Obenchain Travelled to “Year After Year, the Rites of Soon
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TODAY’s WEATHER LIFE SPORTS Check out the review of Q&A with John Jenkins about his recent Cut Copy’s new album performance and the Commodores “Zonoscope” performance away from home SEE PAGE 5 SEE PAGE 6 Chance of rain 68 / 40 THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER THE VOICE OF VANDERBILT SINCE 1888 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2011 WWW .INSIDEVANDY.COM 123RD YEAR, NO. 17 CAMPUS NEWS Music Group STUDENT NEWS announces Rites Student uses pearl of Spring lineup profits to clean water CHRIS MCDONALD Senior combines Staff Writer business and Kid Cudi and The National will headline this year’s Rites of humanitarian efforts Spring music festival, the Music Group announced Thursday to bring clean water to night. Joining the headliners is an Bangladesh. array of other acts representing a wide variety of genres. KID CUDI LAUREN JANSEN “The Music Group works Staff Writer hard to bring a top-notch line- hop group, the legendary Public up of artists to campus for their Enemy will also perform. While most Vanderbilt students peers and the community,” said The full line-up and further enjoyed a relaxing fall break among Xiaoyu Qi and Lauren Richman, details, including the festival’s friends and family this past October, co-chairs for the Music Group. schedule, will be announced senior Tommy Obenchain travelled to “Year after year, the Rites of soon. Rites of Spring will take the country of Bangladesh to oversee Spring Music Festival delivers place this year on Friday, April the installation of a pilot water filtration something for everyone 15 and Saturday, April 16. system in a country where 77 million including critically-acclaimed Tickets will go on sale people drink contaminated water daily. artists, music festival favorites Thursday, Feb. 24. Single-day Obenchain is the founder of Pearls and promising musicians from tickets and weekend passes for Life, a pending 501C3 non-profit the underground music scene.” are both available to students organization aimed at bringing clean Matt & Kim, Edward Sharpe and the general public. Tickets water to the people of Bangladesh. & the Magnetic Zeros and Sarah can be purchased online at Pearls for Life is an initiative of Taylor Bareilles are also included on ticketmaster.com, at any area Pearl, Obenchain’s for-profit company the bill. Keeping with the theme Ticketmaster location, or at the that buys pearls in China and sells them of including a throwback hip- Sarratt Box Office. ■ in America. The organization works in collaboration with a non-governmental association, Humanitarian Aid for Rural CAMPUS NEWS Development (HARD). The inception of Taylor Pearl and Pearls for Life began when Obenchain traveled to Beijing, China in July 2005. “I saw the opportunity to buy pearls Courtesy of Tommy Obenchain here and sell them in America,” said Tommy Obenchain poses for a photo along with benefactors of his Pearls for Life Obenchain, describing his walk through organization, which aims to provide clean water for the people of Bangladesh. a local pearl market. According to Obenchain, he visited an orphanage later that day. Though bring fresh water to the region was born Returning home, Obenchain sought impressed by the organization’s efforts in February 2010. By May of that year, the assistance of Vanderbilt faculty to provide abandoned children with a Obenchain and his team had amassed members, Brooke Ackerly, professor of safe environment and the opportunity the necessary funds to go on their first political science, George Hornberger, for education, Obenchain said he was research and development trip. professor of engineering, and Steven struck by group’s financial struggle. In order for Pearls for Life to gain a Goodbred, professor of oceanography. OLIVER WOLFE/ The Vanderbilt Hustler “A dollar a day fed one of those concrete understanding of the region’s They provided Obenchain with Senior Ben Eagles talks with several Vanderbilt workers over dinner kids, and they weren’t always able to complex problems, Obenchain said the guidance and put him in contact with Thursday night at the Vanderbilt Student/Worker Fellowship. make ends meet,” Obenchain said. group saw the need for all research to be the developer of the Sono filter, a device “That number hit me, and that point of conducted in Bangladesh. Obenchain with the ability to filter out 100 percent inspiration fused with my experience outlined three questions he and his team of arsenic in a water supply. earlier at the pearl market to create the sought to answer in evaluating the most Built upon the principles of social Fellowship event company.” effective course of action: “What is the responsibility, Taylor Pearl rebranded in Obenchain traveled to Bangladesh problem? What can we do to have the June 2010 and selected a name that “was for the first time in May 2009, and the biggest impact? And how can we make classy, short and could be embraced by bridges the gap concept of utilizing freshwater pearls to sure the impact is sustainable?” Please see OBENCHAIN, page 3 between workers WHO IS TOMMY OBENCHAIN? and students Tommy Obenchain is the Obenchain founded Taylor Pearl President and Founder of the Taylor in July of 