Last Saturday, Sept. 16, the Robert Ferst Center for the Arts hosted Arts@Tech’s first performance of the semester, an improvisational sketch comedy group.

Before the Upright Citizens Brigade took the stage, the night opened with a speech from Office of the Arts Director Madison Cario, who seemed excited to see the performance’s eager audience in the less-than-full auditorium.

After several opening remarks, Tech’s own improv group appeared as an opener for the four professional comedians. DramaTech’s Let’s Try This! had paired with the visiting troupe to offer Tech students an improv comedy workshop earlier in the day. The 8 p.m. performance was by no means dampened by their earlier work.

For inspiration, Let’s Try This! began by asking the audience what the best gift they had ever received was. Before most people had had enough time to properly process the question, a terribly energetic person cried out “Money!” without any hesitation, and hilarity ensued.

With this starting point, DramaTech’s improv group proceeded to create entertaining skits based on money. The first showed a rich person simply throwing money into the air while people ran by and collected it. Her two employees began to wonder why not quit and make more just by collecting their employer’s discarded money.

Next, Let’s Try This! went on to make jokes about coin flipping and a truly bizarre fascination with overalls and giant pants. Perhaps the line that generated the most laughter was a particularly out of place “There’s no career in comedy,” said with considerable mock despair.

After Let’s Try This! had completed their portion of the show, Jordan Myrick, Matthew Rubano, Patrick Keene and A.J. Patton of the Upright Citizens Brigade took to the stage and asked for an audience member’s recent odd life experience. Many unusual circumstances were suggested, but the troupe eventually picked that of a dermatologist who had lost a mole. She was invited on stage where Myrick interviewed her.

The first half of the Upright Citizens Brigade’s performance was based on the dermatologist’s life, and the audience was enthralled by the myriad situations the four comedians brought to life in short order.

Their performance was marked by considerable laughter and applause, and each seemed to be well adept at their profession and were rarely at a loss for words or direction. When one situation had run out of steam, one of the four would signal its end and smoothly transition into a tangential story.

For the inspiration for the second half of their show, the Upright Citizens Brigade again turned to the audience. This time, instead of asking for an in-depth view into a single person’s life, though, they asked for random text messages that people had recently received.

The audience was quite eager to prove that everyone has had at least one very strange conversation via text, and the volunteered messages included everything from someone saying that their heart was “technically” enlarged to asking if a certain gift was appropriate for a child.

Of course, being comedians, the four took this to mean that boat motors were the perfect gift for children, and some quite strange situations unfolded in which a veritable armada of ships were owned by babies.

One ludicrous situation led to another, and a different sketch involved a kindergarten teacher letting his students play with motorized vehicles while a nearby instructor complained about the noise and taught kids how to wield katanas.

As the improvised comedy devolved into the bizarre, the audience only seemed to laugh all the more, and the performance was well worth watching.

The four who performed on Saturday were just a small portion of the Upright Citizens Brigade, which, in addition to having touring troupes, also performs daily at four of its own theaters (two of which are located in Los Angeles and the other two in New York).

Cirque du Soleil’s new production “Luzia” whisks the audience away to Mexico and features a diverse collection of acts. Filled with music, dance and humor, “Luzia” demands audience attention and keeps it.

Atlanta’s skyline is decorated with not only the familiar Bank of America Plaza and the Westin but now with the opaque white curves of a circus tent. Daniele Finzi Pasca’s “Luzia” premiered Thursday Sept. 14, and, as always with any Cirque du Soleil production, it delivers.

As for any production of Cirque, the actors do not indulge heavily in the use of language. The audience is led through the night by a slapstick mime. His inability to grasp the function of props on stage is a reappearing motif. For the most part, the use of Spanish is limited to song. The show features a wide range of performing artists accompanied by a constant musicality.

There is perhaps never an empty beat when at Cirque. A mime starts a volleyball game with the crowd. A team of gymnasts ups the pace of the performance, utilizing heavily integrated props dressed in Giovanni Buzzi’s elaborate costumes.

