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COLLEGIATETIMES 109th year, issue 1 News, page 2
Food & Drink, page 5
Opinions, page 3
Sports, page 6
Study Break, page 4
Recipes share a taste of home Study reveals recent trend BY JESSICA GROVES | features reporter
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ometimes, not even the wide variety of dishes available at Virginia Tech’s dining halls can satisfy the demands of students’ stomachs. No matter how good the food, people often yearn for the comfort of a homecooked meal. They aren’t out of luck; the Home Sweet Home competition offers them a chance to change things up. Home Sweet Home gives participants an opportunity to share beloved family recipes with the Tech community. Family and friends of students send in original recipes to be judged, with some even make it to the dining hall menus.
Randall Van Dyke, executive chef for Dietrick Dining Center and Vet Med Cafe, said he and his staff look forward to the contest as much as the community does. “We’re out here doing our best to serve 2,000 students in a meal period, and we don’t get to talk to every one of them,” Van Dyke said. “This opportunity lets us get to know them on a more personal level.” His staff connects with the participants on a deeper level as well. Van Dyke said that recreating some recipes often brings back memories of their own family. Lindsay Skolrood, a
How many 2011-2012 Grads have had career-related experience during college?
91% YES
see COMPETITION / page five
9% NO
*each figure represents ~300 students HANNAH CAO / COLLEGIATE TIMES
MELISSA DRAUDT BEN WEIDLICH / SPPS
news staff writer
Randall Van Dyke, executive chef for Dietrick Dining Center and Vet Med Cafe, looks forward to seeing the creative dishes entered in the contest.
Plurro app partners with Relay for Life LEAH KOMADA news staff writer
Plurro, an iPhone app launched last September, is partnering with Virginia Tech’s Relay for Life to raise funds for cancer research. The app allows students to create cash mobs by gathering groups of people to attend a local busines and receive coupons based upon the number of people that attend. Its success led the team at Plurro to extend its efforts by partnering with Relay for Life this spring. “Everyone is affected by cancer in some way,” said Plurro Campus Representative Ha ley Fowler. “Relay for Life fights for a great cause, and we
are so glad that Relay was willing to team up with (Plurro).”
“Plurro built up so much momentum in the fall,” Fowler said. “Partnering with (Relay) helps build momentum back up and benefits a great Relay for Life fights cause while doing so.” for a great cause, and In order to do that, Plurro Associate Libby Bish used we are so glad that her own connections as a Relay was willing to VT alumna and member of team up with (Plurro)” Greek life to make that happen. “We targeted Greek orgaHaley Fowler nizations because they are a Plurro campus rep confined group of people,” Bish said. Typically, for every cash Organizations can create mob that takes place, Plurro their own cash mob at any gets a portion of the rev- local Blacksburg business of enue. However, during its their choosing. The Greek partnership with Relay organization with the bigfor Life, Plurro is going to gest cash mob will get $100 donate 5 percent of its pro- towards their philanthropy. ceeds to Relay. Kappa Kappa Gamma held
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their first cash mob last Friday at 310 Rosemont. “It’s great (Plurro) is partnering with Relay,” said senior Lauren Shelley, member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. “I think reaching out to the Greek community is one of the best ways to help Relay raise money.” Junior Megan Rihn, fundraising co-chair of Relay, is also excited. “I think it is also a great way to target the rest of the student body to get their minds going about fundraising, but not directly going around and fundraising. It’s one step closer,” Rihn said. Follow the writer on Twitter: @lckomada
A recent study published by The Chronicle of Higher Education revealed a trend in the devaluing of college degrees in the eyes of employers. While the study agreed that degrees were important in the hiring process, they are no longer the only determining factor. Instead, employers are starting to focus more on an applicant’s qualifications outside of the classroom. The National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE, stated that 63 percent of paid interns from the class of 2012 had at least one job offer when they graduated, in contrast to 40 percent of those who did no internship. Virginia Tech faculty members have also noticed a recent trend in the growing attractiveness of leadership experience to employers, along with research and internship experience. Claire Childress, senior assistant director for Job
