TechNews | Tuesday, November 1 9, 2013 Students volunteer for veterans at Remake the World Center Kyle Stanevich STAFF WRITER There were many volunteer opportunities this last weekend including events hosted by The Museum of Science and Industry and a few of the Greek houses. Another one was a service event cosponsored by the Office of Spiritual Life and Service Learning and Camras Scholars Program. These two organizations teamed up to feed the veterans in need at the Remake the World (RTW) center. Last week on the bridge, Camras students gave away free cookies and decorated hand turkeys to raise awareness for this volunteer opportunity. Just as many other organizations compete for participants, Camras worked hard in enlisting volunteers, but giving away free cookies was surprisingly near impossible. However, the hard work did pay off, as there were enough volunteers to fill up a bus. On Saturday morning, although sleepy, everyone was excited about volunteering, but it would not commence without introductions. Arnetha Gholston, the Executive Director at RTW, explained the idea behind remaking the world. As a religious organization, they believed that when humans were sent to earth, they brought along with them ideas of conflict and killing, ideas that would break the world. Since humans caused all of this mess, it should be the duty of humans to fix or remake the world. She introduced us to “Doc” Daniel Habeel, the co-founder of this institution and a veteran himself. As Chicago has 4 of the top 20 neighborhoods in the US suffering from high rates of ptomaine poisoning in the homeless, especially veterans, he noticed the need for a center like RTW in Chicago to provide good food to the veterans in Washington Park. They are not funded by the government, but by donations of time and money from local organizations like Illinois Tech. After these inspiring speeches, the students got busy preparing food by peeling and chopping bins full of potatoes, apples, and pears. Others buttered bread slices and a brave few learned in the kitchen how to prepare amazing fried chicken. One of the more unfortunate jobs was cutting up a huge bin of onions. Not only did the students cutting them have a hard time keeping the tears back, but the smell filled up the rest of the house, causing people in other rooms to tear up as well. Although it was hard work, everyone had a great time preparing the food and knowing that they were making the lives of veterans better. As one student said, “They served us and our country, now it’s time for us to serve them.’ ’ Opportunities to interact with the organizations such as RTW are rewarding experiences. The Oflice of Spiritual Life and Service Learning is an integral part of Illinois Tech, helping the students reach out to the surrounding community and give back. Next time they have a big event like this, do sign up; it will be a great experience. Monthly Sustainability Forum focuses on gamification, technology The network ranks companies all over Chicago by points each accumulates through accomplishing different sustainability goals, be it individual or office-wide initiatives. More information can be found on www.greenpsf. com. lusrine Rakauskaite TECHNEWS WRITER This past Friday, November 15, the Office of Campus Energy and Sustainability (OCES) hosted one of their monthly forums addressing gamification to encourage sustainability. The forum, held in the Hermann Hall ballroom, attracted over 90 students, staff, and guests of different fields who came out to learn about a different approach in encouraging environmental change. Gamification is the use of game thinking and mechanics to engage individuals to solve problems. Three speakers led the forum, each covering different ways to apply gamification to environmental sustainability. Shane M. Fay, the Vice President of Client Solutions, discussed Simple Energy, a tool that utilizes email, web, mobile, social, and print in tracking individual energy usage to motivate and engage customers to conserve resources and save money. More information can be found at utilitiessimpleenergycom. The forum’s second speaker, CEO of GreenPoint partners Dustin Gellman, discussed Green Per Square Foot, a digital marketplace that involved building owners and managers to profile their buildings, find savings opportunities, and connect to a network that lets them compare their performance to other buildings. Finally, Grant Willard introduced IouleBug, an app that helps cut out energy waste and save money by combining mobile gaming, social media and educational tools to encourage competition between users as they collect Badges and Pins by completing simple sustainability goals. For more information, visit www.joulebug.com. OCES also announced their new water bottle giveaways. Get one by participating in upcoming OCES events, joining sustainability— related student organizations, or volunteering for a sustainability-related event. Email the office at campussustainability@iit.edu for volunteer information and upcoming events, and like our Facebook page at “IIT Campus Sustainability.” You can also follow the oflice’s activity on twitter at @iitgreen. The next OCES forum will host Tim Kasser, author of “The High Price of Materialism,” and he will address the psychology of sustainability. The forum, titled Human Identity and Environmental Challenges, will be held next semester, Friday, February 14, at 12:30 p.m. through 2 p.m. with a location to be announced. Sign up to attend at: tinyurl.com/ IITmaterialism.