NewsTechNiciaN friday, february 10, 2012 • Page 3

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LED street lights, and the Ra-leigh Amphitheater, in addition to others.

Not all of the stops feature clean energy approaches; there are also several places that showcase the venues commit-ted to using local resources. Poole’s Diner, a downtown fix-ture, uses local goods in their foods. The downtown Raleigh Farmers Market also shows citizens how important local crops are to the area.

Sustainable living is often a hot topic on campuses, and sophomore Jasmine Bamlet thinks Raleigh is taking a step in the right direction.

“I thinks it’s a really good idea and more places down-town should try to use cleaner energy since the United States emits a lot of electrical waste,” Bamlet said.

Organizers hope residents, as well as visitors of Raleigh, will notice all of the steps the city is taking to ensure they leave a better mark on the world.

The tour will continue to

expand as more businesses and buildings convert to more friendly energy.

“I hope people rea l ize through tour sites and ex-amples that sustainability also includes strengthening the economy and social equity,” Harris said.

University students who are interested in taking this free tour should visit Raleigh’s En-vironmental and Sustainabil-ity website and click on the ‘Sustainable Walking Tour in Downtown’ link.

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resources, meetings and seminars will also be held to provide different training and informative sessions for those who are interested in the related topics. One of their first events will be a Meet and Greet to intro-duce upcoming seminars.

“The Meet and Greets are a great opportunity for stu-dents to expand their circle through networking, while gaining valuable skills dur-ing the process,”Chase said.

WCN is having their first Meet and Greet of the spring semester today. During the Meet and Greet, there will be opportunities to social-ize, grab refreshments and discuss the future seminars planned for the year.

“We want to show what the NCSU’s chapter will be doing during seminars, have an opportunity to so-cialize, then discuss some of the objectives the orga-nization has,” said Whitney

Kirkman, secretary and web-master for WCN.

During the first Meet and Greet, an overview of the next event will be one of the main focuses. The GRE Skills and Tactics Seminar will be the first spring semester seminar for WCN. It will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 15 starting at 5:30 p.m. at SAS Hall in room 1216.

The beginning segment of the seminar will include re-freshments, as well as time to connect with other faculty and students. Following the Meet and Greet will be a presentation about the skills and tactics for the new GRE.

“You can feel kind of isolated, so having an atmosphere to talk with others who are experienc-ing some of the same things is great. It’s especially great dur-ing different transitions in life, like transitioning from high school to college,” Kirkman said.

Building a mentoring net-work is also a part of WCN’s agenda. The future mentoring program will link freshmen with upperclassmen who will

be able to help them through-out their college experiences.

“Programs like the mentor-ing system will open doors for the University, and help with the retention rates for students with disabilities as well,” Chase said.

Although the mentoring pro-gram is currently in the plan-ning stages, mentoring is still available during WCN’s regular meetings, where students help other students through estab-lishing a support structure.

“There is an incredible need for an organization like this. An important goal is to reach out to younger kids, to moti-vate them to pursue higher education,” Pomann said.

Anyone who is interested in rights of the disabled, advocacy work, diversity initiatives or simply improving campus life is encouraged to attend WCN meetings and events.

You can also visit www.we-connectnow.wordpress.com, as well as their Facebook page (WCN@NCSU) for more in-formation about the organi-zation and their upcoming events.

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is not the only program gen-erating buzz about the arts and business connection. The Arts Entrepreneurship minor is a relatively new idea, not only on campus, but also nation-wide.

N.C. State is one of only three universities in Amer-ica to offer this minor to students.

Gary Beckman, director of entrepreneurial studies in the arts, was brought in to create the minor on cam-pus, making it the first in the country to actually be offered to students major-ing in any field.

“It’s for any student who’s

interested in the arts, any stu-dent who wants to make a living with their art or, more importantly here, students who feel as if they can compact the production of art,” Beckman said. “So perhaps they have ideas that help artists create better art.”

The minor contains four courses and an advised elective, all of which can be completed within three semesters, accord-ing to Beckman.

“I have at least one student who in three years is going to have a multi-million dollar idea,” Beckman said. “There’s no doubt in my mind, and that’s just one of my students.”

The minor will be represent-ed at the next campus eGames, with the inclusion of an arts

feasibility challenge and a prototype challenge, which will allow art entrepreneurs to display their creativity amongst engineers and the like.

The first-prize winner for each will receive $4,000.

“Art is this beautiful, magi-cal, mystical thing that people, for some reason, can’t live without. It may be commod-itized in many ways for the 21st century,” Beckman said. “But the core magic of what it does to people, no matter the discipline, is still there.”

The Art Express and the Arts Entrepreneurship minor are paving the way for individuals to enhance their arts prospects by allowing art and the inno-vations of marketing and busi-ness to work together.

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The Progress Energy Center for the Performing arts is a depression-era building that underwent a "green" redesign and now features LED lighting, occupancy sensor lights and low-flow plumbing.

The Cree shimmer wall at the Raleigh Convention Center is a 9,284 square foot work of art made from 79,464 aluminum squares. The "shimmer" effect is produced when the aluminum squares flap in the wind.

“I think people need to be more

informed about [the environment],

especially college students.”Sarah Thompson, freshman in management