Technician
thursday september
1
2011
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
First Friday a cultural experience for students Celebrating local artists and artisans, Raleigh’s monthly downtown festival exposes students to cultural vibrance. Joanne Wu Life & Style Editor
alexander nitt/Technician archive photo
Zachary McKinney, a junior in science education, performs a hula hoop routine with fire during First Friday of October 2010. He started taking formal hula hoop classes at Gateway Yoga of Raleigh in September 2009 and progressed to hula hooping with fire that December with a private instructor.
On any other day, dusk will settle, the streets of downtown Raleigh will clear and shop owners will pack up and call it a day with the exception of lit up bars and restaurants. But on First Friday, downtown brims with liveliness and interaction. The citywide event is held on the first Friday of every month. Local businesses stay open late into the night to receive thousands of visitors from across the city. Restaurants, bars, exhibitions, galleries and a slew of other venues draw Friday night venturers as they stroll through art exhibits and spill into the streets. Alex Martin, senior in business administration, regularly frequents the event. “I love First Friday and try to go every month,” Martin said. “The art and music is always changing and I see everyone there.” Martin is not the only student who regularly heads downtown for the event. Although families, men and women of all ages can be found mingling along Fayetteville Street, N.C. State students make their presence known as well. Whether they’re looking for food and wine samplings or contributing their works to the city’s art galleries, University students constitute a large
part of the gathering. The Fish Market is one venue among many where design students showcase their work. “I never miss the Fish Market because this is the gallery where N.C. State design students get to feature the products of their imagination,” Martin said. Apart from simply touring exhibitions and galleries, Raleigh’s art and design presence makes First Friday fertile ground for students to gain insight. As a graphic design student, Megan Brooks took advantage of one of her previous First Friday visits. “It is a great event to walk [through] for inspiration and [it’s] also a lot of fun,” she said. “I saw Raleigh as a very southern town and not artsy at all. My opinion has now changed. It is a great starting point as a place to show your own art and also a great place to meet people with similar interests.” From Glenwood South to Moore Square, participating local businesses keep the Friday night celebration going for miles. Live music, shops, nightclubs, restaurants and even museums ensure the city remains awake and lively for hours — a window of opportunity for students to connect to their city beyond campus boundaries. “Students get a lot of voices in their ears saying this is a great time to have new experiences and learn about yourself and the world around you,” Katherine Hensley, a graduate student in history, said. “First Friday can be a deviation from the normal routine, a chance to experience art, food, music and the charm of [a] southern city.”
Wolfprowl Weekend Bus Service •
Runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. with service approximately every 30 minutes. For stop locations, visit www2.acs.ncsu.edu/trans/
•
Connects to the city’s free downtown circulator– the R-Line – at stops in Glenwood South.
Check real-time bus location via your web-enabled cell phone to determine bus arrival/departure times: http:// ncsu.transloc.com/ Fore more information on the R-Line, visit www.YouRHere.com Source: ncsu dot
Students can easily access downtown Raleigh through the Wolfprowl, the University’s weekend entertainment bus service. This offers further encouragement for students to participate in the event and contribute to the community network that First Friday has become. “First Friday expands your horizons about what’s going on in Raleigh,” Hensley said. “…There’s no reason not to go and move beyond the confines of Hillsborough Street.” The end result has created a bridge between the University campus and the rest of the city. “Anything that brings talented folks to Raleigh is good for the city and good for the NCSU community,” Hensley said. “When the city thrives, we thrive.”
