On Saturday, April 14, the brothers of Bentley’s Sigma Pi Iota Theta Chapter raised 650 dollars for their Sean Williams charity during a student vs. faculty basketball game. This impressive amount showed a significant increase from last year’s donations.

“I attribute the increase, this year, to overall better planning and better advertising of the game,” said sophomore treasurer Tim Avrutik. “We had more people from our chapter on IFC, so more fraternities heard about it.”

“The event was started in honor of one of our brothers, Sean Williams, who passed away in a car accident,” said Stephen Cugliari, Sigma Pi sophomore. The money raised goes to our Sean Williams Memorial Scholarship fund which was started to provide assistance to a student in the Bentley community who most exemplifies the characteristics Sean had.

After the first charity event, the brothers were able to raise approximately 1,000 dollars for the cause. Since then, they’ve unfortunately seen decreases in donations. Thus making this year’s turn out truly inspiring.

Sean Williams was killed at age 22 in January 2010 in a tragic car accident. He was one of Sigma Pi’s founding brothers on the Bentley campus. His parents, in loving memory of their son, started a scholarship foundation, awarding a student who exhibited Williams’ determination and love for sports.

“They wanted to give a kid who represented Sean’s virtues the ability to attend a college institution of Bentley level without having the burden of massive college loans,” stated Will Alemany, Sigma Pi alumnus.

“As to why we play basketball, that is simple,” said alumni Alemany.

“Sean was also a member of the basketball team. He was a management major and I believe the event seemed to bring the two things that he loved the most together.”

“This game is great because it brings Greek Life and faculty for a friendly game of basketball for a good cause,” said President Andrew Picardi.

“I want to thank all of the staff and students who participated as well as the Basketball Team for helping referee and run the scoreboard.”

“It was awesome being able to play a sport for a good cause,” said participant Danielle LeRose, member of Gamma Phi Beta. “The faculty were great opponents and had some amazing shots! I’m glad I could be a part of it.”

Many of us have noticed a new mobile facet of the Bentley campus: the Sodexo street car. It began operation in March and has added new variety to food available on campus. The Sodexo street car food is called Odexos and is going to be seen on campus year round.

When asked on where the idea for the street car came from, Jason Laprade, the Resident District Manager for Sodexo, answered “It is a current trend that is out there and we felt we needed as a company offer.” Laprade said that the “student board of directors was consulted on the national level” in implementing the street car.

The menu for the street car changes every two weeks and is based on research and feedback from the Boston area. As of now, it does not accept falcon funds nor discretionary due to technology limitations.

“The Food truck is going to about 20 of our campuses around Boston so the times and stops on each campus are determined by events, late night needs and Athletic events that it can support,” said Laprade.

The street car has been “a great change for many campuses” said Laprade adding that “we [Sodexo] feel it brings the students an outside restaurant to campus and gives them the ability to experience more of our offer.

Along with implementing the street car, Sodexo is looking into making changes to the Bostonian Grill.

Over the past two months, students at Pittsburgh University have suffered through much fear and aggravation as they faced over 50 false-alarm bomb threats.  Tighter security has been one result of the record number of false threats; students have been waiting in lines to pass through security checkpoints when going to academic buildings and other common places on campus. Initially, the bomb threats were written in bathroom stalls in Pittsburgh University’s notable Cathedral of Learning. More recently, additional threats have been spreading across the internet.

Robert Hill, university spokesperson, has said that the school is obligated to treat every threat as if it is serious. A joint terrorism task force, including members from campus police, the department of justice, and the federal bureau of investigation have been looking into the case. Each time a building is searched and cleared; students are identified before being let back into the building.

“I feel that unwarranted fear just causes chaos and that’s what this person wants,” said junior Corinne Hogge.

Students are in the midst of classes and preparing for final exams, and the heightened tension and insanity of the situation, in addition to the new extensive security measures is really taking a toll on them emotionally and physically. Every threat is followed by an evacuation – of 29,000 students.

Some professors have been cancelling classes due to the perceived threats, and students have admitted to feeling “ripped off,” as Hogge put it. There is enormous pressure from loved ones and students pay a hefty tuition, but at the same time it isn’t easy to write off a bomb threat.

Students and faculty all need IDs to get into any building on campus, and nonresidents aren’t allowed into dormitories, including friends and family. There is a $50,000 reward for any information. Professors have also been seeking alternatives, such as holding classes outside or online in order to avoid any potentially dangerous situations.

“This has got to stop. We’re exhausted… This is disrupting everyone’s lives, and it has to end,” said university police Chief Tim Delaney.

Students are struggling because it’s hard to focus and keep track of what is expected of them in the midst of the chaos. It isn’t uncommon for students to feel a range of emotions about the situation – from frustration to helplessness and fear.

The university’s commencement is scheduled for April 29, and the date is rapidly approaching. The school and the local police have been working tirelessly to take as many safety precautions as possible, to ensure that the event goes smoothly.

“We want to solve this now. It’s shocking to me that our university, which has done so much good in the community, is being targeted this way. It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand this,” said Steve Tritch, chairman of Pittsburgh University’s board of trustees.

Spring break- the much needed holiday that signals the end of second semester. Some fly to exotic beaches in the Caribbean, others go home but there are a few who want to continue learning. For those students, a range of faculty led abroad programs are offered. This spring, I felt adventurous and registered for a session going to France. The class, Energy Economics and International Markets, was taught by Professor John Tommasi, with topics ranged from oil to renewable energy, but the focus on nuclear energy. The class was like any other Bentley course, with some mentions of the itinerary of the trip. No one knew what to expect, and the excitement built until the day we met at Logan International Airport to take flight for a different sort of vacation.

The first destination was Aix-en-Provence, a small college city in south France. Decorated by beautiful scenery and dotted with vineyards, it was the perfect introduction for our trip. The first tour was of an international project called ITER, which is experimenting with the possibility of creating nuclear energy through fission (combining two atoms). The facility was spectacular, and the presentation enlightening, a visit that was going to be hard to top. But the next day somehow did, as we went a winery where we tasted exquisite wine. During our free time that evening we had the opportunity to explore the city. Some of the students went back to the hotel, but a few of us decided to explore the French nightlife attending a couple of bars and a club. Waking up proved to be the hardest part of the entire vacation, as each day we had to be ready to move early in the morning to meet our packed schedule.

The next day we took a bus north to a nuclear power plant called Tricastin. The tour took us through the engine room of four nuclear reactors and also had a short presentation. After a couple of hours on the bus we reached our next destination, Lyon. Unfortunately the tour of the power plant was cancelled, but that did not stop us from having fun. The city was beautiful and the food delicious. Needless to say, the night life was incredible and safe with the company of Professor Aaron Jackson.

Brest, a small town in the northwestern frontier of France, was the next destination. We were visiting a nuclear power plant that was in the process of being dismantled, so nobody really expected much from the visit. We were surprised when the tour guide mentioned that we had to take our clothes off, and put protective gear on. After changing into some science fiction looking suits, we went in the actual reactor building. Even though it was being dismantled, the infrastructure and technology was impressive and the immense size of the plant was overwhelming.

The last days of the trip were the most exciting ones, as we had the opportunity to spend them in Paris. After spending almost a week together, everyone was pretty close, and so we took the city by storm. With just a couple of presentations ahead, the trip was pretty much over. On our free time was spent site seeing, trying out restaurants and even some shopping.

Over all the experience was amazing, flying back everyone was exhausted yet they had a smile on their faces. I recommend this class to anyone looking for a change of pace in the middle of the semester and a fun, educational vacation. Being accompanied by Professor Tommasi, a known extrodinaire, and Professor Aaron Jackson was definitely essential to having an awesome Spring Break.

