Ethan Collik is a senior business administration major with concentrations in accounting and legal studies who serves as the current president of Drexel’s Campus Activities Board.

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

Ethan Collik: My brother and my sister both went here. My brother went here for undergrad, and my sister went here for the graduate nursing program. And it was like bottom of my list of schools. Then, after I applied and toured the campus a couple of times, it kept climbing up the list. It ended up being one of my first-choice schools, and then between scholarships and a couple other factors, it ended up being my top-choice school and made the most sense. I’ve enjoyed it since I’ve come here.

TT: When did you become interested in joining Campus Activities Board?

EC: My freshman year, my best friend joined CAB and started getting a couple of our friends involved. In the spring of my sophomore year, I applied and was on the Special Events Committee, which plans the Phillies games, a couple of other sports games; we do trips to Six Flags. Those were all of the types of events I was planning. After a year of doing that I became the treasurer. … And then I was kind of deciding whether I wanted to be director or on one of the planning committees, and Ed Kovacs, who used to be our adviser, pointed out that he thought I’d be a good president of the organization. So I put some thought into it and I talked to some of the previous presidents I knew, and everybody sort of had the same opinion. … And so I just decided to apply. For the executive board position, for the president, we do interviews with the whole committee, and we did the interview process, and I was running against one other person and ended up winning. And it was one of those things where I was very hesitant going into it, but as soon as I won I felt like I’d made the right decision.

TT: What is your role as president?

EC: A lot of the role I do is dealing with the different administration, dealing with a lot of day-to-day paperwork that needs to get done. … Basically my job is to oversee everything that CAB does and to be the point of contact for any other students that want to contact us and other student organizations who want to contact us. I’m usually the first point of contact for outside vendors who want to bring things to campus, and I’ll either pass them on to other event-planning boards in my committee, or if I think they’re better suited [for] another group at Drexel, sometimes I’ll forward an email to that group. … But those are really my biggest responsibilities.

TT: What are some events you have every year?

EC: So the comedy event is our big event for the fall. And a lot of times we’ll do different Halloween-type events: we’ll do pumpkin carving; we’ll have a fortune teller come; we have a balloon artist come; we have a little Halloween fair-type thing. We do movie screenings all throughout the year. We have Six Flags Fright Fest every year. We usually do a Philadelphia Union game, or if the Philadelphia Phillies are doing well and they’re still playing, sometimes we’ll try to get tickets for those. We always try to do either a Broadway trip in New York or to one of the plays in Philadelphia. … In the winter we usually do a ski trip or two. We still do the movies; we have the Crystal Ball, which is sort of like a prom-type event. … Last year we had laser tag in the DAC during the winter. … And in the spring we do Spring Jam, which is a big concert. A lot of times in the spring we’ll try to have a lot of campus outdoor events because it’s nice out and we feel as long as students are here and it’s nice out they might as well take advantage of it.

TT: Do you have any goals for the coming year?

EC: We usually do pretty serious goal setting. … I know as a whole for the organization, I think our biggest goal is to keep increasing attendance. Year over year, we keep records of how many people come to each event, and I think one of our big goals for this year is to just sort of either rework the events that didn’t get great attendance or replace them with events that hopefully [will] get better attendance. And for the events that we do year after year, I think it’s important that we get even more and more attendance. I know this year, so far for all of our events we’ve been increasing attendance by leaps and bounds since last year, which for my board is great. It just goes to show that we put in a lot of hard work already this year, and it seems like it’s going to pay off.

TT: As president, are there any challenges that come with that responsibility?

EC: Of course! I think for me personally, the biggest challenge has been juggling everything, whether it be dealing with the administration or dealing with all the forms the different organizations have to deal with, or just the pure fact that I am responsible for an organization that has 42 people in it. [It’s] just a lot to handle, and emails are flooding in every day. So I think for me it’s just being able to juggle everything. Because I have had experience in the event-planning side of things and I was a treasurer, I know how the financial side of things works. It hasn’t been too much of a challenge for me to pull everything together — it’s been just sort of keeping my head above water while I was taking everything over. That’s what I think the biggest challenge is for me.

I think the biggest thing [CAB has] an issue with and the biggest thing we’re trying to work on is once people get out of their freshman year we really lose them in terms of coming onto campus, doing events and participating in our activities. The change they made this year with sophomores living on campus, I think that has really helped us a lot. I think it’ll be interesting to see if those students who now spend two years on campus, if they still drop off after sophomore year in terms of coming to our events or not.

TT: Along those lines, what is your favorite part of the job?

EC: Honestly, my favorite part of the job is when I can help someone plan a successful event — whether it’s in my organization or outside of my organization. You know, a lot of times I’ve had people come to me and ask for help, either putting a new organization together, writing a constitution for a new organization, or simply just help with the event-planning process — from filling out paperwork to get a room, all the way to putting the event on and making sure everything happened OK. My favorite part of the job is just seeing how I can help people and [generally] helping people reach their goals.

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

EC: I’m in a couple of the clubs in the business school, like the finance club and some other stuff. But I’ve really taken a step back and don’t really do much for them since I’ve been more involved in CAB. The only other thing I’d say I’m really involved in is Greek life. I’m in Alpha Pi Lambda. I try and do what I can. I think it helps in terms of being the president of CAB — just to be involved in as many things as I can. I feel like it gives me sort of a one-up on what’s going on [within] campus and what other groups have done successfully and what other groups haven’t done successfully. I think it helps CAB as a whole.

