Brown and White Vol. 127 no. 4

              The Brown and White
Vol. 127 No. 4
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
‘All the Lehigh News First’
Lehigh’s Mountaintop program completed a second successful run this past summer, more than tri­pling the amount of students that participated the previous summer.
Commonly known as simply “Mountaintop,” the program got its start in the summer of 2013 after a generous donation from Lehigh alumnus and Urban Outfitters co-founder Scott Belair, ’69, among other benefactors. After the ren­ovation of two buildings on cam­pus formerly owned by Bethlehem Steel and the development of a vi­sion for the project, it was ready to take flight.
That vision was to have open-ended, student-driven proj­ects where creativity would thrive and interdisciplinary boundaries would be broken, said Alan Sny­der, vice president and associate provost of research and graduate studies.
Faculty members act as mentors and may suggest or direct students toward a project, but the students ultimately dictate their own direc­tion and main goals.
“One thing we’ve discovered is the value of having students mixed
This year’s Greek Week, which took place Thursday through Sat­urday, underwent a transition in an effort to promote increased par­ticipation in the week’s events, a
according to their education,” Sny­der said. “They’re all in different places in accumulated learning and comfort with material. Every­body has something they can offer.
“A grad student offers specific skills, research resources, famil­iarity and confidence, whereas a sophomore might ask what may seem to be a naïve question, but one which opens discussion. Every­body needs to learn how to teach and to listen to questions from peo­ple who don’t know as much as you know.”
With more than 100 students from diverse majors and almost 30 faculty mentors working on more than 20 projects, Snyder’s vision of mixing disciplines and skill sets most certainly became reality.
Alec Entress, ’16, was interest­ed in researching and setting up a campus-wide composting system. An Integrated Degree in Engineer­ing, Arts and Sciences (IDEAS) major concentrating in energy en­gineering and sustainable develop­ment, Entress started researching his project during the 2014 spring semester.
“It was difficult trying to keep fo­cused and move forward within the context of a classroom when you have life going on outside, too,” En­tress said. “I’m very much a one-track mind person. I like focusing on one thing.”
Entress’ time at Mountaintop over the summer allowed him to do just that as a member of the Green Resource Recovery of Waste project, or GR2OW project. GR2OW composted leftover food from the Brodhead dining hall, built a ro­bot that measures the health of a compost pile and made plans to implement their system across the university.
“My favorite part was the group dynamics,” Entress said. “It was awesome working with other peo­ple because everyone was a co-cre­ator. Instead of a boss, everyone had their own roles.”
Liz Phillips, ’15, worked on the Shapeshifter project, aimed at creating a playhouse that would change shape. The project will be entered into a competition in De­cember.
As to the open-ended nature of the program, Phillips said at first she expected to function in a class­room setting, but that was not the case. She said her group ultimate­ly gave themselves the permission to make decisions in order to com­plete project tasks.
Snyder said he wished to in­spire a scholarly motivation within
Photo courtesy of Paul Lyons, ’16
Kelsey Alpaio, ’15, and Viviana Rios, ’15, collaborate on the mountaintop project, “En­gineering Equality.” The group worked throughout the summer to create a documen­tary about the history of race and diversity at Lehigh University.
Greeks #NeverStandAlone
Mountaintop projects encourage creativity, collaboration
See PROJECTS Page 2
By NICK HIRDT
B&W Staff
focus on giving back to the Lehigh community and an overall unity among the Greek chapters.
The Greek Week theme was fo­cused around the hashtag “#Nev­erStandAlone,” and students were encouraged to use the hashtag throughout the week to promote in­See
GREEK WEEK Page 2
Photo courtesy of Caroline Tkachuk, ’17
Members of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and Sigma Chi and Delta Chi fraternities participate in the tug-of-war at the Greek Week field day on Saturday. The field day and barbeque were the culminating events of a transformed Greek Week.
By KELLY MCCOY
B&W Staff
volvement in the events, accord­ing to the Lehigh Greeks Twitter account.
Greek Week occurred over the span four days as opposed to six in an attempt to increase atten­dance.
According to Jennifer Tedeschi, assistant director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, activities began Wednesday with the Greek Gala, followed by the Phonathon, during which students contacted their chapters’ alumni to raise money.
On Thursday, students took part in the first-ever Greek Day of Caring, and Friday was the Multi­cultural Greek Council yard show on the front lawn. The culminat­ing event of this year’s Greek Week was a day of field games and a barbeque at Sayre Field all day Saturday.
“Our hope was that putting all of the competitions on a Satur­day all at once, we’d get increased participation and more of each chapter’s members involved,” said Elizabeth Campbell, ‘15, a mem­ber of Panhellenic Council. “We also sent a survey at the begin­INSIDE | Lehigh professor turns a dorm into a home for her family in Sayre ‘B.’
See Page 5
Inside Lifestyle