraduate engineering education certainly helped get the attention of the Kern Family Foundation. Also, many of our faculty in engineering are very active in sharing ideas through conference presentations and publishing their work in journals,” said David Foreman, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations.

The College of Engineering has many plans to make the most of the funds from the grant.

“Our goal is to expose 100 percent of our engineering students to an entrepreneurial mindset,” Buffinton said.

There are plans underway for a program in January that will feature students coming together to work on a project related to one of the ‘grand challenges’ identified by the National Academy of Engineering.

“We’re planning on having a one and a half-week multidisciplinary design experience for freshmen and sophomores. The students will work in teams composed of peers in different disciplines in engineering to address a relevant problem that affects global society and create a proof-of-concept prototype [displaying their ideas],” said Charles Kim, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

As a result of this program, “they will learn about major issues in technology and society that include innovation, sustainability, biotechnology, and energy,” he said.

The funding will also go towards courses such as ENGR 100, campus speakers on innovation and entrepreneurship and field trips to visit businesses and corporations.

“Faculty members will also have the opportunity to develop new teaching methods that they learn from workshops and collaborative activities with pedagogy experts and faculty at other institutions. This will improve courses with the infusion of new ideas,” Foreman said.

The College of Engineering is brainstorming ideas on how it can continue to make the most of the grant.

“The staff at the Kern Family Foundation wants to work with us and develop ideas and programs that fit our needs … [it] also provides us access to a network of diverse institutions. We can share ideas and both teach and learn from innovators in engineering education,” Foreman said.

“There were a lot of great ideas that came out of the summer institute in the College of Engineering that are still under development,” Kim said.

The grant is not only a great achievement for the College of Engineering, but for the University as a whole. 

“Bucknell is well known for innovative, active and collaborative teaching and learning. We are using our strength in those areas and working with the KFF to continue to build ourselves as educators,” Buffington said.

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Campus promotes greater concern for food waste

By Daniel Park

Contributing Writer

After a recent lecture and the efforts of University staff, particularly professor of economics Nancy White, the University has placed a greater emphasis on the implications of food waste.

On Oct. 26, University students as well as Lewisburg locals, farmers in particular, attended a lecture by Jonathan Bloom, a journalist and food waste expert who received his masters degree from UNC Chapel Hill. The event was strongly advocated by White, who also has a deep compassion for and understanding of  the concept of food waste.

Bloom became a strong advocate for preventing food waste after a volunteer experience with DC Central Kitchens, where he saw plenty of remaining pasta thrown out. This led him to create a blog known as “Wasted Food” and then publish a book entitled “American Wasteland” a few years later.

“Everyone knows about the three R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle. However, we’ve made progress in only the recycling but have yet to emphasize reducing and reusing,” Bloom said. 

He reinforces the idea that while not recycling is intolerable, food waste is commonly ignored and often accepted within communities.

“The United States, by far, is the largest food-wasting country in the world, in which 40 percent raised or grown in America isn’t consumed, which accumulates to about 160 billion pounds per annum,” Bloom said.

He believes the source of this immeasurable amount of food wasting traces back to farms that throw out slightly obscure looking produce because of consumer pickiness as well as supermarkets having to throw out expired goods.

“Listen to your instinct, not the dates on goods; if you think it looks good and smells good than it’s perfectly edible,” Bloom said. 

White also has much to say on this topic. She believes that wasting food is a cultural rather than an individual problem and there are various ways to tackle this problem. One method that she believes will make people more cognizant of the food they waste is encouraging them to grow their own food.

“Go home and plant a garden at home. When Bucknell students are at home during summer break, growing their own food will not only bring a sense of elatedness but also achievement and affection towards food,” White said.

White addresses other countries such as those in Asia like Japan and Korea.

“These countries learned how to be creative with food preservation,” White said. “It was a necessary skill to have because of their long-standing history over time, which required ways in preserving food for their own people due to war and lack of land when in contrast America is a young country which is abundant in land resources as well as extreme fast paced growth.”

Japan and Korea have mastered the art of food preservation through fermentation, such as kimchi, that allows food to stay edible for much longer periods of time.

The University with the strong aid of Janice Butler, director of civic engagement and service learning, and Rabbi Serena Fujita, have currently made plans on making a community garden downtown for University students and community members to experience the art of producing food. The garden will also aid the Lewisburg area by teaching residents how to grow their own food and prepare it as a meal. Though a small change, it is one step closer to preventing food waste in the Lewisburg area.