The Boston Sports Blog (BSB), founded by Bentley student Jimmy Tully, is becoming more popular among not only Bentley students but also everybody who is interested in sports. The blog distinguishes itself from other mainstream blogs such as ESPN and Barstool with its unique break down, analysis, and the members’ genuine enthusiasm in responding to feedback from readers. Above all, as Tully says, BSB is “a community for Boston sport fans” and is “written by true Boston sports fan.”

It has been recorded that the blog has received a total of 50,000 views since its establishment. In February, there were almost over 1,000 views on average per day, and the highest point reached 2,896 views. The number of views is increasing rapidly every day, demonstrating the potential expansion of the blog.

BSB provides readers a quick access to updated information and events with depth and comprehensiveness of all the sports of the Boston city (Celtics, Red Sox, Bruins, and Patriots). Some other big sports news outside Boston area, for example XGames, Tim Tebow, Jeremy Lin, or Tiger Woods, are also blogged on the site. It also has an open discussion for the fans to express their opinions about anything that is happening in the sports world. The secret that helped BSB become so popular in such a short period of time is its corporation with the Boston Sports Apparel Company (ilovebostonsports.com), which invited Bruin’s star Brad Marchand to cover the event for the blog with full media access.

Tully, the creator of the blog, is currently a Bentley senior majoring in Information Design and Corporate Communications. He first created this blog November for fun but was surprised by the growth of the blog.  He soon was supported by many of his friends, and together they developed the blog as it is today. Now, the BSB writing crew has seven members, each of them is responsible for a specific field: Tully is the blog’s Editor and General Writer, Chris Anderson (Merrimack College) – College Sports, Nolan Kartholl (Bentley Alum) – Business and General Writer, Dave Couture (Dracut, MA) – Patriots/ Football, Dan Tobin (Bentley) – Red Sox/ Baseball, Andrew Mazze (Bentley) – Bruins/ Hockey, and Matt Leibowitz (Bentley) – Celtics/ Basketball. So far, they have posted over 400 posts to the blog.

In the future, the BSB will be continuing posting blogs regularly, and waiting for their opportunity to advertise the blog on Google AdSense. But until then, the most important goal that BSB is striving for is keeping the heat for their fans and having fun chatting with other Boston sport fans on the site.

One last note at the end: the BSB members are planning on a free raffle for a Brad Marchand autographed puck in next week. If you are interested in, you can submit via the blog site, and for more information about the blog and the raffle please visit www.bostonsportsblog.net. Besides sports, if you are also interested in music, you can take a look for the tab on the site named Relaxing the Masses to link to another blog site of music.

City Year, an AmeriCorps program which claimed Bentley University as its founding partner in 2008, has recently acquired its 50th higher education institution in its Partnership program. City Year credits Bentley’s partnership as a major contributor to the shape and development of its program throughout the United States.

City Year, founded in 1988, “was founded with the conviction that young people in service could be a powerful resource for addressing America’s most pressing issues,” said Michele Deluties, Director of External Affairs. The program recruits students between the ages of 17 and 24 to take a year off from their education and dedicate it to tutoring young children across the country. In return, the student is rewarded with a grant towards their tuition.

“City Year was built with the premise that one person can make a difference and has promoted the vision of service as a common expectation for citizens around the world,” said Deluties. “Today, City Year has a laser-focus on fighting then national drop out crisis.”

Bentley’s partnership with City Year “set the stage for an incredible program,” said Deluties. “Through give a year partnerships, colleges and universities highlight their commitment to service by providing financial scholarships and recognition to students who give a year or more of service to their communities through City Year.”

Furthermore, the formal partnership established what Deluties referred to as a “turning point” for the organization. “[It shaped] how we support our alumni across the country and recognizing the values and transferability of the skills gained through City Year through further education in disciplines from business, social work, public health, and education, to name a few.”

“City Year and Bentley have begun exploring other ways to collaborate, over and beyond the give a year scholarship program,” said Edward Zlotkowski, Director of the Service Learning Center. “For example, this year Professor Linda McJannet taught a section of Expos 101 that made use of City Year resources to explore educational inequality and the urban dropout crisis. The Bentley Service-learning Center and City Year are currently discussing other course-based collaborations for the coming academic year.”

Bentley University students have found the City Year experience indescribably rewarding. “I served with City Year because I witnessed first-hand what a drama afterschool program did for the students at a local elementary school in Waltham,” said Kiernan Patenaude, a student currently enrolled in the fifth year program at the university. “It was a challenging year, but a rewarding one. I learned how to operate on a diverse team and how to work with students struggling to make it to grade level.”

“We currently have over 2000 corps members serving on teams in 23 locations across the United States,” said Deluties. “We continue to grow nearly every year in response to the need in schools and cities across the country, and are excited to continue recruiting and selecting idealistic young leaders who are ready work on a team, be a leader, develop leadership skills and be ready to commit ten months to full-time service.”

The 18th annual Festival of Colors is here! President, Iris Leung, and Secretary, Sai Navani, of the International Students Association (ISA) reveal what we can expect at this semester’s exciting performance coming up on March 31 at 5:30 p.m. in Koumantzelis.

Actively involved with ISA and the Festival of Colors (FOC) since their first year on campus, Leung and Navani proudly spoke about this long-running tradition that entertains, educates and, most importantly, showcases the multitalented Bentley University student body, and this year the theme is the apocalypse of 2012. FOC was started 18 years ago by Barbara Kluesner who previously held the position of ISA adviser and is currently working at the Center for International Students and Scholars (CISS). Iris explains that the festival actually “started in [Barbara’s] basement…and it had a very homey feel to it and every year it just got bigger and bigger,” and more extravagant as well. Navani interestingly noted that the event itself is probably older than some of the students performing in it, which places an interesting perspective on this long-standing tradition. Around thirty students are participating in this year’s show including the executive board members, the FOC committee, and the performers themselves resulting in fourteen different performances. One of the biggest obstacles in the execution of any major performance is the organization process, and in order to combat this ISA begins their brainstorming process months prior to the actual performance’s show date and actually begins painting the Koumantzelis backdrop in early January. Between this time and March, the FOC committee begins to run through the performers’ applications and arranges the performances to their liking.

Like previous years, the event begins with an opening ceremony that consists of the ever-popular Parade of Flags, displaying the incredibly diverse and dynamic countries that are represented both in the festival and on Bentley campus. The show alternates between talent show and fashion show until all fourteen performances have been run through. While chatting with a performer in the show, Bessa Nicoletta, a student from Indonesia, excitedly described the dance she and her friends are debuting at the festival. Without giving too much away, if you follow the K-pop scene at all, you definitely do not want to miss this fun segment. Some popular and highly anticipated shows that thankfully return to the stage every year include SASA’s Bollywood dance, LCL’s Latin dance, and the African and Asian fashion shows, and these are only a fraction of the performances that will be showcased that night.

After the show, you can find the buffet featuring an array of international foods that ISA is kindly providing the audience with, in the EDR. Bring $10 if you’re coming with a guest and the proceeds will go to charity. With the indefinite goal of always improving and expanding, this year’s Festival of Colors is surely not one to miss!

Chegg, through their “Chegg’s are you the ONE” initiative, is searching for qualified and dedicated candidates for their once in a lifetime internship in Africa and Bentley Sophomore Sarah Collette might be that ONE. Collette was announced as one of the 50 semifinalists declared on March 7 who have the opportunity to spend part of their summers in Zambia and South Africa.

