Technician
wednesday january
20 2010
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Brickyard vigil kicks off Howl for Haiti Student Government challenges students to support Stop Hunger Now pledge Alanna Howard
The Beronette sisters are a pair of twins of Haitian descent who will compliment the other speaker, DanToday the Howl for Haiti drive un- son Ceneus, a Haiti resident. Ceneus officially kicks off to commemorate will speak for about five minutes to the Haitian victims, starting with share the experience of what is going the vigil being held in the Brickyard on down there. “Mr. Ceneus will give a personal acfrom 12:30 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. It will feature Tom Stafford, the vice chan- count of what is going on, and will tie it to N.C. State to cellor for Student give us a connecAffairs, as well as tion to the devthe Haitian muastation dow n sic group, the t here,” A i ken Beronette sisters. said. “Hopefully The goal of the he will describe drive is to raise what the people $50,000 on beEricka Aiken need most down half of the Unithere.” versity to donate Wednesday night at the men’s basto Stop Hunger Now. Ericka Aiken, the chair of the Stu- ketball game against Duke there will dent Government community service be a donation drive for students to commission, said the point is to show begin raising the $50,000 needed to respect for the people that lost their meet the SG challenge. Jim Ceresnak, student body presilives. “What we want most is to honor dent, said the purpose of Howl for the victims of this horrible event,” Haiti is to create a campus-wide movement to contribute to this cause. she said. Deputy News Editor
“What we want most is to honor the victims of this horrible event,”
Pre-Health Club reminisce visit to Haiti Club members feel need to return to help rebuild Arth Pandya Staff Writer
The 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti last Tuesday devastated the entire country. According to Dr. Anita Flick, Director of Health Professions Advising, the hospitals and homes where 15 individuals from the University had volunteered with Hearts with Haiti, are all gone. The group, consisting of pre-medical students and adults, are reviewing the area in which they served. “The five main areas we worked in received critical damage,” said Dr. Flick. Matt Hunt, a sophomore in biomedical engineering who volunteered in Haiti, said he didn’t realize the extent of the damages until he turned on his television. “I didn’t realize how bad it was until I turned on the news,” said Hunt. “Knowing the state Haiti was already in, and the infrastructure that was in place, it was hard to realize the damage caused.” St. Joseph’s Home for Boys, located on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, was completely destroyed. “St. Joseph’s provided a place for former child slaves and street children to obtain an education and to improve their living conditions,” said Dr. Flick. The group has special ties to the homes they worked with while in country. “We have had a long standing relationship with these homes [such as St. Joseph’s]. We’ve lived with them, ate meals with them, their members became family,” she said. “You think about the babies we held in the hospitals, and then the disaster, and where they are now. For every single one of us, it’s like being kicked in the gut.” Alyse Flick, a freshman in human biology and Dr. Flick’s daughter, also volunteered in Haiti and said her first reaction was to contact those she knew in Haiti to make sure they were OK.
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Carl Juste/Miami Herald/MCT
Haitian woman prays alongside the destroyed National Cathedral in Port-auPrince, Haiti, Tuesday.
Clickers increase college costs
Flick said the group had developed a bond with the boys at the St. Joseph’s Home, which made the hardships they were suffering relatable. “We stayed at St. Joseph’s Home and got to interact with the boys that lived there,” said Flick. “Even though we didn’t speak Creole, it was so easy to adjust and interact with them.” According to Dr. Flick, one of her goals since becoming involved in the Pre-Health Club was to develop awareness about Haiti. Since traveling to Haiti 30 years ago, she has been involved in the Haitian population ever since. “What you find when you talk with Haitian people, is their spirit and perseverance. Just spending a week in that environment was far more uplifting and powerful than anything,” said Dr. Flick. As a result of the success from the first trip, Dr. Flick had made preparations for a second trip. However, the earthquake struck a day after she finalized the second trip. “Last May was the first trip. I wanted to establish one to two trips a year, one during the winter and one during the summer,” said Dr. Flick. “On Monday, I had finalized the trip, and then on Tuesday, the earthquake happened.” Cheryl Proctor, chair of the board of directors for Hearts with Haiti, a local non-profit organization in Raleigh, said the group’s primary goal is to raise as much awareness as possible. “We are moving from a crisis-mode to a planning-mode,” said Proctor. Hunt said students must continue to support organizations. “The [University] response has been great, from selecting Stop Hunger Now to channel all the funds, to promoting awareness through candlelight vigils,” said Hunt. Dr. Flick said the group may be able to go to Haiti during May to do some construction work. “I will not give up. I do plan to take students back for the rebuild. I do hope to get them involved.”
