Courtesy of Thanh Ngo

The Japanese aspects of culture that we commonly know today — kimonos, sushi, and origami — are all part of a multi-layered, complex culture that has established itself over the past millennia. Starting this spring semester, UR students can embrace the richness of Japan firsthand as one of UR’s newest clubs brings a taste of the country to campus.
UR’s Japanese Students’ Association (JSA) recently met with the Students’ Association (SA) Senate earlier this month to sign an official constitution, where it formally received final recognition from SA.
“JSA is now eligible for funding from the Students’ Association Appropriations Committee starting next semester,” JSA co-president and freshman George Iwaoka said.
Iwaoka and two others students, sophomore Koji Muto and freshman Mikako Harata, currently hold positions as JSA co-presidents.
The trio collaborated after mutual dissatisfaction over the lack of community between Japanese students and the rest of the UR community.
“Our first question when we came to this school was ‘why wasn’t there already a Japanese-affiliated student club?’” Muto said. “Despite the popularity of Japanese culture that has permeated throughout the US, there was no such thing as JSA. We felt the interest was there, and all we needed to show was some initiative.”
Five years before JSA’s time, a former alumnus had created and led a club called Japan Matsuri, a student group dedicated to spreading awareness regarding Japan. Over time, however, the number of club members diminished until, eventually, the club itself faded into UR’s history.
JSA’s dedication and persistence throughout the entire process of SA recognition shows how much potential this club holds. The paperwork initially started in October 2012, and JSA eventually reached official club status five months later in April.
“UR has multiple steps for any potential club to become SA recognized,” Iwaoka said. “SA wants to really make sure the club is dedicated and the members involved are also dedicated.”
After the first set of paperwork in the fall semester, the co-presidents worked with their cultural club adviser Lydia Crews as they entered preliminary status, a trial period set up by SA to determine a club’s aptitude on campus. JSA was required to hold a general interest meeting, recruit and compile a list of members, and hold events promoting the club.
By drawing curious and hungry students, JSA secured a solid list of members at their general interest meeting where forty “Cup Noodles” were offered. JSA continued its presence on campus through a very successful cultural exhibition called Japanese Expo this past month. Co-sponsored with the Sigma Psi Zeta sorority and the Pi Delta Psi fraternity, the Expo gave students the opportunity to sample sushi, play matsuri games, and learn the art of traditional tea tasting. In addition, students were offered brushes to practice calligraphy and inflatable sumo suits to wrestle friends. Seeing a turnout of over 300, JSA successfully got their name out to campus.
“I was amazed so many people came out that day, especially since we’re a new group,” JSA publicity chair and freshman Yunshan Yang said.
While JSA continues to establish its presence throughout UR, its members grow excited for what the future holds. Coming from different backgrounds, yet sharing a passion for diversity, JSA’s members show genuine interest in Japan and its heritage, which is exactly what a cultural club needs.
“As a Chinese person, I find Japanese culture attracting,” Yang explained. “It’s similar to Chinese culture but they also have so many differences. Sometimes it can confuse me more than American culture. To learn more about Japan, I joined JSA.”
Enthusiasm, cultural curiosity, and diligence are what drive a club to success, and in only a semester, JSA has proved to be more than a club offering yummy food and origami lessons. By promoting themselves through social media, co-sponsored events, and word of mouth, JSA strives to continue flourishing in the coming years.
JSA secretary and freshman Mana Takeyama attributes JSA’s uphill success to the close-knit group of people willing to make JSA prosper.
“I believe our closeness and true love for Japan will ultimately bring us success in spreading its beautiful culture and traditions,” she said.

Yoon is a member of
the class of 2016.

Founded on the principle of providing UR students with the opportunity to participate in horseback lessons, the Equestrian Club has evolved today into a group of over 30 members who share a passion for horseback riding.

Each week, the club travels about 25 minutes to Way Farm where students of different levels of experience take riding lessons. In each one-hour group lesson, anywhere between four and five students practice among students of different skill levels.

While there are some students who have never rode horses, there are others who work to train for Intercollegiate Horse Show Association competitions against other colleges in the area.
To ride with the team, students pay a fee of $170 to cover expenses for the semester. Like the weekly lessons, anyone is eligible to compete against other schools, aiming to gain enough points to qualify for both regional and national competitions.