Search and Graduate School Preparation, has worked at Career Services for 16 years and has seen this develop. “The big thing that an employer looks for when they’re sifting through résumés is ‘do you have relevant experience,’” she said. Childress also mentioned that it has become less about experience and even more about leadership experience. However, the study states that employers are complaining of unpreparedness in recent four-year college graduates. “While fresh hires had the right technical knowhow for the job, they grumbled that colleges weren’t adequately preparing students in written and oral communication, decision-making, and analytical and research skills,” said employers in a survey done by The Chronicle and American Public Media’s Marketplace. The controversy over whose responsibility it is to train students — the see CAREER/ page two
Blacksburg startup invited to SXSW competition LESLIE MCCREA news reporter
Having made new technological advancements, Blacksburgbased startup Precision Augmented Reality Works, known as PAR Works, was recently invited to the fifth annual SXSW Interactive Festival Accelerator Competition. PAR Works was started two years ago by Tech professors Jules White and Mani GolparvarFard, as well as Ph.D. student Hyojoon Bae. It has been developing faster and more accurate 3D augmented reality technology systems that works in the areas of advertising, automotive, real estate, and construction. Users of PAR Works’ services interact by taking pictures of objects, and then annotating those pictures with information. “I think that this is very useful technology. For a machine to be able to recognize what it’s
looking at is really awesome, and it has a lot of applications,” said Adam Hickey, PAR Works Android developer. Augmenting is a form of computer generated sensory. In this case, it means that real-world photos are regenerated and connected with virtual information so the information is accessible in a new way. After winning an innovation award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, PAR Works decided to apply for SXSW. They will join companies from across the nation, including local company Heyo, in Austin, Texas, March 11-13 to flaunt its innovations, services and products. Out of 500 applicants, 56 companies were narrowed down in seven categories. PAR Works was then selected as a finalist in the mobile technology category. Another division of the conference is the SXSW Trade Show.
PAR Works’ Mobile Augmented Reality Solution mobile application, which is focused on brands to communicate with consumers, was chosen as a finalist in this portion of the competition as well. “We are working on a new approach for augmenting techniques and using the phone as the interface,” White said. PAR Works is one of two companies that placed as finalists in both competitions. “I hope that we can walk away from the competition on track to set up multiple partnerships with different brands, digital advertising firms and retailers,” White said. The start-up company is based on virtual overlays, or the instantaneous overlay of cyber imagery and real world data, such as photos and videos. “It’s sort of the next evolution in photography,” White added. “We’re moving into photogra-
phy that knows where you are, other available technologies is and what you’re looking at. It’s a because we use actual image different way of interacting with recognition and processthe world.” ing,” Hickey said. “There’s a Their real world imagery tech- lot of augmented reality stuff nology allows any smartphone out there, but it requires too user to tag and analyze any arbi- much data, which is messy trary object such as buildings, and slower.” vehicles or landmarks, with milBy taking multiple photos of limeter precision. an object, product, or build“It’s a blessing and a curse. ing, the PAR Works server can Every time we talk to some- compare the pictures, draw a one, they have 10 new ideas or point where those all overproblems to solve,” White said. lap, and eventually create a “It’s good because there’s lots 3D “point cloud” of objects, of opportunity, but it’s hard according to Hickey. because we’re a start-up and “I think it’s a really opporthere’s 100 different ways we tune time for us because could go. We have to pick and people are wild about taking choose what might be the most photos with their phones,” successful.” White said. “With the app, The technology created came your phone is not just capturfrom the idea to bridge the gap ing a photo, it sees what’s in between what people see and that photo and tells you about COURTESY OF YU SUN need information on in every- it.” PAR Works mobile app now allows day life, and the virtual informaFollow the writer on Twitter: students to take pictures and antion on the Internet. @lesliemccrea “The reason we’re better than notate them with information.