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(04/21/08 4:00am)
It's his first cardiac arrest.
Junior Paul Trottman crouches in the back as the ambulance careens through Raleigh's neighborhood streets, its sirens a high-pitched fanfare for the arrival.
As it jerks to a stop, Trottman jogs behind the rest of the Emergency Medical Technician squad - a paramedic and another EMT volunteer - into the house.
The victim of the arrest is dead. But the team still begins a resuscitation procedure with Trottman in charge of the endotracheal tube, which helps people breathe if they can't do it themselves.
(04/13/07 4:00am)
From the way professor Michael Hunt spoke to his Vietnam War class Wednesday afternoon, it would seem that he was addressing a class of 10 to 15 people.
In fact, about 100 students perched in the movie-theater-style chairs of Chapman Hall, all eyes following Hunt's movement across the front of the classroom.
"Even though it's a big class, he manages to keep it engaging," said senior Zack Yates as he sat in the back of the lecture hall.
"It has a hint of personalness."
(02/15/07 5:00am)
Eve Carson and Nick Neptune are starting the final duel to be student body president.
But there was a time when student government didn't exist - and students just dueled for the heck of it.
At the University's beginnings, rowdy student behavior - including fist fights, pranks and even pistol duels - rapidly drew the attention of the administration. None of the duels were fatal, but many students were expelled.
"The students were a rambunctious lot," said John Sanders, former director of the School of Government, who was elected student body president in 1950. "They tended to engage in various pranks or activities to amuse themselves."
In response to the misbehavior, particularly the duels, the Board of Trustees implemented a system of student monitors in 1805, and the seeds of student government were formed.
The students despised the new monitors system, which required the chosen monitors, among other duties, to report on fellow students when they skipped class, missed church or swore.
The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies - debating groups that formed in 1795 and constituted the entire student body between the two of them - developed an unofficial judicial nature in the 1830s.
The societies were the first to elect student leaders and to govern themselves.
"I think the idea is that if we're expected to behave as adults in the classroom and to make contributions as scholars, then we should also be capable of setting our own standards and governing our own conduct," Student Body President James Allred said.
The end of governance by the debating societies came in 1904 with the development of Student Council, which acted as a student congress. In 1921, the council became an executive branch when the first student body president was elected.
In 1938, student government expanded with the formation of a student legislature. Eighteen years later, the legislature joined with the Coed Senate - a legislature made up of all women students.
"(Student Government) has evolved over two centuries through student experience and devising new ways of doing things in light of the events of the time," Sanders said.
Although the students disliked the first student monitors, once they developed the idea of electing student leaders, they clung to it.
"Whenever there's a hint of administrators who want to compromise that self-government, not only the students, but people that can, step forward," said Doug Dibbert, president of the General Alumni Association, who campaigned for Alan Albright, student body president from 1969-70.
"They have pride in it."
Beginning in the 1920s, candidates ran not as individuals, but as members of one of two parties. The sororities and fraternities on campus made up the University Party, while the Student Party included everyone else.
"They were an important way of bringing people into student government and student politics," said Sanders, who was elected in 1950 as a nominee of the Student Party.
The parties disintegrated in the 1970s as the campus became more diversified and political ideologies became strained during the Vietnam War.
"The times had changed and this mode of operation no longer satisfied student interest and taste," Sanders said. "It has to be indigenous to the campus and fit the needs of the time or it doesn't work."
Allred said he thinks parties would be detrimental to campus life today.
"I think it's a problem to have the campus that divided," he said. "The student body president has to stand up for everyone on campus.
Parties or not, elections allow UNC students to take the reins of their governance, Allred said.
"I think it's important that there's that level of accountability to that person on top," he said.
"I think it also does a lot to impress on the president's mind that they're really only there because the students have entrusted them to fulfill that role."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(01/19/07 5:00am)
North Carolina has the second-largest Quaker population in the United States.
No, not the number of Quaker Oatmeal boxes stocking the supermarket shelves, although this is a common misconception, at least for a close friend of Chapel Hill native Will King.
King said that when they were kids, his friend thought the Quaker God was the man on the cereal box.
"It was surprising to learn how little people knew about (Quakerism) because to me it seemed like a normal thing," said King, a junior at William and Mary College and a practicing Quaker.