“It’s called ‘pointing out,” Equestrian club member and freshman Jen Selland said. “If you point out [over the course of the year], you qualify for regionals, and if you continue to perform well, you can eventually qualify for nationals.”

UR Equestrian has been steadily improving.

“Each year we get closer to first in the region. This past year, [freshman] Olivia Quatela, [sophomore] Lillye Anderson, and I qualified and competed at regionals,” president of the Equestrian Club and sophomore Bonnie Ball said. “This was a great accomplishment for the team and for us all individually.”

For Ball, riding has always been a part of her life. Having been horseback riding since age four, Ball gets a “home away from home experience [through the club]. The barn is somewhere where I grew up, so it’s nice to continue to ride each week and also advance my riding skills.”

Despite Ball’s extensive experience riding and competing, many join the club to experience something they have never done before.

“For participation in the club, we have had an overwhelming response of people who would like to be members. Currently, we have 39 members taking lessons once a week. Out of that, approximately eight of those members are a part of the show team,” Ball said.

As evidenced by the large amount of club members not competing at the intercollegiate level, there are an overwhelming amount of members who attend lessons because they simply enjoy horseback riding.

In the mayhem of each busy week at UR, the Equestrian Club is an outlet for many to enjoy either a favored pastime or to explore something they have not before.

As Ball claims, “I am able to get an hour work-out and I also am able to forget all the stresses of school,” she said.

Lerner is a member of

the class of 2016.

Bradley Halpern, Senior Staff

Are you ready for this?!

UR doesn’t have the die-hard sports fans typical of much larger universities, but we still have plenty of school spirit, according to Spirit Coordinator Alex Eadie. It just depends how you define it.

“It’s a feeling of community that you get when you share something in common with the people around you,” he said.

That feeling, Eadie explained, can be gleaned from supporting our varsity teams but can ultimately be found anywhere the University gathers as a community, such as the fervor surrounding the YellowJackets’ appearance on last year’s The Sing Off.

“The spirit is there, but it’s not necessarily regarding our athletic teams,” he said.

Director of Athletics and Recreation George VanderZwaag shares a similar outlook. He defined school spirit as “a reflection of the extent to which students take pride in their school.”

VanderZwaag explained that attendance at sporting events is hit or miss, based on the time and day of a sporting event, but it’s fairly typical of other schools of comparable size, such as Brandeis University or Washington University in St. Louis.

“It just depends on so many things,” he said.

So how can the spirit students already have for UR in other respects be channeled into athletics?

Freshman Ethan Bidna and sophomore Jessica Sands think they have the answer.

Bidna and Sands are co-founders and presidents of the BlueCrew, a student organization they hope will make sporting events worth going to, ultimately bridging divides and bringing the community together. The group currently has preliminary status with the Students’ Association, which they received about three weeks ago. The nitty-gritty details are still being figured out.

But the BlueCrew isn’t just about foam fingers and face paint (although they definitely play their part).

“We’re really trying to combat the stigma that we, as a university, set from the beginning of freshman year,” Bidna said, explaining that he wants to take a more “bottoms-up” approach by encouraging students to “own their school spirit.”

Although UR has made several noteworthy pushes to encourage attendance at sporting events like the Fill Fauver program, Sands hopes that the BlueCrew will inspire more of a peer effort — a sort of domino effect. If students want to embrace this culture change, the BlueCrew will be there to facilitate it.

“More or less what we’re trying to do is take the first step,” Bidna said.

Sands noted, however, the group’s mission will reflect the consensus of the student body — she doesn’t want to force spirit where it’s not wanted.

“Because it’s a student organization, it’s going to be whatever the students want it to be,” she said.

The BlueCrew was originally Bidna’s brainchild. When he first arrived at UR last semester, he found himself discussing ways to help improve campus life with spirit coordinator Eadie, a good friend. One idea that came up was the fact that many universities have large spirit sections, even schools that are of a similar size to UR. They then asked themselves if this was something they could possibly bring to UR.

Sands heard Bidna talking about the group, thought it had a lot of potential, and got on board, helping Bidna figure out his plan of action in mid-October.

The BlueCrew made their first public appearance at a men’s varsity basketball game on Feb. 15, a Fill Fauver event run by the 2016 Class Council and co-sponsored by the BlueCrew and Alpha Phi sorority.

