Author: Brady Mathews Roesch

 

“All my friends back home are so jealous right now,” said freshman Shashank Sharma, about actor Josh Radnor’s March 19 visit to Ohio Wesleyan.

“I’m a die hard fan of How I Met Your Mother, so (Radnor) coming to our campus was just mind blowing news,” Sharma added.

Josh Radnor’s most well-known role is Ted Mosby on the hit television series “How I Met Your Mother,” and he also wrote, directed and starred in the 2012 film “Liberal Arts,” screened on campus March 1 by Campus Programming Board.

Senior Kelsey Brewer, a current member of CPB and former marketing chair, vice-president and president, said Radnor’s agent had contacted their organization about two years ago.

“He wanted to come to our campus, since he is from nearby in the Columbus area and attended Kenyon College,” Brewer said. “Since then, we had been slowly making steps toward bringing him to campus.”

Brewer said they liked the idea of bringing a celebrity to campus, especially since they thought a majority of students already knew Radnor from the television show.

“We thought it would be interesting to hear his message on working in the movie and television industry as an actor, writer, and director and talking about his time working on ‘How I Met Your Mother,’” she said.

CPB has around 300 tickets available for students and its members are hoping to fill all the available seats.

“Since the event will be held in Chappelear Drama Center Main Stage, we have a cap on how many tickets we can extend,” Brewer said.

The first set of tickets was distributed at the “Liberal Arts” screening in Stuyvesant Hall’s Milligan Hub; Brewer said around 120 people were present and 103 tickets were given out.

“We had a great turn out for the event,” she said. “The movie was funny and furthered the excitement to see Josh on campus.”

Freshman Shashank Sharma, a CPB member, said he joined to work behind the scenes and is very excited at being a part of bringing Radnor to campus.

Sharma said he believes Radnor’s event will help make CPB more popular among the students and increase the overall turnout for future events.

Freshman Samantha Sygier, a viewer was at the Liberal Arts screening, said she was elated when she heard the news that Radnor would be on campus.

“I got too excited,” she said. “He is such a great actor, I knew I cannot miss the opportunity.”

Sygier also said she found “Liberal Arts” to be “entertaining and humorous.”

Sharma said he is happy with the general response from the student population.

“A lot of people’s initial reaction was, “Who’s Josh Radnor?” for the simple reason that we all know him as Ted Mosby,” he said. “After being told who he actually was though, almost everyone seemed to be excited for his visit.”

Brewer said this is one of the biggest names they have brought to campus in a while, but it is on the lower end of logistics and campaigning compared to other CPB hosted events such as A Capellooza and Spring fest, that have happened in the past.

Funding for all of CPBs events are requested through WCSA, and Brewer said this was no different.

“Large-name actors and speakers, like Josh, carry a larger price tag than you might think, so we are grateful to WCSA for this opportunity,” she said, but she would not say how much was paid.

Brewer said those who have tickets should not lose them, as they will need the ticket and a student ID to be allowed in.

“Your ticket will be tied directly to you, so you can not give it to someone else or sell it,” she said.

“The doors will open at 8:30 pm and if you have not arrived by 8:50 pm, your seat may be forfeited to people waiting on stand-by for a seat.”

A new food truck will be fueling the streets of Columbus this spring, thanks to a recent OWU grad and his partner.

Andrew Tuchow, ’13, and his business partner, Andy O’Brien, are opening their food truck starting April 1 of this year.

Tuchow graduated last May with a double major in neuroscience and psychology, while O’Brien graduated from the Ohio State University with a major in food business.

The two have been friends for a long time, and came up with their business plan over dinner last March.

This is when they realized they had a shared interest in making healthy eating more accessible.

At the time, O’Brien was working on a project for his school that was primarily for athletes. His idea was to use modern day nutrition to help athletes eating at his concept restaurant fuel their bodies better, and therefore get more out of their workouts.

Tuchow saw potential in expanding this idea outside the realm of just athletes. That started the initial planning towards the development of “Kinetic.”

Tuchow said he came up with the name for the food truck “after a solid amount of thought and effort.”

“We wanted the name of our place to capture everything that we wanted to put into it,” said Tuchow, “that it’s nutritious, modern, local, active and simple- we think the name can cover all that.”

Tuchow said the two decided to invest in a mobile food truck, because of the lower overhead costs to it as compared to a traditional restaurant.

“We also believe in the food truck movement and how connected you can feel to the trucks because they can be so personable,” said Tuchow.

Deciding to start a business together was “almost a no-brainer” said Tuchow. But the process has been long and arduous for the pair. Tuchow said he has much more respect for small business owners now that he has to deal with paperwork, legal filings, funding, and “thinking of every little component that goes into it.”

The Menu

Kinetic will have some pre-set bowls, like a buffalo chicken or stir fry bowl, and a selection of smoothies that are aimed to have specific health benefits, such as antioxidant-rich or protein dense.

Some of the sides will include things like grilled pita and hummus, fruit skewers and roasted almonds. The options for sweets include a banana cookie (gluten free and vegan) and a walnut chocolate chip cookie.

Price range for some of the items like the bowls will depend on the protein like $7 for chicken, $8 for steak or tofu. Smoothies will vary as well- $4 for a 16oz and $6 for 32oz. The sides will range from $3 to $5, while the sweets are set at $2 a piece.

The two are working together on the menu; however, O’Brien has the final say in what makes it and what does not.

Tuchow said all the creations are made with natural ingredients, and will be locally sourced as much as possible. They also hope to source from food purveyors who source local or those who take a stand for sustainable practices.

Getting the Word Out

Tuchow said they hope to set up in Columbus and its surrounding suburbs.

“What this really means is that we want to share our food with anyone and everyone,” Tuchow said. “We plan on catering graduation parties, business lunches, sports games, festivals and so on.”