“I heard about the ONE organization through Bentley Campus originally, then this opportunity was mentioned to me by another member for the Mmofra Trom Bead Project,” said Collette. Bentley’s support for the Mmofra Trom Bead Project, an initiative supporting an education center in Somanya, Ganya, was recently recognized as the winner of a worldwide challenge among international student-run nonprofit social enterprises.

Collette’s original 500 word submission which distinguished her as a semifinalist in the competition focused on the Mmofra Trom Bead Project which she is currently involved in on campus.

Collette’s original interest in Africa was sparked by an early childhood occurance. “My brother’s childhood friend was misdiagnosed when I was in fifth grade with a torn cartilage which turned out to be a very serious cancer,” said Collette. “It was then that I took an interest in health care and my passion spiraled into health care in Africa specifically, where I felt helping people would have the most impact/those where people who needed us the most and that I could learn the most from.”

Collette, currently majoring in Management with a Liberal Studies Major concentration in Heath and Industry accompanied by a minor in non-profit organizations, says her faculty-led abroad trip in January 2011 to Ghana with Professor Tony Kisewski, “really satisfied and re-defined” her passion. The class analyzed the health challenges facing the area, including not only specific diseases but also “lack of access to health care, trash and pollution problems, lack of access to clean water, and no running water at all,” said Collette who hopes to use her degree to “fulfill my aspirations to work abroad with health care in Africa and developing nations.”

Now, Sarah needs the Bentley community’s help. In order to become one of the 20 finalists, Collette must receive more votes than the other semifinalists. The online voting process is done through facebook and closes on March 21.

In Morocco, the illiteracy rate is over 40 percent, of which 60 percent are women. 3.2 percent of the population is living on less than $2 a day while 10 percent remain unemployed. Young adults are no exception as unemployment is as high as 22 percent among fifteen to twenty-four year olds.

Professor Jane Tchaïcha, associate professor of modern languages at Bentley and Fullbright Scholar recipient, visited the former French colony to participate in a few of the microcrediting programs there. Microcrediting or microlending as some call it, is the process of giving small monetary loans to impoverished or disabled people in order to help them start their own businesses or get the ball rolling. In Morocco, microcrediting is a relatively new idea, and it was only about twenty years ago that there was a blossoming of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and microlending opportunities. According to Professor Tchaïcha, by 2010, there was over $500 million on microcredit loans distributed by thirteen or so programs to over 800,000 active borrowers. Looking at these impressive numbers, however, do not offer a very objective analysis argues Professor Tchaïcha. While most of the programs in Morocco have succeeded, some have failed, none more so than former microlending titan, Zakoura. The case of Zakoura is interesting in that it reminded people of the importance of practicing good business management and ideas. Professor Tchaïcha attributed a lot of Zakoura’s downfall to hosting too many different kinds of programs. Moroccans were then tempted to borrow from a variety of these programs and soon knowing who owed what became confusing. Money could not be traced back to the borrower and as a result, Zakoura could not collect its payments. The lack of oversight for the different programs led to the question, who is accountable? With no answer to the question, Zakoura had to face major cutback in funding and its loans per year fell drastically. While Zakoura’s case is a sad one, Professor Tchaïcha lightened the mood in Back Bay A+B with a discussion about two different NGOs she was a part of that both got the job done, the first of which is called AMSSF.

The A.M.S.S.F. program has faced a tremendous amount of success in the past couple of years. With its Headquarters located in Fez, Morocco, AMSSF built 43 satellites in and around this area in order to make it easier for the program to keep track of its loans. AMSSF’s centralization proved to be a smart business decision. Professor Tchaïcha was proud to state that 95 percent of the loans were paid back in time. Interestingly enough, 71 percent of the loans were given to women which makes the AMSSF program different from others. Professor Tchaïcha, a self-proclaimed feminist, is all about women empowerment. She is interested in hearing the voices of the beneficiaries and promoting products that best suits the locality and the group. For example, the AMSSF program gave a loan to a lady who was a dressmaker. She designed and hand sewed traditional Moroccan clothes and dresses for the local village and tourists. Her popularity has gotten to the point where she is looking to expand her business and hire others to sew under her. This is not to say that anyone who has a talent or great idea can receive a bigger loan like the dressmaker. Normally, borrowers would receive money through a group loan. The requirements for this type of a loan are usually groups of three to five people. A husband and wife duo is not allowed to be in the same group. The reason for this is so that the husband does not have the final say and control what the wife does. The group receives anywhere from 500-1500 Moroccan Dirhams (MAD), which is around 40-130 U.S. dollars, to be paid back within 3-12 months. Once the group has established a relatively successful business, individuals may upgrade to an individual loan like what the dressmaker obtained. Individual loan recipients receive more MAD (3000-30,000) and have from 3-24 months to pay back the loan. They are given longer times to repay the loan because of their success in the group loan and their expanding business. This model is not the only way to hand out loans, as the second organization Professor Tchaïcha was a part of followed a different philosophy.

Ajddigue Women’s Cooperative is not microcredit, it is a cooperative. Founded in 1997, the Adjddigue Women’s Cooperative is made up of mostly women that work to extract Argan, a valuable oil extracted from an Argan tree to be used in skin care products found all over the world. Instead of lending out money to borrowers, the cooperative is a way for people to come together and manufacture a local product for a portion of the profits. Since the year that the cooperative was founded, Adjddigue Women’s Cooperative has become self-autonomous. This allowed it to create a literacy program for women in the cooperative to learn to read and write in a context that is specific to them, Moroccan culture and history.

Through the success of both the AMSSF program and Ajddigue Women’s Cooperative, Professor Tchaïcha was able to learn some important lessons that she shared with the Bentley community. By hearing the voice of the women and locals, Professor Tchaïcha was able to understand the needs of effective communication between lenders and beneficiaries. The Argan oil served as a great example of identifying and promoting a local product that best represents the culture of the group. While the oil is a great luxury to have, Professor Tchaïcha also advocates that it is important to remain flexible if a change in course is needed as things do not last forever like what we saw with Zakoura.

Sophomore Brian Shea is leading this fight against cancer on the Bentley campus with his team, TAY, in this year’s Relay for Life. So far, Brian’s team has raised $986, which is far past the $100 goal. The proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society to fund cancer research, cancer patients’ treatment and many other needed programs.

Bentley University’s 2012 Relay for Life is scheduled for Friday, April 20, starting at 6:00 p.m. and running all the way to 6:00 a.m. The relay starts with a survivors lap – a time when survivors circle the track together and cheer for the victories achieved over cancer.  It is also a time to recognize and celebrate the organizers and staff at Relay For Life. They give their time, love and support to friends, family, neighbors and coworkers who face cancer.

Next on the agenda is the Luminaria Ceremony, where candles are placed in bags that line up to remember those who have lost their battle against cancer or have been touched by it. It is one of the most emotional parts of the event; a time of remembrance. This year’s speaker is Ann Marie Morse, the mother of Michelle Morse, whom inspired a law that gives students a medical leave of up to twelve months to stop their studies and focus on fighting their battle without jeopardizing their health insurance from college. Before the law, students needed twelve credits to be eligible to receive care; now students are allowed to suspend their studies and still be covered.

After remembering those affected by cancer, participants make a commitment to fight cancer by getting checkups, giving up smoking, collecting more money for research and prevention or talking to their local political leaders about cancer. This part is called the Fight Back Ceremony and is a positive end to the relay, inspiring people to get involved.

Cancer has touched the lives of everyone, whether you or a loved one has been fighting, everyone has felt the effects of it. What will you do to help? Make sure to participate in this in this year’s Relay for Life.

As a college student and young professional, have you ever had a burning question that needed to be answered FAST? For example, you just made an embarrassing mistake at work and need to do damage control immediately.

