2 ■ august 2003
features
the stentorian I ncssm
A Christian Perspective
Seun Ajiboye
I had the hardest time writ
ing this article. I am pas
sionate about Christianity
and the God that I serve, but
sometimes the words just do
not come. I wanted so much
from this article and for it to
do so much, but all of that
somehow coalesced into a
huge case of writers' block. I
tried to think of what I would
have wanted to hear when I
was an incoming junior or at
least what I think incoming
juniors need to hear. If noth
ing else, I hope this article
says, "Hey, you are not alone."
It is nearly impossible to
define what it means to be a
Christian at Science & Math
because it means so many
things. It means that I believe
in a God many people at S&M
caimot fathom and in Jesus as
His Son. It means not giving
into the stress and pressure of
the moment; it means relying
on something bigger than
myself to accomplish some
thing greater. For me it means
being vocal about my faith,
unashamed. It means
wrestling with God and trying
to find out what He wants for
me in my senior year. It means
wanting so much for my
friends, for my campus...it is
about wanting to leave a lega
cy. It is not about being a
goody-goody or being in a
prayer huddle when everyone
else is at I-VIZ. It is more than
going to weekly meetings or
dragging myself out of bed to
go to church on Sunday morn
ing. Being a Christian at
Science & Math is about rising
to a higher standard, living for
a higher purpose, and serving
a greater cause.
NCSSM is a close-knit
community, and within it is a
community of Christian
believers that really do2 care
for one another. Although
S&M is significantly smaller
than the high school canipuses
that most of us are used to, it is
still possible to get lost. Lost
and alone, Christians do not
.survive very long. I strongly
encourage you to make keep
ing relationships with other
Christians a priority.
I know that some of you
may be scared. Not only are
you moving away from home,
some of you as many as four or
five hours away, but you are
throwing yourself into a new
and daunting situation. This
campus will test you. You will
find out who you are, what you
are made of, and what you
value. Some people will find
that their faith was indeed built
on- a firm foimdationr^^ while ’
others will find that it was
never really their own. Being
a Christian at Science & Math
can mean being complacent
and lukewarm, but I hope it
does not mean that for you. I
hope something inside you
cries out for more, and I hope
that cry provokes you unto
action, diving into deeper
waters than you would ever
think to tread and coming into
a more intimate relationship
with God than you ever
thought possible.
This year will be over
before we know it. I hope you
make the most of your time
here. We all have an opportu
nity to leave our mark and to
make it hard for this place to
forget us. I encourage you to
make a choice right now, while
you are still new to campus
and getting to know people.
What are you going to live for
these next two years-grades?
friends? yourself? God? On
Welcome Day, I met a rising
junior wearing a shirt that sim
ply said THIRSTY on the
front. I hope that is you. I
hope you are THIRSTY. I
hope you make the most of
every opportunity that
NCSSM offers you. I hope
you come away from this place
with positive experiences, a bit
older and a bit wiser. I hope
you come away satisfied-.'
Glaxo Summer Fellows
Leah Hawkins
W hile some Science
and Math students
were at the beach or
on vacation, 11 students were
back on the NCSSM campus.
The Glaxo Summer Fellows
provided grants for four chem
istry students, three biology
students, two computer pro
gramming students, and two
roughly Sam to 5pm each day.
The two chemistry research
projects concerned the
microwave synthesis of disub-
stituted quinoxalines and prac
tical solvent recovery by distil
lation. The microwave synthe
sis students, Yuki Jung,
Monica Shah, and Leah
Hawkins, worked at Duke
University and spent their time
’in the lab using infrared spec
The girls of the Glaxo Fellows program spend some precious free
time at Ben & Jerry’s.
physics students to conduct
research at Closure Medical in
Raleigh, UNC and Duke
University.
On the NCSSM campus,
the alarm clocks sounded as
early as 6am for these stu
dents’ ■’’'wlhd''’-iYdIkfe'd '‘'fibrti’
troscopy and various other
analysis techniques. Sam van
Oort rose bright and early to
ride to North Raleigh to con
duct top secret experiments;
he was sworn to secrecy by a
See “Glaxo”
!!frr -
Vegetarianism on Campus In Pursuit of Privacy:
(aka Creative Eating)
A Victory for Gay Rights
Maggie Thompson
H ere at NCSSM, vege
tarian is not a dirty
word. Unlike your
former school's cafeteria,
options range beyond cheese
fries and wilted salad. Both
lunch and dinner offer vegetar
ian options-though vegans
(who eat no animal products
whatsoever, including dairy
and eggs) often must fend for
themselves
casserole ended, I developed a
sticky, yet comforting long
term relationship with peanut
butter in its many variations.
