Student newspaper of Illinois Institute of Technology since 1928

Global Petals shows support for Chicago Bulls

Parth Kapadia
TECHNEWS WRITER

IIT student Parth Kapadia’s non,
profit organization, Global Petals, showed its
support of the Chicago Bulls and their efforts
to promote youth education in Chicago, over
winter break with a flowery display

In collaboration with the Chicago
Bulls, Global Petals donated a custom Chicago
Bulls logo comprised of specialty roses from
around the world to the Ray and Joan Kroc
Corps Community Centert The Kroc Corps
Community Center provides underserved
communities with the highest quality recree

ational and arts facilities to afford children the
opportunities to build their natural gifts and
talents

Global Petals is looking forward to
continuing their relationship with the Bulls
and Kroc Center to identify ways to engage
and support the development of the next gen,
eration of students
Global Petals is a web portal that provides ac,
cess for florists, businesses and noneprofits,
community organizations, and retail consume
ers to the worldE’s finest quality flowerst Globe
al Petals allows customers to develop direct
relationships with growers and simplifies the
shipping processt

 

The custom arrangement was pre
pared by University of Illinois (U of I) stue
dent designers Sam Kowalczyk, and Candice
Miller (of CM Cakes and Flowers), and Rachel
Prescott, a U of I Horticulture Alumni, in col,
laboration with the founders of Global Petals
and presented to the leadership of the Kroc
Center

Although they are a global business,
Global Petals maintains strong local roots and
is continuously focus ed on identifying avenues
to support youth initiatives in the Chicago
community Founded by Chicago area natives,
Michael Lyons and Parth Kapadia, Global Pete
als empowers floral buyers to purchase directly

technewsiit.com

OPINION 2
CAMPUS 3-8
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SLIPSTICK 11

from global flower farms, enhancing relation,
ships, providing greater transparency and efiie
ciency, and offering substantial value to buyers
and sellers In addition to providing premium
quality flowers, their aim is to use Global Petals
as a platform to better the local community

As entrepreneurs, they recognize the
importance of encouraging youth to pursue
their dreams in artistic and entrepreneurial ca,
reers and are pleased to support such endeave
ors in our communities

Kapadia (CAEE ‘13) is also the cur,
rent president of the Armour College of Engie
neering Themes Student Council, and a meme
ber of the Entrepreneurship Academy

 

Syrian students hold vigil for Aleppo U

Utsav Gandhi & Katie Peters
CAMPUS EDITOR & COPY & LAYOUT EDITOR

On January 15, 2013, when Illinois
Tech students were just coming back for the
start of the new semester, more than 80 peo
ple, many of them students on their way to
their first day of exams were killed when two
blasts fired from warplanes struck a university
campus in the northern Syrian city of Aleppot

Just think about the enormity of the
above statement First day of exams Univere
sity students More than 80 victims One can
very easily just read the headline, reflect upon
it for a few minutes and get on with their life
hoping the war would end soon But what
made this specific incident so irrefutable was
that here at IIT we have Syrian students, some
of them who have transferred from Aleppo
University in a recently instituted university
initiativet They could very easily have been
there on that fatal day

In a strong show of solidarity, scores
of IIT students showed up on January 18th,
2013 on the MTCC South Lawn to participate
in a vigil organized by these very Syrian stue
dentst Even the blistering cold winds couldn’t
extinguish the passionate appeal of these stue

dents to encourage peace and promote hare
mony

The Syrian students were gathered
on the South Lawn with candles and post,
ers, having imprinted “RIIIP” and a heart on
the sand To start off, Raed Tawil gave intro,
duction, thanked everyone for coming, not,
ing that the number in attendance was close
enough to the number of casualties in Aleppot
Some of the students had signs that said:

“You can kill a person but not an
idea"

“Illinois stands with Aleppo"

“I would like to congratulate the 90
students who graduated from Aleppo U with
an honorable martyrdom status"

The students proceeded to sing a
song called “Mawtenee” to honor their fallen
brothers and sisters, accompanied by some in,
credibly poignant and somber musict

Tawil then proceeded to provide a
brief background of the Syrian civil war and
the students finished with singing the Syrian
national anthem

TechNews, and by extension, IIT
is proud to stand in solidarity with these stue
dents, who are as equally a part of the IIT fame
ily as anyone else

 

niversity victims

Photos courtesy ofPanh Kapadia

  

 

Photos courtesy of The Na tlonal & the IITAdmltted Undergraduate Facebook Page