College Knockout a huge success
XGI spring blood drive: 159 screened,
By DIANE KENNEY
Staff Reporter
DMK29S@PSU.EDU
Chi Gamma lota, more commonly
known as XGI, is a service fraternity
Photo courtesy of JAMES ELLIGSON
XGI President Andrew Dale gladly did his part in the blood drive by donating a
pint of blood. Dale was pleased with the donation turnout; a 9 pint increase from
the previous spring semester’s drive.
Business
By ROB JOHNSON
Guest Reporter
RCJSDO7@PSU.EDU
At the end of the Fall 2005 semester,
the Finance Club received an e
mail from the IMASC/Accounting
Club proposing a co-sponsored
trip to one of the most important
financial centers in the world, New
York City- including visits to elite
investment bank Bear Stearns, the
most important of the US Federal
Reserve Banks, the Federal Bank of
New York, and a walking tour of the
New York Financial District.
The Finance Club eagerly agreed
and work on the project began over
the winter break.
Registration for the trip filled quickly
and in the early morning hours of
Friday, Mar. 24, over 30 students and
faculty met in the Olmsted parking
lot to board the bus.
The Accounting Club entered
orderly and seated from the front
about 10 minutes prior to departure.
Finance Club members, still groggy
from a pre-celebration at ABC the
night prior, crawled into the back
just as the driver was ready to close
the doors.
Amazing how the two clubs
work so well together despite
different personalities.
A sleepy bus ride into New York
City quickly energized us as we
passed through the streets filled
with theaters and skyscrapers and
along the Hudson River seeing such
famous landmarks as the Empire
State Building, Statue of Liberty, and
Times Square.
The anticipation was building and I
was excited that we had pulled it off
First stop was Bear, Steams, and
Company, one of the world’s leading
investment-banking firms. Investment
bankers are the rock stars of the
financial world, rumored to make
obscene salaries in the millions.
The rumors are perpetuated in
novels such as Michael Lewis’s
“Liar’s Poker” and Andy Kessler’s
“Wall Street Meat.”
After being treated to a continental
breakfast and a short promotional
film, Nat Singer led off a panel
discussion of Penn State alums
working at Bear Stearns, describing
the firm, the recruiting process,
and investment banking careers
in general.
The group was then divided into
smaller groups for a tour of the
monstrous trading floors where
we were warned to “watch out for
footballs and other flying objects.”
One student asked the real question
on everyone’s mind, “how much do
here at Penn State Harrisburg.
Chartered in 1968, XGI began with
intentions of helping men and women
veterans transition from the military
life to the civilian life. At PSH, XGI
is known for two major events, the
students’ bull run to NYC
investment bankers really make?"
The reply: “there are at least a dozen
guys in front of you who made $lO
million last year."
We were introduced to several
Penn State grads and graduates from
other Big Ten Conference schools,
including Wisconsin, Purdue,
and Indiana, who work in the
trading room.
We were introduced to one trader
who “graduated from Cornell, but
he roots for Michigan, so we all
hate him.”
At the conclusion of the tour we
re-assembled back on Madison
Ave., grabbing hot dogs from
street-cart vendors and snapping a
few pictures of the beautiful Bear
Steams Headquarters.
The bus picked us up and we
were driven to our drop off point in
Battery Park City, passing by Ground
Zero. The 2001 terrorist attacks
of the World Trade Center towers
were an emotional time for most
all Americans, but seeing the site
first hand and up close still gives a
surprising sense of emotion.
Throughout the city we saw the
effects of the attacks in increased
security personnel, barriers to prevent
car bombings, and metal detectors in
most every financial building.
A short walk and we arrived at the
door of the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York. No electronic devices
or pictures were allowed inside
Photo courtesy
The Finance and Accounting clubs visit Bear Stearns Company in New York City, the most important of the
US Federal Reserve Banks. The clubs also went on a walking tour of the New York Financial District.
115 pints received
Veterans Day Ceremony and their
infamous blood drive.
The blood drive happens twiee a
year, onee in the fall and again in
the spring semester. The XGls work
in eooperation with the Central
Pennsylvania Blood
Bank to help raise as
many pints of blood
as possible.
On March 29, this
spring’s blood drive took
place. The drive ran from
10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and
turned out to be one of
the most successful blood
drives yet.
Everyone who attempted
to donate received a free t
shirt. Matthew Mahoney,
junior, Communications
and XGI member , was
very pleased with this
year’s t-shirts.
Mahoney said, “The t
shirts this year looked like
something a person would
buy at Abercrombie
& Fitch.”
Current Chi Gamma lota
President Andrew Dale
was very pleased with the
number of participants.
Dale said, “We had
159 people screened and
received 115 pints of
blood. This was a few
more pints than received
in last year’s spring blood
drive which was 106 pints
of blood.”
Many students were
happy to donate blood
or outside the building. We were
escorted in 4 at a time.
