The following are crimes that occurred on or near campus and were reported to The Triangle by the Drexel University Department of Public Safety between March 28, 2014, and April 8, 2014. All information included in this report is taken from law enforcement or DPS incident reports.

ASSAULT (1)

April 4, 12:13 a.m. 3200 Block of Race Street

A Drexel student was arrested April 4 at 12:13 a.m. by Drexel Police after the student assaulted his roommate. Minor injuries were sustained..

BURGLARY (2)

April 1, 12:15 p.m. 3200 Block of Winter Street

A Drexel student reported that April 1 between 12:15 p.m. and 7 p.m., unknown person(s) entered his residence by forcing the front door and took cash from a drawer.

April 4, 2:05 p.m. 3600 Block of Powelton Avenue

A Drexel student reported that April 4 at 2:05 p.m., an unknown male entered his residence by forcing the front door. The male fled the residence without taking anything when confronted by the complainant.

ROBBERY (1)

April 8, 6:45 p.m. 3600 Block of Powelton Avenue

A Drexel student reported that April 8 at 6:45 p.m., he was robbed at gunpoint by an unknown male who took his cash and his iPhone. No injuries were sustained.

THEFT (6)

Mar. 22 3300 Block of Arch Street

A Drexel student reported that between Mar. 22 and Mar. 28, unknown person(s) took his bicycle that was secured to a bicycle rack with a U lock.

Mar. 28, 3 p.m. 200 North 15th Street

A Drexel student reported that Mar. 28, between 3 p.m. and 6:55 p.m., unknown person(s) took his backpack and laptop computer that were left unattended in a common area.

April 2, 7 p.m. 3200 Block of Arch Street

A Drexel student reported that April 2 between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., unknown person(s) took his iPhone that was left unattended in his bag.

April 3, 12 p.m. 3400 Block of Filbert Street

A Drexel student reported that April 3 between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., unknown person(s) took his bicycle that was secured to a bicycle rack with a cable lock.

April 3, 3300 Block of Chestnut Street

A Drexel student reported that between April 3 and April 4, unknown person(s) entered his unlocked vehicle and took a laptop computer and CDs that were left in view.

April 5, 3300 Block of Arch Street

A Drexel student reported that between April 5 and April 6, unknown person(s) took his gaming system and games that were left unattended in a common area.

VANDALISM (2)

April 2, 3400 Block of Powelton Avenue

A Drexel student reported that between April 2 and April 3, graffiti was written on her vehicle by unknown person(s).

April 3, 9:20 p.m. 3300 Block of Race Street

A Drexel student reported that April 3, between 9:20 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., unknown person(s) damaged his bicycle that was secured to a bicycle rack.

During the period covered in this report, there were three (3) Policy Violations for Alcohol and one (1) Policy Violation for Drugs. The reports were sent to the Office of Student Conduct for review.

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The following are crimes that occurred on or near campus and were reported to The Triangle by the Drexel University Department of Public Safety between Feb. 12, 2014, and Feb. 18, 2014. All information included in this report is taken from law enforcement or DPS incident reports.

Burglary (1)

Feb. 11, 7:20 a.m. 3200 Powelton Avenue

A Drexel student reported that on Feb. 11, between 7:20 a.m. and 4:25 p.m., unknown person(s) entered her apartment by forcing the front door and took electronic equipment.

Theft (5)

Feb. 6 Unit Block of South 32nd Street

A Drexel staff member reported that between Feb. 6 and Feb. 12, unknown person(s) took a camcorder that was left unattended in an unsecured room.

Feb. 11 3000 Block of Ludlow Street

A Drexel student reported that between Feb. 11 and Feb. 14, unknown person(s) broke the window to his auto and took an iPad that was left in view.

Feb. 13, 8 a.m. 3300 Block of Market Street

A Drexel student reported that on Feb. 13, between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., unknown person(s) took cash from her wallet that was left in an unlocked cubicle.

Feb. 16, 1 p.m. 3300 Market Street

A Drexel student reported that on Feb. 16, between 1 p.m. and 2:20 p.m., unknown person(s) took his backpack that contained personal items that was left unattended in a common area.

Feb. 16 300 Block of North 31st Street

A Drexel student reported that between Feb. 16 and Feb. 17, unknown person(s) entered his unlocked vehicle and took his vehicle registration.

Threats (1)

Feb. 14, 2:25 p.m. 1400 Block of Vine Street

A Drexel staff member reported that on Feb. 14 at 2:25 p.m., a male threatened her during a dispute over medication.

During the period covered in the report there were six (6) Policy Violations for alcohol and one (1) Policy Violation for drugs. The reports were sent to the Office of Student Conduct for review.

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Megan Hartz is a senior psychology major at Drexel who currently serves as president of Active Minds, a peer-to-peer mental health advocacy and awareness group on campus.

The Triangle: What’s your story? What brought you to Drexel?

Megan Hartz: Definitely the co-op program. I’m very interested in psychology, of course, and pretty much with a degree in psychology you kind of have to go [on to] graduate school, so I was really interested in a college that allowed for experience throughout school so that I wouldn’t have to end up taking a year off before graduate school.

TT: How did you become involved with Active Minds?

