Newspapers / North Carolina School of … / Feb. 1, 2010, edition 1 / Page 10
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10 february 2010 news the stentorian | ncssm School to deal with increased budget cuts With the budget in such bad shape recently, many students don’t see why we keep spending money on things that seem to be useless - like repainting walls when students graffiti them or renovating buildings when we could be funding student activities. In reality, funds from three major categories (shown above) are not fungible and must be used as listed. • Graphic by Alex Lew By Avani Uppalapati Seventy-eight percent of the operating budget is used for The NCSSM budget is divided into three main parts: the operating budget, repair and renovating budget, and the capital involvement budget. Funds from one of these budgets cannot be transferred into another section. For example, the school will continue to renovate because the money available in that category is' not transferable to the operating or capital involvement budget nor can it be saved for the next year. The operating budget is further divided into academic, administrative, student life, library, and plant operation sections. It affects people, supplies and dorm life. Funds within the divisions of the operation budget can be redistributed. The repair and renovating budget is used to help improve the function of the school. That budget helps with maintenance issues such as creating new sidewalks, painting, having air conditioning and fixing roofs. The capital improvement budget is used to create new buildings. Since the funds are non-transferable, if there were seven million dollars in the budget for a new Reynolds building, that money, for example, could not be used for new textbooks. Last year, there were 18.5 million dollars in the operating budget. Of that, 6.5% was cut, causing the school to cut some textbooks, supplies, and vacant positions. However, this budget cut was offset by the enrollment growth funds. In addition to newly-placed budget cuts. Governor Purdue held back another five percent to put in a fund to help the school in crises. Therefore the total budget cut was 11.5%. Another budget cut of five percent increased the school’s total budget cut to 16.5% this year. salaries and benefits. The other twenty-two affects student life and academia. The 16.5% budget cut reduced funds for books and computers. Gerald Boarman, the school’s chancellor, says that there will be another five percent cut for the next year, but the school won’t be able to handle more than that. If a teacher retires or leaves after that cut, then the position will be eliminated and the responsibilities will be distributed to others in the department. But if it is a singleton position, like teaching German, a replacement will be made. This adheres to Boatman’s motto to “cut things, not people.” He says “Last year was a miracle budget. Everybody still has jobs, we have what we need.” \^en asked if there is a possibility of a fee to attend the school in the future, he replied “We’re one of the two schools like us that don’t charge a fee. In my second year here, I proposed a nine-hundred and fifty dollar fee - but what I really wanted was state funding.” Boarman got his wish - and a law that prohibits the school from enacting a fee unless the state legislature approves. Many people might not even apply for fear they cannot afford a fee. Boarman says he doesn’t recommend a fee, afraid it “would cause a great deal ofill-will.” Students and parents are an active part of this commutlity, and they . can help to save the budget. Students can turn lights off when not in use, let maintenance know when the air conditioning is broken, and practice other basic conservation principles. Boarman encourages parents to donate to the school by saying “Donating to the hall is nice, but donating to the school goes into a fund governed by the board.” That fund helps students go to special events and activities. Boarman is setting up an advisory budget committee to carry on after he leaves. It will include faculty, staff, and students. These people will understand the cuts and how to manage them. He hopes to create transparency, which allows people to help. “Inclusion is important” he says. The budget is more complicated than most may have thought, but everyone can help The North Carolina School of Science and Math stay afloat in these tough economic times. School ‘bubble’ keeps students in the dark By Rebecca Hong It is often said that students here live in a bubble, so caught up in the work and drama of 24/7 campus living that they hardly t^e notice when something happens in the world outside. TTie school does not receive newspapers, -most students don’t have radios, and when they have free time, students would rather catch up on sleep than current events. It is partially true that students here are somewhat oblivious to world events, but that, does not tell the whole story. Students clearly care about world issues, organizing food drives, book drives, and most recently a “text-a- thon” to support victims of the Haitian earthquake to help people around the world. The question is; how—and when— are students getting their news? Some students rely on their parents and friends for important world news. When asked how she learned of the disaster in