NC State Summer Happenings
The 2022-23 academic year has just begun, and many of you are coming back to campus having participated in a wide array of summer adventures. Here, members of the campus community share what they’ve been up to this summer and what they’ve learned from their experiences.
Randall Bechtolt
Senior Lecturer, Department of Health and Exercise Studies, Division of Academic and Student Affairs
The summer adventure’s first home base was Anchorage, Alaska. From there we took a train ride to Whittier for an afternoon boat cruise to glaciers. We were fortunate to hear and see glacier calving, but not fast enough for a picture. The water falls from snow melt and some glacier melting were stunning.
The second home base was Seattle. From there we took a day trip to Mt. Rainier. The late spring around Mt. Rainier provided snow for hiking and snow melt leading to rushing water and waterfalls.
Gary Blank
Associate Professor, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, College of Natural Resources
I offered NR 350 in the Czech Republic from July 3-29. Based at NC State’s European Center in Prague, the class of 13 NC State students and three Swedes also visited and examined Ostrava and southern Bohemia. NR 350 (International Use of Sustainable Natural Resources) asks students to consider whether practices and conditions they encounter during the course are sustainable. Excursions organized by faculty from Czech University of Life Sciences, Technicka Univerzita Ostrava (VSB), and Henry Hanson (NC State consultant) exhibited utilization and social interactions to illustrate resource use change over time and define relations to landscapes. Students experienced Kutna Hora, Kostolecs nad Labem, Ostrava, Cesky Budejovice, Cesky Krumlov, Trebon, Slavonice, and Prague. Seeing connections and recognizing distinctions among these places, students grappled with sustainability ideals in contexts of millennia-old metropolitan centers and current environmental challenges. Traveling by train and public transport within and among these locations, the class observed the Czech landscape from its mountainous north to the fish pond-dominated southern district.
Connor Brady
Residence Life Coordinator, University Housing, Division of Academic and Student Affairs
I served this summer as volunteer leadership seminar chairperson for the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar (HOBY), held on NC State’s campus in June. During this event, I, along with a team of volunteers (including multiple NC State students, staff, and alumni!) brought over 125 eastern North Carolina high school students for a weekend of leadership development, community service, and opportunities to experience our campus. Complete with a Howling Cow ice cream social, students leave the seminar feeling empowered to lead in their own communities and challenged to complete 100 hours of community service. HOBY North Carolina East, a local nonprofit affiliated with the national HOBY organization, has been held at NC State for over 25 years.
Global Training Initiative
In late June of 2022, Amanda Baker, a programs specialist with GTI, traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan with other NC State faculty and GTI instructors to coordinate and host a 3-day conference and lecture series at ADA University and Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. The trip was a whirlwind from day one.
Adrienne Shank, a programs coordinator with GTI, started the month of July by traveling to Antibes, France, a town near Sophia Antipolis where the southern campus of SKEMA Business School is located. She spent the week networking with university partners all over the world and discovering all that SKEMA does behind the scenes to promote the theme of “glocalisation” across its campuses, including the SKEMA Raleigh campus.
Khara Grieger
Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Environmental Health and Risk Assessment, Department of Applied Ecology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Hosted stakeholder workshop to identify risk assessment needs for gene drives used in agriculture
Together with colleagues in the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center, and under the leadership of PI Katie Barnhill-Dilling, we hosted an online stakeholder workshop to identify risk assessment and research prioritization needs for gene drives used in agriculture. This workshop was conducted as a part of a USDA/NIFA grant (PI= Barnhill-Dilling; Co-PIs Grieger, Kuzma, Delborne, Brown) from the Biotechnology Risk Assessment Grant program that aimed to foster deliberative discussions among stakeholder participants that will ultimately result in the production of a white paper for USDA on research priorities for these technologies. The website for the workshop is here.