The opening scene begins with the turn of an enormous show key and the moving of machinery. The props were not simply accessories to the performance: they were used to their complete potential.

Perhaps the most striking performance of the night features an acrobatic act by Krzystof Holowenko. Crowd favorites include a contortionist who bends his body into a question mark and a duo of soccer freestylers.

The collection of performers that Cirque du Soleil brings have a wide skill set, but the quality of performance is not necessarily maintained across all acts.

The soccer act is not nearly as impressive as a solo act because it lacks organization. Cirque’s mime entertains during periods of transition but exhausts some jokes in his time on stage. The juggling act keeps the audience engaged with the suspenseful increase in the number of pins but lacks difficulty and ingenuity.

“Luzia’s” complexity is what makes attending worth it. Many circuses focus on leaving the audience in awe, but Cirque du Soleil surpasses this standard by blending key elements of performance. The use of gesture, exaggerated movements, humor and a strong development of mood keeps the audience so heavily involved.

One act features a couple of scuba divers imitating diving with the help of a harness, transforming the circus tent to an underwater world. A singer is accompanied by a huge jaguar that struts along the border of the stage. The show creates scenes that make it seem as if environments are truly changing in front of the audience’s eyes.

The creativity that “Luzia” features is the mark of strong production. The integration of invention — a waterfall that creates itself out of the ceiling, a rotating stage and a treadmill large enough for a hippo — is a mark of Cirque’s professionalism. Pasca’s ability to push the envelope keeps Cirque alive amongst the diminishing live entertainment industry.

The music is instrumental to the execution of the show. Majo Cornejo, a talented singer from Mexico, is accompanied by an energetic mariachi band. Their interjections are drizzled throughout the show, and their integration helps Cirque stay true to the show as a display of culture.

Cirque’s acrobatics are impeccable. The aerial acts are heavier in the first half of the show, featuring three flyers, one trapeze artist and a cyr wheeler. Other acts use a 360 degree swing and straps. The number of stunts, their difficulty and their danger become secondary to the viewer because Cirque can execute them in such high frequency. Their mastery of aerial acts is unmatched.

The show winds down with the familiar presence of the mime, who grows on the audience after a while. All performers come out in one last display of grandeur, and the stage erupts in color
and music.

“Luzia” ends on a melancholy note with a transition back to reality: the mime is sad that he must return the key back to its original position.

From Twitter to textbooks, text is omnipresent in students’ lives, but rarely do most people acknowledge or question its influence. The new exhibit at the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA), “Text Me: How We Live in Language,” examines the role of typographic expression in reflecting, documenting and influencing modern life.

According to curator Debbie Millman, “The condition of our communication reflects the condition of our culture, and our ability to communicate — our ability to speak, our ability to text, our ability to write — is what helps us define our world and express our reality.” Millman is a designer, writer, brand strategist and host of the podcast “Design Matters.” Curating an exhibition had been a dream of hers for years.

The exhibit includes text in a variety of mediums from fine art to household goods to videos. Demanding attention in the first corridor of the space is a dining table suspended from the ceiling. Under each plate sits a napkin covered in topics that no one wants to talk about at dinner, such as “Are you still together with your boyfriend” and “colonoscopy results.”

To explore the theme of living in language, the subtle organization of the exhibit as a home continues. In the large room at the end of the corridor, the space separates into a bathroom, bedroom and den. A tub filled with sand meant to be written in by visitors, a mirror covered in words and urinals each containing a word comprise the bathroom-themed area.

In the central bedroom area, a tall bed frame has a blanket embroidered with the words “her story is strange.” A mannequin is draped with a dress made of long, unfurling strips of fabric that spell out words one letter at a time. This piece by Lesley Dill, titled I Dismantle Suit, is usually an active piece, dressing a person on stage, but is statically displayed for
this exhibit.