Sands explained that simply acting as an organized cheering section is an easy jumping-off point, but that in the future, the BlueCrew might expand their presence on campus; however, a lot of what they’re planning is contingent on being approved by the SA — right now, they are  beginning to open up to the community at large. They are planning to hold a general interest meeting after spring break to gauge the movement’s progress and to see how it will move forward.

The BlueCrew is looking to attend a baseball game in the spring, but Bidna explained that they are hoping to “hardcore” launch with the Class of 2017 in the fall, ending the stigma that students don’t go to sporting events.

“When a game is a BlueCrew game, you’re going to want to go to it,” Bidna said.

It is possible that the BlueCrew will work alongside preexisting efforts to encourage school spirit at sporting events, like Fill Fauver, according to Eadie.
The big crowds have been well-received by student athletes.

“You always want more support,” co-captain of the men’s varsity basketball team and senior John DiBartolomeo said. “It definitely helps us. It’s like another player on the court with us on defense and offense.”

Recent team success, particularly on the basketball court for both sexes, has brought UR to finally “Pack the Palaestra.” The men’s and women’s teams have moved on to the playoffs this season.

VanderZwaag explained that although fans do enhance the experience, driving attendance isn’t a main focus.

“It’s a participant-focused program, not a spectator-focused program,” he said.

But that’s where the BlueCrew comes in.

Bidna explained that the group is looking for a lot of community involvement — although the organization will be run by a small core of students, it is ultimately for UR in its entirety.

“The big thing about BlueCrew is that everyone’s a member,” he emphasized. To participate in the group, all a student has to do is show up to the event, ready to show school spirit.

Eadie has high hopes for the future.

“There is spirit here, it’s just a matter of trying to figure out a way to get it out there — a way to organize it, a way to focus it,” he said.

UR is certainly ready.

Goldin is a member of the class of 2013.

Courtesy of URCG

UR Cinema Group (URCG) does more than just run UR’s weekly movie theatre in Hoyt Auditorium. In addition to selecting and showing a wide array of recently released movies each semester, the student-run group co-sponsors events, plans trips and much more.
“[URCG] provides a real service to campus,” URCG Trailer Editor and senior Ben Mitchell said. “It feels great to know that you’re doing something that positively impacts a majority of the students at the University.”

One way that URCG reaches such a large audience is through co-sponsorships. For groups putting on movie showings — for study breaks or other reasons — URCG will pay for half of the cost and do all of the dirty work for procuring and showing the movie. These events usually happen on weekdays and are free to students.

A new project that URCG has been working on is a collaboration with ROCTickets, the discount ticket program for UR undergraduates through the Wilson Commons Students Activities (WCSA). This is the first time the two groups have worked together, and the team has lined up a trip to the midnight premiere of  Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit.” URCG and WCSA will provide buses and movie passes for just $10, making it an easy, low-cost study break for the whole campus.

Another annual URCG program is their Oscars party in Hoyt Auditorium. This event is an opportunity for students to watch the Oscars and enjoy some food. URCG is also planning their second-ever film festival for February, with a ’90s theme that they hope will induce nostalgia in students.

“We aren’t prepared to make an official announcement about what films we’ll be showing, but they’ll be revealed with much hoopla along with the rest of our spring schedule,” URCG Secretary and junior William Vezinaw said.

URCG focuses on pleasing students. Every winter and summer break, they conduct an online survey asking the campus community which movies they’d like to see, and the results lead directly to what is shown. Additionally, when projectors malfunction, they try to schedule another showing of the movie — free of charge.

In the end, URCG is about the cinematic experience and a good time. “You get to hang out every week and watch ‘new-ish’ movies,” Mitchell said. “What more could you want?”

Esce is a member of
the class of 2015.

Courtesy of Colleges Against Cancer

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), more than one million people are diagnosed with cancer each year. Fighting this battle alongside cancer patients are hundreds of college chapters of the national organization, Colleges Against Cancer (CAC) across the nation. These college students, faculty and staff work together to try to eliminate cancer step-by-step, through programs, education and other awareness events.

Among these chapters striving to make a difference is the one here at UR. CAC president and junior Sheridan Finnie recognizes the passion needed to tackle this type of disease.

“Many of our members have been personally touched by cancer in both large and small ways,” she said. “Our mission as a group is very important to us and felt on an emotional level.”

