The Daily Tar Heel
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The Daily Tar Heel

PIT TALK


Duckies, Duke and a Carolina Invasion

There seem to be only two reasons for a Tar Heel to go to Duke—one, to perform a Carolina invasion, and two because, well, there just might be a few (small) things that are worth the visit. Carolina students are at no loss for creative and dramatic displays of rivalry when it comes to an invasion.


Professors discuss importance of Moral Mondays

UNC medical professor Charles van der Horst said the North Carolina legislature has done more harm than good this year. “These folks are fiscally nutty, immoral, harming my patients, and hurting voters’ rights,” he said.


UNC Bucket List is a weekly feature highlighting the 100 things students should attempt before they graduate.


DIY: Dining Hall Edition

There’s nothing quite as disappointing as taking that third spin around the dining hall only to finally discover that nothing on the menu sounds appealing — especially when that means you’re left with the trusty-but-boring hamburger/pasta/salad bar combo.


Places to stay away from while on your Carolina Way

When the Daily Tar Heel challenged students to come up with the most obnoxious places on campus, they were not shy to share what places bothered them the most. “It smells like despair and broken dreams,” said freshman Brian Schmid when asked to describe his least favorite place on campus – Philips Hall.


Why We’re “Carolina” and You’re Not

So apparently there’s a university down in South Carolina (cough cough USC) that has the AUDACITY to call themselves “Carolina.” We’re here to clear up this little matter, and explain, once and for all, why UNC is the only Carolina around. 1.


	Sean Tapley, a wide receiver for the football team, proposed to his longtime girlfriend Britney Smith, a senior at UNC, on the first day of classes — at the same place where they first met.

Football player proposes to girlfriend at Old Well

When UNC senior Britney Smith walked to the Old Well on the first day of class to meet Sean Tapley, the last thing she expected was to see her boyfriend of three years wearing a suit. Encouraged by the cheers of their friends and members of the UNC community, Tapley, a wide receiver for the football team, knelt down on one knee and proposed at the same place where they first met.


Maze Day brings amazing smiles

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

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.”


Fun in the sun comes with risks

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

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.