11/30 issue

Page 1

News: Lecture discusses Israeli-Palestine conflict Page 6

Opinion: Female economists deserve more representation Page 8

Sports: Catch up with John Collins Life: How to bake simple Page 13 holiday treats Page 16

Old Gold&Black WAKE FOREST’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1916

VOL. 102, NO. 12

T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 3 0 , 2 017 “Cover s the campus like the magnolias”

wfuogb.com

First-year students explore Copenhagen As the Global AWAKEnings program ends its inaugural semester, freshmen learn to thrive abroad BY HEATHER HARTEL Staff Writer harthf15@wfu.edu The majority of students on campus consider studying abroad a fundamental component of a Wake Forest education. The abroad experience is designed to help students grow, as many students live alone for the first time, learn to navigate public transportation, buy groceries and cook for themselves, legally drink alcohol and meet people from around the world. These reasons, and countless others, help explain why 66 percent of Wake Forest students study abroad during their time at school. Yet, most students typically opt to study abroad some time during their junior year, as they have two years on campus completed and will get to enjoy another full year and a half upon returning to the U.S. Until this past year, this was not only a personal choice, it was universitymandated to be on campus for one’s first year. This fall was the inaugural year of the Global AWAKEnings program, initiating incoming freshman to spend an entire year abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. “I decided that I wanted to spend my freshman year in Copenhagen because I wanted an opportunity to change and to grow in all aspects of my life,” said freshman Kira Tabor, a member of the freshman class in Copenhagen. “By living in another country, I get to step outside of my comfort zone and totally immerse into another culture as a chance to challenge my intellectual perspectives.” Whether desire to travel, desire to grow, desire to learn or to experience new cultures, the students that decided to spend their first year in a foreign country all came for unique reasons. Colleen Riley, another member of the program, looked at the various humanities courses she would take before deciding to commit.

Heather Hartel/Old Gold & Black

All the freshman students in the Global AWAKEnings program live together in a dormitory in Copenhagen, shown above, and travel the European continent as a group. “I intend to study science, but also wanted a chance to see other things before I committed to that,” Riley said. “I really wanted the chance to learn about the topics that were offered here.” While still fully immersed in the city, the students get aspects of normalcy in their lives as they

all live together, take their classes together and travel together. However, the students that decide to spend their first year abroad are maturing and gaining independence

See Copenhagen, Page 4

Athletic ability and sustainability intersect Organization aims to raise awareness of sustainability among student athletes BY JUSTIN MATRONE Contributing Writer matrjt14@wfu.edu Student-athletes at Wake Forest frequently make an impact on the field, but now, they’re also aiming to make an impact in the community. The Student-Athlete Sustainability Network (SASN) is an organization of student-athletes interested in making Wake Forest a more sustainable campus. According to its mission statement online,

“Its purpose is to empower student-athletes to assume leadership roles in reducing energy consumption, waste and water use within their respective athletic teams and the athletics department as a whole.” Brian Cohen, program coordinator for the Office of Sustainability, said a few student-athletes came to the office looking to get involved last fall. After a few conversations, SASN was formed; it’s a peer network modeled after the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), with one or more representatives per team. “While we do work with athletics on larger, more structural sustainability projects, we hadn’t yet found a way to reach the student-athletes directly,” Cohen said.

To a majority of the nation, Wake Forest is known as a small school in North Carolina whose athletic teams compete against the “big dogs” in the ACC. Because of this, Wake Forest’s student-athletes and athletic teams are likely one of the only visual representations of the school to many Americans, and this notion demonstrates potential for impact beyond Wake Forest’s campus. Sarah Fahmy, an Oregon native and cross country and track athlete who graduated in May, was the founder of SASN, seeking a way to do her part in making the world a better place. “I’ve spent several years living abroad in Egypt, and seeing hillsides of trash and

clean water shortages really had an effect on me,” Fahmy said. “Part of the reason I wanted to start a sustainability group for student-athletes is because it’s really challenging for them to get involved in sustainability projects and efforts, [managing] classes, homework, tutoring, study hall, travel, competition, practice and lift, let alone volunteer work that helps the environment.” Fahmy thought a group like SASN would facilitate this involvement. She reached out to other student-athletes by emailing them and shooting the breeze in the ice bath and training room.

See Sustainability, Page 5


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