One of the main focuses of Greek Life is to help out a charity or organization in need. Many organizations receive tons of money donated each year from Greek Life chapters all over the country doing good deeds and raising money. Each fraternity and sorority on the University of Hartford campus chooses an organization that they would like to help out, and that money is raised through events and donations.

The University of Hartford’s Phi Mu sorority will be hosting a benefit night Tuesday, April 26 at the Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt location in West Hartford.

Come to Sweet Frog Tuesday April 26th!
Mention Phi Mu and Sweet Frog will donate 20% back to @CMNHospitals pic.twitter.com/C8sm7yueAU

— Phi Mu, Psi Beta (@PhiMu_PsiBeta) April 15, 2016

Sweet Frog is a very popular frozen yogurt bar with many stores open all over the world. At Sweet Frog, you can create your own frozen masterpiece by picking your own flavors and even having the chance to mix them. There are also many toppings to choose from such as M&Ms, gummy worms, Oreo cookie crumbs, whip cream, butterscotch topping and more.

Most of the money raised from this event will benefit the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

The Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals have raised more than $5 billion dollars for 170 children’s hospitals all over North America since 1983. The money raised goes toward research, training, payments for uncompensated care and purchasing equipment. All the money helps save and improve the lives of many young children. Their mission is to increase the funds and awareness for local children’s hospitals.

If you decide to attend, mention Phi Mu at checkout and 20 percent of your cost will be donated to their foundation.

The event will be 6–9 p.m. at 13 South Main Street in West Hartford, across from Blue Black Square.

Have you ever wandered downstairs to the first floor of Dana Hall and seen some interesting pieces of equipment or machinery in the hallway?

Have you ever heard loud noises coming from their lab?

For the past two years, some students in the College of Engineering, Technology and Architecture have been working on a wind tunnel in the basement of Dana Hall.

After waiting a long time and trying to make their work picture perfect, they are finally able to unveil their work.

The students working on the project are using it to conduct research that will be useful in the aerospace industry.

The wind tunnel helps the team study the key aspects of aerodynamics.

With their research, they expect that it will help industries make jet engines’ turbines and blades more efficient.

Their findings will help companies save millions of dollars as well as give the students a broad understanding of aerodynamics which can help them lead to a career once they graduate.

Mark Markiewicz, the project leader, was nominated by CETA mechanical engineering professor Ivana Milanovic.

Mark impressed her with his analysis and supervisor skills.

Milanovic still looks over the project, but leaves Mark in charge to make daily decisions about the project.

He also is the go to person when it comes to making sure that everything is running correctly and smoothly.

Mark, a sophomore, joined the team as a freshman and has enjoyed taking part in the project ever since.

He says that he never has free time when it comes to working on the project and once he heard about the project, he didn’t hesitate to sign up.

“During my orientation for freshman year, Prof. Milanovic was banging the drums trying to drum up interest in her turbo-machinery project.

She talked about how we would be rebuilding the schools third wind tunnel.

So as soon as I got to school freshman year, I made sure to apply for the job,” says Mark.

Around his busy schedule and being a mechanical engineering major, he never hesitates to help out the team.

“To be very frank, it takes up pretty much all of my free time. I live and breathe the turbo lab outside of classes.

With that being said, I choose for it to take up all of my time because it’s engineering and I love engineering otherwise I wouldn’t do it,” Mark said.

Now that the wind tunnel is pretty much complete, their goal is to try and turn it on to see if it actually works.

After that, they will need to fix the pressure mapping mechanism in order to get any data out of the cascade so then they can validate the tunnel.

After that, the sky is the limit. The wind tunnel is modular so they can swap out the final test section for whatever they want. With using the set up that they have now, they could start testing new turbine blade designs in order to make more efficient turbine blades.

The turbine blades can be found everywhere.

“You have no idea how exciting this is,” says Mark when he was asked about how he feels about the project being complete.

The project is coming along and it will definitely help change the aerospace industry.

For anyone interested in joining the team, you can check out the bulletin boards in United Technologies Hall and Dana Hall as well as the CT Space Grant.