In one of the most striking pieces, the entire back wall is covered in black with blocks of white text by Timothy Goodman over it. His painfully relatable commentary on modern love is made more impactful by the format of this display.

The den or living room space contains shelves with books, graphic novels and vessels with text on them. One book on display has been cut and reassembled to form a sculpture of interlocking lines of text. An interactive computer installation, “We Are Family,” offers visitors the ability to display entered text in a font comprised of small squares of violent or inappropriate gifs.

The other main room, off of the main corridor, is dark to allow a greater impact of the digital pieces. One long wall is covered in a screen displaying a story. As visitors enter the room and move their arms, text is thrown across the screen matching their movements. On the opposite wall, a powerful series of videos plays, including a man eating letters and a recording of the frustrations of Google Translate.

Creatively using space, the exhibit extends into the actual bathroom of the museum. A shower curtain hangs, bearing a long, stream of consciousness style love note from the shower to the person showering. The gift shop also contains pieces of the exhibit, including a bench with letter shaped holes in it so that the shadows spell out words.

Within the normal exhibit space, high pillars and beams have been used to display works of a street artist, and the aforementioned suspended table hangs from the ceiling, using the building’s former life as a parking deck to the exhibit’s advantage.

Through innovative use of space, the thematic vehicle of the home and a mix of traditional and new media, “Text Me” successfully examines the role of text, leaving the viewer reflecting on societal and personal implications of communication and design.

About a month into the school year, a lot has happened on campus — but what about you in your spare time? It’s easy to answer with an innocent “not much,” but what are Tech students really up to?

Of course, studying and doing homework takes a high spot on everyone’s list (and it should).

Once work is out of the way, however, many students seem to enjoy playing active roles in community organizations such as RoboJackets, Intramurals or Greek life.

“Join Energy Club,” said Aarti Mathur, third-year ChemE.  “Join Model UN. Go swing dancing. GTDA does monthly swing dancing and you don’t have to have any experience.”

If some spending money is what you are looking for, try finding an on-campus job. Isabel Jaffoni, first-year MTH, works part-time. From her experience, on-campus jobs are a good way to make money and gain work experience while having some flexibility with your personal schedule.

Other students recommend starting early on enhancing your resume.

“I like to look for research opportunities and look for clubs to see if there are any cool projects I can do that would look good on my resume,” said Hal Dang, third-year CS.

If you join a club that interests you, chances are you will find friends with similar interests. While it is important to make friends, it is equally as important to maintain those friendships.

“Accompany your friends to places,” said Hannah Tam, fifth-year ME. “You never know who they know — some of the coolest friends I made at Tech were made outside my own social circle.”

Taking time to de-stress in your free time is an underrated aspect of having a successful first year, and Tech offers a variety of opportunities to do so.

“I would say go to SCPC events,” said Sweny Kania, third-year CHE. “They put on multiple events every month, like movies at the Student Center theater. They have a lot of stress-relieving events, especially around finals.”

Being in the heart of Atlanta, a city budding with the arts and great brunch spots, it only makes sense to explore it during your first year at Tech.

Madison Novak, first-year BME, said she likes to spend free time walking around Piedmont Park. “It’s a really nice place and it doesn’t take too long to walk there either,” she said.

“You can play with puppies at the Atlanta Humane Society,” said Mathur. “You can either volunteer or just go in. Krog Street Market is good. Really good places to eat, excellent vibes.”

Gillian McPherson, first-year CHBE, said she likes seeing live music. “The Tabernacle is one of my favorite venues. One of the things I love about Atlanta is how many bands come to tour here and how many venues there are.” There’s almost always a show going on somewhere and the experience can be enjoyable even if you are not familiar with the band.

But you don’t have to go too far to have some fun in your free time. Hitting up the CRC is always a great way to add to your daily exercise regime of walking around campus. Chasse Rush, first-year CompE, frequents the gym. He has a set exercise regime and focuses on a different body part each time he goes. “I always start with pull-ups too, no matter what I’m working on. It gets you pumped up and your blood running,” said Rush.