Team ‘CoCo’ or team ‘Leno?’
With rumors in the air, students react to Leno/O’Brien shake-up See page 5.
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“Our job is to aid in this crisis, and we pledge to do so by contributing $50,000 to Stop Hunger Now,” he said. Stop Hunger Now is the partner the University has chosen to help bridge the relief money with those that need it the most. The amount is easy to break down Ceresnak said, if every student does their part. “Even if every student contributes two dollars, we can more than meet our goal,” he said. Ceresnak and Aiken both said the success of this movement depends on the students. “We can more than meet this goal, but the success of us helping the victims of Haiti hinges on student groups stepping up, holding fundraisers, finding company matching programs, anything to help us reach our goal,” Ceresnak said. SG said all groups that contribute to the Howl for Haiti cause will be appropriately recognized for their efforts. More information can be found at the Web site students.ncsu.edu/haiti/.
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Office of Information Technology continues to expand interactive classroom response system Nick Tran Deputy News Editor
April 28 Office of Information Technology issued a memorandum declaring NCSU’s adoption of TurningPoint’s interactive classroom response system as the campus standard. With the start of the new semester, more and more classes have begun to adopt the system. According to OIT, 50 more classrooms will soon be ready to facilitate clicker technology. The clickers are small, handheld devices programmed to correspond to the student using it and offers a number of utilities to a clicker-enabled classroom. Students’ attendance is automatically recorded and they are allowed to respond to questions presented by the professor through the system. While this represents an advancement in classroom technology, the cost has curbed student excitement. Though some professors offer a class set of clickers, Kimberly Rochester/Technician most students have to buy them Jenny Tang, a freshman in animal science, works on a problem and answers through the school. using her clicker in her chemistry 101 class tuesday afternoon. “They help the Jonathan Coburn, a freshman class become more interactive and they’re easy to use” said Tang. in nuclear engineering, said he felt the utility was not worth the the response system to TurningPoint’s give anonymous feedback. The more [students] get to engage and interact technology. extra cost. The memorandum, issued by Marc the better the understanding.” “It gives us the impression that Kohlmyer said it might be better to we have to spend more money on Hoit, Vice Chancellor for Informacollege,” he said. “It doesn’t help tion Technology, said, “TurningPoint change the fee structure of how stuyou learn more information, it just clickers would in general be student- dents obtained the clickers, suggesting makes things easier for the profes- owned and maintained and if a fac- applying Education and Technology ulty member or department wished fees to cover them. sor.” “It might also be better to have more to use a different Coburn clicker technol- classes using them to allow students said the clickogy, the faculty to make more use of them,” he said. ers could help member’s de- “Over the next few years, usage should for larger partment would grow and standardize. I know I can’t classes, but be responsible run my class without them.” traditional Bryan Alligood, a freshman in biofor prov id i ng methods of clickers for their logical engineering, however, said the teaching will clickers were unnecessary and tradistudents.” always be betsaid by Bryan Alligood According to tional methods worked fine before. ter. “It makes it easier to keep up with the memoran“Traditiond u m , i m p l e - larger class sizes, not necessarily ima l met hods are better for students and al- menting the system was in an effort prove teaching,” he said. “Yes, I found lows more interaction,” Coburn to best serve the needs of students and it to be useful, but overall it is not said. “At least we can use them faculty with the most cost-effective worth the $50.” According to Alligood, some classes for multiple classes, but having a purchasing and support model. Matthew Kohlmyer, a physics pro- provide a class set of clickers to help class set would be better than buyfessor using the clicker system, said it with costs and otherwise it would be ing them.” The clickers can be bought from has been used in some introductory better to offer them to students for the bookstore for $50 but can be courses for a number of years and it rent. “They’re easy to use and are pretty helps instructors get feedback on stusold back for only $20. nice, and they do what they’re sup“The cost just doesn’t seem nec- dent progress in class. “In large, 100 plus classes, it can posed to do, but there are simpler and essary,” Coburn said. Requiring students to buy click- be intimidating to ask questions,” he cheaper ways,” Alligood said. ers is due to campus standardizing said. “This system allows students to
“They do what they’re supposed to do, but there are simpler and cheaper ways.”