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(04/17/14 1:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A new biking program called Crimson Cruisers is coming to IU. This program functions like a library where students, faculty and staff can rent a bike for free for an entire semester. “It’s called a ‘bike library’ intentionally, like how you check out a book,” said Dustin Smucker, leisure programs coordinator for IU Outdoor Adventures. “It’s open to the public, the IU community. The checkout is free as long as the book comes back and there’s not coffee stains on it.” IUOA is the operational hub for the pilot program, Smucker said. They took 12 bikes that were bound for landfills and repurposed them to be safe to ride. These bikes will be rented out to riders directly from IUOA, housed in Eigenmann Hall, just like the rest of the inventory they rent out. The only difference is these bikes are free and can be rented for an entire semester.Organizations including the Office of Sustainability are contributing to this project alongside IUOA. The office provided guidance and hired intern graduate assistant Henri Venable to facilitate the program.Campus Bus Services has also provided some insight and direction, Smucker said, and IU Parking is involved with the funding of the program.For now, the program is just a pilot. “The goal is for the pilot to run during the summertime, and, depending on the response and the success of the pilot during the summer, our goal is to scale it up in the fall,” he said. Venable said they want to increase the number of bikes in time for the return of students and faculty to campus in the fall. “The hope is to make Crimson Cruisers a permanent and thriving institution,” he said.Previous proposals to bring the program to IU were not implemented because they were too expensive, Smucker said. “The idea for bringing a bike share program to campus really started rolling in 2011, and interns have been refining the concept since,” Venable said. “The idea eventually shifted from traditional kiosk models to the bike library system we’re implementing today.” Similar programs at Portland State University and the University of Kentucky inspired Crimson Cruisers, Venable said. Smucker said the plan, a low-cost variation of bike sharing, is appealing because it is sustainable. Venable explained the program is sustainable because it recycles bikes that would have been thrown away, and the initiative provides an opportunity for community involvement. “The majority of students and employees live less than 5-10 miles from campus, but 71 percent of employees and 23 percent of off-campus students drive alone to campus,” Venable said.Today, the student, faculty and staff ambassadors will be selected for the pilot program. Ambassadors are being chosen from applicants that submitted their applications online to be a part of the pilot. Bikes will be distributed April 22, when the pilot will officially begin. The 2012 Transportation Demand Management Survey showed there was a need for transportation improvements with bicycles, which could help decrease traffic and increase wellness in the Bloomington community.“The bike may not be a magic bullet,” Smucker said, “but it could be one step in making some strides in addressing those concerns.”
(03/06/14 3:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU-Bloomington has the highest on-time completion rate and the highest total student completion rate of all colleges in Indiana, according to the College Completion Rates for Indiana report released Feb. 18.Sophomore Emma Hamann, a student at IU, said she believes it is important to graduate on time.She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, and said she will take summer classes in order to graduate on time.“I think it’s important because people need to start their actual careers and not continue to go into more debt,” she said. Dennis Groth, interim vice provost for undergraduate education, said the University’s goal is on-time degree completion for all students. He said the University always looks for new ways to reach this goal and improve overall student success.Overall, only 30 percent of students finish their four-year degree on time, and only 50 percent finish the degree in six years. The Indiana Commission for Higher Education implemented new programs and financial incentives to achieve its goal of 50 percent on-time completion rates.Right now, on-time completion is the exception in Indiana rather than the norm. Only 32.6 percent of Ball State students and 37.6 percent of Purdue students graduate on time.Hamann said she thinks the low amount of students graduating in four years is because some students aren’t prepared for college or its requirements.“There is a large amount of required classes, a lot of people change their majors and other students decide college isn’t for them or start their careers without a degree,” Hamann said. At IU, about 50 percent of students complete their four-year degree on time, according to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education report.“Each student case is potentially unique, and completion time frames are within their control,” Groth said. “Students may stay longer in order to complete a second degree, or even a graduate degree.”About 24.5 percent of students complete their degree late, and 9 percent transfer or complete college with another degree. Hamann said there is a strong support system at IU, including professors and academic advisors, which she thinks helps students graduate on time.“There are also a lot of summer school classes offered at IU and we have great peer tutoring,” she said.Groth recommended that in addition to speaking with advisors, students can check their Academic Advising Reports to stay on track. “We are committed at IUB to student success,” he said.
