SEPTEMBER 20 - SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
A&E
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UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE
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Seawolves volleyball take on opponents Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin’s
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New project cooking up in the residential halls By Cheyenne Mathews
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Coming this Thanksgiving, students in residential halls North, West and East will be able to cook their own Thanksgiving dinner. Currently, all three residential halls have functional kitchens that are not yet accessible to students, but this is about to change according to Associate Director of Housing and Operations Manager, Jody Inman. “I’m hoping that by the end of September we should be wrapped up and ready to go. If it is longer than that, I would be surprised,” Inman said. Inman says that the kitchen project in the residential halls has faced several minor setbacks, but is ready to open to students this year. “They are operational about 95 percent complete,” Inman said. “We still have a few things that need to be done, some tile which had to be replaced. The fans had to be replaced. They were not the right kind.” The reason the fans needed to be replaced is because the kitchens have to meet standards set by the American Disabilities Act. The Housing Department follows ADA regulations by making the residential halls handicap accessible. Director of University Housing, Dining and Conference Services, David Weaver, has been monitoring this project for ADA compliance. “Above the stove there is what’s called a hood, and it’s required by code... Most residential hoods have a button, so a person who can stand up, could push it on and off like a light switch and a fan. Well, we specifically wrote into the bid documents that we wanted a hood that could be controlled by a light switch so that a person who is in a wheelchair could flip on a light, flip on the fan,” Weaver said. The kitchen concept began in 2014, but has faced several minor setbacks that have delayed its completion. Weaver first needed to go to the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation to see if they would lend the University more money to complete these projects. He then went to the Board of Regents to sign off on the project, and finally he met with a designer who knew all the ADA regulations. Despite all of these steps, the biggest setback was the incorrect installment of a hood that was not handicap accessible. “The hood the contractor installed was not capable of being turned on or off [by someone with disabilities] so they had to switch it out. That has been done,” Weaver said.
PHOTO BY CHEYENNE MATHEWS
Although currently inaccessible to students, the kitchens in North, East and West Halls are due to be fully operational and up to code before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Now, all Weaver is waiting for is some tile to finish the project. Once the tile is shipped in, the installment should take about a week. Students in the residential halls should expect to see fully functional and accessible kitchens around the end of September, according to Inman. Weaver said that University Housing got the idea for resident hall kitchens from students through the quality of life survey. Weaver said he had his reservations at first
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UAA clubs prepare for homecoming week By Madison McEnaney arts2@thenorthernlight.org
The buzz of the beginning of the semester seems to have vanished, and everyone’s feet are starting to drag a little more as they make their walk from the Social Sciences Building to Rasmuson Hall. This is the perfect timing for the start of UAA’s homecoming week. Beginning the last week of September until the beginning of October, there are a variety of events that will be sure to make students feel less weighed down by this semester’s classes. One of homecoming week’s main attractions is the dance, which is being held this year on Friday, Sept. 30. USUAA, UAA’s student government board, sponsors the dance. The theme this year is “Galaxy Gala” and it will be held from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Downtown Anchorage. “We are keeping with tradition quite a lot this year. The dance will be held at the same place, there will still be shuttles running people to and from the dance, and we will still have the photo booth,” Ashleigh Roe, USUAA senator and the chair of activities for the program said. KRUA, UAA’s student run radio station, will be the DJ’s this year at the dance, and homecoming royalty will be announced and crowned at the dance as well. “We like to table a lot, put up posters, get students attention that way. The more visibility we have on campus, the more we can reach out to students,” Roe said. While the dance is the primary event that goes on during homecoming week at UAA, there are many other activities that will be happening in the week leading up to the dance as well as the week after. This year, UAA and UAF will face off in a homecoming hockey game at
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the Sullivan Arena on Oct. 8, with a tailgate party happening before the game. There will also be royalty nominations happening all during the week of Sept. 26, with the crowning of homecoming king and queen happening at the dance. The UAA Concert Board also hosts A Capella Festivella, which will be held on Oct. 6 this year. It will be featuring Blue Jupiter and Brigham Young University’s all-female group Noteworthy. Tickets are available now on uaatix.com. Another tradition that makes homecoming week memorable for students is the shopping cart parade. This is an event where clubs, fraternities, sororities and other UAA groups decorate shopping carts and parade them around campus. Traditions such as this one are what make homecoming week at UAA unique. “We get about 40 or 50 carts from Carrs, give the organizations and departments a week to decorate them, and then march them all the way down from the Student Union to Rasmusen Hall. Then, the top 10 carts get to go parade themselves at the hockey game on the ice,” Cody Buechner, leadership coordinator for Student Clubs and Greek Life said. “I’m excited to see what events are going on in the next couple weeks,” Morgan Rogers, a current student at UAA said. “It’ll be interesting to see how many people come out to the events, and what kind of participation there will be.” With the variety of activities that will be going on in the weeks to come, there is sure to be at least one event that will interest everyone on campus. Whether it be the hockey game, the dance or the a capella show, UAA’s clubs have worked hard to make each of them an event worth attending, and you won’t want to miss out.
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