If you have an idea to share or are interested in a certain topic that you may want to learn more about, you can talk to a professor or your advisor.

The Green 707 Club has been working since the fall of 2014 to transform a gas-fueled truck into an electric vehicle. On Jan. 29, they were able to say that they finally did it.

With their accomplishments, they hope to make the truck legal to drive on the roads and enter it in a national electric vehicle drag racing competition. The group also hopes to qualify for a world record in the pro street A category for electric vehicles.

Club president Paul Mangelsdorf said that it wasn’t easy to start the process.

“The project was started in 2009 by professor Hemchandra Shertukde. Following a rough 2014 and early 2015, the club was refreshed by myself and Sean Biegler,” Mangelsdorf said. “We were able to recruit several new members and began new work in earnest in Sept. 2015. Much of the actual build was completed in the fall 2015 semester. The truck moved under its own power for the first time on Jan. 29, 2016. Our current team consists of me, Sean, Jared Deleon, August Pelliccio, Brandon Zonghi and Mike Desiderio.”

The project was basically an engine swap. As said by Mangelsdorf, it’s similar to a hot rodder putting a more powerful engine in a class car. The only difference is that instead of fuel lines and a gas tank, they have heavy duty cables and a battery bank. They replaced the engine with an 11-inch high voltage DC motor, and the current from the batteries are controlled by a unit that acts very similar to the engine control unit in a modern internal combustion engine vehicle. They also installed a charger that is plugged in through the gas cap, and a few systems to replace functions normally driven by the motor.

Now that the truck is up and running, the NEDRA (National Electric Drag Racing Association) is on their minds.

“The original goal for the club was to take the truck drag racing in order to take advantage of the instant torque provided by the electric motor,” Mangelsdorf said. “Our truck is being set up to run in the PS/A class, which is the designation of how much the vehicle has been set up for racing and the voltage we are using. Currently, there is no standing record in the PS/A class. We plan to first successfully test the truck, and then qualify for a world record. Following that, we plan to continue improving the performance of the truck and we are looking at some higher profile events such as HOT ROD Magazine Drag Week, which is an event that lasts over five days, including racing at five tracks and driving 1,000 miles, which no electric vehicle has completed.”

With the truck getting ready to perform bigger and better things, Mangelsdorf mentioned that he has learned a lot from this project. The main thing he has learned is about managing work as a team.

“This fall, we split up work into three teams with three different areas of work: EV Systems, Fabrication and Automotive Systems,” Mangelsford said. “By doing so, we were able to all work on separate areas at the same time, which meant that we not only got three things done at once, but also stayed out of each other’s way.”

With their accomplishments, the Green 707 team has a long road ahead of them to get themselves a world record which no one has ever done before.

The post Green 707 Club transforms gas-fueled truck appeared first on The Hartford Informer.

On Saturday Feb. 6, the University of Hartford’s Eta Mu chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota will be hosting its annual benefit concert.

Sigma Alpha Iota is a musical-based fraternity on campus and every year, Sigma Alpa Iota chooses a cause that the fraternity wants to devote a whole year to and a benefit concert is held to raise money.

This year, the fraternity chose the American Brain Foundation. ABF is a non-profit organization that supports research on strategies for screening, treatments and prevention of brain and nervous system diseases.

Since the American Brain Foundation was founded, $20 million has been invested for funding. This money is used for research to find cures for brain diseases.

The music fraternity chose this cause for this year because they want to support the members of Eta Mu and people that members know that have suffered from brain and nervous system diseases.

To help out Sigma Alpha Iota and their strong desire to help out the American Brain Foundation, you can visit the website and make a donation.

#UHart's Sigma Alpha Iota's Benefit For Life concert TONIGHT at 7 PM in Lincoln Theater — https://t.co/gQflVzyvxn pic.twitter.com/NdJ48jcK7i

— The Informer (@UHartInformer) February 6, 2016

Also, you can attend the Benefit for Life concert which is being held Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in Lincoln Theater on the University of Hartford campus. At the event, there will be a silent auction, musical performances by the sisters of Sigma Alpha Iota and other students as well as a lot of food.

