Stamps Health Services, along with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, hopes to increase HIV awareness by conducting a free HIV testing promotional event on Oct. 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Piedmont Room of the Student Center.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) continues to be a major issue, specifically in Georgia. According to the CDC, Georgia ranks fifth among all states for highest number of HIV diagnoses in 2011 with 2,522.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claims that young people aged 13 to 24 account for 26 percent of all new, HIV, diagnoses in 2010. This is a serious matter as individuals infected by HIV can eventually reach HIV Stage 3 or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

A 2002 CDC report also stated that the “epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is college students.” The report stressed the prevalence of HIV infections on college campuses.

“HIV tends to be stigmatized so one of the great things about a big testing event is it really removes stigma around HIV testing and normalizes it for people. Testing should be routine and normal,” said Michelle Segall, a Health Educator in Tech’s Stamps Health Promotion.

Stamps believes the free testing event will remind students how important prevention is.

“The event reminds people that anyone who is sexually active is at risk,” Segall said. “Last semester in April, we did chlamydia and gonorrhea testing and it was a urine-based test so people had to be contacted later with their results. So HIV testing is nice because it’s convenient.”

Stamps is also aware that most college students, including Tech, do not get tested.

“We also see nationally that only 28 percent of college students report being tested for HIV.”

The event incorporates novel technologies that make HIV results easily accessible.

“Something novel about the event is how quickly people receive their results. It’s literally a little finger prick and the technology can get you your results within five minutes,” Segall said.

Students engaging in sexual activity should get tested as they are at risk for getting HIV or other sexually transmitted infections (STI).

“Anybody who is sexually active is at risk for STI transmission. 64 percent of college students are sexually active and the only way to know for sure if you have a STI is to be screened,“ said Segall.

Stamps Health Promotion is conducting the free HIV testing event as part of a Get Yourself Protected (GYP) campaign. This year, GYP replaced Get Yourself Tested because Stamps wanted to emphasize the importance of prevention for STIs.

The campaign hopes to directly impact Tech students while emphasizing Stamps Health Promotion’s mission statement.

“The mission of Stamps health promotion is to empower students to make healthy decisions with regards to whatever behaviors they choose to behave in. We want to educate students and empower them to make decisions that are right for them,” Segall said.

In an effort not only to better the Tech community, but also to improve community service organizations around Tech, Emma Bones, now a graduate student in Civil Engineering, created the Community Service Council.

At the time, Bones could not have realized how her project would not only develop her own leadership skills, but also dynamically impact the Tech community.

Bones has been very involved in community service, starting her freshman year tutoring with Techwood Tutorial Project [TTP], the oldest community service program at Tech, where she tutored students at Bethune Elementary School.

During her sophomore year, Bones was the student coordinator for TTP and was heavily involved with Hispanic tutoring. She also was an active member in MOVE,an umbrella organization for undergraduate community service.

During her time with MOVE and especially after she became president during her junior year, Bones focused on organizational growth and making service more accessible to everyone, including international and graduate students.

During her senior year, Bones saw the need for an organization to help other organizations grow and get funding, so she formed the Community Service Council (CSC) to support service organizations. The CSC impacted some organizations more than others, but most importantly, it got the conversation going about what service should look like on Tech’s campus.

During her extensive time in leadership, Bones made it her goal to create a friendly atmosphere and make sure people were excited to go to meetings.

“Before each meeting, we would have a catch-up session where we would get to know people and maybe even play icebreakers. Making friends makes sharing the work so much easier and more fun,” Bones said.

“Always surround yourself with good people and let them see their ideas through. Be open minded, and your own ideas will change for the better,” Bones added.

Along with community service, Bones loves traveling, and she studied abroad the summer after her freshman year, and says  it was one of her favorite academic experiences. She participated in the Spanish LBAT in both Mexico and Spain.