Thanks to the development of Aheaders.com by two Bentley alumni, you can get important questions answered in a format that can keep your attention span.

Not in our position too long ago, co-founder William Pang reveals the inspiration for the site.

“The amount of available resources strictly for young professionals was tiny. Like, embarassingly tiny,” said Pang.

Aheaders.com is where young professionals can turn when they have a question, but don’t feel like sifting through websites and blogs to find the answer that may or may not be credible. It is the resource for those questions that cannot be learned within the walls of the classroom, and “is a supplement to help people who are interested in their career[s] and fulfilling their potential,” adds co-founder Joel Johnson.

Also, as highly-motivated Bentley students, we all want to have the edge, right?

The greatest feature of the site is how the articles are formatted. The tagline is “Read the Headers – Get Ahead” and that is exactly what you do. The articles answer questions in bullet-point format so you can skim to find the information.

Continuing with the example of making a mistake at work, after a short article introduction you can just read the numbered steps: own up, seek guidance, be forward-looking, don’t feel sorry for yourself, humility, and reflect. And before you know it you are navigating your way out of an uncomfortable and embarrassing situation. But, if you wanted to expand on a particular point, you can. You have the option of simply clicking on the plus-sign beside the step to drop down an elaboration and examples of what to do and what not to do.

Co-founders Pang and Johnson both graduated from Bentley with undergraduate degrees in finance and have since parted ways. Pang is currently in New Jersey working for J&J Headquarters while Johnson is all the way in Texas as a controller.

Both men are happily working hard at their 9-5 jobs, but realized they needed more to life than just that.

“If I counted 100 percent on my job making me happy, I’d be pretty disappointed and disenfranchised,” said Pang, so he wants to emphasize the importance of finding a side project that you’re passionate about. And, if you’re lucky, it could take on a life of its own like Aheaders.com did.

These men wanted to have fulfilling lives and help out young professionals, and these themes are reflected on the site. Not just limited to careers, money, and the like, the site also includes lifestyle and love articles.

“When we were trying to figure out what young professionals care about, it wasn’t all about jobs and money and how to impress the boss; it was also about making all of that work while having a successful personal life,” said Johnson. They keep the content relevant and current, updating nearly every day. If you have a question but don’t already see it, just drop them a quick suggestion in the comment box and they’ll get on it.

“It’s really a good way for us to keep our pulse on what people care about,” said Pang.

So, visit Aheaders.com, play some link tag and bounce from article to article based on enticing headlines about things you were always curious about.

When the wind is howling and you just want to get to a party, but fear having to walk all across campus to find a deserted dorm, don’t you just wish your smartphone could do something about it?

Well, soon it can thanks to a Bentley alum who has recently created an application for smart phones!

This app will use a combination of GPS tracking and check-ins to locate where events are happening on campus and share it on a closed social network with your friends.

David Lanphear of the 2010 class is the co-founder of FratLabs, the company that is developing the app. Because it is still in the works, it is now going by the code name “Dope” and little information will be revealed prior to its beta launch.

“We intend to beta-test the app at Bentley, as well as Penn State in the next few weeks and roll out to a national audience this coming summer,” said Lanphear.

Although this is not top-secret, Apple-esque information, it is worth taking note of the cool app that will be coming to an app market near you!

If the unofficial rumors are true, this app will revolutionize the Bentley party scene, giving the user a better shot at the ratio.

For the investment junkies, this might be the opportunity to invest in a product that could be the new creation of a college student, for a college student, much like the billion dollar company Facebook.

Instead of traveling to a local school to tutor students for Service Learning, the Pax Populi program allows you to use Skype and connect with someone halfway across the world in Afghanistan.

The term Pax Populi means the peace of the people. Because education and economic development are both important factors in deterring violence, this program serves to educate the new generation of Afghans in order for them to bring peace to their own country.

The country of Afghanistan has been in a constant state of war and turmoil for more than 30 years and for people that live thousands of miles away from those conditions, it is often impossible for us to comprehend what a situation like that is like.

Dr. Robert E. McNulty, director of programs at Bentley’s Center for Business Ethics, looked at these circumstances with a more optimistic outlook and began his work in establishing a non-profit educational program called Pax Populi.

This program is dedicated to teaching the English language to young Afghan students via Skype in order to “give [them] a tool that has enormous economic benefit. Growing up in a state of ongoing war, there is an incredible sense of isolation, but with [Pax Populi] we are connecting them to an outside world that has an interest in them.”

McNulty went on to explain that when these Afghans are virtually sitting across from an American student, they see a college-educated adult that has a sense of confidence; something very different than what they are used to. This alone gives them enough hope for new opportunities that they will continue to pursue their education.

When asked how this out-of-the-box idea came to be, McNulty explained that living a relatively international life, one’s eyes are opened to both positive and negative circumstances in other countries. “If you look around the country, there are all these people that carry peace signs… but if you ask them what they’re doing for peace, they aren’t really doing anything.”

Instead of solely talking about the devastating situations in countries around the world that are suffering because of war, he decided to take action and so, Pax Populi was born.

Pax Populi was introduced to Bentley in September of 2010 with help from the Service Learning Center and five English speaking tutors. For Junzhi Ma, a junior at Bentley studying Finance, this program offered an opportunity to try something new and continue with his dedication to service learning.

Last semester, he was paired up with a 17-year-old girl who attends the school SOLA in Afghanistan and was immediately struck by how well she spoke English. This enabled him to conduct more open-ended discussion based tutoring sessions, while she enhanced her reading and writing skills through Skype chat.

Resources such as writing prompts are provided to tutors beforehand, but students have the freedom to chat about everything from cultural differences to current events. This allows the American student to bond more personally with the Afghan student, promoting a sense of peace between the two cultures.

Junzhi noted that because his mentee had extremely limited internet access, she would have to commute to an internet café after school in order to make her tutoring sessions, and rolling blackouts would serve to complicate communication between the two even further. The dedication put forth by the students in Afghanistan in order to pursue their education through Pax Populi is nothing short of inspirational.

For the future of this program, McNulty has been working hard to create an official Pax Populi organization in order to hold a stronger presence on campus and build a foundation for years to come. The program has been impacting two schools in the provinces of Bamiyan and Kabul for two years now, but the Pax Populi staff has high hopes in terms of reaching out to a variety of communities.

With tutor-mentee relationships already established in countries like Korea, Saudi Arabia and France, this program is just beginning to grow.

Beta Gamma Sigma is an honor society whose invitation for induction is touted as the highest honor a business student can receive anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, here on Bentley’s campus, few know the magnitude of this invitation.

Each year, invitations to Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) are sent out to the top 5 percent of the junior class, 10 percent of the senior class, and 15 percent of graduate class. Based on the sheer statistics alone, one can see the prestige. However, many of the eligible students decline the invitation. Senior April Gammal, Vice President of BGS, is making it her mission to give BGS the respect it deserves. “I just want to get more people to know about it… that if [they] get inducted what that means,” she explains.

Gammal recently went to a national conference, where she heard other AACSB-accredited universities’ take on the invitation process. At some schools, it is such a respected organization that the students get personally invited by professors during class.

This serves dual purposes: students rarely decline and notoriety around campus grows.  Undergraduate students there aspire to become one of those selective few, singled out in class for their academic performance. And that is the type of respect they deserve here on campus.

