Raf Week

"Hi, my name is Emily Novak. I'm looking for Nancy Emerson? I was the student who called about the lake pigments."

"Oh, yes.. from Transylvania U? I'm sure that's a fun place to be around this time of year."

Yes. Yes, it is.

Granted, don't get me wrong- I had my fair share of tests and papers this week, but the spirit of Transy picked up to celebrate the festivities. All week the school has been hosting various functions in celebration of Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, or as he is affectionately called--"Raf". One night there was a bonfire and Improv Show, another night the Theatre Guild hosted ghost tours of the campus, and one night four lucky students got to spend the night in Raf's tomb. But why all the fuss about some old dead guy?

Let's rewind a couple hundred years to when Transy was established back in 1780. Raf was a french biology professor at the school and was known for being... "brilliant". Although he wasn't recognized for his genius back then, this eccentric teacher's work was later examined, and it is possible that he came up with many theories about evolution long before Darwin. While he was not an "A+" professor in the classroom, Raf roamed the Kentucky area classifying many new species of plants and observing the natural vegetation.

Fast forward a couple years to when the Transylvania President is sick of Raf skipping more class than his students and can't stand him anymore. Legend has it that while Raf was on a trip regarding his scientific discoveries, the President ordered all of his belongings to be consolidated from his two room space (Professors often lived and worked in the singular building on Transy's campus when it first opened) down to one room to make room for a student who needed a dorm room. Well, Raf came back and wasn't very happy about the changes. He claims that specimens had gone missing, equipment was broken, and at the end of a big fight, the President fired him.

In an angry rage, Raf writes an angry letter cursing the President and Transylvania, fleeing up the eastern coast to Pennsylvania.

Not long after, the President died out at sea on a trip with his wife, and the Transylvania building burned down. Supposedly, this is all because of Raf's curse.

After Raf's death, he was buried in a public cemetery. Many years later, the cemetery was destined to be destroyed and changed into something else to accommodate the growing Pennsylvania town. Students and staff refused to let such an interesting piece of Transylvanian history slip away, so Raf's remains (or at least, what we think were his remains... public graves often had multiple people buried in them) along with the tomb marker were brought back to the school and are now housed under the steps of Old Morrison.

Sometimes people blame the fire in the Old Morrison on Raf as well, claiming he started the fire. Mostly because the fire took place at the opposite end of Old Morrison and Raf's Tomb was perfectly untouched by the flames.

Nevertheless, the story of Raf is something the students here love to celebrate-- and it definitely makes Halloween week more exciting.

Fall Break!

It's Tuesday, October 19. A sad, sad day for Transy students across the campus.

Why so sad you ask? Fall Break is quickly coming to a close.

It was a much appreciated four day weekend, but unfortunately for the brains of staff and students, tomorrow morning begins another learning filled adventure.

Nevertheless, it was a glorious weekend, and there are a couple pieces of excellent news!

1. Hooray for the Brown Science Center!

Over the past several months, the laboratory spaces in the L.A. Brown Science Center have been under construction. Slowly but surely each of these spaces has been updated, renovated, and are now looking top notch. However, there were a lot of very generous donors who made the changes possible. To thank them for all of their donations, the various labs put on exhibits and demos to model the new facilities.

Waaaayy up on third floor at the end of the hall, Dr. Fox's Cell/Molecular class (that includes me!) demonstrated peroxidase tissue printing.

For those of you wondering what the heck that means, it's actually pretty simple. Inside of plants there is a chemical compound called peroxidase. It's job is to protect the plant from hydrogen peroxide that is produced by different reactions. Think about how your skin turns white and dies when you clean a cut out with normal hydrogen peroxide from the store.... the peroxidase stops that dying white part from happening to the plant cells. One way to test if you have that special compound in a plant is by tissue printing. There is "paper" called nitrocellulose which is a special kind of membrane. When fresh vegetables (lets take celery for instance) is pressed into the membrane it "prints" a copy of all the proteins and compounds that are right there on the surface. Then, the nitrocellulose is developed in a chemical bath which stains the peroxidase that was stamped into the sheet a dark blue black color. If you are interested in seeing where all the proteins are in the stamp, there is a second color bath which will stains the rest of the proteins a bright red.