MH: I’m actually a vice president of scheduling and communications for Drexel’s Peer Counseling Helpline as well, and our adviser, Amy Hemming, asked us to bring Active Minds back to campus. One of our members sent out an email about being on a board position and being a mental health advocate, and it’s always been something really important to me. I kind of just applied for the position and I became vice president last year. As vice president, I realized I was more interested in taking on a bigger role in the club and making it have a bigger influence on our campus, so I applied for president and was elected into the role for this school year.

TT: What does Active Minds do on campus?

MH: Well, our goal is reducing the stigma of mental illness on campus by raising awareness and giving out resources related to online resources as well as on-campus resources. We work really closely with the Drexel Counseling Center, as well as the Drexel Peer Counseling Helpline.

TT: What’s the main message that Active Minds is trying to get across?

MH: We’re trying to get across that basically everyone has a mental health and everybody needs to maintain a mental health. Not everyone is affected by mental illness, but everyone knows somebody who is affected by mental illness. We really want to get a conversation started about these topics to reduce the stigma of them so more people feel welcomed to get help and reach out when they need it.

TT: What types of mental illnesses do you see often with students that may not be known as an illness?

MH: Definitely on our campus we see a lot of anxiety and depression, not necessarily significantly diagnosable, but of course anxiety is a natural feeling that everyone experiences at some time or another. There are varying levels of it, but we feel it’s good coming to us — talking about being overly anxious and having panic attacks. We also see a lot of students with bipolar disorder. [There are] students affected by eating disorders, anxiety, depression and bipolar [disorder] — pretty much anything that is stigmatized in the media — and a lot of people don’t realize how prevalent they are on college campuses.

TT: Does the group have direct interaction with the students affected by different disorders?

MH: We are not a self-help group by any means. We actually refer students out if they come to us with issues like that. We hold discussions at all of our meetings, particularly for one disorder, so we have one coming up March 11 about autism, and we have one of the doctoral students coming in to give details: kind of what it looks like in college students, the prevalence, and just trying to reduce the stigma a little bit more. We also have a lot of events where we’re not only giving out pamphlets but we also lately have been giving out tips to relieve stress. For our “Puppy Pawlooza” event we did last term, we handed out little treat bags of dog treats and on it we had ribbon tied around the bags that gave tips to reduce stress, as well as our contact information. So we’re always giving out extra information to not just reduce the stigma but also give people some pointers to making a healthy state themselves.

TT: Have you received any feedback on the group from students who are familiar with Active Minds?

MH: Regarding the [Puppy Pawlooza], we have heard a ton of great feedback. Everybody claimed that their stress levels were reduced significantly. Statistically, I don’t know how significantly, but at least they were reduced. Overall, we hear a lot of feedback, especially after our discussions or bigger events where we are giving out free things. [We gave] out chocolate covered popcorn for Valentine’s Day, and we received a lot of great feedback from those. We put on them tips to maintain healthy relationships with friends, family and significant others. We didn’t just focus on the negativity and the depression, so people were really open to that idea and weren’t necessarily focusing on the [potential] sadness of the holiday but focusing on the happy times to kind of raise happiness on campus.

TT: What is the overall goal of Active Minds?

MH: Probably our largest goal is to get more students involved and make more people aware that we exist. Last night, I actually did a talk on campus for a group called the Minority Association of Pre-medical Students. I did a talk on anxiety, depression and tips to relieve [their symptoms]. A lot of students were really receptive to the idea, but a lot of the ideas they had prior to my talk were pretty stigmatized. It was really great to have students ask a lot of questions. We’re trying to get more students involved with our organization, [but] if we mention mental illness at our table a lot of people won’t approach because of the stigma attached to it, so we’re really trying to break down the stigma on campus as a whole by trying to get students to come to our events and [by] providing resources.

TT: What do you think is the most stigmatized mental illness found on college campuses, or more specifically, at Drexel?

MH: I think a lot of people don’t realize mental illnesses affect a lot, that one-in-four college students are often affected by a mental illness themselves. I think in general a lot of people don’t realize how significant that number is. Probably the most stigmatized on a college campus [my answer is a little biased because I don’t know the statistics behind it] I would assume is depression just because it has the underlying factor of suicidal intentions, and a lot of people don’t quite understand suicidal behaviors. I have heard people claim that suicide is more so the person not caring about what others think or how it’s going to affect others in the future, where as studies have shown that with suicidal behavior, oftentimes it’s a cry for help rather than an attempt to actually end their life. Suicide is a person feeling so down and overwhelmed that they’re trying to get rid of the pain. I’ve heard people claim that depression doesn’t really exist, that it’s just people [having] self-pity. Some people just don’t know the significance [mental illness] can have on a person’s life.

TT: As president, do you find your role to be challenging at times? Rewarding?

MH: I think definitely, it’s just so rewarding for me. Last year as vice president, I actually created the first Mental Health Awareness Week on Drexel’s campus, so now we’re looking forward to the second annual awareness week.

TT: What are you involved with outside of Active Minds?

MH: Outside of the group I actually do a lot. I’m the vice president of the Drexel Peer Counseling Helpline. I am in Psi Chi; it’s the International Society of Psychology. I am also working on my senior thesis, finally finishing that up, and I actually have four part-time jobs: I am a nanny for two 14-year-olds; I am an applied behavioral analysis therapist for a four-year-old with autism; I am a research assistant for clinical drug trials at 49th and Market streets; and I do side research with two professors here with Drexel.