Founded in 1913, Beta Gamma Sigma is serving accredited business programs at 500 colleges in the country and 19 countries internationally. Over 650,000 members have been inducted since its inception. These alumni serve in all different industries at various levels of responsibility, creating an amazing network. With 24 alumni chapters around the world, membership comes with its benefits. Discounts and perks are granted to lifelong members, which include discounted rates for professional newspapers and journals, insurance offers, and professional clothiers (including Brooks Brothers, Joseph A. Bank, and Macy’s).

This year’s induction is Friday, March 30, and families and friends will be in attendance to celebrate. With president and faculty advisor Andy Aylesworth leading the ceremony, the night should prove to be a great and proud moment in many students’ and parents’ lives.

Undergraduate students – through hard work and superior academic performance, you too may be invited to join this prestigious community.

Bentley students are currently working on bringing Livesphere to campus, an app that can bring the Bentley community together socially. With an aggressive marketing strategy and ever-changing technology, Livesphere should be on everyone’s phones!

So, what is Livesphere? It is a social platform specific to the Bentley campus where you can post anonymously or display your username. Once you download the app and create an account, you will see inverted triangles at various points on a campus map. These “bubbles” are very similar to the setup of a Facebook wall in that you post comments, pictures, and statuses. The purpose can be practical; for example, “The shuttle stop at Miller is pretty full, you better get here quickly!” or “Someone puked in the Collins elevator – avoid!” But it doesn’t have to be a location; you can create a Bubble for different interests, such as music or movies. In fact, you can create a blog by opening a Bubble and setting restrictions so no one else can post on it.

The beauty of this app is its freedom – you can post anything! But you may be wondering about security issues. Because you need a .edu email address to register, you do not have to worry about an outsider viewing this social hub. In addition, you must be within a 3 mile radius of campus in order to access the app. Of course, with such freedom there is the risk of misuse, so a report button has been installed. After a certain number of clicks, the comment is temporarily deleted, pending review by the creators. If they find it to be made with a malicious intent, they will permanently delete the comment. Multiple offenses by the same account will result in a frozen account, barring the user from future posts. However, they want to make the message of freedom of expression very clear and stay true to Livesphere’s original intent. Therefore, the comment will only be permanently deleted if the intent is malicious (i.e., cyberbulling). For any other reason, upon review, the comment will be reinstated on the Bubble.

The app, developed by Arvind Gupta and Santosh Sharan, is making its way on campus. Through mutual friends, Katie Baker and Kelsey Bowe began the marketing initiative. Quickly gaining momentum, the duo attracted the interest of Marina Mirabal and, most recently, Sean Rodrigues and Moussa Hassoun hopped on board. The team is making serious efforts to get the word out by making sure that every door in every residence halls (even the often forgotten Cape, Castle, and North campus) is adorned with the flyer. There are new changes every week to keep up with other social media trends. Just recently, they added a Twitter component, allowing you to hashtag and search different topics. By semester’s end they want 25 percent of the Bentley population to be registered. With the evolving features and availability in the App Store and Android Market, there is no excuse – download it today!

This year, Bentley University is proud to send out its first team to participate in the Hult Global Case Challenge, the world’s largest international case competition for college students.

The Bentley Hult Case Team has made it to the Regional level and is now preparing themselves for the Global competition.

Bentley’s Hult Case Team (BHCT) has five members: Moussa Hassoun, Dan Weidel, Ryan DeChance, Malini Samtani and Susie Jeong.

All of them are undergraduate students and are majoring in various fields, giving them a well-rounded perspective and great tactical advantage.

The Hult Global Case Challenge’s theme for this year is global poverty, which is divided into three different tracks: Engineering, housing, and education. The group has chosen education as their subject for the challenge.

The Regional Finals will take place in five cities in all over the world: Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, and Shanghai.

The team will compete with 17 other universities and colleges in the region, which include Harvard, MIT, Columbia and Yale. The region’s top presentations for each track will compete with the top three from the other four regions in the Global Final in New York City.

President Bill Clinton, CEOs and executives of some of the world’s biggest companies will be the final judges. A prize of $100,000,000 of seed money will be awarded to the Global Champions of each subject to put their plans into action.

The teams’ task in the Regional Final is to study a case given by the faculty of Hult International Business School and the IXL Center and present a substantial solution to the panel of judges. BHCT has come up with a strategy for the case, “One Laptop per Child.”

Their objective is to convince the jury that their idea can be actualized in many Third World countries. Specifically, 10 million children will be provided personal laptops in the next 10 years.

Despite the excellence of the idea, there are some difficulties that BHCT will have to face in the competition. Moussa, captain of the BHCT, says that cultural differences and lack of technology in Third World countries will be the two greatest obstacles of their ideas.

Moreover, because some members of other teams are graduate students, adding to the fact that some are from the Ivy League universities, the competition will be very challenging. “It’s a little bit intimidating,” said Moussa. Nevertheless, he is confident that BHCT has been preparing well for the Hult Case Challenge.

The team is working productively and everybody contributes equally to the group.  Moussa believes his team will definitely make a good shot on this competition.

The Regional Finals will take place in the five cities on Febuary 24 and 25. The Global Final will be held in New York City, on April 25 and 26. Our Bentley Hult Case Team will be working really hard for the next month to prepare their best for the competition. Good luck to our Bentley Hult Case Team!

For more information about the Hult Case Team Challenge, visit hultglobal-casechallenge.com/2012/.

The Bentley Eco Reps, crucial members of the Residence Hall Association, are currently working to make Bentley a greener campus. This year, RHA expanded the role to allow up to three Eco Reps on each hall council, and together, they have made an outstanding impact on the Bentley community and beyond.

Last semester, the Eco Reps initiated a project that involved performing a sustainability audit of a small company, seeking to help the facility become more environmentally friendly. Spearheaded by Alicia Risigo, former president Maddie Bulkley, and current president Justine Andrews, the team worked with Jumpstart Therapy, a fitness center and occupational therapy clinic for children and families in Oakville, Connecticut.

According to Risigo, “It was awesome working with a company that had a mission statement towards nutrition and health, as being sustainable goes hand in hand with that.”

President Justine Andrews said, “The Eco Reps were looking for a way to have a greater impact and show how being green relates to businesses; the solution to that was conducting a company audit. The Eco Reps first created a list of criteria to cover in the audit which included categories such as electricity use, paper use, and general ‘green education’ for the company to pass on to its customers through actions and business practices.”

The next step of the audit involved the owner of the company, Catherine Risigo, coming to Bentley campus to give an informative presentation on the operations of Jumpstart Therapy. The Eco Reps took notes and asked thorough questions about the details of their practices in order to better understand areas for green improvement.  After the presentation, the Eco Reps met and prepared a summary report including such things as the benefits and cost savings of switching to LED lights and reducing paper use.

Catherine Risigo wanted to make her business more sustainable in order to show her young clients the importance of taking care of the environment. Alicia said, “We were able to give Catherine Risigo some great tips on how to save money on paper and energy, as well as promote sustainability and living green to the impressionable children!”

One of the suggestions the Eco Reps made was that instead of advertising events with flyers, she reach out to people via mailing lists.  They also informed her on how much energy her appliances were using. For example, one of the big appliances she had, but didn’t use much, was a refrigerator, which is the number one energy consuming appliance.

“With all the ideas we shared with Catherine Risigo, we also gave her management techniques to make sure her staff was on the same page as her as they were going green,” Alicia said. “It was a great successful project!”

Alicia submitted the final plan to the company over winter break, and they will be following up with them in the spring semester to see how they have used the report.

When asked about the project, Amanda King, manager of Sustainability and head of the Eco Reps, said, “It was a great opportunity to see our Eco Reps apply their sustainability and analytical skills to assist a local company in identifying opportunities to become more sustainable, efficient and save money as well.”

