BEHREND BRIEFS Senior Projects 2001 features president of Aalborg Industries On Saturday, April 28, graduating seniors in Behrend's School of Enginet ii t and Engineering Technology will present Senior Projects 2001, a series of half-hour, industry-sponsored presentations that offer solutions to engineering problems. The event will commence at 8:30 a.m. and conclude with an address by Aalborg Industries CEO James S Davis. The speech will take place in Roche Hall from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. Sponsors for student projects include Alliance Plastics, Ameridrive, Inc., Bliley Electric Co., Cybersonics, Eriez Magnetics, GE Transporta tion Systems, Lord Corporation, Mine Safety Appliance Co., OEM, Smith Meter, and several other companies ranging from the local to national level. There is no charge for this event, which is open to the public. Industry representatives are encouraged to attend. For more information, contact the SEET at x 6133. Behrend celebrates Astronomy Day The public will have an opportunity to try out Behrend's new Mehalso Observatory at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 28. This event, which celebrates National Astronomy Day, is co-sponsored by the Erie County Mobile Observers Group and Behrend. Telescopes set up to observe the moon, stars, galaxies, and nebulae will be in the field behind the Behrend Science Building. Astronomy Day at Behrend, which does not include a lecture, is suitable for all ages. For more information, call the School of Science at x 6105. Faculty and staff receive awards At Behrend's Honors and Awards Convocation held Sunday, April 22, the following Behrend faculty and staff members received awards: Dr. Carl Kallgren, Council of Fellows Faculty Outreach Award; Dr. Andreas Fuchs, Council of Fellows Excellence in Teaching Award; Dr. Chuck Yeung, Council of Fellows Faculty Research Award; Dr. Michael Campbell, Guy W. Wilson Award for Excellence in Advising; Roger Owens and Robert Schenker, Benjamin A. Lane Outstanding Service Award. 04/17/2001 04/17/2001 04/17/2001 22:00 04/17/2001 21:15 04/18/2001 04/18/2001 22:59 04/18/2001 00:20 04/19/2001 00:20 04/21/2001 04/21/2001 13:00 04/21/2001 04/22/2001 A complainant reported that the fire alarm was going off in Niagara Hall. A student came to P&S to report that his car was damaged last week. A staff member reported that some audio equipment was missing. An RA from Niagara Hall reported that the power had gone out on the west side of the building. The first floor was reset. A student reported that he put his backpack down in the Lawrence Hall lobby to watch an event. When he returned to retrieve the backpack, it was missing. P&S checked the area and could not locate it. There was a report of a large, white male wearing a plaid jacket down in the gorge. He was carrying a hatchet. The man swung at the complainant's dogs, and he heard him later cutting wood. Officers were dispatched, and the individual could not be located. A staff member reported that most of the furniture was missing by the mailroom in Reed. P&S advised the complainant to check with the RUB Desk in the morning to see if they removed the items. Also, P&S advised that they would talk with all the departments in the morning. A complainant reported an incident of harassment by communication. An RA reported that a tire extinguisher cover on his floor had been broken. A staff member from the MISC reported that their vehicle might be missing. He wanted to know if P&S issued the vehicle to anyone. P&S advised him that his department is the • only one with keys to that vehicle. The vehicle was found parked on the west side of the Reed Lot since Friday. A complainant reported that his license plate was stolen from his vehicle that was parked in the Reed Lot overnight. The complainant requested a complaint number to get a tempo rary plate from AAA. The stolen plate number was entered into the system. There was a report of a fallen victim in the gorge about 1.5 miles upstream from Cooper Road. What can we say, we get a little crazy at the end of the year. The usual distribution manager was unable to deliver the papers this past week, and the rest of the staff got ahold of the "donated" buggy. We logged some major mileage on that baby. We visited the halls of the Science, Academic, and Reed Buildings. We rode the elevator. We found out what the inside of the Engineering Complex looks like (nice digs, guys! smelt like you had some real learnin' going on over there). We drove around on the sidewalks and backed up traffic on Stadium Drive. We also completed many Jackassesque maneuvers (please do not attempt in your dorm rooms). It was just our way of saying, "We love you Behrend. Have a great summer." Beacon out. Return to my sanity I never thought this day would actually come And now that it's here, I truly wish it wasn't. This issue of the newspaper will be my last as editor-in-chief of the Behrend Beacon. And even though, for the first time in three years, I feel a sense of freedom, I also have a strong feeling of regret and sadness that the weekly grind of the Beacon is now only a memory. But what a memory it will be. I can't