Friday, March 20, 2009 A Penn State Behrend Student Publication Students give up spring break for hunicane relief By Connor Sattely managing editor cisso6o«t psu.edu While most of Penn State Behrend's 4,400 students de parted the campus on March 6 for a relaxing spring break at home, 32 instead chose to head to Mississippi as part of the school's Alternative Spring Break trip. These students, along with eight advisors se lected from the faculty and staff of the school, spent the week in Gulfport engaging in construction, clean-up, mainte nance and repair jobs for homeowners whose property was damaged by Hurricane Ka trina. Only a handful of the 'stu dents had been on the trip be fore; for those who were heading to the southern U.S. for the first time since the storm, they witnessed firsthand the amount of devastation left in the area. Dr. Rod Troester, a professor in communication at Behrend, acknowledged the area as one of the worst casualties of Kat rina, even three and a half years later. "The media tended to focus our attention on New Orleans, where much of the Second astronomy open house details extrasolar planet observation mission By Matthew Schwabenbauer news editor mjss3B7m psu.edu Students, faculty, and others gathered in the Otto Behrend Science building for the second Astronomy Open House of the Spring 2009 semester on Thursday night. The presentation was given by Dr. Darren Williams, Asso ciate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and focused on planets beyond our solar sys tems that are orbiting stars, also known as extrasolar plan ets. According to Williams, there are currently 295 known planetary systems, 33 of which contatin multiple planets, re sulting in 342 known (as of the time of the presentation) extra solar planets. Williams began the open house by introducing the audi ence to the National Aeronau tics and Space Administration's (NASA) Ke pler Mission which began on March 6. The Kepler Mission, named after German as tronomer Johannes Kepler, launced a space telescope with the objective of observing ex trasolar planets. The Kepler telescope is currently planned to observe 100,000 stars over a three-and-a-half year period. NASA estimates that Kepler will break down after four years, inhibiting any further observations by the telescope. Williams detailed the tech nology required by the Kepler mission, claiming speeds of about 25,000 miles per hour are required for the vessel to Contact Us Newsroom: 898-6488 Fax: 898-6019 Visit us on the web! www.thebehrendbeacon.com E-mail: rcrsos7@psu.edu rib kNo • MARCH MADNESS BRACKET INSIDE ONEpIATGE3 damage was due to levees breaching," he said. "But it was the Gulfport-Biloxi area that took the brunt of the storm's force." The group of 40 Behrend 25 students from Penn State Dußois, Penn State Harris burg, Penn State Shenango, and Penn State LeHigh Valley. The entire group took resi dence at a relief workers' camp in Gulfport. Presbyterian Dis aster Assistance, the organiza tion that took charge of putting the event together, had several workers who stayed at the camp full-time. Rather than camping out in a field, the students were shown to corrugated plastic "pods," which were mini-cabins, only about eight feet across by four teen feet deep. Anywhere from two to four students would camp out in cots in the cabins. After a night of restless sleep, students learned quickly the real reason they were there: to work and make a dif ference in the lives of hurri cane victims. Splitting into about twelve groups of five to twenty students, the group was See SPRING BREAK on page 2 KEEGAN MCGREGOR / The Behrend Beacon Dr. Darren Williams gave a presentation on extrasolar planets. reach space. "Ten or 20 years ago, this mission would have been a pipe dream," said Williams. Williams explained that Ke pler, the astronomer for which the mission is named, was known for his imagination and vision for life beyond earth. Friday Saturday Sunday High: 40°F High: 48°F High: 51°F Low: 25°F Low: 27°F Low: 33°F Mostly sunny skies. Sunny and warmer. Partly cloudy. Forecast courtesy of student meteorologist Matt Alto Forecast continued on page 4 CONNOR SATTELY The Behrend Beacon 32 Students travelled to Mississippi to aid with hurricane relief. Above, Behrend student Gary Taylor and his work group installs a section of laminate flooring at a house outside of Gulfport. The first civilization to theo rize that there is life on other planets was the Greeks, Williams said, and mentioned the philosopher Giordono Bruno specifically, who was killed for his theories. "I share this vision," Williams said. "Good thing I See ASTRO on page 4 Is Behrend really accessible? By Lauren Dißacco staff writer led5100(a psu.edu Walking through the snow filled campus is difficult, but how about trying to maneuver on four wheels? For freshman Will Dorsch, making his way to class in this manner is an every day occurrence. Prior to this week's heat wave, a common complaint on campus were salt rings staining Who watches the Watchmen? Behrend Students By Neil J. Peters assistant arts editor njpsBo3q/ psu.edu Trailers and hype for the lat est comic book film, Watch men, has flooded the web, TV and pretty much every other conduit of information; and like all highly anticipated movies, potential viewers wonder if it can live up to the advertise ments and expectations. The answer is yes, but only if you are looking for a very dif ferent cinematic experience. Watchmen, under the direction of Zach Snyder, follows the story of ex-masked vigilantes Night Owl and Rorschach as they investigate the death of another former hero. More ad ventures are attacked and the deteriorating political climate charges head long towards a nuclear apocalypse. The story itself is an alternate history about what would See WATCHMEN on page 5 Speaker aims to change the pottrayal of beauty in the media By Rachel Reeves editor-in-chief rcr5057 ,,, psu.edu Every row in the Smith Chapel was full of people eager to hear about real beauty on Thursday night. Penn State Behrend's Panhellenic Council invited Stacy Nadeau of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty to speak on her experience as one of the first models used in the campaign designed to combat unrealistic expectations the media has generated for women. Four years ago, Nadeau was on her way to her part-time job blissfully unaware of the fact that her life was about to change. She was aware, how ever, of a strange woman who following closely behind her as she walked. Once Nadeau ar rived at the buildoti, , 4er spft, was in, the woman Orepped in side and asked to hang up a flier for modeling auditions. Nadeau agreed, and the woman told her that Nadeau should au dition. Six callbacks later, Nadeau was on a plane headed towards New York City for a photo students' attire, and the cold conditions they endured on the way to classes. Dorsch wasn't concerned about the salt stains, unless of course he was on his way to the weight room. He was more preoccupied with try ing to make it through the snowy sidewalks in his wheel chair. Despite all the hardships Dorsch faces when it comes to making his way to and from lu~iI!I1IIHI'!I' )1( Watchmen opened to a wild response from students and lan, News 1-4 Arts 5 Perspectives 6 Sports 7-9 Local Dining 10 Vol. LV No. XXI shoot. She was one of the six women who would participate in an unprecedented marketing campaign by Dove, in which they would advertise their products with "real beauty and real people. - The campaign would run ads featuring six women with no previous expe rience or training in modeling - wearing nothing hut under wear. The women ranged from a size two to a size 12, and the photos would remain unair brushed and un-retouched. Compared to the digitally-al tered models that pervade American media, Dove \\ anted to use these advertisements to celebrate natural and healthy women instead. Shooting the ads took two days, both more than 12 hours long. Nadeau said that at the end of the last workday, the producers told the non-model models that this was a com pletely new strategy. and that they weren't sure how the media would respond. "They could chew you up and spit you back out," one producer told the women. Despite their trepi dation, all six Sec SPEAKER un page 4 class, he does not fault the maintenance crew. In fact, he states that the campus has dune "an excellent job" keeping the walkways cleared. His only complaint about the state of our campus is the accessibility of the REDC While taking to Dorsch, it be came clear that the hike to the REDC, which is no treat for any See ACCESSIBILITY o page 4 Contents
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