Tuesday, April 1, 2014 | TechNews Night full of fun at roCk climbing lock-in Sijia Wu LAYOUT EDITOR IIT’s Rock Climbing Club held its second Climbing Lock-In on Friday, March 28, with the purpose of providing students with the chance to eXperience the fun of climbing mifed with gatherings and games. It was held at the local gym Climb On, which also serves as the climbing resort of the club. Like most of the other trips and events held by the club, Lock-In was open to IIT students only and was free of charge to all its participants. Running from 9 pm. to 9 a.m. the next day, this was an SAP—funded overnight event with 24 students in attendance. Activities included top—rope climbing and. bouldering. There were also board games and pizza, in order for the students to catch their breath and fill their stomachs after intensive climbing. Most participants had been on _ several trips with the club, while those who had no previous climbing experience also successfully completed a couple of routes with the assistance of experienced climbers and gym staff. “This is one of those rare events where a lot of people can be active and have fiin at the same time,” said Michael Lee, a new member of the club and a fifth year student at IIT, when asked about why he would like to attend this event. Maria Garcia Llop, an @fifiOOOOOQOOOOOOOOQOrOOOPhOtO-Ybysifiaw“ exchange student from Spain and an active member of the club, also enjoyed the Lock- In. “People in the club are really nice—they keep encouraging me to challenge my limits and try more difficult routes. I feel like there’s more friendship than competition when it comes to climbing,” she said. Mary Kathrine Van Sipma, the manager~of the gym, observed the entire event to ensure the safety of all-students. “I really look forward to another Lock-In with your club next semester,” said Mary, expressing her interest in future cooperation with the Rock Climbing Club. “You guys are enthusiastic and motivated. It’s awesome to get to know you all,” she added. Besides Lock-In, Rock Climbing Club has held many other events this semester, including weekly trips to local gyms (Hidden Peak, Climb On and Vertical Endeavors), weekly workouts, beginner’s lessons, advanced lessons, Bog social, etc. To further quench the thirst of club members for climbing, the club has led three outdoor trips in the past two months to Sandstone, » MN, Jackson Falls, IL and New River Gorge, WV, respectively. Two other outdoor trips to Pictured Rocks, IA and Devil’s Lake, MI will take place in April. Rock Climbing Club highly encourages all registered IIT students to attend its events, most of which are free, as mentioned above. If you are interested, please contact the club at iitclimbing@gmail.com. Sharing Table sponors last gathering of semester, this week Shireen Gul COPY EDITOR Within four weeks, we will be done with our semester and this academic year as well. So don’t you people think this is a good time to reflect on our journey throughout this academic year and our plans for the summer? Well if you were planning this, guess what? The Student Center for Diversity and Inclusion already heard you and have planned a good event for you, where you can come with your friends and professors and discuss your plans for summer and reflect on your academic year. The Student Center for Diversity and Inclusion well be holding their last Shar- ing Table for this academic year on Thursday, April 3, at The Commons. This time they will be discussing your plans for the summer. They will discuss about our internships opportuni- ties, job offers, joy of going back home, and a lot more. Just a reminder, The Sharing Table is held on the first Thursday of every month dur- ing the academic term. It is a special program to help foster personal interaction between un- dergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. You can engage yourself in spirited conversa- tion about hobbies, culture, sports, and current events while dining at The Commons. A' small group of students are given the chance to learn a great deal about their instructors in this type of social setting. I know usually students hesitate to ask their professors to join them for lunch but trust me, all you have to do is to ask them once or just give them personalized invitation cards that we have for you all. I have been part of this table since last semester and I am witness to the fact that how much professors enjoy meet- ing students out of their majors and sharing their thoughts and experiences with all. Once you come there you will know for yourself what I am talking about. The best part about this event is that the timings are very flexible. Ioin us anytime between 11:30 a.m. — 1:30 pm. One can’t have a good excuse from joining us, so invite your professor today and if they are free and have no other engagement I am sure they would love to join you for a luncheon and share a good conversation. So if you have no plans for this Thursday, April 3, make sure you join us and share with us, your plans for the summer. A . small reminder; please don’t forget we also have personal invitations that you can give to your instructors. Just send an email to scdi@iit. edu and we will let you know how to get your card. Last but not least, don’t forget to fol- low us on TWitter and Instagram @iitdiversity and like us on Facebook at SCDI IIT. Remem— ber, we are doing all of this for you, so please come join and acknowledge our group. Look- ing forward to see new and wonderful faces along with our old group of students, faculty and staff who join us each month to make our event successful. 