Often people equate Quakers with the Amish, assuming they live without electricity and wear bonnets.
Although these perceptions seem a bit extreme, they are not entirely off base. Simplicity is one of the major tenets of the Religious Society of Friends, Quakerism's official name.
Of the Quaker testimonies, equality, simplicity and peace hold the greatest importance.
Besides these and the major belief that there is "that of God" in every person, Quakers don't adhere to a set creed.
"Once you have a creed, you sort of stop listening," said Robin Harper, activities director at The Forest at Duke in Durham and a frequent attendee of the Chapel Hill Quaker Meeting. "We want to keep it alive and keep it an ongoing dialogue with God."
King said Quakerism is not necessarily part of the Christian faith because it doesn't say that Jesus is the only way to God.
Junior Shannon Skinner, a religious studies major, considers herself a Quaker but not a Christian.
"I consider it much more of a spirituality than a religion," she said. "It's much more about God than about Jesus."
Similarly, freshman Liz Blayney from Greenville said she likes how Quakerism remains nondiscriminatory, accepting people of all faiths and is devoted to "helping people find their own spiritual way."
"God for me was always more of a spiritual thing than a man on a cloud," she said.
This free personal approach has drawn many people to the Quaker faith. While Blayney and King were both raised Quakers, Harper and Skinner converted.
"I think a lot of people in Quakerism are much stronger in their faith because it's very individual and gives you a lot of flexibility," Skinner said. For example, some Quakers embrace the traditionally plain clothing, while others, such as Skinner, opt to express their spirituality in other ways.
Although King has practiced Quaker faith all his life, he said he isn't surprised that so many people feel drawn to it.
"It's something lots of people can relate to, people who are questioning the religion their parents gave them," he said.
It's in meetings that Quakers feel and manifest their sense of relationship with one another and with God. Programmed meetings, led by a pastor, resemble church services. In unprogrammed meetings, members sit in silence and think until someone feels the need to share something with the group.
Chapel Hill Friends and Durham Friends both meet on Sundays. The Quaker Student Organization used to meet on campus but is not active this year due to a lack of interest.
"I have found one of the most powerful things is sitting in silence with other people," Skinner said. "You spend so much time in our culture talking to people and feeling almost obligated to talk to people."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(11/29/06 5:00am)
Chris Baty blames it on coffee.
Sitting at home late one night, charged with too much caffeine, Baty sent an e-mail to his friends announcing they would write a novel within a month.
"I think it was just one of those crazy, over-caffeinated ideas that you get sometimes," said Baty, program director of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.
The program, which began as a 21-person effort in July 1999 in Oakland, Calif., challenges experienced and non-experienced writers to scribble 50,000 words between midnight Nov. 1 and midnight Nov. 30 - averaging 1,667 words a day.
Winners receive their name on the Web site's winner's page, a PDF certificate and the manuscript itself.
For many, this recognition isn't the focus.
"For a lot of people, NaNoWriMo was the first time they realized, 'Oh my gosh, I have this book in me, and I probably have a lot of books in me,'" Baty said. "It changes people's sense of what they can do and what's possible in life."
Baty's program has grown significantly, which he said was a welcome shock.
In 2005, NaNoWriMo boasted 59,000 participants, 9,769 winners and 714,227,354 words. In 2006 the program expanded across the world to places such as China, Egypt - and Chapel Hill.
"It's a real testament to the idea that people have just such great creative abilities that really, I think, remain untapped," Baty said.
Freshman Karen Bernstein became Chapel Hill's municipal liaison this year. Liaisons are the cheerleaders for the WriMos - the affectionate nickname for participants.
"I had such a great experience doing it last year and really wanted other people to have the opportunity to do it and make sure they knew about it," said Bernstein, a Charlotte native.
She has helped organize events such as write-ins - weekly group meetings held at Caribou Coffee on Franklin Street.
"It's very motivational to get together with eight or nine other people who are just as frustrated as you are," Bernstein said.
With only one day to finish their novels, participants said their stress levels have peaked. But one aspect of the writing challenge that can alleviate this stress is the fact that quantity, not quality, matters most.
