work & play
Of the 187 members at Colgate, 12 earned 4.0 GPAs and 122 were named to the Dean’s List for spring 2012. The chapter’s average GPA was 3.54, compared to the all-sorority average (3.49), all Greek-letter organizations (3.35), all women on campus (3.37), and the university as a whole (3.29). “Gamma Phi Beta excels at serving as a support system for our members,” Donahue said. “We have study hours weekly, we reserve a library room where the girls can come and study together. That promotes a high level of academics. You’re there with your sisters all working hard together.” Gamma Phi Beta also hosts fundraising events on campus, from the annual Crescent Classic soccer tournament, to picking up litter on Broad Street, and co-hosting a campus obstacle course challenge. “Gamma Phi Beta is blessed with strong and involved advisers,” said Fouad Saleet, assistant dean for campus life. “It is gratifying to see their hard work held up as a standard to follow by the international headquarters.”
Duy Trinh ’14
The fall 5K run in Hamilton benefited the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp
10
scene: Winter 2013
Donahue said Colgate’s chapter met 74 requirements of excellence set out by their national organization, including recruitment, alumni relations, scholarship, public relations, philanthropy, and sisterhood.
Polartec prize for Outdoor Ed
Last June, nine paddlers from the Outdoor Education Program took on more than 100 miles of the bold and remote coastline of southern Newfoundland, Canada. Thanks to the support of many members of the Colgate community, the program won $10,000 for their documentary-style video about the trip in the final round of the Polartec Made Possible Challenge. Colgate supporters voted early and often, and Polartec announced that the program won the grand prize with more than 11,000 votes. The award will help subsidize future cultural expeditions for outdoor education. According to David Esber ’13, funds also will help the program purchase higher quality video and audio recording equipment so future students can chronicle their trips.
Community members celebrated the right to read at the Hamilton Public Library’s Banned Book Read-Out in October. Participants read from a number of books that have been banned over the years including To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Ken Kesey), and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling). The event was part of Banned Book Week, a national celebration that was inaugurated in 1982 by the American Library Association. As Hamilton was blanketed with piles of orange leaves, Colgate students, parents, and community
Outdoor Education paddles the Newfoundland coastline.
Watch Colgate’s winning video at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=M571cKOsi0o.
Marking Black Solidarity Day
A group of students, faculty, and staff gathered on the steps of Memorial Chapel for a speak-out marking Black Solidarity Day in early November. First observed in 1969, the observance is traditionally held on the Monday be-
members (some even wearing costumes!) participated in a 5K run around the village, hosted by Philanthropists at Colgate. The run benefited the Hole in the Village Green Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut, which serves children who are coping with cancer and other chronic illnesses. The event raised $3,500. Afterward, the PAC hosted the Fall Festival to celebrate the falling leaves with food, drinks, and pumpkin painting. Drugstore becomes “Pop-up Gallery?” That’s right! MAD Art, a Hamilton-based nonprofit for local artists and patrons of the arts, moved into the vacant space on Lebanon Street where the iconic Crowe’s Apothecary had recently cleared out. The first show, featuring art from and about Nigeria, ran from November 23 through the last day of the year. MAD Art teamed up with Carol Ann Lorenz, senior curator of Colgate’s Longyear Museum of Anthropology, to put the exhibition together. The Palace Theater was transformed into the North Pole for the Here Comes Santa event on December 1. Almost 400 children visited with Santa, Mrs. Claus, Frosty, and Rudolph, in addition to playing reindeer games, making holiday crafts, and enjoying cookies and hot chocolate. — Emma Barge ’14