“Go and get lost in the program. Don’t just hang out with Americans—make friends who are natives and learn about their culture. Study abroad takes away the fear of the unknown,” Bones recommended. “As Americans, we sometimes build up a perception  of how things are supposed to be, but you’ll get there and think, ‘no, this is quite lovely.’ ”

Mexico City is Emma Bones’ favorite city.

“You can go anywhere and do anything, but you will find also little neighborhoods within the massive city. I loved my walk to school everyday,” Bones said.

She also did not waste any opportunity to help people around her, however, even during study abroad. Bones researched in Ghana and later took a water treatment class in Nicaragua, where they worked on improving wells and water distribution through mapping water points with mobile technology.

This last summer, Bones presented her work from Nicaragua at a conference in Kenya. Many students study abroad in Europe, but Bones recommends going to somewhere drastically different from the U.S., such as Mexico, Latin America or Asia.

Even after her many experiences abroad, Bones still loves the Tech community and campus. Her favorite places to hang around Tech are the Tech Green and outside Tech Tower to lounge on the grass and enjoy a beautiful day. Bones also finds Tech Walkway to be a great place to sit along and see many friends and to catch up with people.

Since she spent so much time at Tech, Emma cites the Office of Leadership and Civic Involvement as a place that “feels like home.”

Off campus, Bones love atmosphere of the Stomping Ground on Cyprus Street.

“It’s a great place to cheer on the Yellow Jackets while they’re away, and the waiters know our group of friends’ names,” she said.

Currently, Bone’s favorite community service project is tutoring at a local homeless shelter. She tutors women pursuing their GED.

“I love the women and it’s a blast,” said Bones.

Bones said the most unique and significant service project she ever participated in was on the MLK day of service when she spent the day working away next to Dr. King’s church.

In the future, Bones hopes to gain industry experience and apply her knowledge to “cool” projects. Specifically, Emma wants to find creative ways to manage water resources.

“I love water,” Bones added.

Bones believes that all of her experiences, from study abroad to community service, have helped her in her studies and future career in engineering. Through them she has learned “understanding and compassion empathy.”

Bones maintains that extracurricular experiences like her’s can make students better engineers.

“You can better understand many different sides of a problem and come up with a better solution,” she said.

“Do only what you enjoy and pour into it,” Bones said. “Don’t over-involve yourself; extracurriculars should be fun. Don’t do anything just to ‘bolster your resume,’ but do something because you enjoy it.”

Alas! The zombies have once again triumphed over the meat bags! In a most fabulous fashion, my comrades and I valiantly tore through the silly creatures, tagging bodies and taking bites. During the Friday night mission, my allies showed excellent engineering skills by building thrones for the gods who supported our position. Sadly no food was to be found nor brothers to be turned and Friday ended without any event. Then came Saturday, a day of planning and rest, and both factions readied themselves for the finale.

On the morning of Sunday, the mission details came out and the superior race was given the final objective. In a battle for control, the zombies and the humans would have to finish each other’s VIP’s. Three gods on the zombie side, six for the humans. Though we had fewer gods, we had more troops and a roaring confidence. Sending out our scouts, we determined that the fleshbags were near the IC. It was there our horde and the scurrying rats met in a fight to the finish. But the human weapons weren’t enough, and the zombie army held strong. Within three minutes the human group of twenty-three turned to three and then to zero. A massacre would be an apt description.

After the humans were feasted upon, the gods came next. One by one we took down each human-favoring god and settled ourselves as the master species. Let it be known that neither gods nor humans are our match, for we are the zombies who will inherit the Earth. Tech is only a stepping stone, for the world is our right. And with an outstanding and undeniable zombie victory, both humans and zombies end this Fall 2013 bloodbath.

But what about next semester? Will the humans be able to prevail then? Very doubtful says my zombie instincts, but we shall see next time we all come together for Georgia Tech HvZ.

