If you desire to be in the know, then read on. This week you’ll get two updates for the price of one.
This past weekend, the Rensselaer Alumni Association Board—representing our 85,000alumni—enthusiastically endorsed the Student Senate’s proposal to implement an externship program here at RPI. Such a program would allow students to work alongside an alumnus for a week to gain insight into a specific career field or understand the culture of a particular company. For first-year students, this program would offer a short term immersion in a career field they are considering. For seniors, this program could help them decide between two potential employers. For all those in between, this program could give students a chance to get their foot in the door for a summer internship or co-op. And for Rensselaer as a whole, this program would strengthen our connections with alumni and expand our base of company recruiters.
We already have a list of alumni and companies interested in offering externships. A directory of students interested in externing is also growing; however, we are looking to significantly expand that list. Please email Senator Lindsay Denton ’06, at dentol@rpi.edu if you would like to be added. The Office of Alumni Relations, the CDC, the Student Senate, and numerous alumni are actively working to launch a pilot program for spring break this year, March 13–17, so it is important that you contact us soon with your availability. Once we have the list of companies, career fields, and locations, we will post them for students to indicate their preferences before forwarding the list to alumni. They, in turn, will select the students they would like to work with. If the matches fit, we will notify you of your selection and wish you bon voyage!
Go Be Red names winners Congratulations to our winning teams who have spent the last six months supporting our athletes and filling our stands. The grand prize—a fully paid spring break vacation to Panama City Beach, Fla.—has been awarded to the Banana Slug Muffins: Blake Huovie, Carlos Parea, Joe Petrowski, Alan Trojan,Andrew Verge, and Matt Weed. Following behind in a close second are the Redhawk Ramrods—recipients of $1,200 in gift certificates from Best Buy. The Ramrod team consists of Sarah Bowman, Daniel Briar, Zachary Longino, Neil Havlak, John Sandri, and Michael Sorrentino. Third place was an outright battle. Up until the end, the Box of Chocolates led the Straight Scrallions by nearly 80 points, but the Straight Scrallions pulled ahead just in time to tie the Box of Chocolates for third place. Each team will receive $600 in gift certificates from Best Buy. The Straight Scrallions consists of Mark Andrews, Andrew Bickford, Colin Bryan, Anthony Donaldson, Emman Farhoud, and Nick Lesniewski-Laas. The Box of Chocolates consists of Syed Ali, Teresa Amaducci, Elizabeth DeLouise, Kevin Itwaru, Manoj Mathew, and Adam Munger.
I wish to congratulate all of the students that participated in the Go Be Red challenge this year. It started out as a race between 52 teams for a spring break vacation, but in the end it was about so much more. The GBR teams showed us the power of pride in school and the joy and infectiousness of cheering and jeering in support of our student athletes. I’ll never forget the time the men’s soccer team turned around to applaud our student cheering section or the time when a football player from the opposing team sprayed the Banana Slug Muffins with his water bottle. I think the fans at Dartmouth put it best when they told our Go Be Red teams that,” You guys are what make this fun. ”
Next year I hope more students will join our momentum with the new student cheering section we are rolling out tentatively dubbed “The Red Army.” It is sure to send a clear message to all teams that step foot on RPI: No team should look forward to playing in RPI’s house!
I encourage everyone to join our Go Be Red teams in their finale appearance on Friday, February 24th at our last Go Be Red event of the year—the Whiteout hockey game, where we will be giving away thunder sticks at the door. Freakout! and Go Be Red have brought us to our feet once again. Let us keep the energy going!