The fundraiser is organized by the sisters of the fraternity, other students within the University and many outside guests.

UPDATE (Feb. 16, 2016): 

THANK YOU to everyone who helped us raise $3,436.51 dollars for the American Brain Foundation! 💙🌹💜

— NGB| נגבּ (@theglitterdiva) February 7, 2016

This coming weekend, the Hartt School will be presenting their fall performance at the Lincoln Theater on the University of Hartford campus.

There are four works that will be performed by the Hartt faculty and dancers.

The show has been staged, choreographed and directed by the Hartt School’s faculty and Diana Byer who is the Artistic Director of New York Theater Ballet.

One of the pieces being performed is “Fandango”, which is about five individual ladies who have been friends since they were young and now have developed into women.

Throughout the piece, you will notice that they are constantly competing with each other.

Choreographed by Antony Tudor, the piece will give you a taste of the Spanish culture. The music is by Antonio Soler, accompanied by Hartt pianist Agustin Muriago and coached by Hartt faculty member Hilda Morales.

Debra Collins-Ryder, a professor at the Hartt School, has created her own little version of a ballet from “La Source”.

Since it’s quite a long performance, she has shortened the original ballet that was originally created for the Paris Opera Ballet by Arthur Saint-Leon in 1866.

Another piece on the program is “Psalm” which some Hartt dancers had performed in NYC at the Joyce Theater in October under Nina Watt.

This piece was well performed at the Jose Limon International Dance Festival.

As said by Hartt dancer Allison Long, who will be starring in Fandango, “Psalm” has such a deep meaning and the dance being performed at the festival was a huge deal for the students of the Hartt School.

Lastly, November Songs will be performed by seven dancers who dance extremely fast.

This piece was created by the Hartt School’s Dance Division Director, Stephen Pier. Pier’s inspiration came from the folk inspired choral melodies of Zoltan Kodaly on the themes of innocence, loss, and separation.

“It is remarkable to see the growth of the program over the last several years and the kind of challenging repertoire we are able to present as a result”, said Pier. “We are very thankful for the support we have received from the University and the community to be able to do this. Both our dancers and our audiences are very fortunate to be able to immerse themselves in the Art of Dance at such a high level.”

The sophomores, juniors, and seniors of the Hartt School Dance Division will be performing.

“The freshman, even though they aren’t performing, have helped tech the show and are a giant help to all of us,” said Long. “The costumes are beautiful also. They were all made by the costume shop. It’s going to be a great show.”

The show will run as follows. “La Source” will start off the night with “Fandango” running right after that.

There will be a fifteen minute intermission following with “Psalm” starting before there is a short pause. “November Songs” will round out the night.

The show will begin on Friday Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are 20 dollars with discounts for seniors and groups.

University of Hartford students can get in for free with their student I.D.

Have you ever had a dream about creating and owning your own business? Well this man’s dream became reality when he had the idea of owning a flower shop. A couple years later, he had no idea his business would have made it this far.

On Wednesday Oct. 21, Tariq Farid talked about how “The American Dream Is Alive and Well” in front of an audience during the Rogow Distinguished Visiting Lecturers Program held in Lincoln Theater on the University of Hartford campus.

Farid is the founder and CEO of Edible Arrangements International which is the company that makes edible flower bouquets.

These bouquets usually consist of fruits and sometimes vegetables. They can be given as gifts or they are amazing centerpieces.

Presented by the Barney School of Business, Tariq Farid’s lecture was free to the public and he talked about his business, experience and how someone’s dream is within reach.

There was a big turnout and his speech was very moving to many of the attendees.

His successful business has been spread across the United States. Previously from Pakistan, Tariq and his family moved to the United States and lived in West Haven, CT when he was only 11 years old.

Six years later, he purchased his own flower shop and had it expanded to four different stores.

With a $5 thousand loan from his parents, he became fortunate and wealthy.

His business went from being just a flower shop to being an edible flower shop.

In 1999, Edible Arrangements had its debut in East Haven, CT.

The business has been running for about 16 years and has around 1,200 stores across the country.

To this day, Edible Arrangements is known as an industry leader.

