Dresses From….Diapers?
Fashion design students from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design received an unusual challenge from SCA, a global hygiene and forest products company headquartered in Philadelphia: to create beautiful garments using — exclusively — SCA’s TENA incontinence care products and materials.
The garments made their debut in May at the Volvo Ocean Race in Newport, Rhode Island. The aim, says SCA, is to educate people about incontinence and to boldly open up a dialogue about it.
Dragon credits Co-op on ‘House of DVF’ Fashion Reality Show
She may have been one of the youngest competitors on the E! “House of DVF” reality show, but she certainly wasn’t the greenest. Design and merchandising student Amanda Schauer was one of eight contestants vying to win a position as brand ambassador at Diane von Fürstenberg’s eponymous company (for those who need a small clue, her signature design is the wrap dress).
And it was Schauer’s co-op experience that helped her walk away with a second-place finish on the show, which aired in the fall.
Even von Fürstenberg mentioned Schauer’s co-op as a retail development intern at Michael Kors while deliberating who would win the contest. In her final statements, von Fürstenberg made it clear she believed that the senior design and merchandising student had a future in the fashion industry.
“Ultimately, [my co-op experiences] prepared me for how to act in the corporate world,” Schauer says. “I realized how it functioned and was comfortable with it. This definitely gave me a leg up on the show because most girls had no corporate experience.”
‘Big Kids’ Sleepover at the Academy
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University has been hosting sleepovers for kids for decades — but why should kids have all the fun? In March, adults for the first time got to roam the halls with libations in hand and experience their very own “Night at the Museum” at the Academy’s first overnight for big kids.
Timshel Purdum, the Academy’s director of education and lifelong learning, says it was one of the best events she’s ever experienced in more than a decade working at the museum.
“I had a blast,” she laughs. “The participants were awesome. They were having such a great time and the staff had a great time with them.”
The group of 90 took part in behind-the-scenes tours of the collections, a special diorama ghost tour, and created some “natural” artwork: They dipped cockroaches and maggots in paint and let them walk across paper.
If you missed it, don’t worry. The Academy is hosting a second event in October.
It’s in the Bag
A new partnership between Drexel and Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia will help administrative offices across Drexel’s campuses with a little clutter problem: a build-up of old banners used at events long over.
“I had four literally collecting dust and just felt horrible about throwing them out,” says Maria Walker, project manager of Drexel’s Office of Community and University Partnerships.
Now those banners will stop collecting dust and become key to a program providing marketable skills for those who have formerly been incarcerated.
Goodwill developed a special program to turn old vinyl banners and other promotional materials into bags, in support of its workforce re-entry program.
“These are ex-offenders who get skills and learn how to operate a commercial-grade sewing machine,” Walker explains.
Fashionable bags can be made from banners, flags, tablecloths, etc., made from vinyl, canvas, nylon or other heavy-duty materials. “Once donated to Goodwill, [the materials are] transformed into one-of-a-kind, all-purpose tote bags,” says Mark B. Boyd, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia.
“Best of all,” he adds, “the project gives ex-offenders the opportunity to learn a new trade while earning real wages, making it sustainable on multiple fronts.”
Check-in Time is Fall 2016
Construction of a new boutique hotel, The Study at University City, at the corner of 33rd and Chestnut streets, is well underway. The former James E. Marks Intercultural Center building was demolished and the center relocated to the Paul Peck Problem Solving and Research Building over the winter. Preliminary excavation activities commenced in late February. The Study is slated to open in fall 2016.
High Spirits
The art of making cocktails — from the classic to the creative — is alive and bubbling in Philadelphia, and now Drexel is offering students and the public a course in mixology through the Center for Hospitality & Sport Management.
The class, which launched in the spring, explores the fundamentals of preparing and serving classic and craft cocktails and offers a handful of openings to members of the public who are food-industry professionals or serious laypeople.
The course is taught by Keith Raimondi, who is head bartender at Townsend, a French restaurant in South Philly.