"It's incredibly liberating," said Bernstein, who finished 50,000 words at 2:30 a.m. Monday. "You can be sitting there writing and knowing that something's completely horrible, but you can't focus on that because you have to look ahead."
Participants must combat another challenge: writer's block.
Leah Thomas, a freshman from High Point who chose to write an autobiography, said she deals with writer's block by listening to Jack Johnson and eating popcorn.
"The worst part is not knowing what to write and knowing I was only halfway through," said Thomas, who had written 40,591 words by 5 p.m. Tuesday. "This is a nonfiction story, and I had to write a chapter labeled 'This is fiction; be quiet about it.'"
Despite the potentially bad output, nine NaNoWriMo manuscripts have been sold to big-name publishers. For some, it's a dream; for others, maybe not.
"A part of the fun for me is writing something that no one else will ever see, that will never be judged or graded by anyone," Bernstein said.
"No one really expects me to be able to sit down and do a novel, and that in itself is inspiring."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(11/13/06 5:00am)
It began with sugar balls and mud pies.
Liz Turgeon's passion for cooking started as a kid with clumps of flour, sugar and sprinkles, and platters of dirt and onion grass. Sunday afternoon, though, she demonstrated her cooking skills have progressed to a more advanced - and edible - phase.
She spent an hour in a Carmichael Residence Hall kitchen preparing shrimp stir fry as one of six contestants in the first Iron Chef College Style Cook-off sponsored by the Carolina Union Activities Board.
"I just sort of started experimenting," said Turgeon, a freshman, of her beginnings as a chef. "It's a nice outlet when I'm stressed."
The competition, based on a popular Food Network show, gave four teams a budget of $15 to make the appetizer, entree, dessert or combination of the three of their choice. Cooks were given an hour to prepare their meals and figure out a way to include the secret ingredient: cornflakes.
"It's something that a lot of students enjoy doing, so why not do a contest and reward people for their creativeness?" said Nick Harper, chairman of Creative Outlets, a committee of CUAB.
Contestants were judged by two students and Jed Busbee, a chef from A Southern Season in University Mall. Meals were judged on presentation, originality, taste and incorporation of the cornflakes.
A love of cooking - and eating - brought students to the kitchens in Carmichael.
"I just, I don't know, like to eat, so I guess I just like to cook," said freshman Marco Torelli, from Greenville. "I guess I was hungry, and then I cooked something, and I liked doing it, so I just kept on doing it."
Busbee, who has been cooking professionally for eight years, has a similar story. He first started cooking when he was 12 years old.
"I was hungry one night and my mom wasn't home," he said. "The more I worked around food, it intrigued me."
"There are a lot of people who think cooking is something only professionals can do," he said. "It's more about knowing the base of what things are and then being creative with the rest of it."
And Sunday afternoon, contestants certainly were creative.
Sophomore Andre Barbour, a late entrant, won first place with his self-dubbed "Ride 15 Fan Fiesta Chicken," chicken and tortilla chips with salsa and crushed cornflakes.
He received a cooking utensil trophy - a rolling pin emblazoned with the words "Iron Chef" - and a $50 gift certificate to a restaurant of his choice on Franklin Street.
Torelli came in second with his pollo con zucchini and a dessert parfait. He accepted an assortment of wooden spoons and a $30 certificate. Turgeon received a measuring cup and a $20 certificate for her third-place finish.
Sophomore Phillip Pless' red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and cornflakes received fourth place, but he didn't leave empty-handed. Busbee handed Pless his business card on his way out the door and told him he needed a part-time baker.
"I'm shocked but excited," said Pless, who cooks for his own enjoyment. "I might take him up."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(11/10/06 5:00am)
A warm breeze joined the laughter at
3 Cups coffee shop Thursday night as Julian Bach joined 11 other students for his first meeting as an official Bahai.
Bach announced to the group, a mix of longtime Bahais and students visiting to satisfy their religious curiosity, that he had converted to the Bahai religion four days ago.
Bahai, as the youngest monotheistic religion, now has an estimated five million followers in 236 countries. It began in Persia, now Iran, in 1844 and gathers people from all ethnic, religious and national backgrounds to make it one of the world's most widespread faiths.
Its major tenet is to unify mankind into one global community.
