The Transcript

Teach For America, a national organization that accepts all majors, was on campus seeking new teachers to go to low-income communities and bolster education.

According to their mission statement, Teach For America is “growing the movement of leaders who work to ensure that kids growing up in poverty get an excellent education.”

The program is a two-year commitment, in which corps members teach grades pre-K through 12th in 49 urban and rural regions across the country.

Just eight percent of kids growing up in low-income communities graduate from college by age 24, according to research conducted by Postsecondary Education Opportunity.

Detroit, Las Vegas Valley, Memphis, Mississippi and Oklahoma are some of the regions in which the need for teachers is particularly high this year.

Senior Samantha Rammaha, a music and English double major, will be joining the program in Memphis after graduation. Currently, she is assigned to be teaching English as a second language and will receive a full teacher’s salary.

Rammaha said she might stay for a third year, but also wants to do “non-profit work supporting immigrants.”

An applicant must have above a 2.5 GPA and receive a Bachelor’s degree. Members also will have to pass the tests to get certified to teach for 2 years.

Application Process

There are three major parts to applying for the Corps: an online application, phone interview and a day-long final interview. The process lasts about a month and a half. Today (Feb. 20) is the last deadline to apply for the upcoming school year.

Qiana McNary, the manager of recruitment for Teach For America at Ohio Wesleyan, said to spend time on the essays in the online application.

“Think long-term and show them that you are committed to this work,” she said.

Rammaha said she “reached out to an alumna from (her) sorority for any advice about the program and application.”

McNary graduated from OWU in 2007 and taught early childhood in Chicago with the Corps for three years after graduation.

Love was in the air last Wednesday for SHO Your Love Day, culminating in the second annual “Cutest Couple” competition.

The event was hosted in the Hamilton-WilliamsCampus Center and raised 614 food points to pay for food for future tailgates and other events sponsored by the Spirit and Homecoming Organization (SHO).

Sophomore Brittany Spicer, SHO’s public relations chair, said  SHO puts on events throughout the school year to help raise school spirits.

“We put on SHO Your Love Day to boost the morale of students, especially since this is the time of the semester that students begin to stress about upcoming exams,” Spicer said.

Spirit Event Coordinator, sophomore Meghan Finke, said the event had “a little something for everyone.”

“We had free cookie decorating, free hot chocolate and have a Valentine making station where students could make valentine’s and have them delivered to your friends’ mailboxes,” she said.

The “Cutest Couple” competition featured four couples; seniors Cate Bailey and Spencer Schnell, seniors Caroline Block-Wilkins and Drew Daigneault, junors Brittany Hupp and Tom Horsfall and junior Philippe Chauveau and sophomore Lizzy Wynne.

“The main component of our event is a cutest couple contest, where we have students nominate couples weeks in advance, then vote using their food points,” Spicer said.

With 242 votes, Hupp and Horsfall won the title and a gift certificate to 1808.

“Brittany and Tom won because they are truly OWU’s most adorable couple,” Finke said.

The couple said being nominated and winning as an awesome feeling.

“Tom and I act pretty weird 90% of the time, but the fact we can act weird and be still be considered ‘cute’ is a beautiful thing and just one of the many reasons why we love this school,” Hupp said.

This year the Sagan National Colloquium (SNC) is asking for students’ artistic abilities in a new, inclusive competition. The title for the thirtieth Sagan National Colloquium is H2OWU: Water in Our World.

Assistant Professor of History, Ellen Arnold, is heading the project.

“This competition is our first official event of next year’s SNC,” Arnold said. “More importantly, though, the winning logo will become the visual hallmark for the colloquium, and will be highly visible on advertising, publicity and our online presence.”

Arnold said she has two goals for this year’s Sagan National Colloquium.

“First, to find an outstanding logo that will help convey the importance and energy of studying water and that will highlight the creativity and artistic abilities of OWU students,” Arnold said.

“My second goal is to raise campus awareness of the upcoming SNC, to generate interest in the issue of water, and to encourage students to become involved in the SNC from the start.”

According to the website for the logo competition, the logo should be in both color and black and white. It should also work in different sizes for different objects and must include the title of the lecture series. The logo can either be handed in through a hard or digital copy. The final day to submit the logo is Feb. 28 at noon.

Junior Rachael Pridemore is the Sagan Colloquium publicity assistant and has been working long with Arnold on the competition.

“One of the biggest challenges I’ve run across is actually advertising sufficiently; it seems like there aren’t as many places to put fliers anymore,” she said.