This semester CAC has been bustling with activity in order to accomplish their mission of raising cancer awareness, supporting ACS and playing a role in the struggle to one day eliminate cancer. Their fall semester consists of three major events.

This past October, CAC sponsored Think Pink Week. The campaign’s goal was to educate the campus community about breast cancer and to raise funds for ACS. This involved numerous activities, including a “Think Pink” dinner in Douglass Dining Center.

On Nov. 15 is the Great American Smokeout, a national event started by ACS to encourage smokers to take a step toward a healthier lifestyle. CAC takes this event very seriously and continues to be a driving force behind an initiative for a smoke-free campus at UR.

“I hope the club will be involved in future implementation and outreach involving this initiative,” Finnie said.

This is a great example of how CAC also works outside of ACS to better the University and make a difference in the lives of students. According to ACS, tobacco is the “single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the U.S.,” but is still used by more than 45 million Americans. This makes it a prime focus for CAC.

CAC also hosts “Shave to Save,” an event in which both male and female students can shave or donate their hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, where donated hair will be made into wigs for cancer patients.

A number of events happen throughout the school year, but CAC’s biggest fundraiser is Relay for Life. This 24-hour event sponsored by ACS “celebrates the lives of people who have battled cancer, remembers loved ones lost and fights back against the disease,” according their website.

This student-driven fundraising event unites communities across the nation and around the world. So far, the ACS has raised about $3 billion through Relay for Life.

“Last year at Relay for Life we raised over $60,000 and we raised the same amount the previous year,” Finnie said.

Students are anticipating this year’s CAC event with excitement. It will be CAC member  and freshman Rachel Weitzner’s third time walking for Relay for Life.

“I walk in memory of my close friend who died of cancer two years ago,” she said. “Relay [for Life] helps me feel connected to her and many others who are currently fighting or have lost the batter against cancer.”

CAC also works to incorporate other campus groups into Relay for Life. For example, many a cappella groups come out to perform for the cause at some point during the night.

The event also consists of speakers, tournaments and other activities that celebrate those who have beaten cancer, honor those who haven’t and generate excitement for how far ACS and CAC have come in conquering this disease.

CAC itself has about 30 members who also participate in volunteer work with local organizations such as the Mount Hope Family Center and Gilda’s Club. In addition to Relay for Life, CAC usually sponsors a dodgeball tournament every spring to raise money for testicular cancer.

CAC packs every year with fundraising and awareness events and hopes to continue its tradition of fighting cancer on campus for years to come.

“In the future, I see CAC continuing to flourish and creat[ing] change on campus,” Finnie said.

Yoon is a member of
the class of 2016.

Courtesy of Anthony Yee

UR’s Institute of Optics seems to constantly be in the news, whether a graduate student has developed some cutting-edge technology or the Laboratory for Laser Energetics began new research.

While many people know about the Institute, not everyone has heard about the Optics Society of America (OSA) or what it has been up to these days.

Under President of OSA and junior Anthony Yee, UR’s OSA has integrated itself into the Rochester community. The club’s membership has increased significantly since it was founded in 1980, creating a strong society of engineers at UR.

Yee spoke to the Campus Times about the club and the events it holds both on campus and in the greater Rochester area.

In layman’s terms, what is the Optical Society of America?

We are a pre-professional, student chapter of the Optics Society of America — the national organization.

What are the main initiatives of the OSA?

To promote awareness of optics to the University and the community.

What events does the OSA have coming up on campus?

Our big spring event is the annual Photon Cup, which is a soccer game between the Physics Department and the Optics Department involving undergraduates, graduates and professors all playing on the field at the same time. It’s our fun way to determine which department is the best and last year it ended in a tie, so this year is a big year. The photon cup is [being held on] Friday, April 6.

What activities does the OSA participate in?

We have something called the “Optics Suitcase,” which is a set of demos about optics and engineering in general, which we present to local fourth and fifth grade classes to get them interested in engineering and science. We also try to teach students that optics isn’t as scary as it seems.

How does the OSA associate with the greater optics community?

We try to connect current students with alums of the program. We also try and visit local optics companies and learn where an optics degree can take you.

What are some past projects that the OSA has worked on?