After 30 minutes of being
proeessed through security, we were
given a short presentation on the
role the Federal Bank plays in the
economy and were then led 80 feet
underground, 50 feet below sea level,
to the gold vault.
The floor of the vault is polished
bedrock painted gray and the only
entrance is through a 10-foot long
passageway cut in a nine-foot-tall,
90-ton steel cylinder door.
The vault holds gold bricks
representing 25 to 30 percent of
the world’s official monetary gold
reserves - an incredible site.
The walking tour through Manhattan,
led by Dr. Cusatis, provided numerous
photo-ops of important financial
institutions and monuments.
We stopped for a few' quick pictures
in front of the very heavily guarded
New York Stock Exchange - 3 rows
of gates and barriers and hundreds of
security personnel.
Passing the unmarked, but
extravagant headquarters of Goldman
Sachs, you begin to get a real sense
of the incredible wealth that exists in
this country.
We walked past Trinity Church
and the grave of the Father of the
US Treasury, Alexander Hamilton,
past the American Stock Exchange,
and we finally arrived at the “Wall
Street Bull” bronze sculpture for
and save a life. Sophomore Matthew
Carroll tried to donate twice to help
the XGIs and the cause.
Some students were nervous and
needed some convincing to donate,
but XGI members were there to lend
a helping hand of support.
Coordinator of Student Activities
and Intercultural Affairs Nichole
Duffy was more than happy to
loan time and give a pint of blood
for XGI.
After you donate your blood though,
what happens to it?
According to the Central
Pennsylvania Blood Bank’s web
page, the pints of whole blood
donated are used for people that
have lost massive amounts of blood
due to a surgery or an injury. Then
the pints can be broken up and used
in different areas of the body.
Plasma, contained in at least half
of your donated pint is usually used
for burn patients and is replaced
within an hour of donation. This
process continues until they break
up all the components in your blood
and all is used.
With the XGI blood drive, all of
the donated blood stays in central
Pennsylvania. Eligible persons are
able to donate blood every six-eight
weeks and are encouraged to do
so. If you are not sure as to where
to go to donate blood please check
the Central Pennsylvania blood drive
web page at www.cpbb.org.
As the secretary of XGI, I would
like to thank all of the people that
came out and donated blood, and
helped to make this a very successful
blood drive.
more pictures
The “Bull” sculpture ended the j
organized portion of the trip, and j
groups formed to go their own |
direction for the fast approaching i
dinner hour.
A large group went to Chinatown
for shopping and diniftg and the
primary group from the Finance
Club stopped in an Irish Pub to
refresh before traveling by cab to the
Spanish restaurant The Seville in the
Village section.
A few pitchers of sangria helped to
wash down heaping plates of paella,
steaks, and other Spanish cuisine in
preparation of the long return home.
Emily Mathews, Vice President
IMASC/Accounting Club, with
the help of IMASC/Accounting
Advisor Mr. Bohenick, secured bus
transportation and arranged the tour
of the Federal Bank.
Emily also wrote proposals to
the SAF and SGA with the help
of Finance Club President Rob
Johnson. Dr. Cusatis, Finance Club
Advisor and former investment
banker with Lehman Brothers, used
his contacts to obtain an invitation of
Bear Steams investment bank.
The journey started at 6 a.m.
and the bus didn’t return to
Olmsted until almost 11p.m., but
cooperation between the two clubs
made this event an overwhelming
success that should be repeated.
What an incredible trip.
THE CAPITAL TIMES April 10, 2006
Leitheiser: Beyond
the Classroom
Continued from page 1
immigrated to the United States from
the European country of Luxemburg.
She believes that her family and
friends helped her to become the
success she is today.
“To succeed in anything, a group
effort is key,” she said. There was
always someone throughout her life
who influenced or supported her.
Whether it was her grandparents,
parents, aunts and uncles or close
friends, she always appreciated them
in looking at her success.
Leitheiser’s grandmother waS a
very influential person in her life.
She was very kind and strong.
“I think her serving as a nurse
because of WWII with English as her
second language makes her a strong
woman,” she said.
Much of Leitheiser’s maternal
family is in the science field, so
it was no surprise to them that
she wanted to go into behavioral
science. In addition to Leitheiser’s
grandmother being a nurse, her
two uncles were a diplomat and
a diplomat psychiatrist. On her
father’s side, however, many are
educators. So, it’s easy to see why
teaching developmental psychology
is appealing to her. It is indeed a part
of who she is.
Surprisingly, though, Leitheiser’s
entrance into psychology was
accidental. She actually went to
study at the University of Califomia-
Davis to become a veterinarian. But
when she took a behavioral class, she
changed her mind.
“I loved that class,” she said. “It was
very interesting to me so I decided to
change my major to psychology.”
Leitheiser received her master’s
degree at the University of Guam in
counseling and her doctorate degree
in counseling psychology from the
University of Houston. She has also
done a clinical psychology internship
and post-doc at the Wilford Hall
Medical Center.
Being curious was always one of
Leitheiser’s pleasures.