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Noted alumni share careers in creativity forum

By Alexander Slavitz

Contributing Writer

Four University graduates embraced limitless exploration of one’s passions in a lecture that was part of the Bucknell Forum Series “Creativity: Beyond the Box.”

Each alumnus discussed their experiences upon graduating the University and relayed essential life advice to current students.

Nyambi Nyambi ’01, actor and former guard for the Bison men’s basketball team, shared his experiences of success with current University students.

“If you celebrate the other people around you and their successes, you can’t help but be successful yourself,” he said.

Justin Schwartz ’04, a roller coaster engineer for Universal Studios, also spoke about his success.  He explained that, in his experiences, the most difficult part of thinking of new ideas is applying logistical constraints while simultaneously using creativity.

Matt Hawley ’03, Senior Game Producer at Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of games such as World of Warcraft and StarCraft, echoed Schwartz’s advice.  

“Putting constraints on the beginning prevents further creativity,” Hawley said. “Sometimes you throw something away just to see it come back a year or two later.”

All four presenters agreed that to be successful in any career, one must have a true passion for whatever the project entails.

“At Blizzard, everyone is a hardcore gamer at their core, so they want to play [Blizzard’s] games. A lot,” Hawley said.

Innovative Projects Manager, Martine Worrall Stillman ’04, who works for Nike at Synapse Product Development, highlighted that passion was one of her virtues, as well. As innovative projects manager, Stillman tests Nike’s products so that she can understand the venture from the perspective of her target market.

“We try to understand the audience from the deepest level we can,” Stillman said.

To show how this goal is accomplished, Stillman explained that everyone at Nike wears Nike shoe products in order to better understand the needs and desires of consumers.

Nyambi viewed this idea of listening to the target audience quite differently. 

“The audience can make you feel great or it can make you feel horrible,” Nyambi said.  

He admitted that although he pays attention to the producers, he tries not to get caught up judging his quality of performance through customer reviews. Out of 100 positive reviews, Nyambi claims that he will distinctly remember the one negative one.

Although Schwartz agreed with Nyambi’s explanation, he felt that his career involves listening to the creator of the idea for the product he is working on. Schwartz said that in the construction of the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios, for example, the biggest concern for the engineers was upholding J.K. Rowling’s vision of Harry Potter within the ride.

The final topic of the series focused on the idea of failure. Each alumnus remarkably emphasized the advantages of failure.

Each speaker provided a different twist on their reasoning for viewing failure as a benefit. Together, they cited the importance of learning from one’s individual mistakes in the pursuit of success. 

“Failure is a wonderful gift. You have to risk failure in order to receive benefits from it. When you give yourself over to the idea of not worrying about failing, amazing things will happen,” Nyambi said.

Additionally, while many students worry that their undergraduate major will dictate their work for the rest of their lives, the four alumni presenters emphasized that this is not always the case. Nyambi serves as living proof.

“[Nyambi’s life] was very interesting because it showed that even though he didn’t study his actual career in college, Bucknell still provided him with an opportunity to find what he actually loved to do,” Taylor Sisti ’15 said.

Students who attended the forum believed that the lecture was both an informative and worthwhile experience.  

“It was insightful and inspiring. [The speakers] are a testament to Bucknell’s amazing alumni who are great at what they do,” Matt Terry ’15 said.

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Author’s photobook memorializes the Holocaust

By Sara Blair Matthews

Writer

Ann Weiss, author of personal photograph collection “The Last Album,” drew from her experiences researching the Holocaust to demonstrate the importance of Kristallnacht. Her lecture, “The Last Album: Eyes from the Ashes of Auschwitz-Birkenau”, occurred Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Trout Auditorium of the Vaughan Literature Building.

On Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, the Nazisdestroyed over 7,000 businesses and burned over 200 synagogues, ultimately killing 91 Jews and deporting over 30,000. Kristallnacht was only one of many horrendous incidents that occurred during the Holocaust.

Weiss began her discussion by talking about her first trip to Auschwitz, a part of a diplomatic mission to Eastern Europe she took approximately 25 years ago. She was chosen based on her investigative journalism work on the Holocaust.

“When I got to Poland, I saw evidence of what once existed: the culture and the absence of people,”Weiss said.

The most horrifying thing Weiss saw was a pile of thousands of shoes that were holed, dirty and broken in places. It upset her that these shoes were all the people had to help them survive the harsh Polish winters. These shoes were the only remnants of the people exterminated during the Holocaust, and it was the first truly tragic thing Weiss encountered on her trip.