By Sindhu Palaniappan

For the past five years of its existence, Rhythmic Graffiti has been one of the biggest shows on Bentley’s campus. The show welcomes family members, friends, fans and students to fill Koumantzalis up to the brim. Four different groups on campus participate: CRAZE, of course, the Bentley Dance team, FIRE Step Squad and the Fire Dance team. In addition to these four groups, multiple dance teams from outside participate, bringing fans, music and different moves to the stage.

CRAZE began as a Latin dance group in 2004 and has since evolved into a hip hop team well known at Bentley and in the Greater Boston area. Their annual collaborative show, Rhythmic Graffiti started in 2007, and this year marked their fifth anniversary.

The show began with an acknowledgement of Steph Hubbard, CRAZE Alum and choreographer for the team. Co-hosts and seniors Brian Collatos and Mike Cunningham were comfortable and witty on stage, involving audience members and calling attention to specific details. After a brief video highlighting each of CRAZE’s performances over the last five years, the show kicked off with a performance by the CRAZE seniors.

Bulletproof Funk, best known from America’s Best Dance Crew, took the stage next and got the crowd cheering. They performed in pairs and blew the crowd away with slow motion moves and incredibly synced motions to intricate beats.

Cunningham and Collatos came out to introduce CRAZE next with a little skit, showing off their “CRA” and “ZE” tramp stamps, received the night before after a crazy night at Skellig (or so they claim). The team came out and put their all on stage, showing Bentley what they’re made of. Next, Wellesley’s dance team graced the Koumantzalis stage, followed by another Bentley performance.

The FIRE dance team, established in 2010, came out next, showing off their flexibility and grace. Following them, the FIRE step squad took the stage, moving only to the sound of their claps, stomps and voices. Chris Auger from ABDC, also known as “Monster Breezy,” took the stage next, performing a story routine. He spliced together vocals and bits of different songs and remixes, in order to tell a story while he danced on stage alone.

Bentley’s dance team came out next, doing a hip hop routine in the spirit of things. Other teams that performed included Static Noyze, a well-known group that was featured on America’s Best Dance Crew, Brandeis’ hip hop group, another crew called Next Slap Bracelets and others. Static Noyze did another story type of presentation, conveying different scenes to the crowd purely through music, dance and facial expression. When Static Noyze finished up, a senior near the front said, “I cried!” The performance was very touching.

Hint Water sponsored the event and all proceeds went to the Dizzy Feet Foundation, an organization that promotes dance education across the country.

By Sindhu Palaniappan

The Falcon Society is a group of students who have displayed excellence in their field of study and have also contributed substantially to the social and cultural activities of the University. Involvement in outside organizations extends beyond membership; these students are active and dedicated leaders who have made significant improvements and contribution to Bentley.

The current members of the Falcon Society, as voted in by past members, are Lacey Cumming, Nicole D’Achino, Ryan DeChance and Ryan O’Keeffe. Students need to be nominated by someone within the Bentley Community – faculty, staff or other students. Once nominated, students receive an application to complete, which requires documentation of all involvements at Bentley, as well as permission to release grades and judicial records.

Personal statements and letters of recommendation are optional supplements to the application (and since we’ve all done college applications, it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch).
As outlined by the current four members of the group, decisions are based on these five criteria:

Leadership: The extent to which the person has demonstrated influence, and guidance to organizations, teams, etc. Points to be considered include responsibilities involved, how much the person is called upon by others, the variety of duties and so forth.

Contribution: In what ways has this person positively impacted the University community, including improvement of student life, creation of a new policy or program, revitalization of an organization, athletic advancement and academic advancement?

Diversity: How broadly has this person been involved (variety of their organizational commitments and interests)?

Continuity: Is this person consistently making contributions to the Bentley community?

Character: Is this person living up to the ideals set forth in the Bentley Beliefs?

Nominations are submitted from the middle of December up until early February. Once nominations are in, candidates are contacted and applications are due by the end of February. Decisions for members to be inducted are sent out by the middle of March. There is no interview process, mainly a paper application that is reviewed and discussed at length by the current members of the Falcon Society and Doreen Floyd, the faculty advisor for the group.

“The goal of the Falcon Society is to recognize student contributions to the Bentley community during their time at Bentley,” said Lacey Cumming. “The student-run society looks to honor students each year based on their contributions to all fields at Bentley including academics, athletics, social and cultural activities.”

This small and selective group currently holds positions in the Center for Women and Business, ABA, Admissions, CAB, Ambassadors, Greek Life, Acapella, AIA, SAAC, Service learning, APO and the field hockey team. Nominations will be opening up soon.

By Brenna O’Connell

“ATTENTION! For years, the ‘freshmans’ have been oppressed and forced to live in small, cramped villages with limited resources while the rest of the democratic republic of Bentley lives in luxury! We are not allowed: Personal transportation, to cook food within our homes, personal restroom facilities or bedrooms, freedom of speech during ‘quiet hours,’” and the list goes on.

This demanding outcry has been presented by the Freshmans Liberation Army, better known as the FLA, here in the “Democratic Republic of Bentley”. The FLA was formed in the Terrorism & National Security (GLS 242) here.

GLS 242, taught by Professor Asbed Kotchikian, explores motives behind terrorist groups and ways that national security can react, and they did so by hosting their very own terrorist exercise throughout the semester. The exercise was aimed at teaching students to learn that there are different perspectives involved, and to teach them to react to challenges that both societies and governments face.

The class was allowed to volunteer for sides, and it was almost split down the middle. Both the “terrorists” and the “government” came up with their own structure – the “terrorists” chose a leader and split into a radical wing and a conciliatory wing. The “government” chose a president and advisors, along with a security structure.

The exercise functioned on the assumption that different years at Bentley were different ethnicities; the “Freshmans” were the most discriminated against and therefore were the ones who struck up a rebellion. Their main goal was to gain their own nation, also known as Lower Campus.

The government first issued a formal address to the citizens after the FLA attacked the school’s library. Thankfully, the library had been evacuated at that point; the government found it necessary to take all possible security measures to insure safety and stop the “terrorist group.” The government then released detailed findings from an investigation, including real pictures of freshman housing here at Bentley.

“As a terrorist group, the students learned the importance of gaining sympathy within the nation,” said one student. “The ‘terrorists’ needed to keep their role as the victim that was being oppressed in order to gain the upper hand. In the game, as well as in reality, crossing the line from being labeled as a ‘freedom fighter’ to a ‘terrorist’ will cause any group to lose support.”

“It is necessary to really look at what somebody is asking for instead of writing them off as those radical lunatics that are beyond a normal person’s comprehension,” said another student. “If you do not do this, you are avoiding the issue and will never find a lasting resolution.

After doing plenty of research about terrorist groups and the ways they go about demanding certain things, and the procedures in which the government goes about dealing with this demands, the students were asked to take action within this exercise. The government in this case ended up giving the ‘Freshmans’ monetary support in order to better their living conditions, which surprised the FLA. The government learned how difficult and time consuming it was to draft a public statement, and then take action from there while keeping everyone happy. Many students in the ‘government’ section were unhappy with the final action taken – and had very different opinions.

“I was pleasantly surprised to see how the students managed to utilize what they learned and what we talked about in the course about the motivation of groups and how, more often than not, terrorist groups are nothing more than disfranchised and disgruntled segment in a society whose voices are not heard and hence they resort to terrorism,” said Kotchikian.

What the course aimed to teach both its own students as well as students outside of the class is to not believe everything you hear. However much a source tries to be objective, a bias will emerge because people are human.