TT: What’s your favorite thing to do in Philly?

MH: I would definitely say my favorite thing to do in Philly is to try different restaurants, especially when we have Restaurant Week. It’s amazing to pay such a low amount to eat at some of the fancier restaurants that I don’t necessarily have the money for.

Triangle Talks is a weekly column that highlights members of the Drexel community.

The post Triangle Talks with Megan Hartz appeared first on The Triangle.

Natisha Chen is a senior nursing major at Drexel. She leads the Students Advocating Feminism and Equality organization in discussions on breaking barriers of adversity and creating equality for all races and sexes.

The Triangle: What’s your story? What brought you to Drexel?

Natisha Chen: I transferred to Drexel back in 2011 from Temple University. Now that I look back on it, Temple wasn’t really the best fit for me. I was attracted to Drexel due to the fast-paced courses and additional opportunities provided in a larger nursing student community. I also liked that there was a women’s studies department. At the time of my transfer, I knew that Temple was talking about getting rid of their women’s studies department due to budget cuts, and I was pretty upset by that.

TT: What is your role in Students Advocating Feminism and Equality?

NC: Right now in SAFE, I try my best to facilitate a place where people are free to discuss the ways patriarchal constructs are affecting their lives. It can be really frustrating to see the ways that [women] are limited because of a certain set of unspoken rules that society abides to. I call these unspoken rules “patriarchy.”

TT: Can you describe the organization? How did it get its start at Drexel?

NC: Our organization is a pretty informal group of men and women who discuss things they’ve seen, heard, read and felt and kind of brainstorm what constructs brought about our feelings. Patriarchal thinking informs a lot of our decisions and a lot of the decisions that others seem to make quite compulsively. It was started by a group of folks who really wanted to be able to vent through their frustrations and work toward eliminating them. We initially started a lot of discussion about sexual assault since, unfortunately, it’s pretty common on college campuses. In the most nonacademic way, we opened up a conversation that discussed something like party behaviors and how we normalize things that shouldn’t be so normal.

TT: What are some of the topics SAFE covers?

NC: We cover sexual assault, non-cookie-cutter sex, feminism — what it is and where it’s going, body positivism, music, current events, and most importantly, communication styles. A lot of the time we end up talking about race culture and the way that masculinity affects race culture as far as what a woman might wear and how they’re stricter about being slutty versus being appropriate. We talked about how when guys are at parties they talk about girls, and that might not be necessarily what everyone wants. It’s kind of like the party culture that’s out there that people wind up doing.

I think that a lot of what we try to do is explain what feminism is. It’s not a women’s movement; it’s more of a movement for everyone. I think that feminism kind of represents all of these things and that when you think about it from a woman’s perspective, that’s just one barrier. Feminism has a lot of factors, because what if you’re a woman? You’re going to feel all of these things that women are feeling, plus race. And I think race just adds to the point in that people perceive you and the things that you can do and how you can do them.

TT: What do you think students get out of the organization?

NC: With any sort of group, I think people like that they can have a discussion with like-minded people. And even if they’re not like-minded, they stop by to learn something new. Because patriarchy affects so many aspects of our lives, it can be overwhelming to tackle and easy to submit to complacency. So in some respect, I think there is comfort in knowing that people have your back should you feel beaten from the current state of things.

TT: Does SAFE have any goals for this year?

NC: As a new group, our current goal is facilitating communication between those who may not seem to share the same ideas as us. It can be really frustrating when someone makes unknowingly crude comments related to gender, sex, other races or people from other classes. So rather than speaking from a place of frustration, our goal is to speak from a place of peace and understanding. We attempt to acknowledge why people may feel differently from us and communicate in ways that speak to their way of thinking.

TT: What do you like the most about SAFE?

NC: What I like most is that it exists! A lot of people tend to not know what feminism is or don’t consider feminist thinking a priority. It’s nice to know that people think that feminism is relevant considering how patriarchy informs a great deal of the way we live our lives.

TT: What challenges do you face in your role in SAFE?

NC: I think the biggest challenge that I face is the challenge of being overwhelmed. I like that everyone in group offers a wide variety of perspectives, but that also makes it difficult to figure out what will be engaging and what will make the largest impact in sharing information. I’d say that one of our groups’ common frustrations is “street harassment.” We kind of examine the power dynamics of who gets harassed, who does the harassing, if there are specifications to time and place, and what bystanders can do to help.

TT: What are you involved with outside of SAFE?

NC: Outside, I’m a volunteer at Planned Parenthood. I’m a nursing student. I work at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. What else do I do? I have a roommate and a cat. I’m very family oriented, I live next door to my grandparents, so I kind of just hang out with them because I’m their only grandchild.

TT: What’s your favorite thing to do in Philly?

NC: I’m a big foodie. I love going out for sushi. I’ve tried a lot of restaurants. I love going to Sabrina’s. I eat a lot in Chinatown. I really like Asian food and all sorts of funky ethnic cuisines.

TT: What’s something that people might not know about you?

NC: I’m training for a half marathon! I just started training this week. A lot of people don’t know that yet. There’s this new run, it’s called the Love Run, and it’s coming to Philly on March 30, so it should be pretty good.