While she was staring at this pile of shoes, Weiss recounted becoming separated from her group. She ran around an abandoned Auschwitz frantically because she did not want to be left behind. In the process, a man beckoned her to follow him into a closed off room. There she saw pictures that changed her life and motivated her to become what she is today.

“They were beautiful photos. The pictures that the Jews brought with them before they thought they were going to be worked,” Weiss said.

There was a secret Nazi edict which ruled that all the photos people brought with them to the concentration camps had to be destroyed. Weiss saw only a few of the 2400 photos that were saved by the Jewish Underground.

When Weiss returned home to America, she could not get her mind off the photos. She hatched an idea to make a deal with the German government to give her the photos so she could make a montage and share them with the world. The government refused to give her the photos, but allowed Weiss to restore them and print them in her book.

“Unfortunately, they will never part with these photos,” Weiss said. “They are too precious to them.”
Before showing the film, Weiss told the audience stories she had learned about a few of the people in the photos. One was a story of a man named Ben Hirsch, who identified his baby brother and sister from a photo in the film. He told Weiss his own story and how he was shipped on the last Kindertransport to leave Germany.  His mother stayed behind with his two youngest siblings and continued to write him letters until she died.

She also told the audience a story of a husband and wife holding a baby in their arms. They both volunteered at an orphanage because they loved kids but could not have any of their own.

Her photos represented the positive nature of human love even in the worst of conditions.

“I believe goodness lives far beyond the life of the individual,” Weiss said.

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“Breaking the Bubble” – Some top national and international headlines for this week

National:

– The sex abuse scandal continues to rock Penn State, as former defense coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of sexually abusing boys. Head coach Joe Paterno was not charged but was fired on Wednesday night.

– NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey shows that about 75 percent of respondents don’t like Obama’s economic policies and fear the country is headed in the wrong direction. In hypothetical match-ups, Obama leads Mitt Romney by six points and Herman Cain by 15 points.

– Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for administering the drug that helped kill Michael Jackson in the summer of 2009.

-Voters across the country turned a skeptical eye toward conservative-backed measures across the country Tuesday, rejecting an anti-labor law in Ohio, an anti-abortion measure in Mississippi and a crackdown on voting rights in Maine. Even in Arizona, voters turned the chief architect of Arizona’s anti-immigration law out of office.

-Herman Cain held a news conference Tuesday to again deny sexual assault accusations, even as a another woman put her name to allegations that the candidate had approached her inappropriately.

-A powerful storm with hurricane-force winds slammed into western Alaska on Wednesday, causing widespread power failures in tiny coastal villages and warnings that the area could suffer major flooding. The National Weather Service described the storm as “extremely dangerous and life-threatening” and of “an epic magnitude rarely experienced.”

-A federal appeals court in Washington upheld the Obama administration’s health care law on Tuesday in a decision written by a prominent conservative jurist.

International:

– Greek leaders are still struggling to form a new government. Prime Minister George Papandreou and his chief rival agreed to create a new government, under a new prime minister, but have not yet disclosed a lineup.

– Iran is close to nuclear capability. Intelligence provided to U.N. nuclear officials shows Iran’s government has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon.

-Despite Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s pledge to resign, Italy’s borrowing costs crossed a key financial and psychological threshold of 7 percent, close to levels that have required other euro zone countries to seek bailouts. Italian lawmakers were frantically negotiating a way forward, while European leaders scrambled to forge a backup plan for a country too big to bail out.

-An Indian court found 31 people guilty on Wednesday of killing 33 Muslims during riots in Gujarat state in 2002. They were convicted of murder, arson, rioting and criminal conspiracy.

-Chinese solar panel manufacturers, which had virtually no presence in the U.S. market three years ago, now hold control of more than half of the market. Meanwhile, a new American trade group was formed this week, representing buyers and installers of solar-energy systems.

-Georgia and Russia signed an agreement on Wednesday that clears the path for Russia to join the World Trade Organization. This ended nine months of often rocky negotiations between the two countries on monitoring trade flows over the Georgian-Russian border.

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WVBU participates in first nationwide EAS test

By Amanda Ayers

News Editor

The University’s own radio station, WVBU, participated in the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS).

The test was conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in partnership with the Federal Communciations Commission (FCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.

