WEDNESDAY | 10.28.2015 | MACEANDCROWN.COM | Vol. 58, Issue 8
Freedom Electric Solutions
A STUDENT STARTUP STORY
State of the Art Dining Hall to Serve Diverse Palates Jason Kazi Advertising Manager Starting Fall Semester of 2016, Monarchs will have a new landmark dining destination on campus – the Restaurant Commons in the New Dining Hall slowly rising next to Dominion House and Diehn Hall on 49th Street. The new 45,000-square foot dining facility will be able to serve 550 students indoors and 225 students outdoors on two separate patios.
(L) Erin Desmond Marshall holds a bicycle frame in a workshop. (R) Marshall stands with his finished product, an electric bicycle. Ross Reelachart Technology Editor The unassuming building at 111 Granby St. serves as the starting point for many young entrepreneurs and budding businesses, including Erin Desmond Marshall and his student startup company that builds custom electric bicycles and skateboards. As the CEO and sole employee of his
own startup, Freedom Electric Solutions, Marshall shares the building, and a coffee pot that has seen too many long nights, with many other eager startups. Using only his passion for the mechanical and the assistance from the Hatch program, whose missions is to be “an ecosystem for entrepreneurs to thrive,” Marshall aims to turn a love of building electric bicycles into his own business in Norfolk.
NEW MURAL
[ INSPIRES IMAGINATION
New Mural at the Corner of Addison and Granby | Stef Wasko
[
IN NEON DISTRICT
“
The bike itself is capable of a respectable distance of twenty or more miles, enough for traveling within a city or town.” -Erin Desmond Marshall, entrepreneur
Stef Wasko Staff Writer For three weeks in early October, Esteban Del Valle transformed the pale concrete wall of Triumph Vaping Co. in Norfolk’s NEON District into a surrealist masterpiece. The vivid scene includes a roof-capped writer hunched over an electric-blue typewriter, a shawled female painter and illuminated Edison bulbs all woven together with the theme of creativity and innovation. “One of the things I find very po-
Schyler Schafer
At the shared Hatch space in Norfolk, he and many other startups, like SleepHug and Vinyl Mint are provided advice, resources and space to start their businesses and learn necessary skills. The energy that Marshall, a junior, showed for his creations started before he even came to Norfolk. As a freshman in Tallahassee, Florida in See Freedom Electric Solutions, D2 litical, but that other people may not view politically is my passion to spread the gospel—if you will—of the power of creativity,” Del Valle said. “That’s what this piece is about.” The motto “We can create what we can imagine,” painted on the banner and across the typewriter’s page in Del Valle’s Norfolk work, reveals the heart of the mural and the idea which sculpts Del Valle’s worldview. “We are existing in someone’s dream right now,” Del Valle said. He preaches the philosophy that everything— every restaurant, in-
HAZARDOUS WASTE AHEAD.
“I think it’s a great addition! Variety is key to happy healthy students. Maybe now I won’t miss my mother’s traditional Mexican dishes too much,” -Erica Ramos, freshman “If the food looks like the pictures and the dining hall really has all of those options, maybe I’ll buy a meal plan again,” Jessica Perkins, a junior, said. “You had me at Hibachi, you know.” The restaurant commons will offer delicacies from all over the world – from American classics to a noodle See Dining Hall, A5 terior design, technological device, phone app, painting, recipe, film, shop and city—begins as someone’s good idea. Our world begins with imagination. The key for Del Valle is to move from the dream into reality as a means of bettering society. He does this through multiple art forms including live paintings, drawings, videography, illustrations, collages and murals. Del Valle paints his murals freehand, without the use of stencils or projections. With a wall as large as the one in Norfolk, he began with a See See Mural, B4
October 16, 17, 23, 24, 29 & 30/2015 6:30-10 p.m. each night
10 (ages 13 & up)
$
$9 for groups of 15+ (757) 664-1034. Groups must book and pay in advance.
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