0Q.0.00.9.0...C.0!939.OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Illinois Tech Up tot—Us attends CGIU Elizabeth Bement TECHNEW WRITTER Capitalizing on the momentum gen- erated throughout last semester, a group of stu- dents from IIT received the “Extended Reach” award during the nationwide 2014 Up to Us competition. During the national campaign, 22 student-led teams from across the country designed plans to educate, engage and inspire action on the challenges the nation faces from rising long—terrn debt. The students at IIT will receive a prize of $2,500 for raising awareness of the national debt issues with students be- yond their campus. The University of Texas-Pan Ameri- can took the top prize for the campaign to inspire action on our national debt. The 2nd Annual ‘Up to Us’ nationwide college com- petition was instrumental in giving the youth a voice in our fiscal future. 22 teams from across the country-designed innovative plans and were recognized by former President Bill Clinton at this year’s CGI University meeting, held March 21-23 at Arizona State University in Phoenix. The annual competition is spon- sored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) and Net Impact. “The Up to Us competition has proven, for the second time, that young people are passionate about raising awareness around our nation’s eco- nomic challenges,” said President Bill Clinton. “As the winning team from. The University of a4; :‘s a is fit m a Texas-Pan American has demonstrated, these students have good ideas and a unique per- spective that deserve serious consideration.” The 2014 Up to Us teams engaged their peers in broad discussions about the nation’s fiscal health, holding a total of nearly 100 campus events focused on these issues, including host- ing a US Senator or Congressman on campus to address the nation’s long-term fiscal chal- lenges, through in—person presentations and videos, convening students on campus to lead civic engagement activities, such as sending petitions, postcards and letters to elected ofli- cials, and visiting local high schools and com- munity centers to raise awareness about the nation’s rising debt in the larger community. Nearly 19,000 students participated in these events, and the teams partnered with more than 240 other campus groups during the five- week competition. Students used digital tools to enhance their campaigns with over 8,500 students taking a Facebook quiz on the nation’s budget and over 13,000 people viewing student produced YouTube videos on the debt. The entries were evaluated by an esteemed panel of competition judges, includ- ing Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation; Kent Conrad, former US. Senator and former Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee; Betty Liu, journalist and anchor of Bloomberg T elevision’s “In the Loop,” Olympia Snowe, former US. Senator and Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center; and George Stephanopoulos, anchor of ABC’s “This Week’ and “Good Morning America.” “These out- standing student teams have demonstrated once again that millennials have a critical role to play in shaping our fiscal future,” said Pe— ter G. Peterson, founder and chairman of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. “Their strong voices and innovative ideas are essential, and policymakers should listen closely as they con- sider choices that ultimately will affect the next generation and the economic opportunities available to them.” The University of Texas-Pan Ameri— can team members included Fabiola Urgel (team leader), Christopher Villarreal, Luis Basurto, Edna Pulido and Carlos Aguayo. Their most successful events included: a kick- off panel discussion on the national debt with Texas State Senator Iuan “Chuy” Hinojosa, the Provost of the University, the Dean of the Col- lege of Business Administration and the Presi- dent of the Student Government Association; a campaign to educate area high school students and their parents on fiscal issues through well- attended seminars and classroom visits; and performing an original play about the national debt that was attended by more than 200 peo— ple. Five prizes of $2,500 each were also rewarded to the following schools for their successful work in several categories, Partici- pant Engagement (highest number of students engaged via Facebook, events and civic en~ fiafittfi@&%a<@ttfifiw&%§&%$§ gagement): University~of Tennessee, Knoxville, Creativity: Rice University, Extended Reach (beyond students on campus): Illinois Institute of Technology, Rules 8: Participation (adher- ence to campaign parameters and best use of programmatic resources): Northwestern Uni— versity, Building Awareness (best use of con- tent fo'r fiscal education): University of Texas at Austin. “All the teams involved in this year’s competition rose to the occasion and executed fantastic campaigns,” said Liz Maw, chief ex- ecutive officer of Net Impact, a nonprofit that inspires a new generation of leaders to work for a sustainable future. “The conversations they brought to campus engaged their peers on a personal level and brought awareness to a complicated yet crucial issue.” What impressed the judges most about the IIT team was the amazing job the team did in engaging people via online plat— forms (Facebook quiz and page engagement). The overall variety and breadth of activities that they held on campus and off (from the kickoff party and IPRO project to the commu- nity outreach program and round tables and panels) and their creativity (debt castle, flash mob) really impressed the judges. The most impressive thing that the campaign did was re— ally harness the energy and excitement of the student body on social media. In terms of en- gagement on Facebook, they also got the most students of any school to take the Facebook qlllZ.