possibly begin to explain to everyone the close bond I have shared with the members of this newspaper. But I will try. Imagine being enclosed in a room, about the size of a closet, with a group of people from different backgrounds, different ideologies, and different perspectives on life. This room has no windows to see the outside world. It's just a group of people, all working on a common goal. You would think this would cause complete chaos. You would assume that people would be wringing each other's necks. I'll agree that about 5% of the time spent in this mom was like this. But the other 95%? The other 95% was spent talking, laughing, hanging out and ... oh yeah, working. This group did almost everything together. We made weekly trips to Eat n' Park after putting the paper to bed at 2:00 a.m. every Thursday. We sang karaoke, watched 50-cent movies, and witnessed some of us get drunk, while the sober ones (me) laughed. We crammed five of us into a photo booth at the mall to get a snapshot of our insanity. To put it in simpler terms, we had fun. Because of this bond, it's difficult to walk away. And if I didn't have other priorities in my life, the Beacon would be my life until I graduate. I wanted to start this farewell with an explanation of this group's friendship, because I think it's the most important aspect of a group. Many people that haven't even stepped foot into the Beacon offices are quick to criticize. They don't understand how a group can be so goofy, yet still put out a respected publication. We, ourselves, often say, "how in the world do we put out this newspaper?" People on this campus may disagree and say that a fun environment can't be a productive one. If the environment on this newspaper wasn't productive, then you wouldn't he reading it right now. The fact is, we couldn't function as a productive group without the close bonds that we have come to share. I remember a moment in my life about four years ago. I was at work one night when I began to talk to one of my co-workers who was a student at Behrend. I informed her that I would be attending Behrend the next fall and I told her I was interested in journalism. She said to me, "maybe you can do something to fix up the Collegian. It needs work." I looked at her and chuckled, for she didn't know that I was FOCAL POINT LETTER FROM THE EDITOR just a high school kid who was too shy to even say hello to people. And she was challenging me to fix a newspaper? Yeah, right. I guess four years later, that talk means a little more to me than it did that night. I am no longer scared to approach someone, and I'll admit that the Beacon is a little better than it used to be. No, I am not going to take credit for the quality of the publication that comes out every Friday. I will, however, take credit for coming out of my shell and taking the initiative to change it. The credit for the quality of this newspaper lies with my staff. This group is the most dedicated and hardest working collection of people on this campus. I know this because I see the daily grind that the editors and staff writers go through. There's no week off. There's no one-day delay in making a phone call. Everything has to get done. And it does. I guess that's what amazes me. We realize that anything less than our level best is unacceptable, not just for the sake of the newspaper, but for the sake of ourselves. I've come to learn, with some help from my parents and some faculty, that no matter what we do, we aren't going to be the most liked group of people on this campus. That's a tough pill for me to swallow. I have always been a person that wants to be liked, so to hear someone say that I am a terrible person because one of my editorial columnists wrote something controversial, is painful. We get people complaining all the time that we complain too much. I used to take that as an insult. Now, I take it as a compliment. If we didn't complain and we didn't get complaints for being critical, then we didn't do our job. It is the job of a campus newspaper to raise awareness. It's not our job to fluff up problems on this campus. That's the job of a newsletter, not a newspaper. Those were my parting shots (things I had to get off my chest because it's something that this campus needs to be aware of). Now, there's some people I have to mention and thank for making my three years on the Beacon so enjoyable. I will start from the outside by thanking Chris Rizzo and Ken Miller. I won't say we have always seen eye-to-eye on every issue, but I am extremely grateful that these two people have been on my side when it comes to the Beacon's future. Without their support, the Beacon could not have grown to where it is today. Both of these administrators are at Behrend because they want to see this campus, and the students on this campus improve. I'm sure that many of you would prefer to skip out on the "thank yous" and memories to my staff members, so I will conclude this section by saying that I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to do with this newspaper, what we have done over the past two years. ...... . ... .„.. . .......... ....... ......... , •.. , ii:. , .:,.... , •q.; '