The pair also wants to find locations by OSU’s campus and in the Short North. Tuchow said they also hope to provide food for those running 5ks and marathons, setting up shop during special events.

As their truck gets closer and closer to opening, Tuchow said the pair is using social media to their full advantage to get the word out.

“We are creating small incentives and rewards for following or interacting with us via social media,” he said. “One such incentive is if you grab one of our stickers and place it on campus (OSU, OWU or anywhere else), then take a picture of it and tweet it at us, you get 20 percent off you purchase at the truck.”

Kinetic had its first food tasting on Saturday, February 22, at Tuchow’s home in Hilliard, Ohio.

“It went really, really well,” said Tuchow, “It was nice and informal and we had great people join us.”

Rather than complaining about attending classes, members of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity (Delt) thought of those without access to basic necessities during the frigid cold weather last week.

For the past few weeks, Delt brothers have been collecting jackets, blankets, clothing, and other items to  help the homeless of Columbus survive the extreme cold.

“It was our cook, Billy Thompson’s idea,” said senior Jordan Grammer, member of the fraternity.

“One of his friends in Columbus works with the homeless, and said they’d appreciate anything we give them.”

What was started as a project within the fraternity was soon expanded to the campus community when they realized its potential.

Grammer said a Facebook event was made to spread awareness among students, in addition to several posts in the OWU Daily.

According to Grammer, the responses have been promising, as he’s heard from individuals and organizations on campus.

“It’s working because I got an email last night from Circle K asking about blanket donations,” he said.

“People come to me between classes with donations, and groups on campus are getting involved too. We’ve actually had to upgrade to bigger box sizes thanks to the great support from the OWU community.”

Junior Quan Nguyen said he loved the idea from the beginning.

“After we heard the idea from (Billy), the whole chapter applauded him and I instantly thought it’s a great idea that (should be expanded to the campus),” said Nguyen.

The brothers made donations themselves immediately after hearing the idea, and more and more donations poured in each day.

“People are eager to help either by coming to the house or by giving me their donations,” Nguyen said.

Senior Priyanka Venkataraman said she is glad Delt is hosting such an event because it is important to help those in need.

“By contributing to this cause we are helping those who are in close proximity to us and making a difference in their lives,” she said.

“It may be a small step to provide them with clothes now but it really helps in the long run by encouraging them to believe that there is hope out there.”

Grammer, who believes his project exemplifies Greek service, said a donation box has already been taken to Columbus and they are still collecting items for a future donation.

Due to low numbers of applicants, the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) has added 14 Residential Representatives and eight other representatives, but was not able to hold elections.

The Residential Representative applications were due on Jan. 24, but only 11 applications had been received for the 14 positions.

The full body consists of 32 elected members – the representatives and the executive committee, comprised of president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and  six class representatives.

“I feel like a lot of people are put off by having to run (election) campaigns, so this year only 11 people signed up,” said junior Lauren Holler, president of WCSA.

One of the 11 later had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, leaving four open residential positions and the eight others, which include at-large, Small Living Unit, off-campus and fraternity representatives.

Applications for those positions were due on February 1. Positions were also decided by appointment rather than election.

Holler said the role of a residential representative is to “voice concerns of students” to the full council body and administration.

Sophomore Ruchi Kansal, a residential representative for the Academic Committee, said she chose to get involved in WCSA, because she wanted to “hold a leadership position in a respected club on campus and get involved with schools affairs.”

Kansal said running for residential representative gave her the opportunity to connect to a lot more people on campus, however, she said, “the competition was quite tough making it more stressful.”

“People underestimate residential representatives,” she said.

“There are two sides to it, you can go without doing anything the whole year, or you can do a lot. People complain about the school affairs, and do not know how to operate through it, so we definitely need more campaigning and advertising.”

Kansal said currently her goal is to get more involved with the affairs and listen to what students have to say, because “hearing out people is the best way to improve an issue.” 

Holler said WCSA is involved with a lot of projects currently, for example, the Residential Affairs committee working with Chartwells in providing them with more feedback from the student body.

“The role of our (committees) is a little difficult to pinpoint sometimes, because we deal with so many different organizations on campus,” said Holler. “WCSA’s main role is to communicate issues,”

WCSA needs students to  voice concerns

Junior Yasmin Razdi, a current residential representative said as students we are here not only in academic pursuit, but also “to form relationships, to find maturity and professionalism, and to most importantly be happy.”

Razdi said her main goals while on the committee are to improve the food quality of s to Chartwells and work on improving the dining hours.

Junior Erica Shah has served as residential representative during the fall and spring of 2013.

“I wanted to bring change on campus and solve student issues,” she said. “As WCSA is a medium that links the students to the administration, I wanted to be bring effective and transparent communication between the two.”

Shah has also served on the Budget Committee and as an assistant treasurer. She said there are some challenges to holding positions on an organization like WCSA.

“You can’t make everyone happy,” she said, “You need to focus on how it benefits the entire campus rather than a selected group.”

Shah said one of the primary concerns is that a lot of students don’t know what WCSA is or the work that they do, so it is imperative to reach out to more students and advertise the changes done by WCSA “like wireless printing, more vegetables and fruits in Thompson store, spring and fall funding and lessons to use Orgsync.”

Holler, who has held other positions in the past such as Class of 2015 representative, co-chair of Residential Affairs committee and treasurer of WCSA, said students are always encouraged to apply for the various positions within the wider WCSA body.

Kansal said contacts for all residential representatives are available on the WCSA website if students want to reach out to any of them.

“Students tend not to raise their concerns so (the) school thinks everything is perfect,” said Kansal.

“But if they want the issues to be resolved they need to raise their voices officially because we can help them in any way.”