(09/23/13 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Molly, considered a safer and more pure form of Ecstasy, is an increasingly popular street drug for college-age students, according to the Indiana Prevention Resource Center. Despite its innocent nickname, Molly is a dangerous and potentially deadly drug that has many harmful side effects, said Carole Nowicke, research associate at the Indiana Prevention Resource Center. Overdoses of Molly may lead to health problems such as hyperthermia, seizures and kidney or liver failure. Ecstasy became popular at music festivals during the 1980s and 1990s because it energizes users and makes them want to dance, but too much can be fatal, Nowicke said. Molly has become popular in recent years as an alternative prescription drug, largely due to references in pop culture and music, she said. It is generally taken in a powder or crystalline format, while Ecstasy is normally taken as a pill.Nowicke said it’s hard to track exactly how much Molly is used by a population because published data often lags a year or so behind the surveys.Data showing use of the drug “isn’t being asked with the currently popular term for the substance,” Nowicke said. If students don’t know Molly is a form of Ecstasy, they might not acknowledge the fact that they’re using it, she said.“My colleagues who teach say that when asked, their students seem to be aware of the drug,” Nowicke said. “That doesn’t answer how many are using it.”Molly, also known as MDMA, can be extremely dangerous because it is often substituted by drug dealers by “anything that could be passed off” as Molly. Nowicke said Molly is often laced or mixed with methamphetamine or “bath salts.”“Since last spring, seven people attending dance concerts died with symptoms matching overdoses of MDMA,” Nowicke said in a press release. “We’ve been receiving more requests for information about the drug at the center.”High school and college students are often fond of Molly because of the relaxed but energized sensation it creates, she said. In Indiana, 5.3 percent of 12th graders claimed to have tried Molly in their lifetime, compared with 7.2 percent of students in a national sample, according to a press release. “It’s cheap, easy to obtain and supposed to be a relatively benign drug,” Nowicke said. Although it is hard to prevent students from using the drug, college campuses are taking steps to try. “Colleges are required to report to the federal government about crimes on campus, including drug possession,” Nowicke said. The University of Virginia, for example, aims to provide awareness of the dangers of Molly use through YouTube videos and other platforms. UVA student Mary Shelley Goldsmith died Labor Day weekend and is believed to have taken Molly at a concert before her death, according to a press release. Nowicke assured students that Molly is not safer than Ecstasy.“Remember, part of its name is ‘amphetamine’ — it isn’t ‘Vitamin M.,” she said. “Concerns about the safety of street drugs are one of the factors increasing the popularity of prescription drugs.”
(09/16/13 1:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Twins Martin and Michelle Aguinis are the first set of twins ever to be named Wells Scholars, IU’s most competitive scholarship program.The twins, along with 18 other students, will receive full tuition and course-related fees, as well as a living stipend, for their four-year education at IU.The students, who grew up in Florida, were born in Argentina and moved to the U.S. on Independence Day when they were 4 years old, Michelle said.Their parents wanted to give their children an opportunity to grow up in the U.S., she said.Even though they couldn’t speak much English, the siblings said being young made it easier for them to adapt.“Our first words were ‘Let’s go,’” Martin said.About half of the Aguinis’ family still lives in Argentina, and they visit their home country every one or two years, he said.“We went through such dramatic changes in our lives growing up, but we had each other as a commonality,” Martin said.Becoming a Wells Scholar wasn’t an easy process for the twins, Martin said.Their Florida high school was not a part of the Wells Scholars program. Only schools in Indiana and some select schools in other states nominate up to two students to be a part of the Wells Scholar program.Martin and Michelle had to appeal to the Office of Admissions to request to be nominated. This put them into a bigger pool, Martin said.Six hundred students were chosen to write three essays, and then 56 student were sent to Bloomington for a weekend of group and individual interviews. Michelle and Martin were two of those 56.Finally, 18 of the students were selected to be named Wells Scholars.“We got a phone call exactly a week after the interview weekend,” Martin said.The twins have always been very close, and they understand each other,Michelle said.“We get along really well and have a lot in common, but we are individuals — we complement each other,” Michelle said.Their relationship was one of the key factors that helped them win second place their senior year in the state championship for DECA, an international association for marketing students.To compete, the siblings had to work as a team to develop a customer loyalty plan, 30-page book and 15-minute presentation about a financial firm, Martin said.“We’ve been a team for 18 years,” Martin said. “It was very enjoyable to be able to do this with my sister.”The siblings are both students at the Kelley School of Business. Michelle said she would like to major in finance and accounting with a minor in information systems or something with technology.Martin plans to major in marketing management and international business with a minor in psychology.In deciding to come to IU, the Kelley School and Wells Scholars program were huge deciding factors, Martin said. “They are ranked second in recruiting, and I-CORE allows you to apply all the lessons you’ve learned to solve cross-functional business problems,” he said.They also said the financial aid and community with networking opportunities through the Wells Scholars program were important in their decision.“It is an honor to hold Herman B Wells’ namesake,” Michelle said. “It’s not only important because of the financial aid with scholarships. Mainly, it’s part of being a part of the community. We’re there for each other, to support each other.”