Sofia Filippa – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Mon, 24 Mar 2014 17:29:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Sofia Filippa – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 “Keys to Sustainability” makes the environment the focus https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/10/keys-to-sustainability-makes-the-environment-the-focus/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/02/10/keys-to-sustainability-makes-the-environment-the-focus/#respond Mon, 10 Feb 2014 08:01:22 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1082201 The third annual "Keys to Sustainability" fair took place last Friday, bringing together student groups, academic departments and institutes focused on sustainability.

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The third annual “Keys to Sustainability” fair took place last Friday, bringing together student groups, academic departments and institutes focused on sustainability.

Besides raising awareness about various ecological issues, the event — which was organized by the Office of Sustainability — also aimed to encourage students to join clubs and pursue academic research and internships related to conservation.

“My vision for ‘Keys to Sustainability’ is to give [students] an opportunity to learn outside of the classroom and gain leadership experience,” said Meghan Kearns, the main event coordinator. “There are tons of grants for students who want to do sustainable projects. This event will show them how they can do that.”

Attendees credited the fair with providing them with valuable information about ways to pursue their interests within the framework of sustainability.

“I’ve always been very interested in sustainability but I haven’t really found a way of really following through it at Stanford,” said Tynan Challenor ’17. “This is sort of like a nucleus with all the information, so it seemed pretty helpful to come and sort of see what was going on there.”

 

Stanford’s sustainability shortcomings

While student organization representatives in attendance at the fair credited the University’s commitment to sustainability, several emphasized that room for improvement — from managing land development to handling the current drought — remains.

Amy Zuckerwise ’15, president of the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (SEED), drew attention to sustainability issues on campus.

“They have just so much construction and a lot of landscaping that doesn’t seem very sustainable to me,” she said.

Meanwhile, Sophie Harrison ’16, a member of Fossil Free Stanford, critiqued the University’s actions with regards to fossil fuels.

“Stanford has been pretty ambitious about cutting our greenhouse gas emissions but doing that while investing our money in the largest coal, oil and gas companies is fundamentally incompatible with those values,” Harrison said.

For Abhineet Gupta M.S. ’11 Ph.D. ’19, one of the most pressing issues to be solved is recycling and composting on campus.

“There are not enough composting bins around, but then even [for] recycling, I think things are not very properly marked,” he said. “Different buildings will have different classifications, so it gets very confusing.”

With California currently experiencing a drought, various student organizations offered their take on the University community’s response. Sasha Brownsberger ’14, co-president of Green Council, applauded measures such as turning off the fountains and reducing plant watering.

“We ourselves are doing what we can about that, with dorm competitions to save water,” he said. “We’ll challenge Stanford students to cut down on their water usage.”

 

Contact Sofia Filippa at sofiaf ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu

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VA office provides services to vets https://stanforddaily.com/2013/11/14/va-office-provides-services-to-vets/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/11/14/va-office-provides-services-to-vets/#respond Fri, 15 Nov 2013 07:01:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1080522 Stanford’s Student Services Center opened the Student Veteran Affairs Office (VA) last spring to better provide University resources for students affiliated with the military. The VA office, which was created in collaboration with the Office of the University Registrar and the Financial Aid Office, helps students obtain their veteran and chapter benefits, and also provides […]

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Stanford’s Student Services Center opened the Student Veteran Affairs Office (VA) last spring to better provide University resources for students affiliated with the military.

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The Student Services Center is training staff to help veterans with the educational benefits. (LINDA CICERO/Stanford News Service)

The VA office, which was created in collaboration with the Office of the University Registrar and the Financial Aid Office, helps students obtain their veteran and chapter benefits, and also provides guidance regarding tuition and certification procedures. Following the principles of excellence established in an executive order signed last April, the office’s trained staff also provides face-to-face assistance, which has shown promising results.

According to Lori Gager, associate director of the Student Services Center, the office provides assistance to around 89 students throughout the quarter.

Many students find out about the VA office through word of mouth, but Jeanette Hoggatt, a student services specialist, emphasized the office’s online presence on its own website and that of the Financial Aid Office and the Registrar.

Steve Skentzos Ph.D. ’17, who served in the Navy as a submarine nuclear reactor operator, said that the office has been helpful in solving issues that have persisted for student veterans in the past. .

“It’s been good that the office has been formed within Student Services because before, it was pretty unorganized [and] nobody ever seemed to know what was going on,” said Skentzos, a second-year psychology graduate student.