“I was always interested in why
things happen and why they are that
way,” she said.
Leitheiser said that just like
anyone else, she’s been around a
lot of nice people, but also with
a few mean people. She learned
from being with them how to make
the world a better place. Learning
from the actions of both sets of
characteristics, she realized what is
good and what is bad.
“I love people,” said Leitheiser.
She said that each person is different
so each person is interesting.
Even as a student in middle school
and high school, her favorite subjects
were the ones that related to humans.
A few of those subjects include
history and religious studies. In
school, Leitheiser was a good student
and received good grades. But her
good grades were not because she
was always tried to be studious. They
were actually good because of her
social life.
“1 hung out with smart people,” she
■ said. “And if that meant studying for
a test with them, then that’s exactly
what I would do.”
She said that studying with her
group of friends was a group effort.
So, in essence, because she had
her friends’ support, she did well.
Leitheiser provided another example
of where a group effort works well.
! “When students struggle in class,
it’s not because they’re not smart, but
because they need someone’s support
or encouragement,” Leitheiser said.
Her belief is that everyone needs
some kind of support in order
to keep them going. The more
encouragement they have, usually
the better they’ll do, she said.
In college her favorite subjects
were psychology and animal
behavior. Leitheiser also owns a dog
of her own, a Corgi named Liam that
she bought four years ago. Liam is
a Keltic name for ‘good Sheppard.’
And a good Sheppard Liam is
indeed, said Leitheiser. He is very
obedient, she added.
Something students may not
know about Leitheiser is that
she was in the military for two
years. She was the chief of mental
health in the Life Skills Support
Center for family advocacy. The
experience for her was challenging
but rewarding at the same time.
It was challenging because the
military system conflicted with
what she, as a psychologist, knew
to be most effective.
Leitheiser also cleared up a large
misconception the general public has
about the military.
“Many people think that the
people in the military make its
own decisions on when they want
to attack a country.” In fact, the
opposite is true, she said. The
military only follows orders as they
are received from the U.S. Congress.
And the strength of Congress is one
of the most effective systems in the
world because it, in fact, can’t be
individualistic, she said.
“It’s a collective system in
an individual structure,” said
Leitheiser. “They even dress the
same,” she added.
So, she said proudly, even if those
serving don’t agree with what they
are told to do, they still do it. This
shows a lot of determination on their
part, said Leitheiser.
Currently, besides teaching, she
is on a homeland security team
on campus. Her presentation on a
pandemic flu scenario will be held
Tuesday, April 18, 2006 and will be
open to the public. Look out for more
details of this colloquium around
campus if interested. Leitheiser also
mentioned that Penn State Harrisburg
might be offering a homeland
security major in the near future.
Just in her first year, Leitheiser
has taught cross culture
competence, ethics, personality
theory, development, human
development and disaster mental
health management. The disaster
mental health management course
will be offered for the last time on
this campus during the first summer
session because Leitheiser will
be leaving and there is no other
professor to teach it.
Leitheiser said that her favorite
part of being a professor is working
with future clinicians. But her
least favorite part is working with
disrespectful students. Adjusting
to their attitudes is frustrating
sometimes, she said.
“Obviously, they’re not
experienced like professors are, so
we have to understand that and let
them learn,” said Leitheiser.
When it comes to hobbies,
snorkeling is one of her favorite
things to do because she loves being
in the water. She also enjoys reading,
talking on the phone with her friends
and family, and traveling.
In addition to Guam, Leitheiser has
traveled to every state in the United
States when she went camping
with her father and younger sister
in their childhood. She has also
been to Canada, Japan, Saipan and
Managaha, which is a small island
off of Saipan.
As far as music is concerned,
she said that she is eclectic. The
only type of music that she doesn’t
like is hard-core rap because,
many times, it is very violent and
demeaning. She said that the music
usually only depicts the bad in the
rapper’s experiences and not the
part they spent trying to recover
that experience.
“It’s not balanced,” she said. “I like
to listen to music that will make me
feel good and that kind of rap doesn’t
so I don’t listen to it,” said Leitheiser.
Nowadays, she’s been listening to
Shakira’s new CD “Oral Fixation”.
Guam’s food called Chamorro is
Leitheiser’s favorite type of food.
“We have the best barbecue ever,”
she said. Chamorro food is similar
to Thai, Pilipino or Hawaiian food.
Her favorite drink is Diet Mountain
Dew, which is indeed a pure
American drink.
Maintaining her culture is very
important to her, especially in the
United States because to do so
is difficult. Her future goals are
to have a family, which is very
important to her.
She also wants to make more
friends and keep the ones she
already has. In addition, she wants
to continue going scuba diving
and go back to visit her favorite
place, Guam.
The last thing Leitheiser said
brought out the fun side in her.
She said that if she could have any
other job in the world, it would be
to entertain and cook for tourists
in Guam.
“I want them to learn and enjoy
themselves when they visit Guam,”
she said with excitement, “as
learning is an important part of life.”