TechNews STUDENTNEWSPAPER OF ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SINCE 1 92 8 McCormick Tribune Campus Center Room 221 3201 South State Street Chicago, Illinois 60616 E-mail: editor@technewsiit.com Website: http://www.technewsiit.com TechNews STAFF Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor Ryan Kamphuis Hannah Larson Utsav Gandhi Matti Scannell Ciaran Kohli-Lynch Campus Editor AbE Editor Sports Editor Business Manager IT Manager Kori Bowns Pranava Teja Surukuchi Kori Bowns Kristal Copeland Katie Peters Copy Editors Layout Editors Kori Bowns Swasti Khuntia Karthik Kumar Katie Peters Sowjanya Potha Pranava Teja Surukuchi Distribution Manager Emilie Woog FinancialAdvisor Faculty Advisor Vickie Tolbert Gregory Pulliam MISSION STATEMENT Our mission is to promote student discussion and bolster the IIT community by providing a newspaper that is highly accessible, a stalwart of journalistic integrity, and a student forum. TechNewsisadedicated to the beliefthatastrong campus newspaper is essential to a strong campus community. GENERAL INFORMATION TechNews is written, managed, and edited by the students of, and funded in part by, Illinois Institute of Technology. The material herein does not necessarily reflectthe opinions of Illinois Institute of Technology or the editors, staff, and advisor of TechNews.Therewillbe no censorship ofTechNews publication by the faculty or staff of IIT. Sole authority and responsibility for publication and adherencetothevaluesset forthinthis policyrests with the TechNews staff. This paper seeks to bring together the various segments ofthe Illinois Tech communityand strives through balanceand content to achieve a position of respect and excellence. TechNews strives for professionalism with due respect to the intellectual values ofthe university and its community.Allmaterialsubmitted becomes the property of TechNews, and is subject to any editorial decisions deemed necessary. SUBMISSIONS TechNews is published on the Tuesday of each week of the academic year. Deadline for all submissions and announcements is 11:59 pm. on the Friday prior to publication. Articles, photos, and illustrations must be submitted electronically to the TechNews website at technewsiit.com. EDITORIAL POLICY The editors reserve the right to determine if submitted material meets TechNews' policy and standards. For more information about our editorial standards, please email assteditor@technewsiit.com. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor may be submitted by anyone, but are subject to review by the Editor-in-Chief. All letters-to-the-editor become the property of TechNews upon submission. TechNews does not accept or publish anonymous letters or sto ADVERTISING Legitimate paid advertisements, from within or outside the IIT community, which serve to produce income for the paper, are accommodated. TechNews holds the right to deny any advertisement unsuitable for publication. Media Kits are available upon request. Ad space is limited and is taken on a first-come, first-serve basis. Contact the Business Manager at business@ technewsiit.com for more information. LOCAL 8' NATIONAL ADVERTISERS To place an ad, contact us via email at business@technewsiit.com. opinion@technewsiit.com TechNews | Tuesday, February26, 2013 A perfect college summer Dan Zweig STAFF WRITER Spring break is quickly approaching and if you haven’t already made plans, you probably won’t be able to pull off anything spectacular; signeups for ASB’s spring break with Habitat for Humanity or the Rock Climbing Club’s trip to Kentucky are long over, most airlines have already jacked up their prices if you were thinking about Vegas, California, Florida, or Cancun, and most of the academic conferences are booked and registered That doesn’t leave much besides going home if you live close, or sticking around in Chicago if you don’t Although many of spring break’s opportunities seem to have already passed, summer’s opportunities have not Now is the time to start planning for vacations in summer; the career fair has passed and soon you’ll know if you have that summer internship, job back home, summer classes, or any other solid plans for the three months off My recommendation is to use any extra time to try getting away with an extreme, once in a lifetime, college experience Last summer, I had the honor of riding along with friends from Chicago to California and back over four weeks We left Chicago after finals, stopping for a few days at several different National Parks and cities along the way Camping or staying at friends’ houses, we were able to complete our trip even on a tight budget We purchased a National Park Pass for $80, giving us access to each of the 59 National Parks for an entire year Even if you are only going to visit a few parks, this pass is well worth the fee, especially when split between 4 people On our journey across the country we visited 11 National Parks (Badlands, Yellowstone, Glacier, Crater Lake, Redwoods, Joshua Tree, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Rocky Mountain) We camped for almost the entire trip and even found some random free camping on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) property for a few of the nights IIT has an intense international population, but also an impressively diverse national student population, with students (or recent alumni) from many, if not all, of the states If you were to connect the dots between all of the friends you have around the country, you may find that there is a large network of cities to explore and friends to visit Roadtrips allow students to experience the country and its National gems in a way most people never get the chance to: while we are young enough to endure it, yet old enough to handle it Our trip included camping, hiking, exploring, climbing, and photographing in 15 states, and hardly cost us anything as we split the gas between 3 or 4 drivers We experienced everything from deserted hiking trails to the hustle and bustle of cities like San Francisco, Portland, and Los Angeles We were in 15 feet of snow one week and 90 degree weather the next With a trip like this, you can really get as much variety as you want I wish I had the opportunity and time to make a 4 week journey across the country every year, and I know that I will try to make it happen, especially while I’m still in school and not working 50 weeks per year Photos by Dan Zweig