Sometimes it’s easier to stay inside than to make the trek over to the CRC or Piedmont Park. Luckily, there’s plenty to do in your dorm room too, where you can maintain the teetering balance between studying and Netflix.

In case you missed it, it is football season and many students enjoy following it in the forms of flag, fantasy and Madden 18. Residents of Smith have active game sessions, where first-years and PLs gather and play fun board games, card games or even have video game tournaments.

Tech has a lot to offer so that there is never a dull moment. It’s easy to get bogged down in academics, but remember to take some time for yourself. Do something fun or something stress-relieving so that you can be at your best when it comes time to sit down and do work.

Turn it off and back on again. You have undoubtedly heard these words of advice for fixing anything technological countless times. Sometimes it works, but what do you do when it is late, you have a project due and it does not? You pay a visit to the trusted Wreck Techs of course!

Located at the Curran Parking Deck and Britain Rec, Wreck Techs is Tech’s free technology help desk dedicated entirely to students. With hours that fit students’ schedules and knowledge about Institute specific issues and services, they are well-equipped to help you troubleshoot your issue.

No issue is too small for Wreck Techs. Even trivial issues such as connecting a new device to the Wi-Fi or downloading MATLAB can have problems, and that is where Wreck Techs step in.

“People often come here having issues with their laptops, or they need help installing software or opening a program. That’s where we can really help,” said Wreck Tech’s staff member, Nabil Esmail.

Esmail, who has been with Wreck Techs for two years, sees Wreck Techs as being vital to keeping stress levels on campus, especially with regard to technology, low.

“We’re students ourselves,” said Esmail. “We understand the stress that comes with your computer not working, so we’re going to do our best to make sure that it does work, because we know that it would be terrible for us were we in your shoes.”

This work ethic and desire to help students is shared by every member of the staff. Whether by updating the database with new articles to help future students, learning new skills or spreading the word about all of the services offered by Wreck Techs, the staff is continually working to improve
its service.

“We try to push our team members to learn new skills in our free time so that we can always be improving,” explained Esmail. “We’re here to help students so we’re always working to be better and to help more people,” he continued.

This motivation is reflected in the experiences of students who have gone to Wreck Techs in search of assistance.

“I could not for the life of me get Microsoft Office to work on my new computer, so I went to the Wreck Techs. Sure enough they fixed it in a jif, and I was able to get to work,” said Jcak Fenton, second-year ME.

It is of note, however, that Wreck Techs is not able to assist with hardware issues such as faulty screens or batteries. Rather, they specialize in software-related issues.

“We’ve had people come to us after pouring water on their keyboard, either because they spilled it, [or] were trying to clean their keyboard. As much as it pains us, we just can’t help with that,” said Craig Raslawski, who has been a staff member with the Wreck Techs for four years.

They can always, however, point you in the right direction for help. Their experience with a plethora of issues means that they know the people who can help in the event that they are not able to.

“If you have any questions, whether you think we can help or not, come to us anyways. We’ll point you in the right direction. We are here for the students,” said Raslawski.

Outside of troubleshooting, the Wreck Techs are responsible for many other aspects of your daily interaction with technology.

Wreck Techs work behind the scenes to make sure that all of the printers in the residence halls are working, that you and your devices are able to connect to the Wi-Fi, and that moving in to your residence hall is seamless when it comes to technology.

Just as issues with technology are greatly varied, so too are the ways in which Wreck Techs can help. They offer walk-in hours Sunday through Friday at both of their locations, one at the Curran Parking Deck, and one in Britain Rec.

The Wreck Techs also offer email, phone and online live chat for those wishing to troubleshoot without going into the office.

Lastly, they even offer in-room service in the event that it is required.