Glorious! Wondrous! Victorious! The intelligent zombies have once again shown the stubborn humans their place. The night mission on Thursday was an incredible success. Given little to no information, we, the superior race, still managed to defeat the heart-beaters. Using wit and strength, we forced the humans away from their objectives, the gnomes. By doing so, we obtained the favor of Garl Glittergold, god of gnomes. Wondering why all of the past missions have dealt with pleasing gods? So were we. But it was all illuminated the next morning. The gods would decide the survival of the humans and the zombies, but we needed to please them.

Another mission was held, to win glory for the wonderful Blood God. A wicked game of capture the flag, the humans could not deny us our destiny of victory. Humans fell, and I even assisted in the killing of a high-value target upon which we feasted. The rest of the day was spent collecting HvZ dollars, the only currency that the gods would appreciate, and giving bribes to secure our position as the dominant species above humans. There were rumors of a treasure hidden in BioTech quad, a sum of one million dollars. However, this treasure was too well concealed, and not even dozens of keen zombie eyes could spot it. But no matter! The gods have surely decided that zombies will be successful and the humans can only sit back and wait for their demise.

There is only one step left before the final showdown. The mission tonight must be completed and then humanity will have no chance before the horde. It is almost over, indeed, and once again, the fleshbags will meet their fate.

A very bland day if I do say so myself. It seems that no human is man enough to brave the outside world of the better species. Early in the morning, I had taken to the streets for a crisp walk around our beautiful green. Lo and behold I spotted one human. To my extreme distaste, this silly creature started sprinting away, quickly entering the Student Center and ruining my chance for a most delicious meal.

Depressed by the lack of nutrition, I returned home. On my way back however, I was spotted by some ruffian meatbags. Oh the embarrassment as they approached, for I was a sole warrior being ganged upon by these monkeys, and I was in no mood for a fight. I left them to their own devices as they hit me with one of their atrocious socks. Such are barbarians though, relying on smelly bodily wear and fluffy foodstuffs for weapons. It seems absurd that these creatures would consider themselves them top of the food chain. They are simply savages and beasts and I shudder in remembrance of my past status as a human. I am set at ease knowing that I can now include myself in the new evolutionary step. The superior being. But I digress. Hopefully tonight’s mission will be more eventful for my readers. I do salivate in the anticipation of a new meal.

Sydney Halinski, a fourth-year STAC major specializing in Media, knows how awkward a Skype job interview has the potential to be.

“Last spring, I had a Skype interview with ESPN. My first piece of advice? You shouldn’t have a picture of yourself and a hamster as your Skype profile picture,” Sydney began.

Halinski remembers more about her Skype job interview, in which the computer glitches caused more calamities to take place.

“There were tons of awkward pauses where they wouldn’t say anything and of course I couldn’t see them because my screen froze,” Halinski said. “The entire time all they were doing was staring at a picture of me and my hamster because, let’s be realistic, who Skypes anymore?”

Needless to say, the forty-minute interview was not her best.

“I have no idea how I didn’t get the job. I clearly deserved it after this performance,” Halinski said.

However, Halinski’s experience is one of the hundreds of millions in the pool of digital job application processes. Through Skype, online chat and email, employers are now consistently reaching out to potential applicants through any- and everything but face-to-face contact.

Tech has maintained its position in this realm by hosting its “Virtual Career Fair” once again this fall, in addition to the standard meet-and-greet job fair hosted last week in the Campus Recreation Center.

Fourth-year BA major Julienne McKee discussed her experience at the standard 2013 fair last week, which had its positives.

“I do believe I gained something out of the fall fair,” McKee said. “I had a great conversation with the recruiter and it was good preparation for interviewing as well as coming out of my introverted shell.”

While these skills and the experience prove to be invaluable, it is not shocking to learn some students felt as though they came up short. A common objective entering the fall Career Fair is to leave with an interview request, or even better, a position offering.

However, for the great majority of students unable to achieve this, the Virtual Career Fair offers another chance.