Scammers busted, but vouchers made valid charges. “We have already talked with the individuals and have consulted with the District Attorney’s office about the appropriate fraud charges,” Barnwell John Wall said. News Editor Around noon on Wednesday, howA lt houg h t he t wo men who ever, there was a change in the case. “It appears that the company in scammed students with fake paintball vouchers received trespassing Durham is now giving those indicharges and have left the state, those viduals permission to sell [vouchers]. who bought the vouchers will be able They didn’t have permission before, to redeem them at Xtreme Kombat but I don’t think it would lead to any charges based on the agreement bePaintball in Durham, N.C. The men, both from New York, ar- tween them,” Barnwell said. The campus trespassing violation dently denied their actions were fraudulent. However, Campus Police and still stands. Campus Police Officer Melissa Woodard Xtreme Kombat issued the violaPaintball have tions on Centenboth confirmed nial Campus. it was a scam. “We got a report “In reference on Monday mornto the painting that a student ba l l scheme, saw the two guys it is a scam,” in a chemistr y Jon Barnwell, bu i ld i ng s e l lCampus Police ing the tickets. I patrol division Jon Barnwell, found one of the commander, patrol divion commander guys, and I sat said. him down and Campus Police spoke with Xtreme Paintball. The talked to him. We ended up trespasscompany did not commission the men ing him,” Woodard said. Woodard could not find the other to sell the vouchers, but the paintball company is planning to honor all of perpetrator initially, but he eventually showed up. those sold, according to Barnwell. “The other guy eventually met with “It’s our understanding that the paintball company will honor the us. I guess he thought we were going to arrest him. When he finally [met vouchers,” Barnwell said. As of Wednesday morning, police had contacted the district attorney to discuss how to proceed with filing scam continued page 3
Xtreme Kombat Paintball will honor vouchers sold by transients.
“It’s our understanding that the paintball company will honor the vouchers.”
TOP SECRET “Regardless of what the offense does, defensively we are going to come out and smack people in the mouth,” Wolff said. SEE RED
RALLY for NC STATE vs. LIBERTY
tyler andrews/Technician
Christine Warrington, Women in Bio chair for Research Triangle Park, gives a presentation to students Wednesday. Warrington described how to present your voice to be a more effective speaker in a business environment.
Women in BioScience encourages engagement On-campus speaker discusses advantages for N.C. State women to become involved in Triangle area. Jana Ward Correspondent
On Wednesday morning, Christine Warrington, Women In BioScience chapter leader and board member, spoke at Talley Student Center. The event was co-sponsored by the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, but was open to all women who are interested in pursuing a career related to the life sciences. The event addressed a concern that women at N.C. State are not very involved with programs that are designed to help and encourage them. According to Rhonda Sutton, director of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, women from N.C. State are underrepresented in organizations
in the region, both on and off campus. necessary for beginning a venture. To remedy the apparent disparity, Sutton said that female N.C. State students are quieter than those attend- Warrington suggested that women ing Chapel Hill or Duke. She believed become involved, and “don’t limit women sometimes feel inferior and [themselves] to how much [they] can that it keeps them from taking risks move ahead while still in school. Just and becoming involved in organiza- because you have a degree in one Ph.D. doesn’t mean that you are limited to tions for science entrepreneurs. “Women tend to be less assertive. it.” WIB is an organization that aims They try to be nice instead of getting to promote netthe job done,” Anworking, career gelica de Rosa, a support, career graduate student development in biomedical enand leadership gineering, said. skills. The orgaWarnization, which rington brought started off in up the issue of Angela de Rosa, t he Washingpreferring nicegraduate student in ton, D.C. area, ties over assertion biomedical engineering is trying to start in her presentachapters all over tion forWIB. She points out that even though 60 percent the world to advocate growth of womof Ph.Ds today are earned by women, en in strong positions within the life only 20 percent of women become sciences. It also tries to get students founders in their own interests. In ad- involved with other science organizadition, less than five percent of women in life sciences get the capital funding bio continued page 3
SEPTEMBER 3rd
“The worst that could happen is to be told no.”
Gather in the Brickyard to rally for the NC State vs. Liberty game on September 3rd. Join us for activities and games, dine in the Atrium Food Court, and take advantage of NC State Bookstore specials before departing on the Red Terror Transit to Carter-Finley Stadium. go.ncsu.edu/redzone