Triangle Talks is a weekly column that highlights members of the Drexel community.

The post Triangle Talks with Natisha Chen appeared first on The Triangle.

The Triangle: What’s your full name and where are you from?

President John A. Fry: John Fry and I’m from Haverford, Pa.

TT: If you were a superhero, what superpowers would you have and what would your name be?

JF: You know in “Harry Potter” where Hermione is able to do two things at once? It’s like a spell she can cast on herself so she can go to two classes at once. But that’s not an answer, so if I were a superhero, my superpowers would be to be in two places at once. My name would be Flash.

TT: Do you have any hidden talents?

JF: I can remember lots and lots of faces. I can remember things I’ve done with people who I haven’t seen in 20 years. Someone will come up who I haven’t seen in a while, and I’ll say exactly when and where I last saw them. I remember faces and I remember things about them.

TT: What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?

JF: I’ve had some stuff when I was in Ethiopia. I didn’t even know what I was eating, but it was the strangest food. They described it to me, and it was good. I ate everything in front of me. I’ve eaten a lot of exotic foods in a lot of places, and my rule of thumb is that unless you clean your plate, you insult your guests. So I will try anything, no matter what it is.

TT: What is the most impulsive thing you have ever done?

JF: Ask my wife to marry me.

TT: What do you eat on Thanksgiving?

JF: Turkey, stuffing and all those things, but then we make so much that we can eat some the next day.

TT: Where is the farthest you have traveled on vacation, and what did you do there?

JF: Probably to Rome. I did that after I graduated from business school, and I basically hiked in Europe, and that’s the furthest I was. But the furthest I’ve been was Ethiopia this year when I was at Drexel.

TT: If you could be anyone, living or dead, for a day, who would you be? Why? What would you do?

JF: I would be Theodore Roosevelt, who was president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. And why? Because he had such an incredibly full life and was so well versed in so many different subjects. His life was just fascinating to me. And what would I do? I would try to maybe carry out a piece of work that he was never able to get done when he was president: some legislation regarding preserving open space or cracking down on trusts.

TT: Do you have any obscure habits?

JF: I read six newspapers a day, but then what’s obscure is when I miss three or four days, I’ll have a big bag of papers and I’ll carry it around the house and try to find a quiet place to read them. My wife accuses me of odd behavior for hoarding newspapers. Next thing, she said, I’ll be bringing home all sorts of cats and putting them in house, which can lead to nothing good.

TT: What do you do on a bad day?

JF: Exercise. When I feel bad, I go out and I exercise. I play squash.

TT: What’s your favorite type of music? Song? Artist?

JF: I like all sorts of music, but I would say rock, and Jackson Browne is my favorite artist. There are a bunch of songs that he did in the ‘70s and ‘80s that I like, especially “Running on Empty.”

TT: In your opinion, what is the greatest invention?

JF: Can you call the Internet an invention? It has an incredible ability to change people’s lives by providing information and access and opportunity to start your own businesses. It has had such a profound effect on society.

TT: If you were not the president of a university, what would your job be?

JF: It would definitely be completely different. I would like to run an antique and book store with my wife.

TT: How did you meet your wife?

JF: My mother set me up with my wife. My mother and her mother met, and they exchanged our numbers .

TT: What’s your favorite lunch truck?

JF: I don’t do lunch trucks, but my favorite restaurant in the city is POD.

TT: What is your sense of fashion?

JF: Poor. … Proper during the week and very dressed down on the weekends, no suits or ties or anything like that. If I could wear anything to work, I would wear my favorite old suit that everyone makes fun of. It’s kind of green and is tweed, but it’s really warm and comfortable, and I love this suit, but it might be a little too quirky for Drexel. I might wear it every once in a while, and everyone makes fun of me for it, but I don’t care because it’s my favorite suit.

TT: What’s your favorite place on campus to grab a quiet moment?

JF: I just like actually walking on the campus when I don’t have a destination. I will do a loop and I get to see everything, but it’s quiet because no one is talking to me. I’ll say hi to people as I am walking along, but I like to just traverse the place and see how it is developing.

TT: Penn or Drexel: Who’s got more style?

JF: Drexel. Totally, and especially given everything we are doing up at Westphal and in the fashion program. Drexel’s styling majorly.

TT: What’s your favorite event during the school year?

JF: I like when we do the big holiday party in the Great Court. I think it’s really nice because it’s all people who are coming. It’s the faculty, the staff and some students. It’s all up and down the floors. It’s very festive, and we raise money for different causes. It is a nice time of the year for everyone to get together and enjoy each other’s company. Since we are all so busy, it is nice to have those moments when we can let our hair down, hang out and do something.

TT: Did you have a nickname growing up?

JF: I have a nickname now. My wife calls me Jay.

Triangle Talks is a weekly column that highlights members of the Drexel community.

The post Triangle Talks with President John A. Fry appeared first on The Triangle.

The following are crimes that occurred on or near campus and were reported to The Triangle by the Drexel University Department of Public Safety between Nov. 13, 2013 and Nov. 19, 2013. All information included in this report is taken from law enforcement or DPS incident reports.

Assault 1

Nov. 17, 3:46 a.m. Unit Block of South 36th Street

A Drexel student reported that Nov. 17 at 3:46 a.m., she was assaulted by an unknown male and female. The student was taken to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital with head injuries.