“It was Sunday evening and I needed to submit a report, but my Wi-Fi wasn’t working. Thankfully Wreck Techs was open and able to help me connect. Their hours work really well with a student’s schedule,” said Kristen Goldie, third-year CS of the Wreck Techs’ varied means of support.

So next time you are plagued with any kind of issues with technology, and turning your device off and then back on again just does not seem to be working, make sure to pay a visit to the Wreck Techs. They will surely do their best to make sure you are up, running and ready.

A consortium of universities, led by Tech, has been awarded nearly $20 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to assist in the development of a new engineering research center.

The center will focus on developing technology which will allow for the production of low-cost living therapeutic cells which are able to be produced on a large scale.

The Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT) will aim to work in advancing the treatments for cancer, heart disease and other disorders by using living cells such as immune cells and stem cells.

There have already been promising results in the medical application of cell therapy, with gene-modified stem cell therapy being approved in Europe for treatment for the “bubble boy” syndrome: severe combine immune deficiency.

Part of the project is finding ways to produce these living cells in such quantities and with such regularity as to allow them to be more commonly used in medicinal practice. This includes not only development of technologies to manufacture the cells, but also designing storage and distribution systems which will allow for widespread use.

The CMaT initiative will also aid in creating a skilled and comprehensive workforce. This includes collaboration from a range of workers from across a number of different levels of education, from K-12 to postdoctoral levels. President G. P. “Bud” Peterson commented on the development of the new ERC in saying, “we will be able to capitalize in multiple areas, taking transformative research from the laboratory to practice much more quickly.”

Testing of the “drugs” has been very successful, with clinical trials showing the true effectiveness of the cell-based therapies. To move into a more widespread use within healthcare, CMaT is trying to address issues based on minimal industry standards for the processes in cell manufacturing along with the aforementioned challenges in physical production and storage of the cells.

Tech will collaborate with many other universities on the project, notably the University of Georgia and Emory University.

“There are a significant number of cell therapy trials and investments” said Steven Stice, director of the Regenerative Bioscience Centre at UGA. “But there is little or no investment in a set of consistent standardization methods to optimize how these therapies should work.”

The University of Pennsylvania, an affiliate partner in the program, has conducted over 40 clinical trials of cell-based therapies. Bruce Levine, a professor at the Perelman School of Medicine there said that the challenges for the center “lie in developing manufacturing and testing processes incorporating automation that can bring costs down and allow access to more patients”.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is another partner in the project. Sean Palecek is a professor in chemical and biomedical engineering at UW Madison, with Palecek commenting on the fundamental objectives of the program.

“Our work will provide safer and more potent cell products that will allow clinical studies to establish the effectiveness of these cells as therapeutics…. We will also train the future leaders of the emerging therapeutic cell manufacturing industry. These students and their work establishing the industry will be the most significant impact of CMaT.”

The NSF also has an eye on the positive effect that CMaT and other centers will have on the country’s economy. “Over the next five years, the centers will create new knowledge and high-tech innovations, as well as transform existing industries in ways that bolster the U.S. economy, support national security and build America’s global competitiveness through the preparation of engineering graduates,” said the NSF news release.  

The four new centers named this year are each eligible for 10 years of NSF funding.

The entrepreneurial programs at Tech provide students with an opportunity to test out their big ideas and have continued to grow every year since their conception. Programs like CREATE-X will grow even larger in the coming years due to a pledge for a $30 million donation from an anonymous donor.

This gift was pledged in the spring of 2017 and was recently announced by the Office of Development in Tech’s Philanthropy Quarterly publication. It is the second-largest donation of its kind in Tech’s history.

The donor has let little be known about himself, except that he is from Asia and is an entrepreneur.

“It is super exciting — what we’re gonna be able to do for students, what we’re gonna be able to do to ramp up entrepreneurship and more importantly how it’s gonna fit into the whole startup scene in Atlanta,” said Steve McLaughlin, the dean of the College of Engineering. “It will kind of create a whole new ecosystem that is in our case focused on students.”