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

EC: My interesting fact that most people don’t know is that I recently decided I don’t want to work in accounting, and I am going to take my LSAT and go to law school.

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

The post Triangle Talks with Ethan Collik appeared first on The Triangle.

Ross Reagan, a senior digital media major, is currently serving as president of the Drexel Football Comedy Improv Team.

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

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Ross Reagan: I’m not originally from Philly, so I went to a public school in kind of a rural area of Pennsylvania. … I really didn’t have any experience with what digital media is now, which is 3-D art, 3-D animation, video game design, that sort of stuff. I did do art in high school and that’s what I enjoyed the most, and I wanted to get into something kind of related to that … that’s how I got into digital media. There are not a lot of colleges on the East Coast that have a program related to 3-D art or animation[SK1] . Some of them do, but not a lot have specifically CG animation, which would be something like [what] Pixar or DreamWorks would do. That stuff’s on the West Coast, and I really didn’t want to go all the way over there to a specific technical college. I wanted to go to a more actual university-college environment. And Drexel’s really the only place that had a program that I could find those kinds of things and that I could go to a real college.

TT: What is your role as president?

RR: My role is to schedule practices and shows, and then also during practices to lead people into having some sort of schedule of like, “All right, we’re going to do this stretch; we’re going to do warm-ups; we’re going to talk about X event.” And then deciding what games we should practice on and to kind of lead people into giving constructive criticism — how we could perform better or what could have been improved on what we’re doing during practice.

TT: How do you come up with the ideas for shows?

RR: Well, since it’s improv comedy, we do literally make everything up that we say onstage without any prior planning. We do plan out what games we want to play so we have a repertoire of improv games, and then we also do what’s called a long-form improv, which is like a spontaneous succession of small games that are just thought up without necessarily any rules or gimmicks or anything like that. We plan ahead of time who will be in what games and what order we will do them in, but other than that we are really making up everything else that we say onstage right when it’s happening.

TT: Do you face any challenges coming up with something to say onstage?

RR: I mean, it is challenging, yes. I bet anybody who does improv would tell you that, even if you were to interview Colin Mochrie or whoever from “Who’s Line Is It Anyway.” They’d say that it’s hard still. But you kind of just have to let yourself go. There are rules that you have to keep in mind in improv, so that you’re not just going off on a weird tangent so that it’s not funny anymore.

TT: How does improv work?

RR: It’s all about making offers to the other players, or characters. Basically, anything you say to someone else is an offer and it’s the other person’s responsibility to come up with a response to that offer that then drives the characters forward and drives the plot of whatever scene you came up with forward. Because otherwise there’s really no point to the scene; there’s no conflict between the characters, and much like any other type of entertainment, such as a movie or a play or anything, if there’s no conflict between the characters, there’s really no plot. So there’s the rules of how to approach things, like don’t decline people’s offers. … If someone establishes, “We are on a ranch in this scene,” you never, ever, ever say, “No we’re not, we’re in New York City.” That’s a pretty extreme example, but you never decline something that someone offers to you because otherwise the scene doesn’t develop anywhere and also the audience won’t find it believable that you are acting out this scene between two characters.

TT: What are you guys working on right now?

RR: Well, we [had] auditions on Sunday because we do only have four members right now. … After auditions we’re immediately jumping into doing the “TEDx Drexel” show, which is on Oct. 5 … in the Main Building. The people organizing TED approached us, asking if we wanted to perform. So we had a meeting with the person in charge of that, and it’s kind of unusual for us because we only have eight minutes to perform, and apparently it’s some sort of TED Talk tradition to mock or parody the speaker that went on. Obviously, we’re still going to do improv, so we aren’t going to plan anything ahead, but I wish we had some sort of jumping-off point. However, it’s only eight minutes, so I have no idea how it’s going to go.

TT: Is there anybody who inspires you to do improv, or an inspiration just in life?

RR: The person that inspires me is Joel Hodgson, the original host and creator of “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” The show was just a man and his two robot friends who were puppets, and they would watch old, crappy black-and-white movies from between the ‘50sand early ‘70s and just make witty comments about how bad the movies were while watching the movie. They might have had it scripted, but anybody can do that as an improv thing, just watching movies and making fun of them, which I love doing every time I watch movies. And even though it’s not the same improv that we do on the football team, he’s one of my inspirational people because he made up this concept for the show, what was on it and developed it.

TT: What are you involved with outside of improv?

RR: I usually try to participate in the Drexel SIGGRAPH stream chapter. It’s a student-led organization for digital media students to present maybe new things you don’t learn in class to other students and for people to go to and just see what else is happening in the field of digital media that other students are going to tell them about or teach them. I [also] run the print center at the URBN Center a few days of the week, and I help the IT department set up computers [and] run events for them. I’ve been doing that since freshman year as an on-campus job.

TT: What is your favorite thing to do in Philly?

RR: I haven’t done it for a while just because I’ve been so busy, but me and some of my friends used to always go on the Philly Pretzel Bike Ride, which is this kind of secret-but-not-really-secret event that happens every Tuesday night where a whole bunch of people with bikes meet up at the art museum steps at midnight and all ride down simultaneously through this somewhat convoluted route through the city to get to this pretzel store down on 8th [Street] and Washington [Avenue]. They make the pretzels there and they sell them to stores, but if you go up you can actually buy them straight out of the oven, [priced at] three for a dollar, and they’re completely fresh Philadelphia pretzels. So that’s a pretty fun thing to do if you have a bike.