Gathered around three hastily pulled-together patio tables, the students came together to prep for the upcoming holiday.
Sunday marks one of nine Bahai holidays and celebrates the birth of the faith's founder, Baha'u'llah, who experienced a religious revelation while in prison in Persia. Followers will celebrate with food, music and meditation.
"All of our activities are just to spiritualize and invigorate people and allow them to think on a broader level," said junior Vesall Nourani, a political science major from Carrboro who attends Bahai meetings at 3 Cups each week.
"As Bahais we don't care about convincing people," Nourani said. "We care about exploring something."
At the informal meeting, not everyone knew each other - but all knew Nourani. Meetings intertwine Bahai texts with those of other religions. The goal, Nourani said, is to "spiritualize their college experience."
For 35-year-old Mark Derewicz, a writer for Endeavors magazine at UNC, the search for truth was the Bahai tenet that called to him.
"A big deal in the Bahai faith is investigation," said Derewicz, who converted from Catholicism to Bahai at age 29.
Unifying the values of many religions is crucial to the Bahai belief system. Followers see all religions as part of the same faith and all humanity as part of the same race.
"I believe I am a much better Christian now than I've ever been," Derewicz said.
For Nathan Huening, a Texan who came to UNC for graduate school, Bahai is about trying to go past "man-made distinctions" between people of different backgrounds.
"What people are good at is classifying things," he said. "We like to put up boundaries and borders."
Raised in the Bahai faith, junior Nima Nematollahi said he vividly remembers experiencing these distinctions growing up in a religion not understood by most people.
"I always thought I was different," the Charlotte native said. "But once you find out more about yourself, you find these commonalities between you and other people. I began to see it not as a divisive issue but an issue that draws people together."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(10/10/06 4:00am)
The low voice rose and fell through the quiet of reflection as junior Arif Khan sang the call to prayer outside the green cloth tent that formed the sukkah.
Bundles of leaves dangled from the ceiling above the door, and the crowd gathered around the table outside the structure. They stood, dates in hand, and sent up their own prayers as Khan's song faded and the iftar began.
Iftar in the Sukkah, an interfaith event, gathered Jewish and Muslim students Monday to celebrate a major holiday for each religion - despite global tensions between the two religions.
Sukkot and Ramadan coincided this year, and two groups, N.C. Hillel and the Muslim Student Association, capitalized on this with brief speeches about the two feasts, prayers led by members of both faiths and a breaking of the Ramadan fast with dates and food provided by the Mediterranean Deli.
"They have to eat, we have to eat, we like to eat, and this way we get to mingle," said junior Stephanie Berman, Hillel student board external affairs chair.
A student spoke about Ramadan, a monthlong holiday that commemorates the time when Muslims believe God revealed the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad .
During the holiday Muslims share a pre-dawn meal, fast during the day and then break their fast with the iftar. Most of all Ramadan focuses on spiritual cleansing and prayer.
During the prayer that followed the brief on Ramadan, Muslim students invited everyone to pray along in their own words.
"Most Americans have never seen Muslims pray before," Berman said. "And I think it's really amazing and beautiful."
Junior Michael Murray, vice president on the student board at Hillel, then stepped forward to speak about Sukkot.
The holiday begins five days after Yom Kippur, the most solemn day of the Jewish calendar.
During Sukkot, Jews dwell in a sukkah, a tent meant to imitate the one Moses used while wandering through the wilderness. Jews traditionally perform daily activities within the sukkah, although it's sometimes used just for meals.
Murray finished with a prayer over the lulav - a tall cluster of plant stalks - and the etrog - a yellow fruit. He shook the lulav in six directions to show that God is everywhere.
One point of the gathering was to show that God is indeed everywhere and is with both Muslims and Jews, Khan said.
"I think the general population focuses on the differences because that's what the media focuses on," he said. "But the difference here is that the students focus more on the similarities."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(09/22/06 4:00am)
Senior Taylor Steelman, in her green S.U.D.A.N. T-shirt and blue bandanna, listened as O.A.R. and Big&Rich filled New York City's Central Park with music. Hands swayed and waved signs, she said.
But this was not a typical concert.
Instead Steelman was standing beside Muslims, Jews, Christians and others in a united effort to help people in the Darfur region of Sudan.