Pridemore said that she has been trying to put fliers around campus and submissions in the OWU Daily to get students interested in the challenge. Both Arnold and Pridemore said they hope this competition will continue on in the future.

A recent petition put forth by blogger Vani Hari has revealed that Subway uses a plastic-based additive in their bread commonly used in yoga mats.

The additive, which is called azodicarbonamide, is described by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a “dough conditioner,” intended to strengthen dough and improve elasticity.

The FDA guidelines also say the chemical can be used as “an ageing and bleaching agent in cereal flour.”

Discussion of the additives use has principally focused on a 1999 study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) where a bi-product of the additive, biurea, resulted in the deaths of a number of rats during testing.

For the purposes of the study, the rats in question were treated with concentrated amounts of the additive to determine the effects.

Urethane, another byproduct of the addictive, is listed as a carcinogen by the FDA but has not been connected to it’s use as a dough conditioner.

“We are already in the process of removing azodicarbonamide as part of our bread improvement efforts despite the fact that it is a USDA and FDA approved ingredient,” said Subway, in a recent statement. “The complete conversion to have this product out of the bread will be done soon.”

Azodicarbonamide is also used in the buns at McDonald’s and Burger King however neither has incurred the same backlash as Subway.

“This is an interesting case, because Subway purports to make all of their bread fresh every day (thus no concerns about preserving or shelf life), but the speed and efficiency with which they do it is likely enhanced by this additive,” said Christopher Fink, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Health and Human Kinetics.

“It’s difficult to lump all kinds of additives together, however, it is interesting to consider why they are present.”

Fink also said the process followed by the FDA to approve such additives for use is “quite rigorous, generally speaking” and that “there isn’t any evidence for danger for humans” when asked about long-term health concerns.

Fink also urges students avoid knee-jerk reactions to being told about something being added to their food.

“All of that being said, I would urge people to consider again the reasons for these additives…” Fink said. “While it is certainly an oversimplification, (author Michael Pollan in his book ‘In Defense of Food’) provide(s) some good guidance. He says: ‘Eat Food (real food). Not too much. Mostly plants.’”

The manager of the local Subway on Sandusky declined to comment on this story, but Subway said all local franchises would follow the example set by corporate.

Students were auctioned off all in the name of charity last Thusday for Rafiki Wa Africa’s annual date auction.

Junior Sharmalee Gooden, president of Rafiki Wa Africa (Rafiki Wa), said a total of $185 was raised during the date auction.

“The money raised from this and all events hosted by Rafiki wa Afrika goes to the Ghana Student Education fund,” Gooden said. “GSEF provides financial aid to students who cannot afford to go school.”

Freshman Jocelyn Munoz said she decided to volunteer to be in the auction because she supported the cause.

“I put myself in (the children’s) shoes and realize how a few hours of my day can make a difference in their lives,” said Munoz. “Plus, I thought it would be fun.”

Sophomore Mary Peterson had a similar reason as to why she decided to participate.

“I have several friends in Rafiki, and I enjoy supporting their cause,” she said.  “Also, I participated last year by buying someone, so I thought it would be fun to be on the other side.”

Among those who were auctioned off for the cause were senior Samantha Walter, sophomores, Abby Hanson and Mary Peterson and freshmen Elise Baer and Jocelyn Munoz.

Walter said her boyfriend won the auction when she was up for bidding.

“He graciously bid $30 on me, which goes directly to charity,” she said. “We attended the date party the night of the auction and it was so much fun! They had food and drinks and it was nice to just spend an hour with him, not worrying about homework or anything else.”

Baer’s experience wasn’t based so much on a romantic undertone, but rather a familiar one.

“My older sister actually outbid my boyfriend,” Baer said. “Marilyn (Baer’s sister) and I had a lovely dinner together which was great, because we do not get to spend a lot of time together, so this was a great opportunity.”

According to some in attendance, Rafiki’s auction did not have as strong a turn out or organizational feel as it has in the past.

“In my opinion, the date auction didn’t go as smoothly as past years,” Walter said. “However they still raised almost $200 for the charity, which is great.”

Gooden said the low attendance of just about 35 people was anticipated.

“It was expected since the event was on a Thursday and not many people are in HamWill at the time,” she said.

Walters said the dates bought in auction were held in Crider Lounge later that night.

“Rafiki Wa had Chartwells cater the date event; they served appetizers and everyone mingled while we ate,” said Walters. “They did a great job making it such a cool atmosphere.”