Haiti, senior Nina Qi said, “My dad had to tell me.” Others, like junior Ivana Mbullah, learned-from fnends’ updates on the social networking site Facebook. “My friend posted [news about Haiti] as a Facebook status, and now I see it all over the internet,” Mbullah said. Yahoo and other news aggregation websites are also popular among students. Senior Sang] in Smith, who uses a Yahoo email account, said that he immediately saw Haiti-related headlines while checking his mail. Junior Kevin Huang said that he also relies on Yahoo after he “stopped watching TV” at school. However, students rarely give online headlines more than a cursory glance. Though almost all students surveyed had heard about the earthquake in Haiti, only a few knew about the January 12, 2010 aftershock about a week after the earthquake, which was just as strong and could have been nearly as destructive. Televised news—and television in general—is not popular among students. When the hall TV is on, “[it] is usually on MTV or VHl,” Qi said, and most students don’t have time to watch TV anyway. “Nobody takes the effort to watch the news,” Smith said. Some halls may also be finding it difficult to watch news on TV due to bad reception. Junior Kerry Dutra, who usually follows the news at home, explained why keeping up with local news is difficult on Third Beall. “We don’t get channel eleven or five on hall,” she said. “I used to read the newspaper, but now I don’t want to pay to subscribe to an online paper, and I don’t have the time to watch television.” Though it may seem given that students do not have the time to worry about news, do instructors also have a hard time staying up to date? The census was mixed, but all instructors agreed that even if they didn’t get news while at work, they were well-informed by the time they got home. Julie Graves, math instructor, said, “While I’m at school I don’t get newSj I get news in the car or at home.” When asked how students should stay updated. Graves replied, “If you want, you can get news online.” Perhaps the online solution is the most convenient for everyone in the NCSSM community. Dr. Les Fleming, physics instructor, said “I get news [at school] from RSS feeds to make sure the world is still there.” RSS feeds stream breaking headlines on any website or even on the desktop of your computer as a news icon. Will NCSSM students ever break out of the bubble? Unless world news becomes more accessible to students (and less of a hassle to read), the answer is probably no. Four Finalists Named for Conrad Awards By Seon Kang On April 8, 2010, four teams from the North Carolina School of Science and Math will head to California for the Innovation Summit as Conrad Innovation National finalists. The Conrad Innovation Awards encourage students to ■ use science, technology and entrepreneurship in creating products that can be introduced into the marketplace. Students were challenged to develop products in the areas of green schools, aerospace explora tion, renewable energy, and space nutrition. The four NCSSM teams were among twenty five final ist teams selected out of a sev enty two team applicant pool. The Conrad Selection Com mittee selected Team Sun Sailors and Team Tenorios as finalists in the aerospace ex ploration category,' Team Orca as a finalist in the renewable energy category, and Team Rocket as a finalist in the space nutrition category. Senior Nikita Khlystov is the team leader of the Sun Sail ors, who designed a spacecraft powered by solar winds. Their design is based on a parallel set of panels connected by so lenoid coils that create a mag netic field to help navigate the spacecraft. Junior Samuel Stone of Team Rocket talked about the judging criteria of the Space Nutrition Category, “We went through various food filling and topping ideas... we had to determine how best to meet the protein, weight, carbohydrate, and taste requirements while staying within the sugar and fat limits.” Stone, who is currently en rolled in Research in Chem istry said, “It started off as an introduction to the research experience. We did a good job and hopefully we’ll be able to develop it into something more.” As finalists, they have the opportunity to win grants based on their success at the Innovation Summit. They must create team videos, make logos, and post on their team blogs to help the voting public grasp an understanding of their projects. From March 26 until April 12, the public can vote on projects. The culmination of all of their efforts will be at the sum mit itself where teams will present their concepts to a panel of experts. At the sum mit, they will also be attending workshops with other finalists and listening to presentations on innovation, entrepreneur- ship, and cutting edge science. But the teams still have one obstacle left before the sum mit - they have to raise funds to cover the travel expenses involved in attending the In novation Summit. The Con rad Foundation will match the funds raised by the teams, but the costs are still substantial. The four teams from Sci ence & Math will be compet ing in California on April 8, 2010 in each of their respective categories.
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Student Newspaper
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Feb. 1, 2010, edition 1
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