Drugs 1

Nov. 18, 11:40 p.m. 100 Block of North 34th Street

Drexel Police arrested a Drexel student Nov. 18 at 11:40 p.m. after he was found to be in possession of marijuana.

Theft 7

Nov. 11, 10 a.m. 3500 Block of Market Street

A Drexel student reported that Nov. 11, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., unknown person(s) took his bicycle that was secured to a bicycle rack with a cable lock.

Nov. 10, 6:30 p.m. 3400 Block of Lancaster Avenue

A Drexel student reported that Nov. 10 at 6:30 p.m., he lost his wallet and unknown person(s) made unauthorized cash withdrawals from his bank account.

Nov. 12, 9:30 a.m. 3500 Block of Market Street

A Drexel student reported that Nov. 12, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., unknown person(s) took his bicycle that was secured with a cable lock.

Nov. 12, 3:57 p.m. 3200 Block of Chestnut Street

A Drexel employee reported that Nov. 12 at 3:57 p.m., an unknown male took four sweatshirts from the bookstore and fled without paying for them.

Nov. 12, 6:45 p.m. 3300 Block of Market Street

Two complainants reported that Nov. 12, between 6:45 p.m. and 7:10 p.m., unknown person(s) took their iPhones that they left unattended on a bench.

February 100 Block of North 34th Street

A Drexel student reported that between February 2013 and October 2013, a female student known to her made several unauthorized purchases using her account information.

Nov. 14, 8:45 p.m. 3300 Block of Market Street

A complainant reported that Nov. 14, between 8:45 p.m. and 11:45 p.m., unknown person(s) took cash from his wallet that was left in an unsecured locker.

Vandalism 1

Nov. 15 3500 Block of Baring Street

A complainant reported that between Nov. 15 and Nov. 16, unknown person(s) spray painted graffiti on several locations in the block.

Policy Violations 5

During the period covered in this report, there were five (5) Policy Violations for alcohol. These reports were sent to the Office of Student Conduct for review.

The post Crime & Policy Violation Report appeared first on The Triangle.

Ian Farmer is a junior music industry major at Drexel who plays bass for his band, Modern Baseball, which recently released an album and has gone on a national tour.

The Triangle: What’s your story? What brought you to Drexel?

Ian Farmer: I came to Drexel mostly because the music industry program seemed pretty cool and Philadelphia was a cool city that was pretty close to home. I’m from central New Jersey, just an hour and a half away. So it just seemed like the right fit for me.

TT: Tell me about your band. How did that start?

IF: So our two guitarists and singers went to high school together, and once we all went to [Drexel] and everything, I became very good friends with Jake [Ewald], who is one of the guitarists and singers. He asked me to join the band, and we also had a friend, Sean [Huber], who was two years older in the film program, and he became one of our very good friends. He had a van that we use to tour. So for the most part we met at Drexel. There’s one member of the band, Brendan [Lukens], who doesn’t go to Drexel, but he’s a high school friend of Jake’s.

TT: How did you get the name Modern Baseball?

IF: That came about [when] Jake and Brendan were hanging out in Jake’s basement. Jake’s dad used to be a physical education teacher, and so he had this book called “Modern Baseball Techniques,” and they were just brainstorming names for the band and came up with Modern Baseball.

TT: I see you came out with a record, “Sports,” last year. How was that as an accomplishment?

IF: That was really cool. It’s a very big deal for us. Jake and I actually recorded the record ourselves. We did all of the recording work back in May in Drexel’s studios. Starting at 11 p.m., we would go into the studio and keep banging things out until like 8:30 in the morning, and then we’d have class at 10, so we got no sleep for a month and we watched the sun rise probably three or four nights a week. It was quite hard on our bodies, but it was a really big accomplishment for us.

TT: You guys are also going on tour! How does that work with your school schedule and living at school?

IF: Pretty much whenever there’s any sort of break with school, we’re on tour. We basically go out whenever we possibly can, which is hectic and difficult but totally worth it. We have so much fun. We’ve been all over the country at this point. We had a full U.S. tour recently, and that was a lot of fun. I think it was 43 days and we played 40 shows.

TT: What’s the biggest crowd you’ve played for?

IF: We recently played a festival in Gainesville, Fla., called “The Fest.” There were probably about 500 kids there. That was a big one.

TT: What goals does the band have for the coming year?

IF: We have some really cool shows coming up. We have some shows with another Philadelphia band that [has] made it pretty big, called The Menzingers, at the end of this month: one in New York and one in West Chester [Pa.]. Those shows will be a lot of fun. And then also over winter break we have shows with a band called Bayside, and that’s a really big deal for us. And we’re also playing the [Theatre of Living Arts] in Philly with Man Overboard for their holiday show. So we’ve got some big things for our band coming up.

TT: Who or what is your biggest musical influence?

IF: It’s really different for all of us; we’re all into pretty different things. I’m into, for the most part, punk rock, so my favorite bands are bands like Weezer or like Super Nerdy and stuff. But I think the big ones for our band would probably be Motion City Soundtrack and Gaslight Anthem.

TT: Do you write your own music, or do you mostly do covers?

IF: We do mostly originals. I don’t actually write the songs; Jake and Brendan do. I write my own songs, but not in this band and nothing that’s been put out or anything.