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

The post Triangle Talks with Ross Reagan appeared first on The Triangle.

Bethany Fallon is an instructor in the English Language Center who runs the International Community Bridge Program that pairs incoming Drexel international students with community members in Philadelphia.

The Triangle: Describe your program. When did it begin?

Bethany Fallon: It’s called Intercultural Community Bridge Program, or just “Community Bridge,” as we call it. It’s an English Language Center Program that began last year. With the [International] Gateway students, they have the grades to get into Drexel, but they don’t have the English skills just yet. So what they do is head down to the ELC and spend three terms with us. So the first term they take all ELC classes. And then we baby-step them into Drexel, where they take Drexel classes. By the winter term they’ll still take reading, listening and speaking, but then they’ll take a math class. But the Drexel classes they are taking, it’s just Gateway students. Once they fulfill their requirements with the program — that means they have to have regular attendance with the Community Bridge Program once a month, but we encourage them to spend more time together if they can — they have to pass all their classes, maintain a certain GPA, and they also have to get a specific score on an English language test. If everything is good, they will start Drexel University that next fall as fully matriculated freshman students, and they’ll already have had credits.

TT: How do Gateway students become involved with Community Bridge?

BF: It’s very simple. For Gateway students, this is a mandatory part of the program. They must participate in this. We try recruiting people, cold calling people; word of mouth is very helpful. When community members contact me, I get in touch with them and set up a time to talk on the phone and meet in person because I want to make sure I go over everything with them. Then after that I send them a link to an interest form, and so they fill that out and we match people based on their schedule and their interest. We know schedules change and all that. If you know that you’re generally free on Saturdays and Wednesday evenings and you love history, politics and football, then we’re going to put you with somebody that has that same availability and interest. And I meet with every single professional staff member, faculty member or community member in person before I put them in a group. We create about 23 to 26 community families. So it’ll be three Gateway students, four matriculated students, and then we’ll have the community members, faculty or professional staff there.

TT: How do the community members feel after working with these students?

BF: It’s learning on all sides. Everybody is learning something new. What a lot of the community members said is that one of the things they got from the program is getting out of their comfort zone and that they’re better community leaders now. They’ve said, ‘I’ve never done anything like this before, and now I feel so much more confident.’ One of my friends that I roped into the program said that this has really helped her at work because she said she feels like she can speak to anyone. One of the major goals was that everyone learn something. Everybody’s an expert, everybody has something to share, and we want our Gateway students to be able to feel like an expert and hear and teach them things as well.

TT: What was your inspiration for starting the program?

BF: One of the things I noticed with my students was when they would go home and just speak their native language, they were really, really stunted. And another thing I noticed was that students that didn’t participate were the ones a lot more prone to depression and all those other issues that come with being far away from home. And I just think everywhere is a classroom, so if you’re going to be living here to participate, take part in everything and take advantage of this incredible experience that you’ve got. With our Gateway students, the majority are from mainland China, and so they get here and it’s the first time away from home for some of them. In the program they think, ‘Some of them speak my language; some of them are from my country.’ But again, they really assimilate themselves. It prevents them from achieving academically and really integrating into the community.

I started this program, and I wanted to make sure that they were getting exposure and engaging with everybody — community members, students, faculty, international staff, and the fully matriculated. … I just wanted them to be able to practice speaking English in a really casual setting. In class they’re constantly being told, ‘No, this is wrong, that’s wrong.’ They’re not an expert, so this gives them the opportunity to be the expert, to tell people, ‘Hey, this is my country. These are the things I enjoy doing.’ And they can do them comfortably, casually, and not have to worry if they’re using the past tense correctly.

TT: How did the first year of the program go?

BF: It was really successful. We had a few little hiccups here and there. We figured out a couple of things we’d never really expected to do, mainly how they communicate through email. Our Gateway students aren’t used to that, so that was definitely a difficult thing. But now they are prepared to answer their emails when they start Drexel as freshmen this year. Otherwise it’s truly been a lovely experience for everybody involved. We’re doing it again obviously this year. We’re still in the process of recruiting. We still need a few more people to join. We’ll have about 75 Gateway students this year.

TT: What feedback do you get from students who went through the program last year?

BF: A lot of the feedback is, ‘At first we were very, very shy, and it was a little awkward. But then I really did improve with my English skills, and I really have made friends and I’m going to continue being friends with these people, and they really helped me figure things out at first.’ So a lot of them said it was very, very helpful; they did achieve the goals they started out with. Some of them, because [Community Bridge] is mandatory, they were a little upset about that. But then they tell you in the next breath, ‘If it’s not mandatory, I’m not going to do it.’ So even the ones who didn’t like the mandatory aspect of it did well. ‘You know, it definitely helped me with my speaking ability, and it really helped me to understand why Americans do the things they do.’

TT: What are some goals you have for this coming year?

BF: I have the “caring-sharing” goal. All I want is for these students to have a support system. I want them to make friends, feel more at ease and just more prepared to start Drexel. To say, ‘I am comfortable navigating my way around the city. I’m not afraid of going certain places. I don’t want to just stay in my dorm. I want to go out and meet new people. I want to learn from other people.’ Those are just the goals that they have. I want them to feel more at ease, more comfortable. If they have some sort of issue, if they have some sort of problem, they have people they can go to and talk to about it.