“Understanding the different circumstances that cause people to become terrorists can help them better understand why terrorists exist,” said one of the GLS 242 students. “Sometimes, the line between good and evil is not very clear. People like Nelson Mandela or America’s founding fathers could technically have been classified as terrorists, so it is important to see all sides of a conflict before deciding which side to support.”

This course was introduced in 2002, but never before this semester has an exercise such as this been conducted. The students were able to put themselves directly in the shoes of a “terrorist,” per say, while other students were put in the shoes of the “government,” responsible for reprimanding and rectifying rebellious behavior while keeping the public happy. It’s easy to criticize our government as it acts now, and it’s easy to form opinions on terrorist groups whom we learn about through a biased media. But it’s far from easy to put yourself in either set of shoes to actually learn what goes into the actions taken by both groups.

Brian Bramzwig, currently a junior at Bentley, is an up-and-coming Boston hip-hop artist who recently entered into a shopping agreement backed by one of the largest entertainment companies in the U.S. The exact terms contained in the agreement have not yet been released.Such agreements generally grant the shopping agent the right to exclusively represent the artist for a period of time, generally nine months to two years. The objective of the agreement is to have the shopping agent secure a recording contract for the artist.

Bramzwig was recently discovered by ProducerBoyz in combination with DJ Peter Parker and Coast to Coast Records. Originally from Westchester, NY, Bramzwig has accumulated a fan base of several thousand followers across the States. He has performed at venues like the Middle East in Boston. Recently, he released a collection of songs entitled The Pre-Game as a promotion for his coming debut mixtape The Roaring Twenty. He will be returning to the Middle East on November 30.

“Bramzwig has seemingly found a way to walk the tightrope that divides pop music with lyrical content that inspires and educates listeners, through his uses of socially relevant references and witty word play,” said Ben Fowler, current president of the Bentley Entrepreneurship Society. Fowler acted on behalf of Bramzwig during the negotiations; he handles all managing and financing responsibilities, and has played an essential role in Bramzwig’s progression as an artist. Fowler can be credited with the realization of the rapper’s newfound success.

“Every night before I go to sleep, I think about music and how much it means to me and the people I love,” said Bramzwig. “This has been a dream I have been chasing my whole life; it’s mind-blowing to fathom the thought of dreams becoming reality.”

Evan Honeyman, named Connecticut’s Future Business Leader in 2009 and a student here at Bentley, offered the deal to Bramzwig. Honeyman will partially take on the responsibilities of shopping the artist to major record labels and independent distribution companies.

“I am extremely excited about this opportunity,” said Honeyman. “Bramzwig is a talented individual and entertainer. I look forward to working with him and his team.”

Bramzwig’s music can be found online at www.youtube.com/bramzwig. Ben Fowler can be contacted at bramzwig@gmail.com. Evan Honeyman can be contacted at evanhoneyman@gmail.com.

I Love You Because is a modern-day musical love story centered around three couples who fall in and out of love. APO will be performing the show November 17 – 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Koumantzelis Auditorium, and it’s free of charge with a Bentley ID.

In the play, Jeff and Austin are brothers and complete opposites. Jeff, played by sophomore Jose Gutierrez in a breakout role, is a typical guy. He wants a friends-with-benefits relationship, and tries to avoid “true love”. Austin, played by lead and senior Brian Hasbrouck, is a precarious and calculative character, described as a “pussy-whipped, tight-ass Republican”.

Marcie and Diana are roommates with equally opposing personalities. Diana, played by senior Phoebe Johnson, is a hopeless romantic who has entered a “desperate abandon” phase in her relationship. As an actuary, she is equally calculative and sometimes uptight. Marcie, played by sophomore Jennifer Balacuit, is a free thinker and a liberal, playing a stark opposite Austin, with whom she falls in love.

Freshmen Ben Gutwetter and Katie Kradolfer play the barristas gone therapists, who offer both liquor and serious advice to the “heartbreak crew” (the four listed above).

Act I opened with a musical number in New York City and then some banter between the characters. The play includes many musical numbers, all accompanied by a hired music crew. Erin Huelskamp (director) and Emily Howe (music director) have been working with Alpha Psi Omega for the past few months in order to put this together. The play also includes witty and crude humor, and some interesting puppet scenes.

The story in the play is pretty relatable; everyone falls in and out of love, and everyone pines for something or another that seems unattainable. The characters and the students who play them are so easily warmed up to. Between drunken jokes and heartfelt solos, they’re guaranteed to win the audience over with their genuine passion for the story and the play. Not to mention, the songs in the play are pretty catchy.

The play comes together at the end with the characters realizing the difference between saying, “I love you, anyway,” and “I love you, because.” The audience is able to watch these characters grow from loving each other in spite of flaws to loving each other because of who they are. The characters in the play are intimate, and it’s obvious that the cast itself has a wonderful chemistry.

The show was chosen a year in advance, and Huelskamp and Howe were hired for this play specifically. “Shows of this type are right up my alley. I love the comedic side of things, and I love the movement and the choreography. This is why I applied to be a part of this,” says Huelskamp.

“None of these students thought they were singers or dancers or movers,” said Huelskamp. “‘We’re Bentley students, we don’t do that,’ is what they’d say. But I really think this was a good thing for them. It’s exciting to embrace something so new, and in some ways it’s challenging. Jose Gutierrez is brand new to this, and I think his experience particularly was transformative. He definitely started in a different place and look at him now. And Brian – Brian is the lead male and the producer for the show; he’s someone who knows theatre inside and out.”

By Lacey Nemergut

City Year is an international non-profit that unites high school and college graduates to serve a year in some of the most underserved inner-city schools across the country. Acting as mentors, tutors and role models, City Year corps members help alleviate the educational dropout crisis.

Bentley University was the first university to partner with City Year as a Give a Year partner, and now many acclaimed Universities have followed in Bentley’s footsteps. This is a truly unique and life-changing opportunity provided to young people and greatly supported by the Bentley community. For more information about City Year and the Bentley Give a Year scholarship program, please contact City Year Alumna ’11 and Give a Year Marketing Coordinator Kiernan Patenaude in the Service-Learning Center, Morison 101, ext. 2723, patenau_kier@bentley.edu.

Sophomore Molly Godfrey discusses her decision to take a leave of absence during her sophomore year to serve with City Year Los Angeles and Bentley’s Give a Year program:

So many people struggle with the idea of giving up a year of their lives, and rightfully so. City Year is a big commitment and at times, it is quite a challenge. Long hours and days, with the overwhelming task of helping to teach some of the most difficult, academically struggling students in the toughest of inner-city schools takes a toll on you.

Despite all of that, I can hands-down say this is the best job in the entire world. I don’t know any other job where you can work 12 hours a day and leave every night feeling so empowered and that you truly made a difference in a child’s life and that you cannot wait to return in the morning. The kids keep you going. Their energy is unlimited and they never slow down.

The real challenge exists in the classroom when the reality hits and you see how badly the school system has failed these kids. Resources are scarce and students continue to get passed along grade to grade without really ever learning the material. Standardized tests are also a huge problem because students are taught for the test and lack basic broad skills. On my first day of school, I was hit with the horrible reality that my ten-year-olds could barely read, add and subtract. Those are skills fifth graders should have well grasped.

A lot of the problem also exists in family support because so many of their parents do not understand English, as they come from poor immigrant families. Most of them lack any formal education, even a high school degree. So much of my job lies in trying to motivate my students to see the long-term benefit of education and helping them to push themselves when everything in their environment tries to bring them down. Poverty and gang involvement are problems my ten-year-olds face; it’s heart breaking. Their heads aren’t in their schoolwork, and I try to keep them focused and make school a positive place they want to return to day after day despite what may be going on at home or on the streets.

