Features

During this year’s Family Weekend, Fall Fest celebrated autumn and entertained students and their families alike.

From the vast assortment of food around the McNeil Room to seeing the smiles of family and friends, Rensselaer’s annual International Fest is a celebration of RPI’s diverse student body.

So far during my time at Rensselaer, many people have asked me about the television shows I enjoy watching. Usually the answers vary depending on who’s asking. I, however, always make sure to mention Over the Garden Wall, the animated miniseries created by Patrick McHale that aired on Cartoon Network in 2014. In fact, this is a show that I often call “essential fall viewing,” because the aesthetic of the show meshes so well with the changing colors of the leaves outside and the spookiness of Halloween, but, this show can, and should, be enjoyed at any time of the year.

The Active Minds “Stronger Than the Stigma” event, held October 9 on the ‘86 Field, was a great way to showcase the various mental health resources available on campus.

Josh Groban, the Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and actor, mesmerized audience members by performing many of his classic numbers in the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center Concert Hall on Saturday.

When you were little, crying was natural. If you fell down while running and scraped your knee, you cried. If your parents didn’t let you buy the coolest new toy, you cried. But, somewhere along the road of growing up, you were told crying is weak, that what you’re feeling doesn’t matter, and that you should just deal with it.

Every year, Rensselaer brings together a group of diverse individuals, each from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, who are passionate in pursuing varied academic interests and are all unified in our shared experience of building a new life away from home.

The Union Programs and Activities Committee organized an open house for students and alumni on Saturday.

On Friday, Troy Night Out took place in Downtown. The month’s theme was “All About Animals (and pets),” and the event definitely lived up to its name.

The Polytechnic sat down with the fifer that has been heard playing across campus to learn more about his life.

Out of the many clubs promoting sustainability on campus, Terra Café is definitely the yummiest one. They’ve partnered with Sodexo to bring affordable and alternative dining options every Wednesday. Located in the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Terra Café tries to use local produce as often as they can when making these meals.

On Saturday, the Rensselaer Union hosted the 2019 Student Leader Summit. The event included conference-style “choose-your-own” workshops, breakfast, lunch, and a special keynote presentation featuring Heidi Knoblauch, the owner of the Plumb Oyster Bar in Downtown Troy.

Restaurant week is a celebration of the diverse, dandy, and dapper dining establishments of Troy, NY. It runs from September 9 to September 15, and special deals are offered just for the week. These are a selection of restaurants in Downtown Troy that members of the Polytechnic enjoy.

Welcome Fest, the penultimate Navigating Rensselaer & Beyond event for the incoming class, started off with the traditional handshake from President Shirley Ann Jackson at the Approach.

To start the celebration of Earth week, Design for America held a dinner party in partnership with the Student Sustainability Task Force on Saturday. This event was open to all community members, and yielded about 50 attendees, ranging from RPI students to families with small children.

In early 2017, Coding&&Community was founded on campus by a small group of students. This addition to the Rensselaer community serves to educate local youth about computer programming and problem solving. The goal is to bridge the gap between coding and different roadblocks a student may face, including gender, race, socioeconomic status, and more.