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

The post Triangle Talks with Bethany Fallon appeared first on The Triangle.

Allison Brophy is a junior nursing major and an emergency medical technician who serves as chief of Drexel’s Emergency Medical Services.

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

Allison Brophy: What brought me to Drexel was the co-op program, to be honest. I knew I wanted to do nursing, and I figured there are so many different nursing schools that I might as well go to a school that offers some sort of unique experience that puts me kind of ahead of most kids at other schools. And I thought that between Northeastern [University] and Drexel with co-op opportunities, there is really no one else that had it. And I’d never really been to Philly or experienced Philly much, and I thought it would be a nice change of scenery from Connecticut.

TT: What made you want to become an EMT?

AB: I was always interested in the emergency critical care side of things, and obviously [being] a nursing major is great experience because I get patient care and some experience while at school that will help me in my pursuits to be a nurse after graduating and moving on to be a nurse practitioner. It’s just that general interest of patient care, and it’s a very unique opportunity that I felt gave me an opportunity that really benefits my academics and profession as well as giving me a nice little exciting hobby on the side that I enjoy a lot.

TT: When did you decide that you would join Drexel’s EMS?

AB: My freshman year, actually. It was around, I believe, the wintertime. One of my friends actually brought me along to one of the meetings because I had no idea they actually existed, and I was immediately thrown in. Early on I took on responsibilities as the scheduling coordinator, and then I moved my way up to secretary and then captain and then chief.

TT: What are your duties as chief?

AB: It’s hard to put one single job description on it. A lot of it has to do with two categories: one is the relationship with Drexel, including the relationships we have with Drexel Police because we work closely with them, and the relationship we have with Public Safety because we work very closely with them and they’re actually who got us started. They’re really the reason we are where we are today because if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t even exist, since we’re fairly new. And then there’s also the job of operationally making sure everything runs smoothly, as far as having shifts covered every week on our schedule, bringing in new members, and keeping the organization rolling along and growing.

TT: Do you have any goals for this year as chief?

AB: Oh, yes. A major goal is to bring in more members and just grow our organization as a whole. We are also working on this fall getting a CPR program started on campus, so we’ll be teaming up with the DAC to teach classes for students and faculty and staff. Right now, there’s not an abundance of opportunities for any student or staff member to get certified in CPR. We’re looking to grow that. We also are looking to start our own in-house training program, as far as working with Hahnemann Hospital and sort of giving a training for members as a retention program and getting them continuing education as they’re a member of our service. That’s what a lot of other services do that are more well developed than ours. They have their own training and continuing education. So things like wilderness training that they might not use necessarily on campus, but that they might benefit themselves from using one day as they grow as an EMT or even as someone in a health professional field.
We’re also looking to move, get some more space. And we’re also fundraising. The biggest thing, I’d say, that’s a push for us, fundraising wise, is to get a new vehicle. Right now we are graciously using a donated vehicle from Drexel that’s a little soft on the knees, but we’ve been making it work. We’re trying to fundraise on our own and partner with some other local universities that have EMS to raise money and purchase our own SUV to start off with so we can really have enough space and the capabilities to do what we need.

TT: What are some challenges that your job faces?

AB: Well, it’s always a challenge being a student organization that’s so unique from others because we don’t fit the cookie-cutter mold for what defines a student organization. Our place within the University is so unique that over the years it’s been challenging because some people don’t really understand who we are and what we do. I’m happy to say that that’s greatly changing, as we’ve been around a little bit longer because Public Safety is a huge, huge part of us because they support us 100 percent. We work closely with them, but then the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee, they also fund us because we are, in fact, a student-run organization. Building the relationship with them has really helped make us fit in better. I think that one of the hardest things is just people not understanding who we are and what we do on campus in general. It’s difficult to wrap your head around and getting the resources we need, but I can’t complain too much because I think it’s improving tremendously since I’ve been a member.

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

AB: I am in a sorority on campus, Delta Phi Epsilon. I’m a member of SNAP, the Student Nurse Association of Pennsylvania. Those are the two major things. I try to be involved as much as I can. I think as I’ve taken a leadership role in Drexel EMS, I haven’t been able to do as much. I used to play on the club soccer team, but I had to cut back on a few things in order to accommodate for Drexel EMS.

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

AB: My favorite thing is to actually go to Reading Terminal Market. I love that place. I wish there were more of them. I obviously get all of my produce there, but just going and looking at things and scoping out what to do — it’s the experience, I think, going there. It’s one of those things I look forward to on the weekends=, to go get groceries or go get lunch with a friend, because being on Drexel’s campus here is kind of set away from Center City, and I think Reading Terminal is the hub. It’s such a big meeting, gathering place in the city that’s a change of pace from being on campus.

TT: Where do you see yourself in five years?

AB: In five years I see myself as a nurse, probably in an emergency department or critical care. I’d hope to be back in grad school to get my nurse practitioner [degree]. I probably see myself in Philadelphia still because right now I work at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and I’d love to stay there after I graduate and just start building my professional work resume and get my foot in the door for my career. So I see myself living in Philadelphia and going to grad school here.

TT: What is something that people don’t know about you?