Despite the improvement, Skentzos said there is still room for improvement.

“There were a couple forms that I needed to fill out that nobody really told me about until months later,” Skentzos said. “I ended up getting my money like a quarter late.”

Currently, office hours specifically for veterans are available every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., and the SSE offers general office hours throughout the week.

“We don’t exclude seeing veterans anytime they come to the SSE,” Gager said.  “We just happen to have the office open for their specific questions on Tuesdays.”

Plans for improvement and expanding of the program are underway. Gager explained that the VA staff is currently collaborating with a group of people appointed by the Vice Provost of Student Affairs.

“The hope is that the office would be expanded to include a permanent staffing to do the certification and all of the benefits of coordination and administration with the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Gager said.

Other objectives include adding staff involved in coordinating the program’s outreach and connections and expanding office hours specific to student veterans.  Gager also explained that not all students receiving benefits are student veterans— some are active military, ROTC or dependents. Therefore, creating a sense of belonging in the military-affiliated community is a paramount goal of VA.

However, funding is still a challenge that VA office faces in order to be able to pursue all of its developmental changes. The office has recently been issued a grant by the Stanford Affiliation Group, a promising start in its pursuit for development.

“The most important thing is that we need the resources and the staffing to be able to coordinate the services and programs that we want to do for this very special audience,” Gager said.

Contact Sofia Filippa at sofiaf ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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United Nations Film Festival has Stanford ties https://stanforddaily.com/2013/10/18/united-nations-film-festival-has-stanford-ties/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/10/18/united-nations-film-festival-has-stanford-ties/#comments Fri, 18 Oct 2013 08:34:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1079536 Six members of the Stanford community will present films at the 16th annual United Nations Association Film Festival, which will run from Oct. 17-27 at several Bay Area locations.

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The 16th United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF) will be held from Oct. 17-27 at several Bay Area locations, including Palo Alto and Stanford University.

The theme for this year’s festival is “individual to universal,” featuring a total of 70 international and national film documentaries dealing with a myriad of topics, such as human rights, poverty, LGBTQ issues, environmental policy and education.

There are several promising works being shown at the festival. A talented list of filmmakers is attending the event, including Academy Award nominees Mark Kitchell and Connie Field. What’s more, six members of the Stanford community are screening their films in this year’s festival, including Jan Krawitz, a professor of art and art history, Charlene Music M.F.A ’09 and Anne Makepeace ’69 M.A. ’71 M.F.A. ’82.

Krawitz is presenting her film “Perfect Strangers.”  It is the account of Ellie, a woman who altruistically decides to donate her kidney to Kathy, a woman she has never met. The documentary presents a curious, unusual case of human kindness, and, at the same time, it raises awareness about the current situation of organ donation in our country. With various artistic film shots and scenes, Krawitz truly manages to capture the essence behind each person, providing some interesting food for thought.

Historical figures are also featured in UNAFF’s films. Makepeace directed and produced “Eleanor Roosevelt: Close to Home,” which is planned to be screened at the film’s opening night in Aquarius Theatre in Palo Alto. Although a bit too short, it does a good job of introducing the story of the prominent First Lady and her extensive political and social activism throughout her life. It leaves the viewer wishing for deeper detail; a lengthier account would do more justice to this captivating film work.

“Alias Ruby Blade: A Story of Love and Revolution,” directed and produced by British-American couple Alex and Tanya Meillier, is also being featured at the opening night. This film presents the breathtaking story of Australian activist Kirsty Sword, who was a secret informant during the East Timor revolution. She collaborates with Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, the revolution leader, and the two unexpectedly fall in love. The intense scenes make the viewer feel the tension as their own, living the action through the eyes of brave Kirsty. Thrilling emotions, suspense and intrigue are just a few of the themes that describe this excellent documentary.

Other highly anticipated films include “Familia Ayara,” a Colombian-Spanish production. The film is about the inspiring Don Popo and how he founded an organization that provides support through hip-hop for children who have been mentally, sexually or physically abused. Also, do not miss the “Nowhere to Run” animated series, an Irak/Turkey/U.S. original creation that deals with LGBTQ issues in refugee communities around the world.

Tickets can be purchased at Tresidder Union at Stanford University or at the United Nations Association gift shop in Palo Alto. Same-day tickets are free for students with a valid I.D and for seniors (62+).

 

For more information visit http://www.unaff.org/2013/index.html.

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