UNC alumna wins thousands on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" | MAY 13

UNC alumna Amber Cushing said being a contestant on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” was an item on her bucket list that she was able to check off Monday.

Maze Day brings amazing smiles | APR 25

On the first reading day of every year, the computer science department puts on a fun event for visually impaired children to travel to UNC and participate in games and activities. Gary Bishop, a computer science professor at UNC, has organized the event every year since 2005.

"Bball for All" brings together athletes, autistic children | APR 25

The image is a staple of childhood: scrambling up and down the court, dribbling the ball, chucking it at the hoop, keeping score only in laughs and smiles. But for many children with autism, there are no opportunities to forge these quintessential childhood memories. In the spirit of Autism Awareness Month, Jake Bernstein and other UNC student athletes are changing that. At the “Bball for All” basketball clinic at Fetzer Gym on April 28, more than 40 children on the autism spectrum and their siblings will get to the chance to hit the court with UNC student athletes. “There’s a limited number of extracurricular activities for kids on the autism spectrum,” said Bernstein, a member of the UNC fencing team. “The event is all about offering a chance for them to try something new and maybe continue it in the future.” Bernstein said he thought of the idea after talking with high school friends who had worked with autistic children. He proposed the idea to Carolina Outreach, an organization that works with student athletes to provide monthly community service events. Athletes from several UNC teams will volunteer at the clinic to give a one-on-one interaction with one of the five- to 13-year-old children. “For the kids, we want them to have the opportunity to have some fun, run around and interact with the student athletes,” said Cricket Lane, a Carolina Outreach coordinator. To create an open and free environment, the volunteers will let the children dictate what they do, Lane said. Bernstein and Lane said they hope that the event spreads awareness of autism throughout the UNC community, especially for the volunteers. “I think it will teach the volunteers that you can’t put autism under one umbrella,” Bernstein said.
“They are all incredible and each will have a unique experience.” Bernstein added that he hopes the athletes take ownership and a leadership role while working with the children. Elizabeth Schroeder, a UNC student, has worked with people with disabilities for more than six years and will give volunteers tips on interacting and communicating with the children. “It’s hard to categorize people with autism because each person has individual quirks and idiosyncrasies,” she said. Strategies such as trial and error and expecting the unexpected will help the volunteers get acclimated to their child, she said. She added that she hopes that the experience will help the athletes think twice before accepting some of the stereotypes of people with disabilities. “You have to try as hard as you can to interact with them as a person first and try not to think of them as an autistic, because they are so much more than that.”

Students will be spooning by the hundreds | APR 22

Ever had dreams of caressing a total stranger? Well, Tuesday is your lucky day. UNC will attempt to beat the Guinness World Record for the most people spooning.

Fun in the sun comes with risks | APR 17

Spring is a wondrous time in Chapel Hill: the temperature begins to rise, the flowers begin to bloom, the girls begin to tan. Throngs of bikini-clad tanners can be seen stretched out in the quads and in the lawns of South campus. “Pretty much any time the weather is nice, I’ll bring my work out and chill,” freshman Hayley Vermillion said. Spring staples of tossing the frisbee, spiking the volleyball and even walking to class offer prolonged exposure to the sun. To get her desired base tan, freshman Kendall Riggs stays out as long as the sun is in the sky. However, she never ventures into a tanning salon because the UV rays emitted in tanning beds can be more than 10 times stronger than the sun’s rays. “Tanning beds are a lot worse because you don’t realize how long you’ve been in there,” Riggs said. But tanning outdoors comes with health risks as well. “The fact of the matter is that tanning is tanning, so it’s all bad for your skin,” said Joan Potter, a physician at Campus Health Services.

Registration frustration | APR 14

After hours of scouring the virtual aisles of ConnectCarolina, worrying over QI and WB abbreviations, filling my cart with yellow triangles and green circles, missing the sneaky “Change Term” button, crying and staring all over, I was finally ready to put my shopping cart through the culminating and terrifying check out.

Founding Clef Hangers come home | APR 11

Tom Terrell was one of the founding members to don the now famous Clef Hangers’ bow tie, vest and the very first button. 35 years later he still has that button and he’s back to emcee the Clef’s spring concert this Saturday night in Carmichael Arena.

UNC Bucket List #13: Get covered in paint at Holi Moli | APR 10

The air was thick and filled with purples, blues, oranges and yellows as I noticed a tear run down my check.

Graduation portraits venture away from the Well | MAR 24

It’s not every day someone in a Carolina blue graduation cap and gown walks into the Student Recreation Center to take a zumba class. But that’s what Korde Tuttle, a senior graduating this May, did last week — to take his official graduation portraits. Tuttle arranged to get his graduation photo-shoot from 2009 UNC graduate Ryan Jones and his company, Rytography, which specializes in taking graduation portraits at unconventional places that have epitomized the subject’s duration at UNC. Jones’ project, #locationUNC, encourages graduates to break out of the traditional route of taking portraits at the Old Well and instead choose a location that caters to each individual’s unique journey at UNC rather than a place that generically symbolizes all UNC students.

Some students will spend spring break in class | MAR 7

While many view spring break as a time away from class, some students see it as a time to dig deeper into their field of study. Multiple courses at UNC contain a travel component over school breaks that allow students and instructors the opportunity to take a more hands-on approach to education. Professor Richard Cole’s JOMC 447: “Mass Communication in Mexico” leaves Friday morning for Mexico City to attend lectures from various journalists at three separate universities in the city, a tour of the Mexican newspaper Reforma and a tour of Televisa, which is the second largest mass media company in Latin America.

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Campus news and happenings. If you have questions or comments, e-mail dthpittalk@gmail.com. Regular features include:

UNC Bucket List: A weekly feature highlighting the 100 things students should attempt before they graduate. We check off items on our list as we go.
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Recipe of the Week: College-friendly recipes you can make in your dorm or apartment with minimal time, effort and skill.

From the Archives: We feature a little-known bit of history from UNC’s libraries

Student of the Week: Profiles of your classmates doing cool things.

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