2005, and he has led Pearl Company, a wholly owned the company through its six-year LUCAS LOFFREDO which students and workers subsidiary of the Oben International history. Staff Writer ate a catered dinner together. Corporation. He is also a member of Obenchain is majoring in It was sponsored by Vanderbilt the Oben International Corp’s board both International Business Three campus organizations Students for Nonviolence of directors. Communication and Political hosted the Vanderbilt Student/ (VSN), Living Income for He attended Highland Park High Science and will graduate in May Worker Fellowship to promote Vanderbilt Employees (LIVE) School in Dallas, Texas, where he of this year. Following graduation, awareness and understanding and Economic Empowerment between Vanderbilt students Coalition (EEC). served as the president of the Obenchain will continue to serve and university workers on The recent contract student body in his senior year and as the president of the Taylor Pearl Thursday. negotiations between was the recipient of the National Company and chairman of the Around 60 total workers and Vanderbilt’s administration Honor Society’s Blanket Award. Pearls for Life campaign. ■ students showed up for the and its workers’ union was a meet-and-greet style event, in Please see WORKERS, page 3 If interested, THE HUSTLER PHOTO STAFF COME BY SARRATT 130 NEEDS MORE PHOTOGRAPHERS! (past Last Drop Coffee Shop) If you enjoy photography, the staff is a great opportunity to gain access to concerts, sporting and campus events. Opportunity for advancement and pay is available. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23 AT 6 P.M. 2 Friday, February 18, 2011 THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER www.InsideVandy.com Profiling an FEATURE PEER interesting student PHOTO REVIEW by GABY ROMAN MANA YAMAGUCHI WHAT’S YOUR ROLE IN PLANNING THE ASIAN NEW YEAR FESTIVAL? Vanderbilt’s Asian American Student Association hosts ANYF every year. I am one of the co- cultural vice presidents in AASA, along with my partner, Martin Yang. Our role is to stand be- hind the mission of AASA and promote cultural awareness amongst the Vanderbilt com- munity. Specifically, we are re- sponsible for creating and orga- nizing ANYF, one of the biggest, most exciting events held here on campus! WHY IS AASA IMPORTANT TO YOU? I am a Japanese-American, born and raised in the U.S. I have been raised within both cultures and have realized the impor- tance of valuing both. The AASA here at Vanderbilt is an organi- zation that is open to the entire student body. Their mission as a cultural organization inspires me to be a citizen of society who can appreciate the many different cultures that we are exposed to today. AASA also works to help other cultural organizations on and off campus, as well as provide opportunities in which we can give back to the community. AASA is such a well-rounded organi- zation, and I have had the time of my life being a part of its inspir- ing mission. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER VANDERBILT? I am looking forward to working in a marketing position for a company in Tokyo after I graduate this May. Celebrating the Lunar Calendar’s New Year, the “Asian New Year Festival 2011: Tale of the Rabbit” will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. on Saturday in the Student Life. The event will represent several East Asian countries and feature various cultural performances. It’s open to the public and tickets are $10 for show or $15 for show and dinner. STUDENT GOVERNMENT by LAURA COCKMAN VSG SENATORIAL CANDIDATES Three senators are elected from A&S, and one senator from Blair, Peabody, and Engineering each. Polls for the primary senate election will open Feb. 23, and general election polls will open March 2. BECK FRIEDMAN/ The Vanderbilt Hustler In Wednesday’s home opener against North Carolina, the Commodores fell to the Tar Heels, 14-10. Senior midfielder Emily Franke’s four goals were not enough to match Tar Heel and fellow Maryland native Corey Donohoe’s five-goal performance. Next Tuesday, Canisius heads to Nashville to face off against Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. CT. CANDIDATE DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY Annie Daorai Engineering Council Sophomore Rep. Anuj Patwardhan Engineering Senator Avi Chavda A&S Council Senior Rep. NEED The top news stories Barrett Walters A&S Council Vice President fromby VS aroundC MEDIA SER campusVICES that Chrissy Hoyt Engineering Council President TO KNOW you need to know to be Craig Wood A&S Senator VANDERBILT informed this week. Diana Mehserle Engineering Council Senior Rep. by VSC MEDIA SERVICES Evan Broder A&S Council President Jessica Brunelle A&S Senator Fair’s recently published book, “The Day After Tomorrow: Google Earth lecture features engineering Jessie Lambing Peabody Council Vice President Images of Our Earth in Crisis,” features primarily aerial alumnus photography capturing such images as pools of toxic hog waste, John Tucker Sigalos A&S Senator Engineering students will showcase their ingenuity through the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, streams of paper mill runoff Jon Guzman A&S Senator a series of challenging – but fun – competitions and events and the remains of mountain top removal.