Students Join Anti-Extremism Cyber Fight
Celebrities, politicians, your grandmother, your boss. Everyone is on social media. Even violent extremists are using the Internet for quick and dirty recruitment efforts. But, thanks to a nod from the U.S. State Department, Drexel students are fighting back. A special consultation class formed in the LeBow College of Business at Drexel this year challenges students to develop strategies for disrupting radicals’ recruitment efforts. The idea is to tap into millennials’ ideas for how to counter extremism, particularly violent extremism.
The class, aptly titled P2P: Challenging Extremism, encourages peer-to-peer connection worldwide. Drexel is one of 23 other universities across the world participating in the program.
Hot Coffee and Co-op
No time to wait in line at the LeBow Hall Starbucks? Stroll over to 34th Street, where hot coffee and co-op live in perfect harmony.
In April, a new 1,550-square-foot, entirely student-run Saxbys Coffee opened to the Drexel community, across from the 7-Eleven at 34th Street and Lancaster Avenue. Drexel’s entrepreneurial students are experiencing a one-of-a-kind, hands-on opportunity in this experiential-learning café.
“Saxbys has brought to Drexel yet another facet of the entrepreneurship spectrum — the franchise,” says Donna De Carolis, dean of the Close School of Entrepreneurship and Silverman Family Professor of Entrepreneurial Leadership. “This collaboration with owner Nick Bayer and Saxbys allows us to provide mentoring, co-ops and integration with the Close School’s franchising course, as well as many more opportunities.”
Who’s Your Daddy (Vail)?
Drexel crew is too hot to stop. For the third year in the row, the Dragons dominated on the Schuylkill River, securing the third overall championship at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta in as many years.
“They don’t just hand you the title because you’ve won in the past. You have to earn it. They did it, and I couldn’t be more proud of them,” says Drexel crew coach Paul Savell.
Drexel amassed 42 points in this year’s regatta, winning handily against the University of Delaware, which took second place with 34 points, and Bucknell University, which finished third with 33 points.
Six of Drexel’s boats managed to place during the finals.
The second men’s varsity eight and the men’s freshman eight both took home gold medals.
Additionally, the men’s varsity four boat took third and the women’s varsity eight, the men’s first varsity eight and the men’s freshman four all took bronze.
In the men’s category, Drexel finished in first place as well, amassing 30 points to second place Delaware’s 25.
Is it too early to set our sights on a four-peat?
Level Up: Economic Development Grants Give Boost to Drexel Game Studio
New funding is helping the two-year-old Entrepreneurial Game Studio (EGS) in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design award some serious experience points to Drexel undergrads as well as to teenage girls in Philadelphia.
Drexel was one of three institutions to share in a $750,000 “Discovered and Developed in PA” grant, which is awarded by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development in an effort to grow the state’s digital entertainment and video gaming industries.
In addition, Westphal Associate Professor and game studio founder Frank Lee has received an 18-month, $200,000 grant from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development to license software, purchase hardware and buy whatever else the student teams might need to make their games.
As of February, 33 Drexel undergrads have formed eight teams. Two have formed limited liability companies already; five are on their way.
EGS is also working with Philadelphia nonprofit TechGirlz to create two game design workshops that will be made available, free-of-charge, to schools and students nationwide. This project, which is funded by a grant from the Entertainment Software Association Foundation, aims to change girls’ attitudes toward computer science through video games, increasing gender equality in the gaming industry.
Drexel’s EGS hosted a series of TechGirlz workshops to test the game design curriculum that will eventually be made available online. These game-testing workshops, facilitated by EGS student volunteers, are an addition to TechGirlz’ existing “TechShopz in a Box” programming.
The “TechShopz in a Box” program virtually assembles curricula on technology-related topics so that TechGirlz workshops can be experienced by youngsters around the country. Current TechShopz include introductions to Javascript, Python and Ruby on Rails programming languages. TechGirlz workshop participants this year are some of the first students to try out Drexel’s game design workshop and provide feedback for Lee’s team.