The company has many awards and accomplishments including being ranked first in its category in Entrepreneur magazine’s annual Franchise 500 list for eight years and being recognized in 2012 and earning the Hire Power Award, which awards private businesses that lead the way in creating jobs.

Individually, Tariq was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Retail and Consumer Products category in 2009.

On top of having a successful business, Farid has a foundation called the Tariq Farid Foundation that supports causes at home and all over the world.

The foundation focuses on helping schools, hospitals, soup kitchens, community centers and more.

The Edible Cares Fund is another effort created by Farid that helps out employees, friends and families in the Edible Arrangements company that are struggling due to family problems, illnesses and natural disasters.

His accomplishments and life story are inspiring others to follow their dreams and that their dream is in reach.

These days, some people don’t really care about finding relationships and there are some that only focus on finding that one special person.

There are also some people who aren’t concentrating on that at all. The only thing on their mind is school work.

Once you are out of college, you will try to find a full time job and start your life as an adult.

That’s around the time where you are done going to the bar two or three times a week and you will start to settle down.

Around 22 or 23 is a good time to explore and find someone that you will be happy to spend the rest of your life with.

Recently on MTV, I have started watching this show called “Are You the One?”

I was staying in a hotel one night and I had a movie on which was on MTV and after the movie was over, I just left the channel on and tried to fall asleep.

I remember hearing some interesting things happening in this show so I decided to actually pay attention.

After the first episode, I was hooked and I’ve been watching it every Wednesday night.

Basically what this show is about is finding your perfect match.

There are ten girls and ten guys who are living in a house together in Hawaii.

The house is absolutely beautiful. It’s a huge beach house with a pool, hot tub, mini bar and it includes one huge bedroom where all 20 people sleep.

After some psychology and talking to some important people in each of their lives, one of the people they are living with is their perfect match.

This show lasts for about two and a half months and each week, they take a chance at finding out who their perfect match is.

They do this by interacting around the house, meeting each person individually, going on special dates and more.

Each week there is a challenge where the people compete against each other and whoever the winner is usually picks who they want to go on a date with.

Each date is very unique including going swimming with dolphins.

At the end of each day, one guy and one girl is chosen to go in the “Truth Booth” to see if they are a perfect match.

They only get one chance each week so each person has to be chosen wisely.

The last ten minutes of the episode is when each person picks who they think their perfect match is.

Once everyone is sitting with their match, these beams of light reveal how many perfect matches there are, but it doesn’t say who the perfect matches are.

It’s a struggle to find their perfect matches and there are many obstacles in the way.

If they all find their perfect matches within ten tries, they all split $1 million.

The point of the game is to find their perfect match, but some people aren’t about playing that game.

Some of the people have found someone who they are really happy with and can see themselves with for the rest of their lives, but according to the Truth Booth, they aren’t perfect matches.

If they continue to be together, that ruins the chances for everyone else actually trying to find their perfect match and win money.

I’m not sure what to think after hearing both sides of this situation.

Yes, if you find someone you instantly fall in love with, you obviously want to be with them and they will definitely make you happy.

There are some people who don’t agree.

If I found someone I truly loved after being with them in a house for a few weeks and I find out they aren’t my perfect match, it’s going to be tough, but you know what everyone says, “there are other fish in the sea”.

You have to give other people a chance before you fall for someone at that moment.

“Love at first sight” is definitely true, but for this game, I’m not sure if it’s the right path.

This show isn’t saying that you have to be with your perfect match, the one that is psychologically is right for you, but it’s also an issue with finding someone else’s perfect match and ruining the game for others.

I’m interested to see how this turns out and how other people will handle it when some are playing the game and others aren’t.

If you are from New York, you know my pain.

I bet you that whenever you tell someone from this area that you are from New York, they always assume that you are from the city.

People tend to forget that there is a lot more to the state that isn’t the Big Apple.

Everyone knows the city and mostly everyone has been there. That’s the most important part of New York state.

There are so many things to do including shopping, going to sporting events, night clubbing and many more.

Everyone is aware of Long Island and when people say they are from Long Island, they don’t specifically tell you what town they live in on the island.