"For Jewish groups who have really been leading the faith-based effort in activism, they relate it to the Holocaust," Steelman said. "It's very personalized.
"Muslim groups have brought their members into this effort by connecting them to fellow Muslims in Darfur. For Christian groups, again, it's a call to service."
Sunday was Global Day for Darfur and about 20,000 people, including about 30 UNC students, gathered in Central Park in a call for peace in Darfur, where violence has caught attention around the world.
Some UNC students were affiliated with religious groups, others were members of Students United for Darfur Awareness Now. All of them are representative of a global movement that's bringing people of diverse faiths to the same table.
"It's really nice to know that all of these groups who are able to find so many differences between them are also able to find so much common ground and work towards the greater good," said sophomore Lizzie Bernold, a member of N.C. Hillel who helped coordinate the trip.
The fact that different religious groups, many with histories of fighting, are uniting in the name of one cause points to the importance of the issue in Sudan, she said.
The current conflict in the Darfur region of Western Sudan began three years ago. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than two million have fled their homes.
"The current situation is a continuing, now low-intensity conflict with sporadic fighting and sporadic human rights abuses," political science professor Andrew Reynolds said.
African Union peacekeepers, the only peacekeeping force in Darfur, offer inadequate help because they lack money and military experience, Reynolds said.
In a deal announced Wednesday, the United Nations agreed to lend the African peacekeepers materials, allowing the troops to extend their stay in Darfur to Dec. 31 from the original departure date of Sept. 30. But a lack of funding will force the peacekeepers to leave in December.
"The big-picture issue is to get significant European or U.N. forces into that region to protect attacks," he said. "That's not happening."
This is exactly what rallies such as Sunday's in Central Park hope to change. The blue hats worn by many protestors symbolized the blue helmets worn by U.N. peacekeepers.
"The main goal was to put attention on the need for U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, which people have been calling for for a while," said Steelman, a senior international studies major.
Members from Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities spoke Sunday.
Local religious groups outside the University also are getting involved with the movement.
"It's important that we see that it's a human issue and that we recognize that people from different faiths value human life," said Debra Murphy, director of Christian education at the Fuquay-Varina United Methodist Church, which held a candlelight vigil Sunday for the cause.
Darfur-awareness events were happening around the world, not just in New York and Raleigh. A group of Christians, Muslims and Jews gathered last weekend on Downing Street in front of Prime Minister Tony Blair's house to pray, while others demonstrated outside the Sudanese Embassy.
Steelman called UNC students of all religions to join together for peace in Darfur at a candlelight vigil Oct. 5 by the Bell Tower, an event happening at schools around the country.
"The fact that there are multiple faiths is a testament to how important of an issue this is - that people can transcend religious differences."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(04/12/06 4:00am)
Most college students can stay up as late as they want and eat whatever they please, but when it comes to filling out taxes, many still opt for the familiar.
"My parents have always filled them out for me in the past," says freshman Kelly Gillis.
But with the tax deadline coming up April 15, there are some who take on this responsibility personally.
Senior Tiffany Reed has filed her taxes for the last four years.
"Everyone should do it at least once or twice on your own so you know what you're doing with your own money," she says.
Another way to get in-person help with filing is through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, a program that trains community members to help people from low- and middle-income households.
Help is still available at the Chapel Hill Senior Center, 400 A1 S. Elliott Road. Volunteers will accept appointments and walk-ins 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. Call 968-2070 to schedule an appointment.
Computer programs such as TurboTax make the process a little easier, says senior Bryan Corey.
"They help to organize everything. Instead of having paper everywhere, just plug it into the computer. It takes some of the human error out of it."
The Internal Revenue Service offers an Internet filing program, which allows people to fill out tax returns without the hassle of paperwork. To pay electronically through a bank account, the account number and financial institution's routing number are necessary.
Carolina Student Legal Services Inc. also offers tips on its Web site, www.unc.edu/student/orgs/sls.
"I do it in pencil first and make copies for myself so I see what I did wrong," to cut down on the number of mistakes, Reed says.
Tax forms with names that sound like robot villains out of a science fiction film, such as 4868, W-4 and the dreaded 1040, just make the process more grueling.