The EAS is designed to function as an efficient means of nationwide communication. The system exists to theoretically ensure the safety of the public by informing them of vital information quickly and efficiently in the event of any type of hazard.

Weekly and monthly tests of the system have been carried out before, but have only been on the local or regional levels in the past, typically to report on telephone outages and hazardous weather. There was a lot of activity, for example, during the intense flooding that affected Lewisburg in September, but the warning signal only affected stations in the Susquehanna Valley.

Wednesday’s test was different because nothing has been done on quite so large a scale before. This is the first time that the test was administered nationally. In the future, the EAS system will be used to communicate with the American public during emergency situations. The President will have the power to send out a special signal that will, theoretically, automatically switch every station to broadcast his public address.

“I believe that the EAS is a very effective way to reach people in the case of an emergency. It is commonly used during local weather emergencies. I feel that EAS is the most efficient system we have in place for communicating emergency information. It encompasses radio, broadcast television and cable TV providers and a web presence. There is no other system that contains the wide combination of media resources that EAS does and can coordinate them all to disperse urgent information,” said Senior Technology Support Specialist, Todd Fogle.

Similar to local emergency alert system tests that most people are already familiar with, an audio message interrupted television and radio programming at 2 p.m. stating: “This is a test.” As planned, regular programming resumed after the test was over.

The signal was transmitted via television and radio stations within the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, as well as the territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, through a system of rebroadcasting. There are 36 locations throughout the country that were intended to receive the message directly from FEMA. From there, the message was rebroadcast to smaller stations, like the University’s, that picked up the signal from WQKX. While every station in the country was intended to receive the test message on Wednesday, this was most likely not a reality.

“The problem with the FCC is that it’s terribly inefficient,” WVBU production manager Alex Alam ’13 said.

An executive order by former President George W. Bush mandated that a new EAS system be implemented five years ago, but the system has not been entirely set up. 

“Legally, we’re required to have a system that doesn’t exist,” Alam said prior of the test. “Organizationally they are a nightmare.”

While each station originally was legally required by the FCC to have their system perfectly execute the EAS test, they are now only required to report whether or not it worked after the fact. Ultimately, WVBU was able to receive the signal successfully despite hectic preparation.

“Since it’s difficult to pick up even our own signal down in the basement, it took us several hours to be able to pick up WQKX. Finally, we got an old radio out of Todd’s truck, which was able to pick up the signal, though only in the opposite corner of the other room. So what we have in place to make it work is actually this really old radio with a wire sticking out the back that runs through the wall and to the station. After we got it all set up, the test came through today as planned, without a hitch,” Alam said.

The FCC, FEMA and NOAA, as well as the University administration, made it very clear that this was indeed just a warning and a test of the EAS system; there was no real hazard.

“As we get close to the test, the FCC and all of our many partners are working together to spread the word to as many members of the public as possible–-so people know what to expect when the test takes place, and no one is caught off guard. We’re asking everyone to join us by spreading the word to your neighbors, co-workers, friends and family,” the FEMA website said. 

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University boasts fourth highest student-athlete graduation rate in Division I

By Lauren Buckley

Contributing Writer

The University’s student-athlete graduation rate is one of the highest in the nation for Division I athletics, said the NCAA’s graduation rate survey released last week. Student-athletes entering the University between 2001-02 and 2004-05 had a four-class graduation rate average of 90 percent, ranking fourth in the nation.

This graduation average is continuously improving; the University ranked seventh in the nation with an 87 percent student-athlete graduation rate in 2010. The University now only falls behind Holy Cross, Davidson and Notre Dame in four-class graduation rate averages. In addition, the four-class graduation rate of 90 percent for student-athletes was equal to that of the entire University.

Graduation Success Rate (GSR) was also included in the NCAA report, which factors in transfer students who graduate and does not count the loss of transfers who leave in good academic standing. Eighteen of the University’s varsity programs achieved a perfect 100 percent GSR between 2001-02 and 2004-05. All 22 varsity athletic teams reported a GSR of 88 percent or higher.

The secret to the University’s high student-athlete graduation rate can be attributed to the emphasis placed on athletes by their coaches to balance both school and sports.

“Our coach always makes sure we are all balancing academics and tennis and is there to help us with anything. Balancing school and sports is not easy, but the time pressure always helps me to get my work done more efficiently,” women’s tennis player Lauren Boone ’15 said.

Women’s tennis has a 100 percent GSR along with men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, women’s rowing, baseball, men’s tennis, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s water polo, women’s track and field and field hockey. Additionally, women’s basketball placed second in the nation last year for overall team GPA in Division I women’s basketball programs.

