SPORTS
BASEBALL
EVENTS
Greg Ward’s versatility has him playing receiver full time and he hopes to be one of the starters when the season begins.
Fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi will rock in rocking chairs for 50 hours to promote awareness.
Playing with the ‘big boys’
Rocking out for the breast cancer SEE PAGE 7
SEE PAGE 5
APRIL
CALENDAR CHECK: 16
Ethics. “Bubble-boy” David Vetter will be discussed at 11 a.m. in PGH, Room 232.
THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
S T U D E N T
N E W S PA P E R
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T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Issue 104, Volume 79 STUDY ABROAD
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ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM
OBITUARY
Provost approves Former coach dies at 59 $200K fund increase Christopher Shelton Sports editor
Natalie Harms Managing editor
Students planning to study abroad in the next academic school year can expect more financial aid from the University, as Provost Paula Short approved a $200,000 increase to the existing funds. “So now students will have more money — more scholarships and more students — and not only that, but the scholarship amount will be higher than it was in the past,” said Jaime Ortiz, vice provost of global strategies and studies in the Department of Academic Affairs. The funds allotted to studyabroad programs now totals $300,000 per year, according to a
UH press release, and the more funds made available means more opportunities for students to study abroad. Short said she made a commitment to double the amount of students going abroad in five years. “With the availability of meaningful scholarship awards, we expect to see an increase in the number of students graduating with a study-abroad experience,” Short said in the release. Students already planning to study abroad this summer can apply for the excess funds until May 1, something Richard STUDY continues on page 3
Former women’s basketball coach Joe Curl, who had 193 wins, the most in program history, passed away on Monday. | 2004 Houstonian
Joe Curl, the most accomplished women’s basketball coach in UH history, passed away Monday morning after a lengthy battle with heart issues. Curl, 59, died of congestive heart failure near the Houston Medical Center, according to Fox 26. He has needed a transplant since he suffered a heart attack in 2007. Curl retired three years later, after his condition worsened. Though he underwent a procedure last August to insert a heart pump, Curl had been on the transplant list for more than a year. Curl coached the team for 12 seasons, compiled a 193-167 record and became the longest tenured and CURL continues on page 5
HEALTH
Student loses to try to win in weight-loss contest BoJanay Posey Staff writer
Free food was the deal in exchange for promoting his local Genghis Grill restaurant and improving his overall health — so optometry graduate student Kourosh Zakeri took the oppurtunity. “I like challenges, and I thought it would be a good way to have a set date and a set challenge to help me with my weight,” Zakeri said. “Because it’s very hard to lose weight if you’re just trying to generally eat less and generally make better chooses. It’s easier if you have a specific date or a specific challenge.” Zakeri swapped his usual oncea-month visit to Genghis Grill for the Genghis Grill Health Kwest, which required him to eat a bowl every day for 60 days while promoting the restaurant via social media. The contestant with the most points, which are gained by losing pounds and being active on social media, would win $10,000, and the second-place contestant win
Optometry graduate student Kourosh Zakeri lost 52 pounds during Genghis Grill’s Health Kwest, a 60-day weight loss challenge, in exchange for promoting the restaurant through social media. | Courtesy of Kourosh Zakeri $1,600. At the 30-day mark, Zakeri ranked eighth of 100 at nearly 3,000 points, 250 points less than the first-place contestant. “If I don’t win, I still have won for my weight lost and the positive
influence it had on my health, but at the same time it would be nice to win — I still don’t know the result — but it would be nice to win some money to help pay for school and such,” Zakeri said. The Genghis Grill Health Kwest
ended Friday. Zakeri won’t know whether he won for a few weeks, but during the 60-day competition, he lost 52 pounds; dropped from a 46 to a 38 in pants size; uploaded his first YouTube video, which received more than 1,000 views; and has developed a love for frozen veggies. “It’s very easy to go to class and study all day and having to just eat out always,” Zakeri said. “I’m a big fan of frozen veggies. I feel I discovered something everyone else already knew about and been acting like it’s a new discovery.” Along with healthy habits, the Health Kwest proved to have other unexpected benefits for Zakeri. “I thought I wouldn’t be very much involved in knowing what others are doing throughout the contest or even thinking about them or them thinking about me,” Zakeri said. “There were definitely the stresses and challenges that were related to befriending people in the competition
and having those lines blurred of who you’re competing with versus who you just want to be friends with. But at that same token, I made some very good friends in the contest, and I am quite confident I will be friends with them for life.” Barbara Nixon, a fellow Health Kwest participant, is now good friends with Zakeri. They met on the contestants’ Facebook page. “I was surprised how much I ended up caring how others were faring in the competition. I love seeing people’s before-and-after photos that they are posting,” Nixon said. Though she lost about a pound a week, Nixon said she does not think she will win. Instead, Nixon is rooting for Zakeri. “Kourosh reminds me so much of my sons,” Nixon said. “He’s encouraging to others and also cares that people are treated fairly. He’s bright and WEIGHT continues on page 7