AB: I have a passion for photography and won Student Photographer of the Year while in high school. A card company has mass-produced greeting cards using my photographs.

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

The post Triangle Talks with Allison Brophy appeared first on The Triangle.

Marie Whitehead is a junior culinary arts major at Drexel. She currently works at Barclay Prime, a Steven Starr restaurant, and is completing her co-op at the Academic Bistro on campus.

The Triangle: What’s your story and how did you end up at Drexel?

Marie Whitehead: When I was a senior in high school, I had a totally different plan for myself. I wanted to go to a suburban school in Virginia and play [Division III] field hockey. I spent a majority of my senior year going to showcases, which are field hockey tournaments meant for college coaches to scout out future players that come from all over the U.S., and visiting schools that had really great teams. I was recruited by three of the schools I looked at, but each one had something I didn’t really like. So that’s when I decided I wasn’t going to play field hockey. I had applied to eight different schools, and I was accepted to all but one of them. Honestly, I picked what I thought was the prettiest out of the seven, Christopher Newport University, because I had no idea what I wanted to major in, but I definitely knew I wanted to be on a pretty campus. Really dumb idea. It wasn’t until the summer after my senior year that I heard about Drexel’s four-year culinary program. After a long talk with my parents, I revoked my attendance to Christopher Newport and applied to the community college in my area. It was too late to apply to Drexel for fall term, so I spent one year at Northern Virginia Community College taking basic classes that I knew would transfer over. I got my acceptance letter in the spring and started planning my move to Philly in the fall.

TT: What are the best and worst parts about working for a Steven Starr Restaurant?

MW: The best part would have to be getting the opportunity to work with and learn from extremely talented chefs. The second-best part would be the discount we get when we eat at any Starr restaurant. Everyone really helps each other out, and I’ve noticed that everyone pretty much knows everyone who works for Starr. Every time I’ve gone to eat at a Starr restaurant, a manager comes over to make sure my meal is going smoothly, and they always ask how my managers are doing. It’s kind of like a big family. I don’t know if there is a bad part about working for Starr Restaurants. I’m really just taking each day working with them as an amazing learning experience.

TT: If a tourist asked you where to go to eat in the city, where would you recommend?

MW: I would have to recommend a couple Starr restaurants, of course. I’d have to say everyone has to eat at Barclay Prime, a little because I work there, but mostly because we have the best steak you will ever taste in your life. We have outstanding service and the most beautiful, decadent desserts. I’d also recommend saving up before coming to Barclay because we are a little on the pricey side, but I promise the food is all worth it! Jones is great for when you are craving comfort food. They have an incredible Thanksgiving dinner, which you can get year-round; meatloaf; chicken and waffles; and freshly baked chicken pot pie. If you’re looking for something a little different than comfort food, the Dandelion is the place to go. They are open for brunch, lunch and dinner, and they really make you feel like you have stepped into a pub in England. They have your classic bangers and mash, beer-battered fish and chips, as well as a delicious macaroni and cheese.

TT: Do you like cooking or baking better? Why?

MW: I like cooking, but I love baking! Baking is such chemistry. I love how everything is so exact and how if you don’t whip your butter enough before adding your sugar, it can affect the whole outcome of the cake. I love the fact that at the end of the night, the last thing a person will taste is sweet and chocolaty souffle that melts as it touches their tongue. I love the expression on people’s faces the moment they see that beautiful cake that you spent hours decorating.

TT: What’s a typical day of co-op at the Academic Bistro like?

MW: It really depends on the day. This summer we only have four classes going on, so there aren’t as many bins to put together during the week. For each class, we get an order sheet of the produce, dairy products, proteins and other ingredients that are needed for class that week. We put together a list of what we don’t have in our walk-in refrigerator and freezer, and then we send in an order to our suppliers. It’s really important for us to make sure we have all the ingredients the classes ask for because if we don’t, then that means a student won’t get to fully recipe-test the food they are told to make that day. Besides bins, Christine, the other co-op, and I are there to make sure everything runs smoothly. Christine and I also run Dragon Cakes, which is a specialty cake business we started this year. So when I said it depends on the day, that means if we need cakes baked for an order, that’s one of the first things I will do that day. That way the cake will have time to cool down before Christine decorates it, because the butter cream will melt off a warm cake. On a day where there may not be an order, that’s when we see what needs to be done around the bistro. If there is a conference or event going on, we set up everything for that. We make freshly baked cookies and brownies as well as lemon pound cakes and assorted muffins, depending on what time the meeting or event is.

TT: Who’s your culinary idol?

MW: My culinary idols would have to be my parents. They aren’t in the industry at all; they actually used to be professional actors, which is where my passion comes from. They really show me that I can follow this crazy dream of mine if I work hard and really dedicate myself to it. I grew up with them being in the kitchen each night. Mostly [I’m inspired by] my mom because she’s the kind of cook whom you can give any and every ingredient to, and she makes the most delicious meals. My dad also makes extremely delicious meals, but when he cooks it’s normally with a protein, such as ribs, which take a long time to infuse the amazing flavors we eat when he is done with them. My dad is also the pie guy. For every holiday he makes at least 12 or 13 pies that everyone literally begs for. It may be cliche to say that nothing compares to my mom and dad’s cooking, but honestly, it’s the truth. They really are my culinary idols.

TT: What do you do when you’re not at work or co-op?