We have a telescope project that some students started a few years ago. They’re building this telescope, which is designed to be constantly improved and modified. They’ve built the basic structure and the mirrors but almost all of them have graduated now. If people are interested in taking over the project, we need some mechanical and electrical engineers to play around with it.

What is your favorite OSA social event?

We play laser tag every semester and Professor [James] Fienup [of the Institute of Optics] always beats everyone. He appears to shoot out of nowhere and ends up getting everyone. Students have tried to figure out ways to use optics to improve their game, but have failed.

Sokol is a member of the class of 2013.

Courtesy of sa.rochester.edu

New York State has the second lowest organ donation rate in the country, as reported by Co-director of bLifeUR and sophomore Owen Orloff. According to the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network, the need for organs in the state is one short of 9,900. At our local Strong Memorial Hospital alone, some 600 people remain on waiting lists, their fates uncertain.

bLifeUR — a new SA-recognized organization on campus — is hoping to change these statistics. The organ donation awareness club aims to combat the taboo of organ donation that seems to arise from a lack of information and awareness.

Co-director and senior Dan Halligan, Co-director and junior Kaitlyn Mokay and Orloff co-founded the club as an affiliate of bLifeNY, which is a group that was founded by two UR Medical Center transplant surgeons in summer 2011 to increase organ donation rates in New York State.

The two bLifeNY co-founders — Orloff’s father, Mark Orloff, and Christopher Barry — spoke at the club’s first meeting. Orloff’s father stressed the unique situation of how organ failure is unlike other conditions and diseases that currently have no solution, because transplantation is a viable option for most patients.

“The problem isn’t medical,” he said. “It’s political — social.”

Barry titled his presentation “The Challenges of Engendering a Cultural Shift: Organ Donation Awareness and Action.” In a series of graphs and charts, Barry showed how transplantation is both economically and medically more successful in prolonging human life than temporary solutions, such as dialysis for patients with kidney failure.

Additionally, he stressed the immense need for organs and emphasized the ever-growing organ transplantat waiting list.

Barry had the audience’s full attention when he said, “if you’re not an organ donor when you die, you’re taking other people’s lives with you.”

So, how did this cause arrive on campus? bLifeNY was looking for a support system and reached out to students at local universities. A summer internship at Strong Memorial Hospital got Mokay involved.

“After learning more, it was hard not to get passionate about it,” she said.

Orloff thought organ donation was an issue that many students could “rally behind to create change.”

College students are a prime audience because they are generally of age to consent to be a donor and still keep in touch with their family back home. This allows the message to spread further geographically and across generations.

“I hope that bLife … [will bring] UR to the forefront of combating the shortage of organs in NY state and becomes a model for other grassroots awareness and campaign groups,” Orloff said. “The sky is the limit for us.”

While the group is new this year, it has already hit the ground running. To kick off Donate Life month in April, the club will be tabling in Wilson Commons at the end of March to register donors and encourage students to “be the miracle of organ donation … and donate life,” Orloff said.

Alani is a member of the class of 2015.

Courtesy of Hannah Bazarian - Photo Editor

Ghosts, ghouls and goblins are making their way to Kendrick House in Hill Court, as the Hill Court Community Organizing Group (COG) plans its first ever haunted house for this Friday, Oct. 28. To get into the Halloween spirit, president of Hill Court COG and junior Kaitlin Pellicano spoke to the Campus Times about the spooky additions coming to the Hill Court side of campus.

How did the Hill Court COG come up with the idea of creating a haunted house?

It was something we came up with when discussing programs for October. We’re hoping it will become an annual tradition.

What goes into creating a haunted house?

[It involves] getting volunteers to be creepy [and] scary, finding a volunteer makeup artist, buying supplies such as fake blood, tablecloths, costumes, refreshments, etc. and finding a safe place to host it.

[Hill Court COG] wanted to haunt the tunnels, but it’s not as much of a fire safety hazard in the Kendrick Community Room.

We’re also working on getting a CD of spooky noises. Ideally, we’d like to expand [the event] to get some of the Greek communities and interest floors in Phase to participate. We’ve also asked freshmen RAs to bring their [residents] there as a hall program.

Other than the haunted house, what are the Hill Court COG’s responsibilities?

We’re trying to build a community here at Phase — it’s not like halls where you see people roaming around to get to their rooms. We’re split up because of the staircases, and suites tend to socialize within themselves.

So our goal is to turn a group of isolated suites into a Hill Court community.