According to the directive of the donor, the gift can be used for anything, as long as it promotes “programs, activities and initiatives designed to advance entrepreneurship in the student body of the Georgia Institute of Technology.”

Funds from the pledge will be distributed at the direction of the provost or a person that he or she designates.

The donor investigated programs like Tech’s Inventure Prize, TIG:ER and CREATE-X, which convinced him that the Institute was strategically moving forward in the area of student-led startups, according to Marta Garcia, the associate vice president for international development. After research into his options, CREATE-X is the one that caught his attention the most.

“He could see that his gift would be game-changing and well-stewarded in the long term,” Garcia said in the Philanthropy Quarterly announcement.

The CREATE-X program began in 2015 with only 8 teams, and due to the aid of donors has grown to 30 teams now.

According to McLaughlin, the donation will allow the program to increase participation to 100 student-led startups per year.

This is one step closer to the ten-year goal of getting every single student into one of the CREATE-X programs before they graduate in order to give everyone a taste of entrepreneurship, even if their startup does not continue beyond the first program.

CREATE-X began from similar feelings of generosity and philanthropy. Chris Klaus, who is a former Tech student, founder of internet security and gaming companies and namesake of the Klaus Advanced Computing building, was also interested.

He noticed the success of the first “Startup Summer” session, and gave a $2 million gift that helped the program become established. He also established a the fund that allocates $20,000 to each team in the “Launch” program, a fund that still exists.

In a paper released earlier this year at the 2nd International Workshop on Social Sensing, Tech researchers from the Embedded Pervasive Lab proposed how to improve communications through taking advantage of fog computing, a new computing paradigm that brings the power of cloud computing closer to ground.

Fog computing, which is also known as edge computing, is a layer of computation where devices locally communicate with other devices to solve asynchronous, distributed problems.

The Embedded Pervasive Lab, led by principal investigator Kishore Ramachandran, developed an architecture and application programming interface that allowed for the modeling of various fog computing applications.

One of the immediate applications of their work was an answer to the question of how to find and determine the status of people who are stranded in natural disasters or other crises when those people are not connected to the cloud. Natural disaster response has already been dramatically altered by the advent of social media, but services like Facebook and Google are rendered useless without internet connections.

However, one important advantage of a fog system is that messages can be distributed between a broad network of computers through temporary ad hoc connections, even without live internet connections.

The geo-distributed network of fog nodes, which could be phones, tablets or any device part of the Internet of Things, could generate communication channels in areas where there were none before, allowing the creation of population density maps in flooded areas.

Another application would allow users to check the fog network to see if their family members are safe after a crisis event.

The local data ecosystems that fog computing enables also allow a variety of “social sensing” services to be created that stretch even beyond natural disaster response services.

In one system, designed for underdeveloped communities that rely on public transportation but have intermittent internet connection, data from passengers phones can be submitted to a bus that can later upload data and interact with the cloud once it reaches an area where Internet is available.

The researchers note there are challenges in maintaining the resources and infrastructure for social sensing in a fog computing system, especially when nodes are mobile and might not cross paths regularly enough to distribute data.

Shortly before midnight this past Saturday, Tech student Scout Schultz, fourth-year CompE, was fatally shot by GTPD during a confrontation.

Information received by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) as a result of an open records request showed that Schultz had left three suicide notes in their room before calling the police at around 11:17 p.m. and describing an individual that fit Schultz’s appearance. Schultz noted that the individual was armed with a knife and possibly a gun. At the end of the call, they left their name as “Scott Schultz,” Schultz’s birth name.

Officers arrived at the location advised by Schultz during the call — on Eighth Street near West Village — and found Schultz present. A video taken of the confrontation shows GTPD officers slowly backing away from Schultz, while repeating calls for them to drop the “knife.”

“C’mon man, drop the knife,” said one officer.

“C’mon, let’s drop it,” said a second.

“Shoot me,” Schultz responded.

“No,” the first officer replied. “Drop the knife.”