MW: I’m a little obsessed with working out, so a lot of the time you’ll find me at the gym. I have a perfect gap between working my co-op job in the morning and going to Barclay in the afternoon to go run a couple miles at the gym. I also love having a good time, so I go out with my friends a lot. I also find a new show to watch pretty much every other week and fly right through each season, when I probably should be sleeping or cleaning my room.

TT: What are your future plans?

MW: I thought my plan was to graduate and work in bakeries around the city until I gained enough experience and money to open up my own family bakery. But ever since I started working pastry in a fine-dining restaurant, I can see myself going in that direction, too.

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

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Stephanie Zimmer is a pre-junior biology major and the president of Drexel’s Quidditch team.

The Triangle: What’s your story and how did you end up at Drexel?

Stephanie Zimmer: I’m a [University of Pennsylvania] legacy and wanted to go there my whole life. My parents made me tour Drexel’s campus on the same day we toured Penn. I felt welcome and wanted at Drexel and the opposite at Penn. Between the co-op program and a dragon for a mascot, I ended up here. Dragons beat Quakers any day, anyway.

TT: How did you get involved with Drexel’s Quidditch team?

SZ: It was an accident. I never knew that a group of freshmen had formed a team until I heard about the first meeting by chance on the day that it was held.

TT: What position do you play?

SZ: We switch around a lot but tend to have favorite positions. I usually choose chaser because I’m too small to make a decent keeper. My hands are too small to easily hold the dodgeballs used for bludgers, and I’m not fast enough to be a seeker. In practice, we tend to skip the seeker and snitch. However, my size does allow me to easily weave in and out of other players.

TT: How different is this sport than the Quidditch we see in the books and movies, and what’s the most challenging part of adapting it for the Muggle world?

SZ: Most of the rules are the same. The main difference is that we’re not flying. The hardest part to adapt is also the one I get the most questions about: the snitch. It’s been solved by dressing a person in gold, attaching a tube sock containing a tennis ball to his shorts (using Velcro), and telling the seeker to catch the tennis ball. Besides that, we use a partially deflated volleyball for the quaffle and dodgeballs for the bludgers (there are no bats; they’re just thrown). There are also three bludgers, so that one team can’t hog them. There are a total of five balls, so our motto has become, “More balls than the average sport.”

TT: Who do you compete against? Do you have uniforms?

SZ: We compete against other schools in the area, mostly Penn because they’re close and convenient. Currently, our uniforms are our Drexel Quidditch T-shirts. We hope to have real uniforms someday.

TT: Which character from “Harry Potter” do you identify with most and why? 

SZ: I can never decide between Luna and Hermione. My work ethic and devotion to my studies and getting A’s draws me to Hermione. But Luna matches my whimsical, carefree side.

TT: If you conjured a Patronus, what form would it take? Why do you think so?

SZ: An elephant. I’m small and petite, so a big, strong animal would be good protection. Sometimes I like to say that I want to be an elephant. It’d be fun to have a trunk.

TT: What house do you think you’d be sorted into and why?

SZ: Ravenclaw. When I was younger and reading the early books, Gryffindor was the house that the main characters were in, so I wanted to be in it and was sure I would be. As you learned more about the other houses in later books, and I got older, I realized Ravenclaw was more likely to be my house. The characteristics fit me better. They are intelligent, driven individuals. I wish we had met more awesome Ravenclaws.

TT: What’s your dream job? 

SZ: I would like to work in a research lab that focuses on Duchenne muscular dystrophy. DMD is a recessive X-linked muscle-wasting disease that affects about one in 3,500 boys. It has a really tragic progression where boys are wheelchair bound by 12 and die by their 20s. I’ve been fascinated by DMD since I first learned about it in high school biology. Since then I have written two papers, done half a project, and given two presentations on the disease and possible therapeutics. I also like helping people get better but could never be a doctor. Working on a disease from the research side is my way of contributing to a happier world.

TT: What is your most memorable Drexel moment so far? 

SZ: That would be watching our women’s basketball team win the Women’s National Invitation Tournament this past April. It’s not the WNCAA, but it’s still a national championship. Since Drexel isn’t known for its athletics, I think it’s a big deal. I also play in the pep band and rarely miss games, so I’ve been watching the women for three years now. I love them, but I hated how few students show up to games. One of the best things about that day (besides the win) was seeing the DAC packed for a women’s game.

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

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Richie Cohen is a senior business major and a member of Pi Kappa Alpha who will serve as president of Drexel’s Interfraternity Council for the 2013-14 school year.

The Triangle: What’s your story, and how did you end up at Drexel?

Richie Cohen: I was looking for a different college experience, so I thought co-op was it. I actually applied to Drexel for industrial engineering, and when I went to my orientation, I was told that they have phased that major out of the curriculum (they didn’t even tell me) and that they placed me as undecided in engineering. That was not what I wanted at all. After changing my major two times, I couldn’t be happier majoring in business administration, concentrating in marketing and management information systems.

TT: When and how did you decide that Pike was the fraternity for you?

RC: I joined Greek life during the fall of my freshman year. I did the usual: enjoyed Night on the Row, went to many fraternities’ rush events, and Pike just felt like that home away from home. It was an easy decision for me.

TT: What’s your favorite part about being a brother of Pi Kappa Alpha?

RC: The fraternity experience I am getting from being in Pi Kappa Alpha is second to none. Everything I could have wanted out of going Greek in college I’ve gotten. I love the ability to be able to ask anyone anything, be it help with homework or for a ride somewhere; there’s constantly someone there for you.