"It seems kind of weird and arbitrary, and you wonder if you're filling out the right things," Reed says.
Add a stereotype of the IRS as the "bad guy" out to steal money and filling out taxes quickly becomes a high-stress activity.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to do it right and didn't want to mess with the government," Reed says.
But after she made a mistake last year, she realized the IRS really isn't that scary.
"Now that I did it once, I realize it's not a big deal."
And, as in everything, the early bird catches the worm, or at least doesn't get audited by the IRS.
"Don't put it off, because it's not as scary as it seems," Reed says.
But six-month extensions are available for chronic procrastinators - to apply for the extension, use Form 4868. While it doesn't lengthen the time in which a person has to pay the tax, it allows more time to get the paperwork in.
But after the initial fear, filling out taxes just gets easier, and anxiety and nerves die down a lot, Corey says.
"Having done it once, it'll come easier the next time."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(03/29/06 5:00am)
Lemonade stands are a favorite pastime for budding entrepreneurs, though most profits end up going toward piggy-bank savings accounts.
But Alex Scott - who was diagnosed with cancer in 1997, just two days before her first birthday - ended up donating her money to pediatric cancer research.
By the time she was 8 years old, lemonade stands that she and others operated raised almost $1 million.
"Obviously Alex proved that every girl can make a difference," says Liz Scott, Alex's mother. "Her little 4-year-old self managed to raise a million dollars in her lifetime."
(03/27/06 5:00am)
For many, childhood and adolescence pass in a blur of hobbies and passionate adventures, activities seeped in a deep-seated excitement and love inherent in a particular pastime.
In UNC professor Elliot McGucken's "Artistic Entrepreneurship and Technology" class, students and teachers work to "make your passion your profession," transforming students' dreams and interests into potential paths for the future.
The unique course allows students interested in fields such as photography, video games, painting, classical music and film production to explore commercial and social ventures in the arts.
They search for and create a plan based in entrepreneurship, which supports and nurtures their individual visions.
"A lot of times school tells you that your dreams aren't important," says McGucken, a physics professor. "But in reality dreams are the best thing you can have."
The class consists of an independent project that includes three presentations, guest lectures and small-group collaboration.
Sophomore Phil Gennett's project is a clothing line, and he is trying to find a manufacturer for his creations.
He also intends to set up a talent agency.
"I want to blow it up into a new sort of entertainment, like American Idol, but also as a social network for opportunities," Gennett says.
Sophomore Ryan Dean is working on multiple projects. He runs a graphic design company called Cellar Door Design. He also has joined with a photographer in the class to create CD booklet artwork for the second album by his band, The Anchor Comes Home.
"What's most helpful is meeting like-minded people," Dean says.
"The best thing about this class is establishing relationships with the other students and collaborating with each other."
Stefan Estrada, graduate student and teaching assistant for the class, shares a similar view.
"The people in this class have ambition and a vision of things they want to accomplish," Estrada says.
"This isn't a class where you get something done and forget about it. It continues to maybe become your career."
Continuing entrepreneurship in the real world is the goal of the new and expanding entrepreneurship program at UNC, says Buck Goldstein, the entrepreneur in residence at the Carolina Entrepreneurship Initiative.
"(The class) is a tiny piece of a much bigger picture," he says.
Goldstein is a key player in the development of the entrepreneurship minor.
"It's making entrepreneurship part of the fabric of the University, and is a groundbreaking first effort in understanding the needs of the artistic community."
Goldstein points out that the word "entrepreneurship" comes from a French word meaning "to take action." He says entrepreneurship is about transforming the ideas into reality and a way of thinking about opportunity - be it in the social, artistic or scientific realm.
"The popular view is that (entrepreneurship) is about business," Goldstein says.
"But our view is that it's about opportunity and how to transform that opportunity into reality."
The new entrepreneurship minor comprises four courses, with specialized classes in each perspective.
In addition to McGucken's class, social entrepreneur Jim Johnson is working toward the social aspect of the entrepreneurship program.
Meanwhile, Holden Thorp, chairman of the chemistry department, is planning a scientific entrepreneurship track.
Although the project has yet to be approved by the administrative board, Thorp says he has high expectations for the class. He plans to cover material such as intellectual property, law and venture finance.
