Indiana’s Oldest College Newspaper
TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014
VOL. 162, ISSUE 45
Relay for Life raises money for cancer, Walker cup and Ferid Murad draws smaller turnout than years past Medal winners announced By JULIE BLOCK
By NETTIE FINN
news@thedepauw.com
news@thedepauw.com
Students, faculty and members of the Greencastle community took over the Indoor Track and Field complex on Saturday for Relay for Life, a national annual fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Participants could form teams, with each team being required to have at least one member walking around the track at all times. Nationally the walk is 24 hours long, but DePauw’s was 12, taking place from 9:00 am until 9:00 pm. In addition, students and community members set up booths, either selling products or coordinating activities to raise money for Relay. “There’s local businesses here. Some of them made cake pops or made bracelets and stuff that they’re selling,” said first-year Emily Ward, who has been an active participant in Relay for Life since she was in fourth grade. “There’s a bunch of events that you donate for. They have themed laps and DJs and Zumba and all these activities, and it’s just super fun and for a good cause.” In addition to local business vendors, many greek organizations and other student organizations on campus held fundraising opportunities for Relay for Life. A few examples include Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority selling flower pots, Alpha Chi Omega sorority selling bracelets and teaching customers how to make them and Pi Beta Phi sorority selling pies to ‘Pie a Pi Phi’ in the face. “[Selling flower pots] is a traditional thing for Kappa, and it often falls on our mom’s weekend,” first-year Stephanie Baxter-Ivey said during the event on Saturday. “So our moms and us, we all got together and painted flower pots this morning, and it was really fun.” Senior Carrie McElvain, team recruit-
A local resident pies first-year Mackenzie Sikora in the face with a whipped cream pie at the ‘Pie a Pi Phi’ event at Relay for Life on Saturday. JULIE BLOCK / THE DEPAUW
ment chair, has been hard at work all year trying to get people to sign up for Relay. “My role throughout the year was getting people to sign up for Relay and having people make teams, so I went out to the community and talked to different stores and different companies, and then I also went around DePauw,” McElvain said. “We had battle of the professors to see which department could raise the most money and have the most
people sign up and we also did that with Greek houses and a bunch of different organizations on campus.” Her efforts, however, may not have been enough. “I think the energy this year is good,” McElvain said. “I think it’s been better in past years. This turnout this year has definitely been lower than in years be
Relay | cont’d on page 4
This year, the Ferid Murad Medal was awarded to Samantha M. Anderson, with the Walker Cup going to Sandy Tran. These two seniors were awarded at the 2014 Academic Awards Convention that was held last night with a nearly full Kresge Auditorium watching. Traditionally, the Walker Cup is the most prestigious award presented at the Awards Convention. This year, the addition of the Ferid Murad Medal gave the Walker Cup stiff competition in the form of an award based purely on the “senior who has had the most significant scholarly and/or artistic achievements during his or her time at DePauw.” The three finalists for the Ferid Murad Medal included Anderson, Trina Manalo and Maritza Mestre. The finalists for the Walker Cup were Olivia Flores, Ben Hazen and Sandy Tran. To start things off, keynote speaker, Chinonye Chukwu ’07, spoke, challenging the seniors in the audience “to reflect upon what you can take away from your years at DePauw.” Afterwards, the many awards were presented to students involved in various academic areas and majors. The presentation of the Ferid Murad Medal and the Walker Cup finished things off. Dave Berque, dean of Academic Life, presented the Ferid Murad Medal. He spoke at length of the myriad accomplishments of the three finalists. “All 14 nominees exemplify our academic excellence, and these three [nominees] especially,” he said. Anderson, winner of the Ferid Murad Medal said in an interview after the award ceremony that, “It’s a really great honor, and I’m glad to have been the first person to have won the Ferid Murad.” University President Brian Casey presented the Walker Cup. As he knew each of the three nominees personally, he gave introductory remarks that spoke to each individual’s accomplishments. “When you least expect it, she will tell you what needs to happen,” Casey said of Flores, Both Hazen and eventual winner Tran, received their fair share of praise from Casey as well. “Ben is a person who’s always in motion,” Casey said. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a busier person in my life.” Of Walker Cup winner, Tran, he added, “The best way to describe Sandy is to say she creates space. She saw a need for a type of conversation that hadn’t happened here, and she made the space for it.” After winning the Walker Cup, Tran herself added that for a long time, she had not been sure where her life would take her. “I wasn’t even sure college was for me,” Tran said, “and four year later, this is where I’m standing.”