TECHNICIAN
Senate eyes advising, distance ed changes Removal of distance ed tuition penalty high on minds of senators. Chelsey Francis
Staff Writer
A local middle school without a drama program is presenting: HONK! Jr.: The Musical – with a little help from Park Scholars. The Centennial Campus Middle School drama program is now a reality. Founded in 2004 by Remi Loiseau, who graduated in 2007, Curtain Call was established to provide area middle schools without drama departments the necessary funding and skills to produce musicals each year, according to program records. Directed by DeShawn Brown, a freshman in general engineering, this year’s musical tells the story of an ugly duckling and his life in the duck yard. The show will be Thursday, Nov. 18 and Friday, Nov. 19 at 7:00 p.m. at Centennial Campus Middle School. Tickets are $5, and all proceeds go directly back to the drama program. There are expected to be between 400 and 500 attendees at this year’s performances. For Brown, this was the perfect opportunity for him to combine two of his passions: drama and service. “In high school, I had a lot of the-
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CALS program offers on-thejob insights
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moval of the tuition penalty needs to be done anyway.” Adam Hughes, a junior in communication, said he was in favor of the bill. “I think this is a really good bill in the fact it gets rid of the fees,” Hughes said. “My only concern with this is the kids that are going to take advantage of it. I feel like students are going to be like, ‘I can go to class, or I can stay in my pajamas and watch this video at home.’” Hughes said he feels like students
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Career Services and the N.C. State Department of Biology are encouraging sophomores and juniors to apply for Career Fellows, which provides undergraduate students with a professional opportunity. Career Fellows is a program that allows students to shadow a successful member of the workforce in a field they are considering entering after graduation, said Melissa Kahn, assistant director for CALS Career Services. “The Career Fellows program is a two-day job shadowing experience over spring break. The students who are selected will be matched with a mentor who has a job that matches the student’s career interests,” Kahn said. “This is a chance for students to find out what a career path is really like, get a sense for one type of work environment, make connections in their field of interest, and to get firsthand information about their own career goals.” Kahn said prospective applicants must be sophomores or juniors and must first be nominated by their faculty advisor or another staff member. Applications for the 2011 selection process are due by 5 p.m. on Dec. 7. Students can turn in applications to 107 Patterson Hall, and they must
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After the Student Senate meeting Wednesday, student government assistant director Eileen Coombes, Matt Tucker, a junior in environmental technology, and John Tucker, a sophomore in political science, discuss possible options for the future of the Free Expression Tunnel. After incidents of indecent graffiti on the walls of the Tunnel, the University is still deciding whether to continue to allow students to draw in the Tunnel, or to close it off completely.
more in political science. According to Ethan Harrelson, a senior in biological sciences, distance education classes cost about $125 more per credit hour than on-campus classes. Matthew Tucker, a junior in environmental technology, questioned Harrelson on the likelihood of this bill making any difference in the future. “It’s extremely likely that it will make a difference,” Harrelson said. “If we get on this soon enough, it could be in effect for either summer sessions or fall classes.” Harrelson also said he wanted to point out the extra fees charged for
distance education courses do not benefit the University in any way. “The extra fees don’t stay with the University,” Harrelson said. “The extra money all stays downtown. Other universities have done similar things to this in regards to their distance education classes.” Davis, whose committee reviewed this bill, said she knew of a lot of students who have had issues with distance education tuition. “Taylor [Hiott] actually got the ball rolling with this,” Davis said. “DELTA [distance education and learning technology applications] does not receive compensation from this. The re-
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ater background,” Brown said. “After hearing about Curtain Call and how important it was to the kids, I jumped right in.” This year’s production was met with a significant hardship before rehearsals began, as the entire leadership vacated their positions, creating a vacuum at the top. This gave Brown the opportunity to take over the direction of the program as a freshman. According to Brown, this year’s leadership team is composed of eight N.C. State students. The team is completely student-led, and they receive assistance from music instructors at the middle school. Co-directing this year’s production is Ryan Collinsworth, a junior in psychology. For Collinsworth, the program is much more complex than a simple opportunity for the children to have fun after school. “With our society’s preference toward education in the sciences, math, and technology, the arts and humanities suffer,” Collinsworth said. “It has been very meaningful to me to expos the students to drama and music.” Collinsworth said he thinks Curtain Call provides students with a great outlet of self-expression in a comfortable zone. “There are certain social rules and
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Students seek to promote creativity, self-expression with Curtain Call.
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The Student Senate passed pieces of legislation Wednesday that could impact student finances and advising. During the shorter-than-usual meeting, an advising review bill was passed, as well as a piece of legislation encouraging the University to remove the distance education tuition penalty. The advising review bill passed with consent, while the distance education tuition penalty act required a roll call vote. The advising review bill, from the committee on academics, encourages the Undergraduate Student Success Task Force to include advising reform in the “game changes” that are to be presented to the University Strategic Planning Committee. Abbi Davis, a second-year Agricultural Institute student, said the committee on academics has heard positive feedback about the bill. “This has been received favorably by students so far,” Davis said. “This is something that needs to be done.” Justin Brooks, a junior in nuclear engineering, said he thinks this bill is important for Student Senate to pass. “It’s like standing up to the University and saying something,” Brooks said. “I hope future students can have a better advising system in the years to come.” The bill was sent to Student Body President Kelly Hook with consent from the Student Senate. The second bill Student Senate passed during the meeting concerned the removal of the distance education tuition penalty. The bill was spearheaded by Taylor Hiott, academics commission director and a sopho-
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Rupert Nacoste, professor of psychology, speaks ouside Wolf Plaza Wednesday for “Wake Up, It’s Serious.” Nacoste was adressing recent racist graffiti in the Free Expression Tunnel that has caused turmoil on campus.
Campus to sponsor CPR training Daylong CPR Challenge will offer three certification opportunities. Allison Saito Staff Writer
The CPR Challenge is not a competition; its goal is to improve public safety by offering recertification and full certification classes in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other emergency skills. Josh Powell, a sophomore in forest management and CPR instructor, explained why learning CPR is important. “I’ve worked EMS for six years now and [have] seen many situa-
tions where we’d go to people’s houses…where if the family had known CPR they could have helped the person … knowing this can help save lives,” Powell said. Because it considers CPR an important skill, Campus Recreation offers different ways for University community members to earn certification. “We started offering [CPR training] a couple years ago … to the University community, for students, staff, faculty, to come take classes here on campus. Before that time, you’d have to go the American Red Cross to take classes,” Assistant Director of Campus Recreation Peter Koutroumpis said. “This is all fairly new to campus, but it is picking up a lot of energy and interest,” Koutroumpis said.
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The CPR Challenge is part of a larger goal to increase CPR certification on campus. According to Koutroumpis, knowing CPR can be important in certain jobs. “Many people are going to become teachers, camp counselors, or [have] other jobs that require them to have it,” Koutroumpis said. Although some people earn certification for professional reasons, Campus Recreation hopes that other people will learn the life-saving skill. “We are heading upon everywhere on campus to make it an environment where people generally in the student body would have [CPR certification], not only in work places
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