The 2013 Virtual Career Fair will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 24 and Wednesday, Sept. 25. Similar to the fall Career Fair, the Virtual Career Fair is open to all types of majors and degree levels for students.

A virtual career fair takes place online, where employers and those looking for jobs meet in a virtual environment.

Typically, these meetings occur through chat rooms, but other means of communication exist, including webcasts, teleconferences and email. Employers may have specific chat hours, while others may just use the fair as a method to collect resumes.

Ultimately, students seem to have varying opinions on the concept.

For some, the Virtual Career Fair stands to be more favorable as far as the meeting between you and the recruiter, in comparison to the regular fall Career Fair.

“I think a lot of college-aged students in today’s world are more comfortable with technological interaction than real-life communication,” explained Becca Raffaele, a second-year IE major currently co-oping with Georgia Power.

In a chat room, the meeting with an employer is direct and to the point. There is an immediate exchange of information that the company needs from the candidate and the information the candidate needs from the company.

Plus, it is perfectly acceptable to wear non-business casual attire and comfortably relax in the privacy of one’s own space.

“At a regular in-person career fair, the competition and commotion of the other employers and the excessive amount of students can be stressful and distracting,” said Ellen Skelton, a third-year BA major.

In these situations, it is not unusual for the exchange to simply turn into the exchange of a resume for a free water bottle, bottle opener or other form of free company swag.

Yet, pitfalls other than the aforementioned also exist, one possible hindrance in a chat room being the inability to truly project the entirety of one’s personality to potential employers.

Plus, recruiters will be extra attentive to everything offered within the confines of a video call, especially items in the background that could potentially raise the interviewer’s eyes. Body gestures, eye-contact and eloquence are all the company has to judge beside a profile picture.

It isn’t the first time Tech has hosted the new job search concept, and it surely doesn’t appear as if it will be the last.

At the very least, however, even to those who have differing opinions about the virtual career fair, the additional experience and face-time interviewing cannot be neglected.

More information on the general schedule of employer hours is available at gatech.careereco.net.

This past weekend was loaded with volleyball action on campus as Tech hosted the annual Georgia Tech Courtyard Classic at the O’Keefe Gym. With Connecticut, St. John’s and Troy attending the tournament, the Yellow Jackets looked to improve on their record of 3-3.

The Jackets had their first match on Friday evening against the 5-3 Red Storm in front of an electric home crowd. Both teams had a slow start as points were traded back and forth with no team gaining momentum. However, after a score of 9-9, St. John’s went on a 9-2 run which was initiated by a massive kill from Alexandra Wachowicz. At first, Tech was unable to recover from this surge but was able to win back points with good ball movement until they were only down by two (21-19). A critical timeout by St. John’s helped the Red Storm regain composure and finish the set strong with a 25-19 set.

The second set played to St. John’s strengths as they put up multiple kills and confused the Jackets into committing five errors. The Jackets had no real offense and could not sustain a surge effort as they were able to in the previous set, which led to another set for the Red Storm (25-18).

The third set looked like it would be a repeat of the past two sets with three out of the first four points going to St. John’s. However, a little later in the set, the Jackets bench helped to spark to a 6-2 run, mainly from Chanell Clark-Bibbs who had the third highest hitting efficiency for the Jackets with .353.

With Tech’s resurging offense and ball movement, plus St. John’s highest number of errors in the match (7), the Jackets cruised through the set with only two errors. The Red Storm’s confusion and miscommunication in the third set could be summed up by the kill that was far from the line and ended the set. The Jackets went on to win the set 25-16 with the highest point differential in the game yet.

Any problems that St. John’s seemed to have had in the previous set vanished; they had 12 kills and only one error in the 4th set to win 25-11. Tech’s inability to keep up was evident; they had only five kills, six errors and a hitting efficiency of -.029.

Even though Tech lost the first match of the tournament, it was evident that many players on the Tech roster have the ability to impact the game and contribute. Nine out of the ten players that actively participated in the game played in all four sets while the Red Storm could only the same for eight out of their 11 active players.

