Students, faculty and staff worked together last weekend to present the University Dancers' 28th annual concert, Shifting Ground: New Voices in Dance, which they had been working on since the fall. "It's amazing to see how everything comes together with the lights and the costumes," senior Brianna Leporace said.
Five University of Richmond students founded a nonprofit organization last summer that has partnered with World Pediatric Project to give families receiving medical care in Richmond a chance to attend campus sporting events. Jimmy Maiarana is currently spending his junior year abroad at the University of Oxford, but before he left in the fall, he laid out plans to start a nonprofit called Chance to Play with four of his best friends. In an email to The Collegian, Maiarana said that Chance to Play's mission statement emphasizes sports' ability to release people from everyday challenges, and that the group strives to "assist individuals whose family lives have been affected by a medical issue by sponsoring participation in athletic camps, competitions and events." The founders of the organization hope to sponsor children nationwide to attend summer sports camps.
A business management class is applying class-learned skills to real-life fundraising by working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation this semester to help the wishes of sick children come true. Management professor Violet Ho's Organizational Behavior class connected with the Virginia chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help raise the money needed to grant the wishes of children between the ages of 2 1/2 and 18 who have life-threatening conditions, she said. The money needed to grant each wish ranges from $5,000 to $12,000, and the students have until April 16 to raise as much money as they can.
Eight months ago, two University of Richmond graduates left corporate jobs that they found to be unfufilling to start their own business, Be Good Clothing, in San Francisco. Mark Spera and Dean Ramadan, both Richmond College '10, were roommates during their junior and senior years at Richmond and were looking for the next step after realizing they were unhappy in their post-graduate jobs, Ramadan said. Spera studied business administration with a concentration in finance and moved to San Francisco after graduation for a job at the corporate office of Gap Inc., he said.
The Octaves released a promotional single, "Too Close," on Feb. 14 for their new album "Ricochet," which will mark the singers' exciting return to the recording world of a cappella, said junior Jared Feinman, The Octaves' music director. "We are making something bigger than just our voices," Feinman said.
New legislation approved by members of the Virginia General Assembly would allow programs, such as Teach for America, to be present in Virginia, said Deanna Haurie, coordinator of campus recruitment for Teach for America. "The legislation allows for people with alternative certification to be able to teach in Virginia schools," Haurie said.
It is difficult to imagine not knowing how to type on a keyboard or how to open an Internet browser to access Facebook.
A new viral dance craze called the Harlem Shake has found its way to Richmond's campus, and the ice hockey team and the Rowdies jumped at the chance to take part in it. The Harlem Shake is a dance move performed to the song of the same name by the electronic musician Baauer, said junior Josh Grice, the vice president of marketing for the Richmond Rowdies.
Westhampton College staff hosted a dinner for four-year roommates on Feb. 7, an annual tradition celebrating lasting college friendships among senior women. The steak and wine dinner was held at the Westhampton College Deanery and was attended by 16 women, said Kerry Fankhauser, associate dean of Westhampton College. Attendees participated in a variety of roommate-themed trivia games, which eventually got very competitive, Katherine Utz said.
University of Richmond graduate Zoe Romano will run all 2,088 miles of the mountainous Tour de France bicycle route this summer, with the goal of finishing one day ahead of the cyclists. Romano, who graduated in 2009, plans to begin her run May 18 and finish July 20 at a pace of 30 miles per day, she said. The run is a fundraiser for an organization in Richmond, World Pediatric Project (WPP), which provides medical care for children in Central America and the Caribbean, and in critical cases, brings them to the U.S.
Robert Agaba is not a typical University of Richmond student; he is a 28-year-old sophomore from Rwanda, who is about to become a father. Agaba came to the U.S.
When Rachael Bilney first mentioned her fraternal twin sister, whose nickname is "Sam, " while being recruited by Richmond basketball coaches, she was told that there might be a place for Sam on the men's team - that is, until they learned that her name was Samantha and their looks weren't the only similar thing about them. "Rachael told the coaches, 'I have a twin--Sam'," Sam said.
Many junior Westhampton women, donned in long, white dresses, are escorted down the steep staircase of the Jefferson Hotel each February to receive their class rings. But, this is one of the last years women will wear white dresses to Ring Dance.
As spring semester kicks into high gear, Richmond students are already looking forward to the next chapter of 2013: three sunny and homework-free months of summer break. Although classes end in May, many Richmond students will continue to work throughout the summer at internships around the country and internationally, said Katybeth Lee, manager of internship programs at Richmond's Office of Alumni and Career Services. Summer internships are a national trend among undergraduate students, and this tendency holds true at Richmond, Lee said. An internship that provides professional work experience and helps establish valuable industry relationships before graduation is ideal, but the process of securing such an opportunity can be confusing and anxiety-inducing. As January comes to a close, many students are starting to feel the need to make concrete internship plans, including juniors Alexa Gowdy and Alicia Tamarkin. Gowdy said she had felt extremely pressured to find an internship because of the competitive job market, parental expectations and resume boosting. Tamarkin, who is in the process of applying for a summer accounting internship in Columbus, Ohio, is also stressed about getting an internship because not having one will make it harder to find a job after graduation, she said. As the weeks fly by, it may seem as though there is barely any time left to find an internship, but Lee and the other career advisers will be available to help guide students through the search and application processes in the coming weeks. "The way you look for an internship depends on what you want to get out of it," Lee said.
Every school day, Lauren Camuso, WC'12, meets with a small group of middle school students to tutor and help them with homework. Camuso is a dedicated member of Match Corps, a full-time professional tutoring fellowship that focuses on closing the achievement gap between students and ultimately helping them find college success, said Sara Parr, recruitment manager for Match Corps.
Some juniors who recently returned from abroad say that they are adjusting to their structured schedule, but miss the exciting aspects of being away from home.
Starting next fall, one or two puppies will live on campus in the University Forest Apartments with students who will train them for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, chemistry professor Carol Parish said. Parish held two information sessions this week, and about 50 students expressed interest in becoming puppy raisers or trainers, she said.
Students in the university's Q-community returned from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change Conference with the vision of making the Q-community more inclusive at the University of Richmond. The conference was held at the Hilton Atlanta from Jan.
Professor David Dean had never missed a class in 25 years of teaching. Every first day of Principles of Microeconomics, he has told his students to plan to never miss class, because he never would. For freshman Spencer Crouch, that had been the benefit of having Dean as a professor during the fall of 2012.
Richmond alumnus Fynn Glover pitched his company RootsRated, a curated recreational guide to 500 startups that could lead to an investment in his company. Glover earned the opportunity to pitch in San Francisco on Friday for winning the annual Will This Float?