While my omnivorous friends
enjoyed Frito pie and the ever-
popular Riblet sandwich, I ate
peanut butter on bread, toast,
English muffins, waffles, cere
al, even plain. Now I had met
my protein needs in a way that
broccoli-rice casserole never
could, but I missed vegetables,
real ones
"On weekends,
basic supplies
from the side-
bars. The
options are
there, but
they are few.
You will
yearn for
extendeds
when you can
eat home-style tofii and lentils
with vegetables other than
potatoes. Most of your meals
for the next two years, regard
less of your gastronomic pref
erences, will come from the
PFM (our cafeteria's nickname
and another three-letter
acronym), so beware. Your
favorite casserole during the
first months of the year will
most likely be there every
week for the rest of your
tenure at NCSSM.
Last year, after my brief
love affair with tortilla bean
with
and
samples from the salad
bar, friends and I
cooked meals similar
to those at home.
■J
other than
iceberg let-
t u c e .
Following
the lead of a
friend, I cre
ated salads
with a base
of shredded
carrots, always checking to
ensure that the cucumbers had
not yet begun to ferment and
that the tomatoes did not give
under slight pressure. I would
also check the fruit baskets in
hopes of a firm apple or not
yet brown banana. This bal
ance of peanut butter, salad
bar, and fruit was the general
eating pattern among my vege
tarian friends, supplemented
with the occasional PFM
entree and Ninth Street meal.
A commonly overlooked
place that I did not discover
until second semester, is Hunt
Kitchen. On weekends, with
basic supplies and samples
from the salad bar, friends and
I cooked meals similar to those
at home. This was a great
experience because with vege
tarians of the many different
cultures that we have here
(though all mostly girls),- we
exchanged new meal ideas that
we could take home, while
getting the tofli fix that we
needed. The cooking was a
great way to , de-stress and to
meet other people on'campus.
The arrival of a new din
ing service this year could
mean great changes for vege
tarians. We can push for
yogurt that does not have gela
tin or different flavors of
soymilk or even offer recipes
as alternatives. As a vegetari
an addressing those other veg
etarians or prospective ones, I
offer the advice to be creative
and take a small amount of
responsibility for your eating
to optimize the PFM's offer
ings. Also, consider joining
Seeds of Change, the environ
mental/vegetarian club on
campus to find others who eat
the way you do and may have
different ideas. Best of luck
on finding your own way
through the PFM selections
this year.
Rebecca Buckwalter and
Bryan Butler
A t NCSSM, where the
Multicultural Peer
Counselors and clubs
such as Spectrum, the gay-
straight alliance, promote
diversity and tolerance, we
might forget that 40% of our
country still disapproves of
homosexual lifestyles, that gay
youth are four times as likely
as their straight counterparts
to commit suicide, or that
many existing state laws dis
criminate against gays blatant-
ly-
On June 26, the Supreme
Court voted 6-3 to overturn a
Texas law prohibiting consen
sual sex between members of
the same gender, ruling that
the ban was an unconstitution
al invasion of privacy. In the
dissenting opinion for the
case, titled Lawrence and
Garner v. Texas, Justice
Anthony Scalia wrote:
Many Americans do not
want persons who openly
engage in homosexual conduct
as partners in their business, as
scoutmasters for their chil
dren, as teachers in their chil
dren's schools, or as boarders
in their home. They view this
as protecting themselves and
their families from a lifestyle
that they believe to be immoral
and destructive.
One might hope that
Justice Scalia is confusing
homosexuality with violence
or disease; however, he is not,
and the dissent clearly opposes
the Supreme Court's involve
ment in what Scalia terms a
"culture war." Where would
we be if the Supreme Court
had dismissed the civil rights
movement as a "culture war"?
What if the Supreme Court
had supported racists' desire to
"protect themselves and their
families from a lifestyle they
believed to be immoral and
destructive," when those indi
viduals perceived African-
Americans as perpetrators of
such a lifestyle?
Scalia might be chagrined
to find one of his more radical
anti-sodomy colleagues to be
Senator Rick Santorum, who,
previous to the decision, stat
ed: "If the Supreme Court says
that you have the right to con
sensual [gay] sex within your
home, then you have the right
to bigamy, you have the right
to polygamy, you have the
right to incest, you have the
right to adultery. You have the
right to anything."
Religious figures Jerry
See “Gay Rights”
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