Cherry Blossom Boat Cruise: Preview

The Student and Academic Support Services and the City are jointly hosting the Cherry Blossom cruise tour down the Potomac River Thursday, April 7^th at 5:25 P.M. SASS and the City is funded by the Student Activities Center, Mount Vernon Campus Life, GW Housing Programs, Multicultural Student Services Center, and the International Student Office. SASS and the City purchases tickets at a group rate and then assumes an additional piece of the cost to make the price lower for students.

Tickets for the cruise are $10 and can be picked up at the SAC in the Marvin Center room 427 and at Mount Vernon in Academic Building 115. There is a two ticket limit per person and no refunds available.

The cruise will last one hour and begins as well as ends at the Washington Marina in Southeast DC.

GW Hosts Over 900 High School Students for Model UN Conference

This past weekend, the Foggy Bottom campus played host to nearly 1,000 delegates participating in the 13th annual Washington Area Model United Nations Conference. Last Thursday marked the opening ceremonies and first committee session, where High School students from all over the world took part in a wide variety of intensive diplomatic simulations.

For the first time, the online Model U.N. resource website Best Delegate covered and promoted the conference. Best Delegate teaches students the skills they need to make a difference. Ryan Villanueva, founder of Best Delegate, gave the Keynote address at the conference’s opening ceremonies.

One of the Conference’s highlights was the unprecedented six-committee historic joint crisis simulation on mid-19th century politics, called “The Age of Imperialism.” Students took on the roles of leaders from the United Kingdom, Russia, Prussia, Austria, France, and the Ottoman Empire.

Obama Scrutinizes Standardized Testing, State Budgets

President Obama, in cooperation with the Univision television network and their Es El Momento campaign, hosted a town hall meeting at Bell Multicultural High School Monday evening. Bell was ranked as the 77th best high school in the country by Newsweek and requires students to enroll in two Advanced Placement classes in English in addition to language classes in Spanish or French.

Hosted by Emmy-award winning news anchor Jorge Ramos, the town hall focused on access to higher education. To subside any thoughts, Ramos quickly asked about Libya, to which Obama said he would address the nation at the National Defense University Monday evening. In addition, Ramos and members of the audience, comprised of parents, students, and teachers, asked about the Dream Act, the education budget, school bullying, parent involvement in schools, and technology in the classroom.

“I’m someone who believes money is not everything when it comes to schools ... You can do well even when you don’t have a lot of money,” Obama said in response to a question concerning California’s education budget.

Obama claimed that California spent too much on its prison system as opposed to education.

Former Presidents Honor One of Their Own at Kennedy Center

The Points of Light Institute hosted an event honoring former president George H.W. Bush and his years of service at the Kennedy Center's Opera House Monday night. The tribute featured speeches from all four living former presidents: Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. The last time all the former presidents met was at the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

Also in attendance was Andrew Card, George W. Bush’s chief of staff, Maine Senator Susan Collins, and the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki. The program was intertwined with musical performances, short-winded speeches, and inspiring stories of service. Several musical artists performed including Kid Rock, Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, and Cee Lo Green.

The night was not only a reflection on President Bush’s life and the lives of those who were recognized for their voluntary service, but the night had its share of laughs. President Clinton said Barbara Bush calls him her “black sheep son.” Neil Bush, Chairman and CEO of Nexus Energy, called Clinton “a brother from another mother.”

On a more serious note, Bush explained how his dedication to service completely changed his relationship with his father, George H.W. Bush. Brooks mentioned the temptations of becoming separated by the online virtual world and praised H.W. Bush’s hands-on approach toward service. “This is what he’s advocating: lets get face to face,” Brooks said.

The tribute will air on NBC next Monday, March 28, at 8 p.m.

Trachtenberg, Evans Attend Economic Club Conversation With Bill Gates

On Tuesday, March 8, Bill Gates spoke about his life experiences to Economic Club of Washington D.C. The Economic Club is an exclusive organization of Washington’s top business and professional leaders. Members of the Economic Club affiliated with the GW community include former president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President Steven Knapp, and Richard Kane, President and CEO of International Limousine Service (the company that operates The Vern Express).

The one-hour program included a conversation between Gates, the chairman of Microsoft and the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and David Rubenstein, President of the Economic Club, as well as several questions from the audience. Gates reminisced on his three years at Harvard University and the beginnings of Microsoft. “When [Microsoft] went public, the value kept going up,” Gates said when asked about being the youngest billionaire in America at the age of 32.

Gates says the people he looks up to in the world of business and politics are Warren Buffett and Nelson Mandela, respectively. Gates has no plans to run for political office. “I don’t think it would draw my best talent out, meeting with constituents [and] raising money.”

Jack Evans, Ward 2 pro-tempore councilmember on the DC Council, is also a member of the Economic Club. After the event, Evans said the event was “entertaining and funny.” Although he “heard a lot before,” he took particular interest in what Gates had to say about health and education. When asked about Kwame Brown, Chairman of the DC Council, and his purchase of a “fully-loaded” SUV, Evans believes “it is being handled by the [DC] Attorney General.” Evans believes the city is doing everything it can to get the money for the vehicles back, with whatever difference being paid by Brown.

Massive Earthquake Hits Japan

The largest earthquake (magnitude 8.9) since records were kept hit Japan around 3am EST, killing 60 and leaving dozens misisng. A Tsunami warning has been issued for most of the Pacific, including Hawaii and the West Coast. (EDIT: Death tolls and counts of the missing are rising by the hour, now reaching into the hundreds. Watch this space). 