With an overall GSR of 97 percent, the University ranks 10th nationwide behind only Brown (100 percent), Columbia (100 percent), American (99 percent), Colgate (99 percent), Dartmouth (99 percent), Notre Dame (99 percent), Holy Cross (98 percent), Harvard (98 percent) and Siena (98 percent).

Last spring, Bison athletics received APR Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA with the sixth-highest total in Division I sports. Thirteen programs surpassed the minimum requirement, putting out a perfect score.

“Our coach has a principle that family and friends come first, then school, followed closely by athletics. He expects us to be dedicated athletes, but he also wants to make sure that it does not prevent us from doing well and keeping up with school,” swimmer Kaitlyn Sweeney ’12 said.

The University’s student-athletes not only succeed competitively but academically as well, and their dedication and ability to balance their commitments is cause for admiration.

“The fact that Bucknell is recognized for elite academics and athletics is the reason I chose to come here. Bucknell student-athletes possess a high level of motivation and passion that is very difficult to find at any other institution,” Sweeney said.

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Haunted Hunt gives glimpse into sorority life

By Jen Lassen

Writer

First-year women were given an early glimpse into sorority life with the first annual Haunted Hunt event held on Tuesday in the Hunt Hall formal room.

This event, sponsored by the Panhellenic Council, included craft and food-making stations sponsored by each sorority and was held in the Hunt Hall Formal, which was decorated for Halloween.

Kristi Conklin, VP-Internal of the Panhellenic Council, discussed the purpose of hosting an event such as Haunted Hunt.

“The purpose of this event is to begin communication now so that meaningful relationships can develop and all questions as well as concerns of first-year women can be addressed in a fun and engaging manner,” Conklin said.

First-year women had the chance to mingle with sorority members and ask them questions about topics ranging from the rush process, conversation advice and balancing sorority life with school and other activities.

“I am very proud of the effort that the women have put into this event and hope that this will allow first-year women to feel comfortable attending sorority events,” said Jackie Petrucci, assistant director of residential education for sorority affairs.

“First-year women can hopefully begin engaging in and maintaining friendships with sorority women,” Petrucci said.

A collaboration of two delegates from every sorority joined together to plan the event.

“[There was] a lot of teamwork to ensure this event would be a valuable experience for everyone involved,” Conklin said.

Last year, the Panhellenic Council hosted a program called Something of Value. During the program, members identified key issues they wanted to address to positively change the environment on campus. One of these areas included opening dialogue much earlier in the year between sorority members and first-year women.

Haunted Hunt is the first sorority recruitment-type event of the school year, but it was intended to be very informal. The vibe of the event was “not formal like sorority recruitment, but instead more comfortable and conversational,” Petrucci said.

When asked if she would have liked to attend this type of event as a first-year, Conklin was quick to answer.

“Yes. I remember when I was a first-year I was so nervous about joining a sorority and the recruitment process. I did not know any upper-class women and I had so many questions about what to expect and what to wear. An event like this would have settled my nerves and shown me how fun sorority life is no matter what sorority you join,” she said.

“Hopefully, first-year women will leave this event with a better understanding of what sorority life at Bucknell entails, what recruitment is like, and get answers to any other questions they have concerning the process. If nothing else, we hope they have fun getting to know sorority women,” Conklin said.

The idea behind the event and its smooth execution made the first ever Haunted Hunt something that will certainly be added to the Panhellenic Council’s list of traditional activities.

 

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Initiative spurs recycling downtown

By Allie Mongan

Writer

University alum and graduate student Justin McKnight ’04 has started a downtown clean-up and recycling mission. Occurring every Saturday morning, a group of students gets together to raise awareness for the importance of protecting the environment.

From 8:30 a.m. until about 11 a.m. on Saturdays, students meet in the Smith Quad and then walk to the Fellowship House to grab supplies to collect recycling from downtown residences.

McKnight had the idea for a downtown clean-up project when he was with his wife and daughter in Hufnagle Park and saw how dirty the Bull Run Creek was. After pulling out lights and a futon, he decided something should be done.

McKnight came back to the University to get his masters degree in the education department through the College Student Personal Program (CSP). He also knows about living downtown and how the typical student treats the community he or she belongs to.

“There needs to be a paradigm shift. I want the perceptions of off-campus residents to change within the Lewisburg community,” McKnight said.