In collaboration with the STEPS Center, planning to host Phosphorus Week in November 2022
The NSF-funded Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center is housed at NC State with headquarters in the Plant Sciences Building (PI = Jacob Jones, MSE). STEPS will be hosting an international event called Phosphorus Week in downtown Raleigh, between November 1 and 4, with an expected attendance of up to 200 participants from all over the world. Phosphorus Week combines a two-day Phosphorus Forum event (November 1 and 2) with a two-day Sustainable Phosphorus Summit (November 3 and 4). This is the best opportunity of the year to network and share knowledge with diverse organizations and people interested in improving phosphorus sustainability all along the phosphorus value chain. Attendees will come from companies, governments, research institutes, and non-profits with stakes in such domains as phosphate mining, crop and animal agriculture, wastewater treatment for nutrients, nutrient management and recycling, and technology and policy development around phosphorus use and recovery. This summer we accepted more than 100 abstract submissions to attend the Sustainable Phosphorus Summit, and are in the process of finalizing the agenda and preparing all aspects of the event. Details of Phosphorus week are here.
Invited speaker at Gordon Research Conference on Convergence of Nanotechnology with Food and Agriculture
I was an invited speaker at the Gordon Research Conference on Convergence of Nanotechnology with Food and Agriculture, held June 19-24 at the University of Southern New Hampshire. I was invited to present my research on best practices of responsible innovation of nanotechnology used in food and agriculture systems (including a recent paper in Responsible Technology). Details of the event are here.
Continuing research on societal implications and sustainability of genetic engineering and nanotechnology used in food and agriculture
Together with colleagues in the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center, we are continuing our research, education, and training aimed to evaluate the societal implications of genetic engineering and nanotechnology used in food and agriculture sectors. Through funding from USDA/NIFA (PI = Grieger, Co-PI = Kuzma), we are leading efforts to evaluate potential benefits and risks of genetic engineering and nanotech in agrifood products as well as approaches to incorporate stakeholder perceptions and views in strategies to help ensure their sustainable futures. With a new award this spring, we have been working on launching our new grant over the summer, with involvement from an interdisciplinary team at NC State, Iowa State, and Yale University. More details about this work can be found here.
Claire Henson
Masters Student, Department Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science, Wilson College of Textiles
This summer has been full of adventure and learning for me! Right after graduating with my Bachelor of Science in textile engineering, I hopped on a plane to Europe where I traveled to England, France, Switzerland, and Germany with my mom for three weeks! During my time there, I visited a friend from my Australian study abroad program, ate amazing food, and even went paragliding!
Then, upon my return, I packed up my apartment in Raleigh and moved to Baltimore to start my 11-week internship program with Under Armour as an Apparel and Accessories Material Development Rookie (This is what they call their interns)! In just a few weeks, I’ve learned so much about how I can see my career progressing in sustainable textile development. I have had exposure to amazing minds and made some great friends along the way! My manager for the summer is even an NC State alumni!
I am so grateful for the wisdom and memories I’ve gained from all my adventures this summer. I know I couldn’t have done it without the support of my Wolfpack family! Go Pack!
David Herpy
NC 4-H Camping Specialist, NC State Extension/4-H Youth Development
Our three North Carolina 4-H Camps and Centers welcomed over 2,000 summer campers from across North Carolina and surrounding states for weeklong camp experiences over our seven week summer camp season. These included 4-H camps with traditional camp activities such as archery, arts & crafts, canoeing, fishing, kayaking, low/high ropes, rock climbing, and ziplining; specialty camps such as Camp Canvasback and Fur, Fish ‘N Game Rendezvous, focused on hunting and fishing; and contract camps such as NC Grange Camp, Sertoma Deaf Camp, Army National Guard Camp, Camp Corral, and Operation Purple Camp, focused on serving youth from military families.
Thanks to the work of Angela Brisson in our State 4-H Camping Office, we received a $15,000 CAMP II grant through National 4-H Council to provide camperships for youth from vulnerable populations to attend camp, as well as a $6,000 grant to provide camperships for Leaders In Training (LITs) and translation services for our Spanish speaking families. Combined with other fundraising efforts, we awarded almost $60,000 in camperships and sent over 200 youth from vulnerable populations to camp at low to no cost, which is some of the most fulfilling and rewarding aspects of our work.
Personally, I competed in my first triathlon in almost three years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and scheduling conflicts. Although I haven’t raced in nearly three years, I have kept up with my triathlon training throughout the pandemic. After experiencing some health issues over the past three years, I was grateful and happy to complete the UNC Health Sprint Triathlon in Garner, with a fourth-place finish for my age group. I was truly inspired by fellow triathletes, with the youngest age 10 and oldest age 84. I met a grandfather of five who had competed in over 400 triathlons over the past 20+ years and finished his first Ironman at the age of 50. It was truly humbling and inspiring!
