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■ stentorian vol. XXX, issue 1 the north Carolina school of science and mathematics august 2009 stentorian@ncssm.edu Oh, the Places You’ll Go (As a 365-Day Unicorn) By Jennifer Zhu Micropipettes and research projects and data analysis...oh Yet another day at NCSSM? Not quite. Although students departed from the school in early June, the learning continued through the summer' months for many Unicorns. ■ North Carolina wasn’t “north” enough for senior Lidia Valdes and NCSSM graduates Alan Bohn and Justin Huang this summer. Venturing to the the coast of Maine for eleven weeks, the three participated in the Jackson Laboratory’s Summer Student Program. Situated on Mount Desert Island, the three stayed in a century-old mansion known as the Highsseas. With that kind of setting, the prestigious program’s coordinators must have concluded that it would have been too inhumane and cruel to torture the students by demanding they only spend their time on research; the program’s high school and undergraduate students traditionally go on weekend camping trips, spontaneous hikes in Acadia National Park, biking adventures, •birdwatching expeditions, and a white water rafting adventure. This year, the partieipants even marched in a 4* of July parade, rriuch to the chagrin of some of the students. A nonprofit biomedical research institution and National Cancer Institute- designated Cancer Center, Jackson Laboratory (www. jax.org) is designed to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human diseases, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community. The Maine laboratory tultills its objectives with its research internship opportunities. Eighty percent of its Summer Student Program’s more than 2,200 alumni entered careers in biomedical research or medicine. Drs. David Baltimore and Howard Temin, Jackson Laboratory SSP alumni, received the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Conclusion made from this kind of data? Keep your eyes on Valdes, Bohn, and Huang. Although the approximately thirty students in the summer ' program work with mentors, these students are expected to develop an independent research project, implement their plan, analyze the data, and report their results. Think of Research in Biology, RChem, RPhysics, or Mentorship Research compressed irtto eleven intense weeks. And just like those particular classes at Lidia Valdes and Alan Bohn relax in Maine. They were soon back in the lab conducting world-class research. NCSSM, program participants present their findings to researchers, peers, and parents at the end of their research experience. investigated cardiovascular disease, focusing on pankS, a gene in mice that potentially regulates “good cholesterol”- -high-density lipoprotein Continued on page 8 Durham’s One World Market Fights for Fairness By Peter McNeary In a world where “Made in China” is the norm and child labor is routine, one organization strives to let people counter the effects of free trade consumerism: One World Market. One World Market, located on , Ninth Street in Durham, started as a few boxes of product in the pastor’s office of Watts Street Baptist Church. A non-profit corporation. One World Market makes it its mission to promote fair trade, a soeio-eeonomic movement that ensures the welfare of customers, workers, and intermediaries by offering customers reasonable prices and paying artisans and laborers a fair percentage of the profits. Laura Wendell, the CEO of One World Market for almost five years, earned her background in social justice first as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Afiica for two years and then as the founder of an international non-profit organization dedicated to the development of literacy. She saw the position offered to her at One World Market as an opportunity to- continue her philanthropic line of work. “I love international development, I love doing things that are very grass roots with tangible, personal results, and I love the store,” Wendell said. As CEO, Wendell manages the corporation on a day-to-day basis. Fjnding new vendors, restocking the business’s inventory, helping customers, and managing finances are all tasks done by the store’s two paid employees. Vendors are chosen Dancers perform outside of One by volunteers. World Market. OWM is staffed entirely •Photo courtesy of www.oneworldmarfcetinfo primarily through the Fair Trade Federation, which maintains rigorous standards for fair trade. To qualify as fair trade producers, organizations must pay their workers a living wage, which varies from country to country, and must not use child labor or exploit their workers. Different fair trade organizations have different methods of operating, but most organizations pay artisans for their goods before they are sold. When the goods are sold, the profits are used to buy the next shipment of product from the artisans. By buying product upfront, fair trade organizations guarantee salaries to their workers. One World Market typically pays fifty percent before receiving the goods (to be used in the production of the goods) and then fifty percent after the goods are completed. Importers and other intermediaries also get a percentage of the profit from the goods that they handle. Most fair trade is done through non profit organizations, and eompeting with free trade organizations can be challenging. “We struggle to match the price points of made-in- China goods, but if you compare us to other craft stores and places where people are selling handmade, one-of- a-kind, or small-production items, we stock up really well,” Wendell said. Because of joblessness in developing countries, demand for work in these countries is insatiable and workers often take whatever they can find. Some companies take advantage of this fact by establishing free trade zones in impoverished or politically insecure areas around the world such as China, India, Southeast Asia and Latin America, where they erect factories and hire their employees for less than minimum wage, disregarding their rights. The governments of countries containing these trade zones are often powerless to ban or regulate the zones because they may be deep in debt, corrupt, or so desperate to create jobs that they settle for jobs that do not meet even their own minimal standards. It is common for companies to utilize sweatshop and child labor through free trade zones. Such companie have an inherent advantage because they pay their laborers as little as possible, making it feasible to sell their products at much lower prices. However,’ for- profit corporations are still called for-profit for a reason. Prices stay moderately high in the free trade market because business owners and employees are looking to make a profit. “The fact that we are volunteer-staffed allows us to have a higher, percentage go to the artisans without having to necessarily raise our retail prices,” Wendell said. Aside from One World Market’s two full-time, paid employees, the store is entirely volunteer-staffed. Students from NCSSM have done their summer service learning hours at One World Market in the past. In this way. One World Market is the reverse of most American companies; the workers overseas are paid decently and the American employees work for free. “One of the things that our customers are looking for is the authenticity of our products and the way in which our products are socially responsible. In that sense, our products have a marketing edge,” Wendell said. The social implications of fair trade attract customers. By purchasing items from One World Market, Durham’s residents can feel socially responsible artd know that they are supporting progressive economics through consumerism. Much of the. merchandise sold at One World Market is also environmentally sustainable. Artisans are known to frequently use recycled paper and glass in their designs. The store deals mostly in d6cor and jewelry, but it also carries musical instruments, comestibles (including locally roasted coffee) and small gifts.
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