After roughly one minute more of back and forth between the officers and Schultz, GTPD officer Tyler Beck fired a single shot, hitting Schultz in the chest. Schultz collapsed to the ground; screams can then be heard in video footage of the incident. Schultz was taken to Grady Hospital and pronounced dead soon after. An autopsy will be carried out by the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office.

According to the GBI, the GTPD requested at about midnight on Saturday that the GBI conduct an investigation regarding Beck. He has been placed on paid leave while the investigation is ongoing. Records appear to show that Beck did not have training in crisis intervention.

“It is not going to prevent the use of force in all instances where you’re dealing with someone in psychiatric crisis but an officer at least has skills to rely on,” said GBI Director Vernor Keenan in a statement regarding crisis training.

A Georgia Tech Emergency Notification System (GTENS) alert that had been issued around 11:32 p.m. Saturday was lifted at around 11:49 p.m.

In the aftermath of the shooting on Saturday night, a vigil was planned for 8:00 p.m. on Monday.

Aby Parsons, Ph.D., director of Tech’s LGBTQIA resource center, reflected on Scout’s impact on campus, including that which they had through their position as President of Pride Alliance.

“Scout was instrumental in leading Pride Alliance through a critical rejuvenation phase these past two years,” Parsons said. “They had been working hard to bring the organization back to its political and activist roots while still creating a welcoming community for all LGBTQIA students.”

According to Parsons, Schultz endeavored to bring about a number of collaborations and partnerships between Pride Alliance and other organizations, including Lost-n-Found Youth, a homeless shelter serving LGBTQIA youth.

“Scout was fiercely principled and relentless in their political work,” Parsons said. “They were always cognizant of the fact that the LGBTQIA community as we know it today emerged from a protest movement and so they were driven by their commitment to eliminating barriers to justice and liberation even when that work was hard and messy.”

Chris Stewart, the attorney for Schultz’s parents, has said that he plans to sue.

I met Scout Schultz two weeks ago.

DM Smith 011 was packed with pizza boxes and passionate students on a Tuesday evening (standing room only as I walked in late) as the Georgia Tech Progressive Student Alliance (GTPSA) kicked off the first gathering of the school year.

Students, one by one, including Scout, pitched fall semester proposals and overviews and announced upcoming events from different campus organizations. Brochures, jokes, and PowerPoint slides. New partners in progress. Calls to action. I remember the way the room felt, the buzz of excitement that comes when you realize you’re eating pepperonis with 60 incredible, like-minded people.

Just weeks later, we are reeling from loss, searching for meaning.

It’s been 16 days since that first meeting, and today, I find myself sitting on the GTPSA Core Team, advocating for positive change. I’m surrounded by raised voices.

While we huddle in empty classrooms, heavy-hearted and eager to address several pressing issues, I can’t help feeling as though this tragedy could’ve been prevented.

Discussion of campus policy amendment surfaces. For days, we question why GTPD chose not to utilize a non-lethal option.

We think of the wait-list and under-staffing at the Counseling Center. We consider the fact that so few resources are provided for the LGBTQIA+ community on campus. But the most urgent question resounds: “What comes next?”

There is work to be done.

The Georgia Tech Progressive Student Alliance is already taking action. We’re speaking out. We’re making our demands known — and it’s more than pink sidewalk chalk and signs.

I’m not sure that there’s been a more critical time to publicize our ideas of what we think is right, what we know our students deserve, what we’re certain would strengthen and sustain our Yellow Jacket home.

As a single organization, we know that nothing can be accomplished without time and support. Working with administration and policy is a lengthy process that isn’t easy.

But for me, change begins now — with a group of people and a big vision.

It begins with uplifting a fallen leader and striving to continue the community they helped bring together. It begins with healing and with hope and with pride in this place we call ours.

So we hope others will join us in our moving forward — #ScoutAhead. After all, we are one Georgia Tech. We see you. We love you. And Scout, wemiss you.