McKnight met with Dean of Students Susan Lantz to present his proposal for a downtown clean-up and recycling project. With the approval and support of Dean Lantz and Housing Services, McKnight received a grant to get the supplies he would need.

“Our goal is to make it more convenient for off-campus students to recycle, in addition to education, and to get the borough to recognize the need for recycling pick-up,” said Joe Snyder, assistant director of Housing Services.

The first clean-up was held on Oct. 15.

To date, 715 pounds of recycling and 302 pounds of trash have been collected which have mainly been coming from what is found on the streets and around some of the houses in the student area downtown. Flyers have also been sent to houses to encourage residents to separate and bag their own recycling to help with the effort. The recycling is sorted at the Fellowship House and then transported to the Wolfe Field recycling center.

The clean-up and collection will continue and the collected data will be presented to Lewisburg.

“We will present the data to the town to advocate for increased recycling bins downtown” said Ryan Tomasello ’12, an executive intern in the Office of External Relations and Economic Development.

McKnight wants to have students realize that they must be responsible stewards and members of the community. Living off campus means students are not only members of the University but also of Lewisburg.

“The project has primarily education purposes because it is teaching life experience,” McKnight said.

He has high hopes to grow the program and continue cleaning different locations, such as the cemetery.

All students are welcome to participate. Over the past three weeks, sorority members, environmental club members and residents of Fran’s House and Hulley house have all participated. Any student who helps with the project can receive Plan for Prominence (P4P) community service hours.

“It was an interesting way to see the aftermath of a typical weekend downtown. I take pride in the opportunity to live off campus and absorb a small piece of that culture and therefore I am happy to help make Lewisburg beautiful,” Anne Sequeira ’12 said.

For more information contact Justin McKnight (jmcknigh@bucknell.edu) or Housing Services.

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Zombies walk for a cause

By Meghan Finlayson

Writer

The University campus and Lewisburg community came together to celebrate Halloween in the First Annual Lewisburg Zombie Walk and Double Feature Movie that was held Monday night. The event benefited the Community Harvest hot meal program in Milton through the Million Penny Project (MPP).

Fundraising for the event began early.

“We approached IFC, specifically Paul Allegra [’13], about using it for the MPP fundraising because we felt it was a little different than past fundraising events. Plus, it was a program we felt Lewisburg residents would enjoy and participate in as well,” said Lynn Pierson, assistant director of community service.

“Jessica Paquin came up with the idea from other events she has planned over the years with movie production and promotion,” Pierson said.

The zombie walk started on campus at Vedder Circle and ended at the Campus Theater on Market Street. People were encouraged to dress up and walk slowly, like zombies, or run in front of the mob like victims.

“About 150 people showed up to walk, and the crowd included students, faculty, staff and Lewisburg residents … the number of victims definitely outweighed the number of zombies, but everyone was enthusiastic and had a great time,” said Paul Allegra, IFC Community Service and Philanthropy Chair.

Once walkers reached the Campus Theater, they were given the option to stay and watch two movies for $10. The movies featured were George Romero’s classic “Night of the Living Dead,” and the lesser known film, “The Feed.”

“The Feed” was filmed in Lewisburg and directed by Steve Gibson, New Media Developer at the University. It takes place in the Campus Theater and stars many local residents.

“We shot the film over about six weekends spanning June and July last summer. [It] really has taken on a life of its own and has been screened at a number of festivals around the country,” Gibson said. “Now we’re looking into distribution.”

“The Feed” has been an Official Selection in over 25 film festivals. It has also won many awards, including four best feature honors and a best director award.

“’The Feed’ follows a team of paranormal investigators broadcasting their annual show live from The Brenway Theatre, a reportedly haunted movie house in Pennsylvania. The film is patterned after the various ‘Ghost Hunters’-type shows that pop up everywhere on TV now, though for our movie we thought it best if the investigators actually found real ghosts,” Gibson said.

The cast and crew of “The Feed” were in attendance to celebrate the first anniversary of the film.

The Million Penny Project raises $10,000 annually for a local charity. The charity chosen this year was Community Harvest, a weekly hot meal program in Milton, Pa. Community Harvest prepares and serves food to approximately 200 individuals, and is open to anyone. The event raised nearly $1,000.

“It was great to see people come together and enjoy the night, using their imaginations to pretend and have fun like kids on Halloween,” Allegra said.

“We are already talking about what we can do next year to make this event bigger, better and even more successful.”