TT: What has been your biggest hit so far?

IF: Our big song is probably “The Weekend.” Over the summer we put a music video out for it that we took a weekend to do last spring, and that’s gotten quite a bit of plays on the Internet, and people always seem to know it when we play shows.

TT: What instruments do you play, and when did you start with them?

IF: I started with music playing piano when I was 5 or 6, when I started taking lessons. Then I took up guitar and bass around the same time, but I can play a lot. I can fumble my way through a lot of weird instruments. I have a baby sitar at home. I have a ukulele, some other weird stuff that most people don’t really play. The only thing I can’t really do is play drums. My parents never let me have a drum set, so I was never able to learn.

TT: Besides the band, what are your other interests?

IF: A lot of what I do is music, but I also love film and movies, and I watch a lot of movies. Recently I had gotten the guts to watch horror films because I was never able to before, and I’ve actually grown to love them. Probably three or four nights a week I’ll sit down, whether I have the time or not, and watch a horror film, just some random horror film that’s on Netflix or Hulu or something. That’s been a recent hobby for me.

TT: Do you have any five-year goals?

IF: It would be really cool to be able to tour full time and be able to support myself with that. That would be a pretty crazy thing. We are already so lucky, but nobody is able to support themselves playing music, and for us to be able to do that would be incredible.

Triangle Talks is a weekly column that highlights members of the Drexel community.

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Alex Peele is a Public Safety bike officer at Drexel University who has helped make the campus safe and secure for students and community members for well over a year.

The Triangle: What is your role as a Drexel Public Safety officer?

Alex Peele: Basically, the company model is to give great customer service, so we make sure the students are OK, make sure the neighborhood is safe [so] no one gets jumped or gets robbed or anything like that. Basically we serve constantly, like what the [Drexel Police officers] do, though we more so serve the [off-campus residential area] to make sure nothing goes on to harm the students.

TT: Do you ever feel unsafe in any way when you are on the job, trying to keep students out of harm’s way?

AP: No. I have my radio, and if anything goes on, we have cameras all through the campus and all through the neighborhoods. With the cameras [and] with the [blue-light] emergency [boxes], those are there to protect [civilians] and me at the same time. So let’s say something happens to me and I can’t reach my radio, [Public Safety] can look at the camera and find out where I am. So yes, I definitely feel safe when I work.

TT: What would you say a typical day consists of on the job?

AP: A typical day is the weekend. Come to work, sign in, get your stuff, find out what sector you’re in, ride around. You know, make sure nobody’s car is unlocked or open, stuff like that. … It’s not a boring day, but it’s a noncrazy day. So that’s the days we love to have: just a true, chill, nobody getting jumped, no robberies or anything kind of day. That’s basically a regular day.

TT: Have you ever been called to respond to any bizarre situation?

AP: Bizarre, for the years I’ve been with the company here, no, not really. Nothing crazy. We’ve had little policy violations in the rooms and dorms. … Little fires. … That’s really it.

TT: How do you think the Drexel community feels about your role as Public Safety?

AP: The Drexel community, other than [University City District] being on the scene, with me working here and seeing the reactions, I think we get more respect from the community than we do schoolwise. Even though we’re dealing with the school, the community feels safer with us being out there than I guess other people. With the [police], they don’t see what we see because they ride by so fast. With the bike, we see everything. I think more so the community feels happier that we’re out here than anybody else because we see everything.

TT: What are some challenges that come with your position?

AP: The weather, the climate. Sometimes I think the summertime is hot out here; we’re sweating. I mean, we get water breaks and stuff like that, and cool-down breaks. I guess to deal with this job you have to be able to deal with the different weather changes. Like in the wintertime you have to make sure you have the right gear on: the thermals, the gloves, the facemasks. Definitely working with this job, you have to be able to transition with the climate. So if you can’t transition with the weather, it’s not the job for you.

TT: I’ve seen that Public Safety’s main mode of transportation is a bike. Is it easy to get around the city on a bike?

AP: It gets tiresome. It’s definitely a lot of exercise, like it’s a workout. But we don’t ride the bikes when it snows, rains, and when it hails out. Because of the wetness and whatnot, we’ll fall. We’ve had a couple of incidents with stuff like that. But using a bike, it’s easier to get around certain areas: the little alleyways; to cut corners and stuff. Me personally, I’m cool riding a bike. I don’t want to ride in a vehicle.

TT: Would you say Public Safety is a more team-oriented position, or is it more individual?

AP: It’s a team, especially because if something happens on the other side [of campus], we all go over and make sure that person is OK. And also with us [is the] Drexel [Police Department]. When we call on something, they are there to help. So it’s definitely more of a team instead of an “everybody for themselves.”

TT: Would you say there’s anything Drexel could do to make your job easier?

AP: From what I’ve been doing, it’s the same thing at every university: just, you know, monitor your radio; see that they call it out. Anything they could do better? I don’t think so. I don’t have any complaints. I mean, we all have days that we don’t want to come to work; everybody does that. I think Drexel PD is doing fine. Drexel itself is cool. It’s definitely different from coming from Temple [University] to here. It’s definitely a different type of vibe. Because at Temple — I can’t talk bad about them, but at Drexel it’s definitely more of a family type to where if one falls, we all fall. At other places, if one falls, you’re by yourself.