Key performances from freshman setter Rebecca Martin, who had her first career double-double with 10 digs and 29 assists, and senior Jennifer Percy with 10 kills showed that the Jackets have depth and experience.

The second match was on Saturday morning in front of a crowd split evenly between Troy and Tech. Again, Tech did not seem to have enough to defeat the Trojans as they lost in four sets (3-1: 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19). As seen by the point differentials in the first three sets, the teams were more evenly matched than the set record suggests.

The Troy offense relied heavily on the contribution of Marija Zelenovic and Blair Winston, who had roughly 60 percent of the total kills for the team. However, the Jacket offense saw contributions from Percy, Clark-Bibbs, Ivona Kolak and freshman London Ackerman, all who were able to post double figure kills.

On the other hand, the Van Gunst twins saw playing time in this game. Annika had five kills while Teegan had six digs, which provided a spark off the bench. Again, Tech showed that the team has a lot of depth and potential with 11 players rotated to play on the court, putting up encouraging stats.

While each set started off with teams trading points and had eight lead changes, it was the winning hitting percentage that set the teams apart and set up the Trojans to sustain rallies from the Jackets. Tech only had an efficiency of .197, whereas Troy’s had a percentage of .259.

It seemed as if the break between the second and the third match allowed for Tech to reenergize and focus. The Jackets came out in the tournament finale and beat the Huskies in straight sets with a score of 3-0 (27-25, 25-18, 25-20).

With Percy’s 12 kills and Kaleigh Colson’s 28 assists, Tech was able to have higher hitting efficiencies than Connecticut in each set. Hitting percentage and nine blocks in this match helped to put senior Quinn Evans into the all-tournament team along with Clark-Bibbs who provided much-needed energy during substitutions.

The inefficiency of the Husky team could be seen, with only five players registering kills during the match. Devon Maugle from Connecticut had a 11 kills which helped to put the Huskies on the board, but the dominance of the Jackets could be seen with more digs and kills from Tech.

Coach Johnson seemed to think that this last match reflected the true potential of this team.

“It was nice to see us come together and play as a team instead of just people going out there and doing their own thing,” head coach Tonya Johnson said in an interview with ramblinwreck.com. “It was nice to see us put it all together. I think we are capable of being a good team if we can find some consistency of with what we do.”

The Jackets looks to continually improve as they travel to Tennessee to take part in the Tennessee Tournament starting Friday, Sept. 20, hosted by The University of Tennessee.

A few months ago, Linkin Park began a T-shirt design contest asking designers to create original artwork inspired by the new Castle of Glass single. I saw this design contest and was immediately excited. If I won, not only would I earn a $1,000 cash prize, I would also receive a signed copy of the t-shirt, which would then be sold both in the official merchandise store and on tour. The pre-teen groupie in me couldn’t help but fantasize about the potential recognition I would receive from my favorite rockstars. I immediately made a mental note to set aside some time to produce a kick-butt design for the contest.

However, as life would have it, I never got around to making the design. While I lamented the fact that I had missed the chance of a lifetime to impress Linkin Park with my design prowess, someone somewhere was celebrating one fewer participant in a design contest.

That someone is Anti-Spec.

The Anti-Spec movement took the design world by storm when it first came about, denouncing any design work commissioned without the guaranteed promise of payment and opposing any design contest that featured only one winner. It’s like having multiple chefs each prepare a separate meal, and then only one meal being chosen while the rest of the chefs get turned away, according to the movement’s website.

Proponents of the Anti-Spec movement believe that designers have the right to be paid for the work they do and that speculative work takes advantage of the notion that amateur designers are desperate for any design job to help build their portfolios by offering lower-than-industry rates. Furthermore, they believe that design contests perpetuate the idea that anyone can be a designer given proper software, thus lessening the market value of professional designers.

However, while it is easy to see how spec work can seem degrading and demeaning to designers, I think there is actually some value to be found in it.