"A lot of our students end up working in small companies," Thorp says. "The better we can prepare them for that environment and for the challenges, the better off they'll be."
Goldstein says classes that focus on the different aspects of entrepreneurship are "another initiative for entrepreneurship and opportunity."
"We give students some tools that will enable them to compete in an increasingly entrepreneurial world."
McGucken also says that entrepreneurship classes give students a broader knowledge base.
"It's an irony that the University requires you to specialize when people typically end up switching jobs five or six times and need to know about a lot of different things," McGucken says.
At 5 p.m. Tuesday, the class will host a show at Local 506 on Franklin Street.
The show, called "Rocky Raccoon's High Tech Hollywood Hip Hop Hedge Fund Hoedown and Fashion/Art/Photography/Video Games Showdown" will feature musical and spoken-word performances, fashion shows, film and video screenings and displays of visual art and photography.
The show is designed as a networking event and as a benefit for the Music Maker Relief Foundation and three web sites - OSCommerce.com, Joomla.org and Gallery.menalto.com.
The Music Maker foundation works to help pioneers of Southern musical traditions gain recognition and meet their financial needs.
One goal of the show, and the class itself, is "to build new cultural centers," McGucken says.
"The University has been separated artificially," he says.
"This class has naturally collapsed all the barriers between business and art and law, putting all the power in the hands of the creator."
Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.
(02/10/06 5:00am)
Primary colors scream from all sides of the room, enlivening the second-graders who contemplate the questions posed in Carter Berry's most recent lesson.
The kids are excited to learn and actively engaged in their work. Their energy is contained in motion - they move, laugh, touch and explore.
Berry has taught science classes at Frank Porter Graham Elementary for the last two and a half years as part of the University's INSPIRE program, which matches undergraduates with a local science teacher for a semester.
The program began in the fall of 2002 in an attempt to bridge the gap between UNC and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools - largely due to information reported by the National Center for Education Statistics.
A 2000 study revealed that of North Carolina fourth- and eighth-graders, 76 percent had only partially mastered the science skills at the grade school level.
To improve those statistics in a hands-on way, INSPIRE encourages volunteers to bring creativity and fun to their weekly lessons.
"Learning science from textbooks is so boring, which is sad because science is so interactive," said senior Jessica Bell, the program's leader.
INSPIRE volunteers teach science mini-lessons, help with field trips and perform science experiments at every grade level.
Senior Melissa Holer says she hopes to change younger students' perception of science as a boring subject.
"I remember as a child I didn't like science until I had a good science teacher," she says. "She was really creative."
One objective of INSPIRE volunteers is to physically involve the students in learning scientific principles, aided by the fresh knowledge that college students bring from their own classes.
In the past, Berry has taught biology, covering reptiles, amphibians, birds and bees - during which he performed a well-remembered honey dance.
Last Wednesday, he used balloon rockets to illustrate the use of force. Without tying them, the kids blew up balloons and taped them to a straw threaded on a string pulled taut between two chairs.
When released, the balloon shoots forward- - either slower, faster, shorter or further depending on the size and shape of the balloon.
Although this experiment conveys his point successfully, Berry admits that some of his ideas don't work as well as he wants them to.
"Sometimes the kids get off on a tangent, and it's hard to bring them back," he says.
The students performed the balloon experiment themselves, guessing results and anxiously awaiting to see if what they thought was right.
During the experiment Berry poses questions, allowing them to predict the results.
They relate Berry's questions of physics to their own lives, such as the force in riding a bike up a hill and the gravity active in shooting a basketball.
Bell has experience teaching both elementary and high schoolers.
"At first the (high schoolers) saw me as someone to take advantage of because I'm not an authority figure," Bell says.
But this changed when they saw she had something to offer.
"(Eventually) they were more open and honest with the problems they were having because of the close age," she says.
The relationship between tutor and student is an integral part of the program.
"That's one thing that INSPIRE really pushes," Berry says. "Because everyone goes and sees the same kids, you do get to know them and they are excited to see you."
Bell maintains that these relationships have an effect on the children's lives.
"I don't think people realize that you can reach kids just by being there," she says. "We inspire them to give back in the future."
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