TT: What do you like most about being Public Safety?

AP: Being outside. I love being outside. I’m an outside person, so if there’s anything that I can be outside for, I’ll definitely take it.

TT: What’s your favorite thing to do in Philly?

AP: I’m not from Philly. I’m from Brooklyn, N.Y., so being here the last year and a half, I will say the Fourth of July fireworks. The only thing I really like about it is the fireworks. It’s like the whole Schuylkill is lit up. So every year that’s what I look forward to.

TT: What weekend would you say is the craziest working around students at Drexel?

AP: I’ll say Halloween weekend. Halloween is the craziest weekend. It was definitely crazy this year. There were a lot of parties.

TT: What are you involved with outside of Public Safety?

AP: Outside of the job, I play for different churches. I’m a musician. I travel a lot. I go home to help my mom and them out. I chill at home, catch up on sleep when I’m not working because I’m always at work. Chill with friends and family, catch a good movie — whatever’s out or whatever I like then. I just chill and get away from here for a little bit.

Triangle Talks is a weekly column that highlights members of the Drexel community.

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Brianna Guidos is a junior education major and president of the Future Educators of Drexel.

The Triangle: What is the Future Educators of Drexel?

Brianna Guidos: The Future Educators of Drexel is the education majors club here on campus. We focus on helping the students within the education major to improve themselves academically, professionally and socially while here at Drexel and after college. We hold meetings once a week, host networking and professional development events, and provide students with an open forum for any education-related questions that they might have.

TT: How did you first become involved with FEDs?

BG: I started to attend meetings my freshman year here at Drexel after receiving emails about the meetings, and I was one of the only freshmen that attended every single meeting the club held. I began to shadow the president and help plan and pitch ideas for the club. I eventually was inducted onto the board as president at the beginning of my sophomore year and have been president ever since.

TT: What made you want to be president of FEDs?

BG: I wanted there to be more networking and professional development opportunities for education majors, and what better way to make this happen than to take action and create them yourself? I also wanted to create a place or forum where education students could ask questions about the major, where they could ask for advice on what classes to take, where to observe for classes, or anything else that pertains to education that they needed help with. Because we are such a small major at Drexel, we have the unique opportunity of being able to know everyone and network, which can be used to our advantage. FEDs is a place where we can support one another in our endeavors to be educators.

TT: What are your duties as president?

BG: As president, my main duty is to oversee the club and make the important decisions. I believe that everyone on the board is equal; we just have different tasks that we take care of. I personally schedule meetings, book venues, schedule speakers to come in and oversee what everyone else does on the board, including keeping up with our online websites, recruiting new members, etc.

TT: Are there any current goals or projects you are working on in FEDs?

BG: As of right now, we are working on starting up a movie series on education that will begin next week. We want to begin a critical conversation that we are hoping never ends between our students and members. We want to inform our members on the history and hardships that teachers have, but also how rewarding it can be. We are also working on a couple of networking events, such as our Smart Board workshop with our own community representative. We also are looking to start an annual event at the end of each spring term where we will hold a huge networking event for our education students and faculty. We are hoping that our members can make some connections that will help them after graduation. We have also been big advocates of tutoring in the schools surrounding Drexel and are starting to get more involved with these programs.

TT: What are the most challenging components of FEDs?

BG: The most challenging components of FEDs [are] recruiting members and organizing events. It is difficult to schedule meetings and events when our members are so busy with their schoolwork or when they have classes. We are hoping to get our club’s numbers up during the winter term. We have been successful in registering the club this year, and we are hoping that our end-of-the-year event will bring more members in. Organizing events can often be difficult as well with the planning and schedule of speakers.

TT: What do you hope FEDs will accomplish?

BG: We hope that FEDs will help its members develop professional development skills that they can use in their professional careers. We want to help to make connections that our members can utilize to help them get a job right after college. It is also important for us to help the surrounding community of Drexel, as in creating tutoring programs in our neighboring schools.

TT: Are you involved with anything else on campus?

BG: I currently have three jobs — at Kiwi Frozen Yogurt, Vegetate and The Math Forum @ Drexel. I have also started a tutoring program at Chester A. Arthur [Elementary School] through FEDs that I help run and participate in. I really enjoy all of the jobs and activities that I participate in, especially FEDs.

TT: What’s your story? How did you end up at Drexel?

BG: My application process to Drexel was different than most. I had been in the recruitment process for college for softball since I was a freshman in high school, so I had started very early on deciding where I wanted to go. The way it works for athletes, or at least in my situation, was that the college would let me know if they were interested in having me play for their team. They would offer me scholarship money, and then I would apply to the one college that recruited me for my sport. Drexel was the only school that I applied to because I already knew that I was going to play softball here.

TT: What’s your favorite thing to do in Philadelphia?

BG: I grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia, so I grew up pretty much in the city. I absolutely love going to Phillies and Eagles games, and we also go into the city every weekend to go to special events, jazz cafes, out to dinner, operas or just to shop. I really enjoy being close to the city. I can’t imagine going to school anywhere else.

Triangle Talks is a weekly column that highlights members of the Drexel community.

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Richard Kopp is the director of Student Leadership Development & Traditions who actively connects Drexel students with alumni while maintaining his position as the key leader in reviving the Drexel Fight Song.