For people like me, the city and the island are hours and hours away.

I’m from upstate New York and I’m about an hour south of the state capital, Albany.

If I were to tell people where I’m from, they would have absolutely no idea where my town is. I live in a very small town that’s known for the fall foliage. That’s actually how my town got its name.

I’m about a half hour from the beautiful Catskill mountains and I’m no where near any huge town that everyone knows about.

People might say that I live in the middle of nowhere.

It’s pretty true though. My town has about 10,000 people in it and it’s in a random location.

My high school is very high ranked in academics and athletics.

That’s one of the few ways someone might hear about my town.

We are always known for having good sports teams and have huge rivals against schools from all over eastern New York.

Living in a small town isn’t bad. Even though you tend to know everyone and all of their drama, you get to know everyone and they will feel like family.

Every September and May, we have block parties in the center of town and that’s where friends and family can go enjoy some live music, good food and good company along with small vendors lined up along the sidewalks.

Back to my rant, I don’t like the fact that when I say I’m from New York, they have to assume that I’m from the big city.

If you look at the map of New York, you will see that there is so much more than just that tiny southern area that everyone knows about.

There’s Albany, the actual state capital where you can go to Crossgates, the mall, and hang out with friends.

You can’t forget Buffalo where the Buffalo Bills play for football and where they got around 90 inches of snow last winter.

What about Syracuse? The sea of orange? Most people I know have been to a Syracuse basketball game and have decked themselves out in orange.

The big towns throughout New York get all the credit for being fun and anyone from any other state only knows about the larger cities.

There are towns smaller than mine that are a lot more interesting than mine are.

Some towns around me have docks on this little strip of water where you can go canoeing and kayaking.

I live along the Hudson River so that’s always a fun place to go fishing or take a dip in the summer.

I guess the bottom line is that it’s not always good to be known to be from New York and automatically assume that you’re from the city.

There are some nice parts of the city and then there are some that are sketchy and grimy that makes me never want to live there.

I mean, I do go to the city whenever I can to hang out, go to the bigger shopping stores and just to take the train and subway since they are so much fun.

I’m a huge Knicks and Mets fan so I will always go to the city without hesitation to see my favorite teams play.

I just can’t see myself living there and it always being busy.

I love living in a small, quiet town where you don’t have to deal with a lot of crimes, problems and other situations.

I definitely recommend taking a couple days to explore the tinier parts of the state where the real nature and beauty is.

There are so many state parks, hiking trails, camp sites and other activities to do once you head north and out of the busy cities.

Once you are an hour out of the city, you will start to see nature that you never thought you would before. It’s natural beauty and that’s the best part about living in New York, not living in or anywhere near New York City.

After having two three-classes-a-day, loads of homework and still trying to have a social life, one of the last things on your mind might be trying to save some money.

Most college students just waste their money on food and other things that are not that important. I’m one of those people, but the past two weeks have made me think differently about money.

During my first week here, I realized that I could be saving so much of it.

Since everyone knows that most of the rooms and apartments are at full occupancy, I thought I’d explore the internet to try and find a better and cheaper place to live. It’s not that I didn’t like my room assignment, I just thought I’d be able to live more on my own and only be in charge of myself and not have to worry about who’s doing the dishes next or when it’s my turn to vacuum.

I was living in Regents for a few weeks and in my opinion, it’s a pretty nice place to stay.

It wasn’t bad for temporary housing. I liked being able to have a living area, a small kitchen and having my own room since I lived in a single.

There are also some things that weren’t to my taste. During the heat wave, we didn’t have any air conditioning and I’m not sure if I’m speaking for everyone else, but I felt like I was dying in my own sweat. It was so uncomfortable just sitting in my room.

Also, every step someone made in the room above me, in my apartment or in the hallway was very obvious and I didn’t like how the walls were so thin. I felt like I didn’t have any privacy.

A few weeks ago, I ended up finding a cute, small apartment about five minutes away from campus.

After applying, filling out an application and figuring everything out financially, I found out I get to call that apartment my home in a few weeks for the next three years.

I did a lot of math to see what I would be saving if I moved off campus.