 While damage can be seen throughout the country, the worst effects appear to be concentrated in the north of the main island of Honshu, especially in Myagi Prefecture.

Due to the shutdown of nuclear power plants across the coutnry and the destruction of communication and power lines along the coast, rolling blackouts are occuring throughout the country making communication difficult.

For those seeking to keep abreast of the situation, contact or locate individuals in Japan, or see maps of damage, Google's Crisis Response Project is keeping an up-to-date page on develpoing warnings, along with running a missing persons finder. It can be found in Japanese and English.

WRGW News has reached out to relevant authorities for comment but felt it necessary to provide information as soon as possible. This story is developing...

Runoff Between Clark and Richardson for President; Galonek and Costigan for EVP

President:
1st - Chris Clark - 26.5%
2nd - John Richardson - 25%

EVP:
1st - Ted Costigan - 32.5%
2nd - Amanda Galonek - 26.5%

Runoffs will be held on March 23rd and March 24th.  More results to come...

Last-Minute Campaigning for SA Election in Full Swing

Bryce Jarvis campaigns for EVP candidate Aria Varasteh

With the polls officially open, candidates in the Student Association election are making a last-minute push for votes the old-fashioned way: on foot.

Limited to within the relatively small confines of the "campaigning zone," roughly comprising of the 2100 block of H St and Kogan Plaza, candidates and their supporters are advocating for their respective camps via face-to-face interactions and palmcards.

Ted Costigan, candidate for EVP (full disclosure: Costigan is a member of the WRGW Talk department), was stationed outside Lisner auditorium in a grey campaign t-shirt.  Visibly tired, he told WRGW News around 4pm that his campaign day had begun at 7:30 that morning.  After briefly speaking to a graduate student and informing her that she was indeed able to vote in the election, Costigan expressed measured optimism about his efforts, noting that "getting the word out" was the best option available to him and his handful of supporters scattered throughout the zone.

SA Candidates React to Hatchet Debate

The fifth annual Hatchet SA Debate on Monday allowed student voters the chance to see the five Executive Vice Presidential candidates and seven Presidential candidates respond to a wide variety of questioning.

Amanda Galonek, who is running for the EVP position described the debate as “Nerve racking. You think you have so much to give, and you’re really fired up and you really want to make a difference and being on stage sometime you can’t formulate exactly what you want to say, and that’s frustrating because I have so much that I want to do and sometimes you don’t get it out the right way. I would have liked to have talked about my initiatives for GWireless.”
 

Ted Costigan, also running for EVP had this to say about the debate: “It was great, a quick debate, not too bad. In and out. I didn’t mention a few of my policies, one of my important policies is giving ROTC students a ROTC minor.”

Sam Free claimed that she and her fellow EVP candidates agree, “The [debate] went really fast. We all thought it was a great debate.”

Laughter and Thereafter: The Audience Response to the Hatchet-SA Debate

As the crowd slowly filtered in into the Jack Morton Auditorium on Monday night, the tone was one of anticipation and support; an eagerness to find out more about the issues and support for friends running for the SA.

Though many students came in with little to no background information, and were at the debates to be informed about the issues and candidates, the majority of students already knew exactly what they wanted to happen in the upcoming year. Doug Arbiter, a GW student, argued that “it’s ridiculous you have to pay an initial psychiatric fee” and endorsed Jason Kaplan, whose platform concentrates on the issue. Many students supported this in addition to a range of issues from excessive stress on diversity to continuing effort in fixing Gelman.

However, much of the audience was not there about issues but rather in support of friends. Whole rows were filled with individuals seeking to endorse and cheer on a specific candidate. In addition to the large portion of the audience taken up reporters from the Hatchet and other news sources, it seemed like the general student body was poorly represented in the audience. Freshmen Ryan Huttman later said about the SA that “I have no idea what that thing is”. Many freshmen that were interviewed outside of the debate expressed similar views, having little to no recognition of what the SA is and what it does.

SA Debate LIVE on WRGW, 7:30 EST

Do you wish you could come to the Student Association debate tonight but midterms have you stuck in your dorm?  No problem!  WRGW News has got you covered - tune in at http://gwradio.com/listenlive at 7:30 for our coverage of the Presidential and Executive Vice-Presidential debates live from the Jack Morton Auditorium.  See you then!

Who's Behind 'Stuff GW People Like'? An Interview with the Author

For her, it started as just a screen name, a gateway to follow friends on the growing blog site Tumblr. Little did she know, this screen name would spark a whole new arena of GW gossip. The inspiration for “Stuff GW People Like” struck while a freshman student (who asked to remain anonymous) was waiting lazily at the airport for her flight.

“When I was at the airport I just made a huge list of things that I thought were funny,” she said. “Up until this point, I have been following that same list for the most part.”

Stuff GW People Like has become a GW centerpiece, sparking conversation, curiosity, and controversy. This has all fed the question; who is behind the idea and the conversation?

The writer, who has asked to remain anonymous, has kept her blog separate from other aspects of her life.

“My friends who do know I write it always tell me about kids in their classes who were talking about the blog” she said.

Now, as the blog has reached more than 450 followers on Tumblr, and 1,200 on Facebook, her motivations about the website remain the same; to keep writing until there is nothing more to write about.