The Triangle: What is your role at Drexel?

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Richard Kopp: My position has changed in the last two years in that it used to be just in-campus activities that I lived, and then they separated me out into my own office area, which is now student leadership development and traditions. The focus is on the CEO LEAD program — the acronym stands for “Creating Experiential Opportunities for Leadership Education And Development,” but half of my job is also to develop the Drexel senior experience program, which is fairly new, still only three years old. And the things that revolve under those areas in terms of leadership: we have a workshop series called the leadership certificate program, so students can attend as many workshops as they like throughout the year. We usually offer anywhere between 150 and 200 workshops in an academic year. And then the senior stuff, we work with a lot of partners across campus — like Steinbright, athletics and alumni office in particular — to plan social, educational, career-related types of events. A couple of the keystone events throughout that series and throughout the year: Two years in a row now we have held a graduation fair, which is basically the kickoff to the whole commencement timeframe. We also do a senior class toast with President John A. Fry that’s held in the Great Court in the Main Building. It’s a very exciting event because the seniors all come together, they get a champagne flute, and President Fry gives a congratulatory toast on the success over the last four or five years.

TT: What does the traditions part of your job entail?

RK: The traditions piece includes anything and everything that you can think of a campus tradition — homecoming; bringing back the Drexel fight song was a big thing that we did back in 2008. People don’t know that we used to have a football team up until 1973. And when it was disbanded by the board of trustees after several losing seasons, a lot of traditions went out the window at Drexel. In the ‘80s, early ‘90s when Drexel wasn’t financially sound, it was really a place that lacked a lot of campus spirit, and when football went, so did things like homecoming, fight songs; a lot of traditions that you see at most colleges and universities across the nation went out the window. So in 2008, we learned that recently, about a year or two before, the University archivist discovered the lyrics to the original fight song. We revamped it slightly, very slightly. The one line in the song said, “March down the field, boys.” Well there’s no football team, and we also have equal parity in our men’s and women’s sports, so we wanted to take out boys. And it also referred to Drexel Tech when Drexel was still a technical school, so we changed it to Drexel U. Other than that, it’s exactly the same and it’s celebrating its 75 years this year; it was launched in 1938. So it’s pretty cool. We were a major part of bringing it back, and it took a long time to bring it to the Drexel culture, but now it’s sung at every Drexel basketball home game, men and women, lacrosse games, soccer — anything you can think of, it’s now sung. And we teach it to all 3,000 incoming freshmen at the induction ceremony, so it’s a tradition that has now been revived, and it’s very exciting.

TT: What kind of feedback have you heard from students about revived Drexel traditions?

RK: We’re lucky now that the incoming freshmen and the last few classes never knew any different. Coming into Drexel, there was always a homecoming in their mind, so it was a norm to expect and have on campus. In fact, this year we will have … no Drexel student that had never not known a homecoming existed, because we’re finally in that era, that year, where everybody should have had homecoming from their freshman year on up. But the first few years [it] was a struggle because upperclassmen hadn’t known of a homecoming when they started here, and they were like, “What is this, what’s happening with it, why is it in January in the middle of the winter?” And getting alumni to want to buy into that and come back was a challenge too because they had never had one. The last two or three years, … it’s just been engrained in the student culture, so that hasn’t been a real struggle. And alumni are finally realizing that there’s a lot of benefit to coming back.

TT: What are some events you have planned going forward in trying to establish a stronger alumni connection with current Drexel seniors?

RK: Moving forward in fact this year, we’re looking to develop a couple of things: senior social series basically starting next month. We haven’t decided on the date or the terminology for this, but were looking to brand it as a “First Fridays” type social event where seniors and alumni can come together for networking happy hour, exchange business cards, but also socially connect and have a good time. And that will be a social series that will happen once a month … [going through] to the end of their class year. We are also going to put in a “100-day Countdown” that will kick off with a big celebration … to kick off that final phase of the seniors’ career here. And moving forward, we have a lot of great events that end the final term of the seniors’ home stretch. We’re looking to include a signature kickoff event at the very beginning, … something like [the University of Pennsylvania’s Hey Day] to kick off the year from start to finish.

TT: What has been your favorite accomplishment so far?

RK: This probably sounds cheesy, but my favorite and most proud accomplishment at Drexel is bringing back the Drexel fight song. I really feel that it adds a lot of campus spirit to events but also gets people excited about things. It started off as a small little spirit committee that was trying to do it, and I’m the only one left of that spirit committee that formed. … I’m the standalone champion of the fight song and have been the person at the last five years of the new-student induction ceremonies that actually teaches the freshmen the fight song and gets them to know it. … It’s a source of pride for me in terms of bringing something like that back that had been lost for many years.

TT: What else are you involved with outside of Drexel?

RK: I actually serve as an elected board member to the Pennsylvania College Personnel Association, and that’s a group of higher education and affairs professionals in the state of Pennsylvania who all come together and share resources and ideas and best practices. I’m the elected board member representing the private, four-year institutions on the eastern side of the state. … Personally I just had a son, about 15 months ago. It’s my first time. [My wife and I] just moved into a new home this summer, so we’re celebrating that and getting settled in and enjoying our new little one, so he’ll be a Drexel Dragon soon enough.

Triangle Talks is a weekly column that highlights members of the Drexel community.

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