Six years ago, graduate student Rachel Battaglia wanted to celebrate coming out during Pride Week, so she attended The Official MSU Drag Show to experience something new.
Jogging or walking through 5 kilometers of campus Sunday afternoon, hundreds of students and community members took part in the 18th annual Race for the Place, an event meant to raise funds for MSU Safe Place. The race raised at least $18,000 in sponsorship dollars alone, not counting money coming in from participant fees, said Jonathan Kermiet, a health educator at Olin Health Center and one of the event coordinators.
With DJ Kap Slap rocking at Sparty’s Spring Party, horticulture sophomore Colin Dick wasn’t afraid to bust it loose on the dance floor alongside dozens of fellow Spartans.
Women of all ages, as well as a lone man, were comfortably spread out in a parlor at the Union when Ashley Robinson finally had the opportunity to tell her thoughts on the topics of peace, unity and social justice at the Successful Black Women’s first annual Peace Summit on Sunday.
Kristen Flory said she watched child after child plunge their hands into the stomach of a cow on Saturday at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
For comparative cultures and politics freshman Tommy Kladis, there’s more to school than hitting the books and studying day in and day out. Kladis has a passion for writing his own lyrics to express his thoughts through rapping. “What I’ve learned from James Madison (College) is you should do what you can to change the world, and I feel I could be the most effective influencing the world through music,” Kladis said.
Looking up at the words she had written across a wall in Morrill Hall, Melissa Downing could not help but feel nostalgic. Morrill Hall is scheduled to be torn down in March 2013, and the English Department hosted A Literary Graffiti Project on Thursday to celebrate National Poetry Month and the department’s place in Morrill Hall.
Emily McKay sees room for growth in urban farming, and she’s been cultivating her education to start her own plot. “There are so many opportunities that are popping up,” said the horticulture senior, who volunteers at a local children’s garden. “I’m not worried about finding a job.”
When Sarah McPharlin was 11 years old, she almost died. After catching an autoimmune virus that caused her body to attack her heart, she was hospitalized and eventually placed on the organ donation wait list — she needed a new heart. After 38 days on the list, the kinesiology senior underwent a heart transplant. Although McPharlin realizes how lucky she was to have her life saved by organ donation, many others still are waiting for that chance.
This weekend, MSU’s campus will be invaded by curious visitors and students of years past for the College of Natural Science’s third annual Science University event. Beginning Friday, about 140 alumni, faculty, staff, students and visitors are expected to make their way to MSU to attend an awards program for the college, tours of campus buildings and courses and presentations about the latest scientific happenings at MSU, Elizabeth Wheeler, College of Natural Science alumni relations coordinator, said in an email.
Born in Somalia, biomedical laboratory operations junior Salman Muridi holds the country close to his heart. But that’s not the only reason he cares about the famine currently affecting Somalians nationwide. “It’s not just the fact that that’s my homeland, it’s the fact that people are dying and nobody (is) doing anything about it,” he said.
A giant 18-foot-tall inflatable hand holding an inhaler swayed in the wind next to the rock on Farm Lane on Wednesday afternoon while members of MSU Beyond Coal rallied against the Energy Transition Plan by singing songs, sharing stories and holding up 10-foot-tall wooden sunflowers.
Family community services junior Nikki Noel believes drinking and driving is one of the most preventable causes of death, yet in 2010 there were more than 600 DUIs given out by the East Lansing Police Department — an increase of nearly 200 from 2009. Noel is a member of Spartans Against Drunk Driving, or SADD, and Wednesday they joined MSU Police near the rock on Farm Lane to help raise awareness of the consequences of drunken driving.
Most students would be bothered trekking across campus to eat their meals for a semester, but general management freshman Erin Murphy doesn’t mind at all. In fact, she’s enthusiastic about the positive changes that will accompany the Shaw Hall cafeteria renovations.
Ten years ago, psychology senior Nikki Bishop wanted to play hockey, but her mom pressured her to play tennis.
The Residence Halls Association, or RHA, officially swore in its officers for the 2012-13 academic year at its Wednesday night meeting.
MSU innovations might be infiltrating the consumer market more quickly once a new Spartan Innovations LLC initiative announced Wednesday is up and running. The creation of a technology transfer enterprise called Spartan Innovations was unveiled at Wednesday’s second annual MSU Innovation Celebration at the Union, which also displayed numerous technologies and innovations made by MSU student and faculty inventors.
After undertaking extensive renovations and taking steps toward efficiency by updating office practices, the MSU Police Department is being honored for going green. The department recently was awarded a Green Certification, an initiative forwarded by MSU’s Office of Campus Sustainability meant to honor campus units that have attempted to reduce their environmental footprint, Office of Campus Sustainability Project Coordinator Lauren Olson said.
MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon reiterated her support for renovating Chittenden Hall to the representatives of the Council of Graduate Students, or COGS, Wednesday during the group’s last full council meeting of the year outside the building.
Like many first-year students, civil engineering freshman John Mandryk wasn’t sure how difficult the transition from high school to college would be. To help curb some of the confusion and anxiety of stepping onto MSU’s campus as a clueless freshman, Mandryk enrolled in the College of Engineering CoRe Experience, formerly known as the Engineering Residential Experience.