I serve because I am filled with gratitude for the extremely fortunate life I’ve been given. I’ve had an extremely supportive family and friends, and the opportunity to go to Bentley, an amazing educational institution. I knew I had to give back and City Year was the perfect opportunity. It all hit home for me the other day after a tutoring session with one of my students. Moments like these put my experience back into perspective, no matter how much I miss home or how much easier my college life seems at times.

My student and I were doing his math homework and he was struggling with long division. I told him, “You can totally do this, it’s just multiplication and subtraction and you’re super smart, I know you can do both of those.”

He stopped and turned to look at me. “Miss, no one’s ever told me that…” He could tell I was confused and said, “That I’m smart, no one’s ever called me smart.”

That’s why I serve. Because every kid deserves to be cared about, and sometimes we take for granted how easy our lives have been. These kids are going to end up changing me more then I may change them, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision to serve with City Year.

In Boston alone, 20 percent of the population is impoverished. The average income of a woman living on welfare is $17,000, far below the $51,000 needed to pay for rent, health and child care if she were to have two kids. In contrast, the average tuition cost of a Bentley University student disregarding scholarships and financial aid is around $53,000.

The Bentley Microfinance Group Superstar Conference addressed some of the issues of poverty and offered models that have been implemented in the past to alleviate financial struggles. A lot of what Microfinance does is lend out small loans to those who are living at or below the poverty level, and cannot receive help from banks. Most of these Microenterprises lend their money based on a technique called social collateral, a lending method that allows money to be loaned out only if the previous loan has been paid back.

In other words, a person waiting behind someone cannot receive a loan until the person in front of them has fully repaid the loan. This instills a sense of urgency upon the person paying back the money being borrowed. If they default on the loan, others waiting to receive loans would not be entitled to receive capital. Generally, most of the loans are repaid periodically to push the borrowers to fulfill their obligations.

The added pressure of someone overlooking one’s shoulder (peer monitoring), and the financial incentives serve as other reasons of the high success rate in following this mechanism. If all the loans were repaid, the group would have been allowed to take out more money to invest in and borrow. In the end, everyone won. Borrowers obtained the necessary capital to start their small businesses and earn small profits while Microenterprises felt good about creating jobs and stimulating the economy.

The highlight of the event, however, was the loan shark game. Participants randomly received one of five loan client profiles: Arnold, Brad, Charlie, Dianne and Evelyn. Each client profile had different behavioral characteristics, work experiences, referral bases, financials and reasons for needing a loan.

For instance, Charlie has been in the magazine business for twelve years since receiving a marketing degree from UMass Lowell. His financials for the past five years have been solid and his company has been making a profit for four out of the five years it has been in business.

He wishes to take out a $12,000 loan to expand his business and hire an IT professional. Charlie struggles personally, though. He is hard to get in contact with and cancels meetings last minute. On the other hand, Dianne is an excellent character. She is easy to maintain contact with and her commitment is undeniable. She got her entrepreneurship degree with a concentration in technology from Northeastern but has since been struggling to maintain a job. She wants to take out a $20,000 to start her own business. This is it for her as she quit her job to devote her time and energy into the start-up.

The idea was for a student to match up their profile with a bank that would agree to give him or her loans. To simulate the process of obtaining a loan in the real world, BMG withheld the names of the various banks and lenders. Students had to walk around the Student Center and talk to a “representative” of Bank of America, ICICI Pvt. Ltd (Bank in India), ACCION (U.S. Microfinance group), Fore-

ign Microfinance Group and loan shark without being directly told of each entity’s criteria. For example, the Foreign Microfinance Group was looking to give out loans to a group of six to eight people in poor, financial standing. The loans taken out had to fall within $10-$500. If Charlie, an individual looking to take out a $12,000 loan, came and delivered his pitch to the Foreign Microfinance Group, he would instantly be turned away.

The challenge then was to find the right lender based on what was learned during the student’s interaction with the representatives. Unfortunate-

ly, some are more helpful than others. The loan shark would offer incredibly high interest rates ranging from 100 percent to 780 percent and physically threaten a client if he or she did not pay back the loan. ICICI Pvt. Ltd was a little more forgiving, offering loans to those with at least five years of tax filings and a clean credit history.

Throughout the game, it was evident that there would not be any withheld emotions. Quickly, with what seemed like a simple task suddenly turned into a frustrating one. Students revealed that it was much harder than they expected after being rejected by various lenders. Some even went to four lenders before finally arriving at the fifth and reaching a successful deal. Other students were humored by the loan shark’s ridiculous proposals and accepted, saving them from struggling any further.

The Superstar Conference turned out to be very successful. Everyone who went expressed interest in the Bentley Microfinance Group. If you wanted to attend the event but could not for any reason, the entire event was videotaped so stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for details on where you can watch the recording.

Bentley Against Malaria is a new campaign which, alongside the Council of Charitable Acts (CCA), is working to send bed nets to children and to families in Africa to protect them against Malaria-carrying mosquitos. Bentley has registered a team with “Against Malaria,” and is working to raise awareness through Facebook, Twitter, and those neat little posters seen around campus.

Against Malaria is an international organization that provides families with nets at no charge – so far they have put in place 1,735,224 nets and counting. They have over 450,000 donors, and their goal is to make that number in the millions. They also sponsor fundraisers and partner with distributors to make the process more efficient. They have just recently passed the seven-million-dollar milestone in donations and they plan to keep raising. Recent reports indicate that infant mortality due to malaria is falling, from the largest cause to the third largest, showing that these nets truly do make a difference at such little cost to us.

“Estimates put the deaths from malaria between one and three million people every day, and there is still no vaccine for it,” said Moussa Hassoun, the Bentley student who is spearheading the campaign. “The best way to stop the spread is to take preventative measures by blocking out mosquito infections in the first place – by covering residents when they sleep.”

The nets are just $5 each, and each net lasts for two years. One-hundred percent of all donations go to funding the nets themselves, and they are sent and installed for free by the Red Cross Foundation periodically.

“We are aiming to raise anywhere between 6-10 thousand dollars through selling merchandise and having open donations,” said Hassoun. “We’re also looking for different organizations to host events with, such as RAs, RHA, Class Cabinet and Panhellenic Council, to name a few.”

They are planning on selling t-shirts, carnival cups, cantines, bracelets and sunglasses, among other things.

The inspiration came from something Hassoun did a few years ago with his family.

“We started our own group on the site to raise funds – at the time it was formatted in the form of a competition between teams,” he said. “The team has been extremely organized and helpful in figuring out exactly how and where we want to spend the money we raise – this is, ultimately, to help those dying of malaria since no vaccine has been released.”

The campaign is always open to students looking to get involved – the group is in talks with a large number of student organizations to get different campus departments involved.

As Hassoun said, “Social responsibility is one of the main teachings of Bentley, and this would work perfectly in line with that mantra.”

Contact Hassoun_mous@bentley.edu for more details.

Southwest Airline held a contest four weeks ago called the “30 Million Point Giveaway,” and Bentley’s own Evan Honeyman, an avid fan and shareholder of the company, decided that he needed to get involved. Included in this contest’s prize is the opportunity to become Southwest’s Chief Reward Officer, a position responsible for nationally promoting their loyalty program called “Rapid Rewards.”

After submitting a resume and answering a few out-of-the-ordinary questions from Southwest (“If you were an animal, which one would you be and why?”), Evan found out that he was a finalist. As a finalist, he needs to submit a two-minute video attesting to his capabilities of being a good CRO in a fun and creative manner. The Bentley community has been nothing but supportive, and Honeyman expresses his gratitude and appreciation for it.