We’re also hoping to get a program running to make banners [for the balconies]. We’re hoping this will be a new signature of Phase, apart from having the balconies in the first place.

Do you foresee any difficulties creating the haunted house with the space that you’re working with?

Not so much with the space as the time constraint. We didn’t get to kick-off COG’s planning until later on in the year, so we’re throwing it together as best we can with the time that we’ve got and with a lack of a previous year’s model.

However, we foresee it being very successful. We’ve got some crazy stuff planned.

Is there an admittance fee?

Nope, it’s free food, fun and more. We do encourage people to bring canned goods as an “entrance fee,” but naturally it is not required.

We are trying to incorporate some kind of charity into the event, and hopefully that will grow into a tradition in future years.

Do you think Hill Court could actually be haunted?

It’s never occurred to us, but I suppose the tunnels can be pretty creepy when adventuring through them alone. I know the laundry room lights are “temperamental.” Interpret that as you will.

In addition, we are on the boundary of the cemetery, which has rumors of hauntings, so if any of those ghosts feel adventurous, the first place they’ll traverse is our hill.

Olfano is a member of the class of 2012.

Photo courtesy of https://blogs.rochester.edu/hartnett/

Currently, on the tunnel level of Wilson Commons, strings descend into the student exhibition space known as the Hartnett Gallery. The Hartnett Gallery Committee curates their artistic corner of Wilson Commons year-round, showcasing artists both on-campus — through their undergraduate and faculty shows — and artists from across the nation. For this week’s Club Spotlight, Undergraduate Director and junior Colleen Kaster shares the inside scoop of the gallery, including her favorite moments with artists and what UR can expect from the Hartnett Gallery next.

What can you tell us about the current artist and exhibition in the gallery?

Currently, we are showing work by Naomi Kasumi, a Japanese artist who teaches at Seattle University. The show is called “MEM: memory•memorial” and is a combination of three pieces in her ongoing MEM project. The show emphasizes ritual and ceremony and is her memorial to her aborted child. The exhibition ends Sunday, Oct. 9.

How do you select the artists that go into the gallery space?

Each spring we get submissions from artists all over the country, and they go to one of our graduate advisers, who narrows them down to a reasonable number — usually 10 to 20. The committee members will then gather and discuss them and then choose who we’ll ask to come in and who we’ll put on backup.

We like to choose a variety of works — so we’re not showing all paintings or all sculptures — and things that will interest all different types of people around campus and around the city.

What is it like to work in the gallery and on the committe?

My favorite part about working on the committee would definitely be the interactions we get to have with the artists who we bring in, as well as helping them install their show. It’s a great experience with both sides.

What has been your favorite exhibition?

I’d have to say Annie Strader’s show, “Something is Always Far Away,” back in 2010. We brought in enough dirt to fill the entire floor, from where the stairs go down to the lower wooden area all the way to the corner of the triangle. We put down a tarp and just started bringing in these huge carts of dirt from a truck outside The Commons. It was probably the only time in my life where I’ll get to play barefoot indoors in a giant pile of dirt and start dirt wars with a professional artist.

What was the hardest installation that you’ve done?

Meg Mitchell’s installation of “Visualizing Difference (birds of a feather)” was probably the one that took the longest. We put together all these tiny, laser-cut wooden pieces into the big nests hanging from the ceiling.

Or it would be getting the dirt off the floor from Annie Strader’s de-installation. It was way less fun to shovel it out than to dump it in.

What are the positive and negative aspects of the space that you work with?

The triangular shape of the gallery is both a negative and positive aspect. It’s great, unique and fantastic for some installations, but for others it’s hard to work with the corner.

Do you find the artists hard to work with?

They’re usually great to work with. We keep in mind that it’s their exhibition, and we’re there to help them, so any weird installation request usually happens and ends up [being] worth it. The hardest part is communication before the show, when we have to rely on email and phone calls.

Can you give us a preview of the artist that will be featured next?

The next artist will be Rosalyn Engelman, a UR alumna, with an exhibition called “Echo Sonata,” a series of paintings which are inspired by her travel and study of Eastern traditions. It opens the Friday of Meliora Weekend with the artist talking about her work at 4 p.m., and a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. I’m pretty excited to see her paintings at full size.

Olfano is a member of the class of 2012.