TT: How and why did you get involved with Relay for Life?

RC: In 2005 my mom passed away from cancer. Since then I have always tried giving back in ways that can help people who have been affected by cancer. When I joined Pike and found out that Relay For Life was a big part of it, I jumped at the opportunity. Ever since then I have been working very hard to help rid this world of cancer. Since being on the Drexel Relay’s planning committee, I have joined national advisory teams within the American Cancer Society to help other schools out, too.

TT: What made you decide to run for IFC president, and what did you do when you found out you won?

RC: One year before running for president, I was the vice president of administrative affairs (which is now called executive vice president). While serving as vice president I was able to get an inside view of how the IFC is run. When my tenure was over, there were a lot of items that I felt needed to be changed, specifically, the sense of community among all the chapters. When I won, I immediately started working with my board to accomplish all of our goals while helping our vice president of recruitment, Dylan Siegfried, prepare for the recruitment opportunities at the New Student Orientations.

TT: What are you most looking forward to about being IFC president?

RC: Bringing the fun! It’s been my experience that the IFC board has typically just been in place to facilitate communication between the chapters and the administration. This is still a very important aspect, and I plan to continue to manage that relationship. However, there are ways that can be done while still hosting fun events! I plan on finding that balance and bringing the community together.

TT: What do you think is the greatest challenge facing Greek life at Drexel, and how will you handle it?

RC: Policy change and Greek Week. Policies are always changing at Drexel, and I will be making sure that all of these changes positively impact the IFC (and Greek life as a whole). Over the past couple of years, Greek Week has lost its pizzazz. Our current Greek Week chair, Raub Dakwale, has a very ambitious schedule that will reduce Greek Week to less than two weeks. He plans on working closely with both the Multicultural Greek Council and Panhellenic Council Greek Week chairs to try and make this a reality.

TT: What’s your biggest pet peeve?

RC: I absolutely hate being stopped at a red light when there’s nobody else at the intersection — really grinds my gears.

TT: What’s your spirit animal and why?

RC: Monkeys, I absolutely love monkeys. Their ability to hang out and swing on trees all day just seems like fun. They’re strong and typically live in groups. Plus I like bananas, so that’s good too. Wait did I say monkeys? I meant Dragons … Go Drexel!

TT: What’s one thing that most people don’t know about you?

RC: The only reason why I didn’t join the military was because my dad didn’t want his only son going to war. I was enrolled in Junior ROTC in high school and was very involved in it; it just seemed like the next step for me. Needless to say, I have enjoyed my time at Drexel so far and am looking forward to finishing up my senior year!

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Orcel Kounga is a sophomore computer engineering major working this summer as an orientation leader. 

The Triangle: What’s your story and how did you end up at Drexel?

Orcel Kounga: Drexel was in my top five schools, and it was such a hard decision because I got into all my top five schools, so I had to choose between schools like [New York University], Drexel, Saint Joseph’s [University] and [The Pennsylvania State University]. I chose Drexel because when it came down to it, putting money aside and thinking about what I really wanted to do with my life, I thought and knew that Drexel would be able to get me there.

TT: What made you want to be an orientation leader?

OK: I wanted to be an OL because I wanted to meet new people. As a commuter, I didn’t meet a lot of my class[mates], and although I do have a handful of friends, they were mostly from the College of Engineering, and I did not know freshmen from other colleges. [Being an OL], I met people in LeBow, Westphal, and the College of Arts and Sciences. Not only that, but it helped me learn a little more about my school. The two weeks of training that we had prior to the first orientation, I learned so much about Drexel. I learned things that make this school so unique from other schools … things I wish I had known before coming to Drexel, and I hope to highlight those great things about Drexel to the new students.

TT: What’s the best part of being an OL and the most challenging?

OK: The best part about being an OL is being part of the OL team. I work with the craziest 23 people in the world, and there is never a dull moment, whether that may be at orientation, the two weeks of training prior to orientation, living in Kelly, or going out to do different things in the city. [Director of New Student and Family Programs] Carlos [Guillen] couldn’t have picked better OLs, and it makes waking up at 7 a.m. and going to bed at 1 a.m. all worth it. Not only that, but our supervisors and coordinators … make our job fun. The hardest part about being an OL is to keep that energy up; we work crazy hours, and by the time Playfair rolls around and the Student [Organization] Fair, all of us are completely tired, but I know that we do this for the incoming students to make sure that they have an amazing orientation. Acting silly and dancing is all part of the job (although not specifically stated), so that’s how myself and the other OLs overcome that challenge!

TT: What’s the most awkward encounter you’ve had with a student/parent at orientation?

OK: I haven’t really had any awkward encounters with students and/or parents at orientation. The most difficult encounter I would say is the sass or frustration that parents and students tend to get, whether it is waiting for buses, waiting in line or having a certain session drag a bit too long.

TT: If you could give incoming freshmen one piece of advice, what would it be?

OK: The biggest piece of advice that I could give the incoming freshmen is to work hard and play hard. By that I would say the amount of energy that you put in to having fun, playing sports, partying, Greek life or joining clubs is the same amount of energy that you should put into your academics. Because college is all about balance, if you do too much of one thing, you are always going to be missing something out of the college experience. Also, make smart choices!