First of all, participants know that they may not get paid for their work exists when they choose to participate. If they are willing to put in time when knowing the potential consequences, who’s to say they shouldn’t? Ultimately, by participating in spec work, the designer is still practicing and improving his or her craft.

Secondly, Anti-Spec disapproves of any design contest. However, as with the case of the Linkin Park design contest, the intent of the contest is not to exploit designers. Instead, these contests give people the opportunity to be involved with brands, companies, celebrities, etc., that they are fans of.

Moreover, design contests involving issues such as healthcare and the environment can benefit from several of ideas from different designers. These design contests can motivate many potential solutions as well as inspire new and innovative ideas.

While I agree that the nature of the Anti-Spec movement is heroic and well-intended, Anti-Spec fails to acknowledge the fact that some speculative work is for the public good. The Anti-Spec movement would be more effective if they were to instead focus on informing amateur designers about the intricacies of spec work, how to not get taken advantage of and lastly, on sending the message to designers, both amateur and professional, to always respect and value themselves and the work they put out.

Welcome my lovelies to the all-new story. No more of that utter nonsense known as surviving; I am Z, the ever so lovely, recently-turned zombie. I was liberated last night and I must say I have never felt better. No more scurrying around like rats and surely no more being led to the slaughter like lambs. I am a free thinker, euphoric in my desires. And I desire human death. My mission isn’t cruel, no. I am only trying to help out my soon-to-be comrades. It is a quest for justice, not blood. Tasty brains are just an added delight.

My Wednesday started with a glorious mission constructing a tribute to bring happiness to our lords. A delightful success, we terrorized the silly apes into submission. Our structure towering over theirs, we cleared the morning mission with ease. I then journeyed to the CULC for a tidbit of liberating. And liberate I did. An unsuspecting human began walking out, seemingly prepared. He forgot to check his posterior. But it is all for the best, another brother for the horde.

Stomach filled, I rested a bit longer until it was feeding time again. It was then another mission started. We were ordered to provide our gods with a key to gain favor. This key, unknown to us, was given to the feeding bags. Our lord commanded us with stellar accuracy, sending scouts and attack troops to rout the human advance. And rout we did. We turned several new brothers and sisters and with their valued information, our enlightened army found the key, completed the mission and gained even more followers. Yes, it was a glorious day. The humans are cowering inside, and we “zombies” have taken control of Tech campus. With our current progress, it is only a matter of time before our lord prevails. Glory unto the horde of enlightened.

Holed up in Klaus, with raging zombies outside. The human-hunting has grown harsher. While yesterday I could avoid Zed on my walk to class, today I have not had peace or rest.

This morning, I sleepily left my bed to attend to the first mission of the week. My drowsiness was broken by the stamping footsteps of the zombie next door, my own friend. A quick, quite lucky sock toss prevented this “friend” from turning me as we tumbled to the ground.

Remember my fellow survivors, a sock to the backpack is still a stun.

Admitting defeat, this zombie buddy of mine slinked away, and I continued my quest to the BMED quad. There I grouped with three other survivors as we traveled to Skiles, then to the walkway to complete our mission. We met up with another survivor group, totaling our headcount at fifteen. It was then that we saw the zombie horde trekking up towards the Student Center, carrying the key to our mission, a cardboard relic that we humans had to take selfies with. Our army gave chase, and the zombies fell stunned at our power.

After grabbing our dashing photographs, I went with a group to Van Leer for class. Following class, I made a solo trip to Klaus where I found the same zombies from before camping, waiting to pick off unfortunate survivors. All five rushed to me. I rushed to the door. Adrenaline pumping, I barely made it into the building while the zombies flashed me a patronizing smile. A smile that said, “There’s no escape.”

I fear what will come next. This whole day, I’ve seen my allies drop, and others being chased around to no end. And the day is only Tuesday. There are four more days left and the massacre is only beginning.