Down on the chemistry and physics floors other demonstrations were also being performed. So, congrats to all the demo-ers, and thank you to all the donors!

2. Sustainability

On campus, there has been a huge push to go green. President Williams has a lot of forward thinking ideas that he really hopes to be carried out on campus, but there are a sea of possibilities that are still untapped as well. This year, a new council has been formed to outline and create a plan for Transy's continued sustainability. The first meeting was held today, and a lot of healthy discussion went on as far as what sustainability is, what that means to Transy, and what were our biggest concerns for accomplishing it. Faculty, staff, and students were able to toy with ideas and words, and in the end walk away with some new things to think about. Although nothing has been solidified, good headway has been made in the direction of organizing a plan of attack .

3. Home Cooked Meals.

There is not a whole lot more to say on this topic except appreciate your home cooked meals while you have them. God Bless the cooks at Transy, but I missed having real food.

4. The trees of Back Circle

Fall is in the air. The trees seemed to skip from green to gone in a matter of 4 days, and the whole back lot is covered in bright yellow and orange leaves! The air is starting to become nippy, and the only way to truly embrace the change in season is the hot apple cider at Jazzman's.

Luckily, after all of this, it is only a three day week a head of us.

Don't forget to look forward to Parent's Weekend which is coming up soon, as well as Raf Week is right around the corner!

Hello, October!

Well, I successfully made it through last week, and now that everything has been sorted out, this week is almost over as well!

It is pretty amazing how fast time flies here, and already it's been a month. It's to the point now where it feels like everyone is starting to consistently hit a stride. I feel less like a "new" student and more like a Pioneer, and the new prospective students are starting to venture on to the campus. I get so excited every time I see them, and there is definitely and urge to spend a kajillion hours explaining to them how wonderful Transy is. Unfortunately, it's not something you can tell a person very well- more of an experience you have to be there for. (part of the reason why I am such a huge advocate for visiting a school before you make any decisions!)

So, if you are considering Transy, I would HIGHLY recommend staying a night. The people you stay with are amazingly friendly, and I am still friends with many of the girls that showed me around on my first visit.

Anyways, outside of prospective students, things are still busy as ever on campus!

The rehearsals for the Bakkhai are picking up, and tonight was the first time all the parts were incorporated together. It was fun to see all the hard work the other actors had been putting into their scenes, and the chorus girls and I were just as excited to show off the moves we'd been working on the past two weeks. Although there is still a lot of work to be done, the show is looking nice. Elements are falling into place, people are exploring their characters, and as a team we are finally starting to see the bigger picture of the show. Performances are going to start the first week in November, so hopefully some of you all will come to see it.

As a first year student in my first semester at college, I didn't think I would have all the opportunities I am finding present on campus. Over this past week, I have started researching with Dr. Csuhai, a professor on campus; something most undergraduates don't have the chance to do else where, let alone a freshman undergraduate. Dr. Csuhai is wonderful at provoking forward thinking questions as to where I want to take the experiments, as well as keeping me on track and in the right direction. Through the ACS (American Chemical Society) students have the chance to present research at a region and national convention. The experience of not only working in the lab and synthesizing data, but being able to discuss and present work is a nice leg up when looking at graduate schools or for a job.

Right now I have been working on creating a could different solutions of food dyes which we plan to run through a spectrophotometer (a machine that tells you how great the absorbency of a solution is). From there we hope to separate the colors out to be able to pinpoint them in our daily foods and determine amounts. There are a couple other aspects of the project, but right now I'm just beginning to embrace the freedom of working in the lab like this.

Side Tangent!

This week was Transy Unplugged!

In order to help decrease our environmental impact and increase student awareness, several sustainability groups on campus have been working to make this week a more eco-friendly experience. Students have been invited to ride the "smoothie bike" - a bicycle powered blender for a free fruity drink, trade in their regular lightbulbs for more efficient eco ones, and turn off power strips. These groups also host larger events like the candlelit dinner- a dinner were all the lights are shut off and the cafe is illuminated with little voda candles down every table. It was a surprisingly relaxing night, and it was fun to experience dinner in the dark.

Other than that, classes are still moving right along, there have been no issues with room mate disasters yet, and my laundry is STILL getting done!! woohoo!

It's been a very productive week, and as much as I love doing what I'm doing, TGIF!!