TT: What’s the most memorable thing that’s happened to you at Drexel so far?

OK: The most memorable thing that’s ever happened to me at Drexel other than being an OL has to be rushing [Pi Kappa Phi] in January. It was a completely different experience, nothing like I imagined it would be. I met a lot of interesting people, and it really broke the misconceptions that I had about fraternities. Although I did not get a bid, that period of time really helped me become more immersed in the Drexel community and I will definitely be rushing again in the fall.

TT: What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?

OK: To be completely honest, riding roller coasters. I hate those things; I’ll skydive, bungee jump, but I won’t go near roller coasters!

TT: What’s your dream job?

OK: My dream job is anything that can help others in some way, shape or form. I love helping people out and being there for people. With that said, I also want a job that helps me be innovative and make a difference in the world. I’m a computer engineer, and anything is possible at this point. I really want [to] revolutionize technology. Right now I’m looking more at the entertainment side of things, working for companies such as Apple or Sony.

TT: What’s something that most people don’t know about you?

OK: Something that most people don’t know about me is that I speak five different languages. I speak — fairly fluently — French, Italian, and of course, English. I am conversational in Spanish and can understand Portuguese! I have also been teaching myself a bit of Greek.

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

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Anthony Glascock is the coordinator of the anthropology program and a professor of anthropology.

The Triangle: What’s your story and how did you end up at Drexel?

Anthony Glascock: I’m an anthropologist who has, for the last 35 years, studied aging and old age. My first academic job was at the University of Wyoming, where I spent 13 years. I was treated very well at Wyoming, but my wife and I found Laramie a bit small, and we wanted to move to a large city. Barbara Hornum, who I knew because we had common research interests, suggested that I apply to be head of what was then the Department of Psychology and Sociology. I did, was hired and I started in July 1986.

TT: What are the most interesting and challenging parts about your current research?

AG: Although I am still a gerontologist, Drexel’s emphasis on solving real-world problems has dramatically influenced my research, shifting my emphasis from the abstract study of the treatment of the elderly to the development, implementation and use of innovative technologies to deliver health care to the elderly. I now use the knowledge that I have gained through working on projects in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands to help others implement innovative technologies. Trying to get people to use new technologies is both the most gratifying and most challenging aspect of my research. However, just last week the head of the Ontario Telehomecare Strategy emailed me that my latest book “saved me months, if not years, of having to learn these complicated lessons firsthand,” which was especially gratifying.

TT: What’s the toughest question you were asked in a class, and how did you answer?

AG: If not the toughest, certainly the most disturbing question asked by a student was in a gerontology course. She asked, “It must be great knowing what comes about as you age?” Sure, knowing that I’m going to lose my hair, one pound of muscle will turn into one pound of fat every year after the age of forty, my brain will shrink 15 percent, and if I live long enough then I’ll become impaired and probably spend the last years of my life in an institution. Thanks for the question.

TT: Who or what is your greatest inspiration?

AG: Interestingly, I did not meet the person who inspired me the most until I was 25 and began teaching at the University of Wyoming, and we couldn’t have been more dissimilar. I grew up in downtown Kansas City, Mo.; he grew up on a ranch in Ten Sleep, Wyo. I went to Williams College right after high school; he went to the University of Wyoming in his thirties after a doctor told him that he could no longer undertake the rigors of ranching. He was a lifelong hunter; I fired a gun once at Boy Scout camp and never hunted anything ever. He was an archeologist and loved to dig in the dirt; I never want to be dirty. He only spoke when forced; I only stop talking when forced. And yet, George Frison inspired me by his work ethic. He worked continually — seven days a week — digging in the field, analyzing data or writing. He said to me during my first year at Wyoming that the state paid him to do what he loved, and he felt obligated to pay them back by “putting in a full day’s work every day.” This full day was usually 10-12 hours, but even so, “it’s sure a lot easier than riding fence in the snow.” I have tried to be like George ever since by putting in a full day’s work every day.

TT: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

AG: I never wanted to be anything in particular when I was growing up, except not poor — been there, done that. I’m just not good with goals. As an example, I only decided to become an anthropologist and attend graduate school while in Nairobi, Kenya, during the middle of my junior year at Williams. Even then, I made this decision not because I wanted to be an anthropologist but because I wanted to do ethnography, and I was told the only way to do ethnography was to be an anthropologist.

TT: When you’re not at Drexel or working on your research, what do you do for fun?

AG: When I’m not working, I’m usually riding my road bike — 100,000 miles in 20 years — reading poetry or non-narrative literature, or listening to music on my newly upgraded stereo system — no iPod for me. I also enjoy mountain biking, cross-county skiing and attending live music — Indigo Girls and Joan Baez, just last week.

TT: What are you most proud of?

AG: I’m most proud of my relationship with my wife, Judith. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not the easiest person to deal with, let alone live with, and she has put up with me for 39 years. We have a fairly volatile relationship, but it has produced two wonderful daughters and two fantastic grandchildren. Although I claim that she would be bored with anyone else, I’m willing to accept that perhaps she would like a little less of what I view as excitement. She has a favorite pet name for me that I cannot use in this venue, but I’m sure that she only uses it out of love.

TT: What’s something that none of your students know about you?

AG: As for what one thing my students don’t know about me, they will just have to get through life without knowing it.

Triangle Talks is a weekly column that highlights individuals in the Drexel community. 

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