I know that I would have to pay for gas, pay the $75 fee as a commuter and not be on campus with most of my friends.

It was an extremely hard decision and I know that living off campus will give me the opportunity to live like an adult, learn some responsibility for living on my own and give me a quiet, safe environment to study.

Once I tell you how much I will be saving, some people might consider living off campus.

After breaking it down, I would save around $5,000 a year for my meal plan, around $400 for my parking pass on campus, $10,000 for living on campus and little things here and there.

Even though I will have to pay for groceries, electricity, cable and rent at my new apartment, those expenses don’t even compare to what I would have to pay on campus.

For the year, I would save around $3,000. It’s hard to believe, but it’s going to save my family a lot of money in the long run.

I don’t have a far drive from home and I don’t have to move in and out of the apartment after every year of school so I also kept that in mind when I was considering moving off campus.

Sitting down and looking at what I paid last year versus what I will be paying in the next few weeks definitely helped me see what I can save throughout my years of college on top of paying for classes, books and supplies.

Commuting will be a pain in the beginning because I have to get used to leaving my apartment on time, trying to dodge all of the traffic, finding a parking spot and getting to class on time, but I’m ready to take on a change in my life that will affect me in a positive way.

If you follow Major League Baseball and know anything about it, you would know that the New York Mets have been impressing and stunning all of those teams out there over the past few months.

“This team just doesn’t know how to lose,” said by Gary Cohen, one of the SNY commentators. That quote is definitely describing the Mets successful season.

Ever since Wilmer Flores had the trade scare a few months ago where he was tearing up and crying on the field and the Mets acquired Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, things have definitely turned around for the Mets.

Starting out with an 11 game winning streak back in the spring, the Mets had a good look ahead for the season. All of a sudden, they hit a cold streak, losing many games in late spring and the Washington Nationals took the division lead.

Once the roster was switched around and the players got into a groove, the Mets took the lead in the division and currently have a 8.5 game lead over the Nationals.

The Nationals weren’t living up to the high expectations and the Mets took off, building a lead that the Nationals probably won’t be able to get over  in the next few weeks and they were stunning a lot of fans all over the country.

Many people have realized that there have been a lot more orange and blue all over New York and not as much pinstripes for the Yankees. Even at away games, the Mets fans are out cheering the opponents’ fans.

There has been a lot of talk about all of the fans that are coming out now to Mets game because of their success.

This is a big change from the team that the Mets used to be when they won the 1986 championship.

Since then, the Mets haven’t really made a comeback to try and get their crown back.

This year, the Mets have a big chance to make it to the World Series.

With players like Curtis Granderson, who has made a big contribution to the team with his speed and agility, David Wright with his return, and Cespedes, who has been hitting home runs like there is no tomorrow, the Mets will be dangerous in the postseason.

Bartolo Colon also pitched a complete game which was the first time a Mets pitcher did that this season.

Travis d’Arnaud has made an impact as a catcher and hitting bombs over the outside fence.

This team knows how to make a huge comeback in games as well.

For example, on Sunday September 13, the Mets had a series against the Atlanta Braves and during the last game of the series, the Mets made one of the most exciting comebacks in history.

While down 7-4 in the top of the ninth inning, Ruben Tejada hits a ball in between center field and right field.

The center fielder ran over, dove for the ball and it slipped out of his glove once he hit the ground to give Tejada a double.

Two batters later, with a man on first and second, Daniel Murphy hits a bomb over the center field fence to tie the game at 7 with 2 outs in the last inning.

In the tenth inning, with 2 outs and a man on first and third, Kevin Plawecki hits a grounder to third in which the third baseman threw the ball to second for the force out and the second basemen stepped off the bag while trying to catch the throw so the runner was called safe. In the process of that play, Kirk Nieuwenhuis was able to get home to score the leading run.

The Braves were having some pitching problems here and there and walked a few batters in to give the Mets a 10-7 win to sweep the Braves at Turner Field.

With only a few more weeks left in the regular season, the Mets are almost locked in for first place in their division and it looks like there is going to be a bright future for New York in the post season and beyond.