IR-4 Project
The IR-4 Project Headquarters team met with representatives and toured the new Plant Sciences Initiative Building sparking future potential collaborations. Affiliated IR-4 Project researchers are working to ensure the public has access to quality food and plants that enhance the environment.
Joy Kagendo
Lecturer, Department of Health and Exercise Studies, University College, Division of Academic and Student Affairs
I spent my summer in Kenya doing some work at Kenyatta University. I had a full schedule presenting, lecturing, working on curriculum and proposals. I taught and presented to undergraduate and graduate students as well as professors from various departments. Majority of my time was spent in the school of public health and exercise and human performance. I even had the opportunity to attend their graduation ceremony. This was such a rewarding experience and we are looking forward to future collaborative opportunities.
Michelle Kirchner
Ph.D. candidate, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology and Department of Applied Ecology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…a grad student?! This summer, I have spent most of my time 65 feet above the forest floor searching for ant nests in the tree canopy of North Carolina’s state parks and game lands. Each day I hike out into the woods with 40 pounds of gear and use ropes, mechanical ascenders, and the power of sweat to climb white oak trees and collect the ants from them. Later, I’ll bring the ants back to the lab and test their heat and cold tolerances to understand how these ecologically important insects may respond to climate change. This is my third summer studying ants in the treetops, and her research represents the first effort to systematically characterize the diversity and ecology of canopy-dwelling ants anywhere in temperate North America!
Christian Koch
Lecturer in Finance, Department of Business Management, Poole College of Management
This summer, I traveled to Anchorage and Talkeetna Alaska with a group to study moose migration patterns and their correlation to stock market returns.
Bradley Metz
Research Associate, Department of Applied Ecology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
This summer the staff at NC State Apiculture (part of the Department of Applied Ecology) collaborated with the Spartans from the Raymann Lab (Department of Biology) at UNC-G on a massive project looking at the effects of beekeeper-applied antibiotics on honeybee gut microflora, brood survival, and reproductive health of queens and drones. This entailed months of careful management of honey bee colonies by our beekeeping team led by Jen Keller and Sharon Munger as well as over 160 hours of processing by Brad Metz, Lexi Hoopman and Patrick Gallagher, where we sampled thousands of workers, queens, and drones.
Early findings by UNC-G Ph.D. candidate Hoopman found that a commonly applied antibiotic treatment for European Foulbrood —an endemic honey bee disease— could be found in the drone reproductive tract and semen. This important antibiotic has recently been shown to negatively impact reproduction in rat model systems and humans. Therefore, ensuring that agrichemicals are safe for bees is critical to responsible stewardship of our agricultural systems. Our part at NC State is to extend these highly controlled and specific assays to a real-world apicultural management system. We hope that our results will serve to highlight the significance of unintentional anthropogenic impact on managed and unmanaged species (including humans!) and promote management tactics that minimize harm to our ecosystems while maintaining important benefits to agriculture and apiculture.
NC Japan Center
The NC Japan Center has been having a busy summer! From assisting companies with business protocol training to on-site cultural events, online workshops, record cohort growth in our Japanese language classes and much more, the demand for Japan-related educational programming has never been higher!
We were very pleased to host our popular “NC Japan Center Summer Camp for High Schoolers” from July 11-15. We welcomed 12 campers to the Spring Hill House for a week of intensive language classes, cultural workshops (including origami, karate, Japanese calligraphy and sushi-making), games and a trip to a Japanese grocery store in Cary! This is the first time we could host the on-site version of this camp since the pandemic began, and it was a huge success. We’re already planning for summer 2023!
Logan Opperman
Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Statistics, College of Sciences
I got married in September of 2019 before the pandemic began and I wanted to share that this summer I was finally able to take my beautiful wife on our honeymoon to explore Athens, Greece and several of the surrounding areas. After a couple of days exploring Athens, we got on a bus and went to see Corinth and Mycenae on our way to Olympia and the Temple of Zeus. After Olympia we went to my favorite location, the small town of Delphi, where we had dinner overlooking a gorgeous mountain while watching the sunset. After Delphi we had a quick stop in Thermopylae to visit the site of Leonidas’ 300 before getting back to Athens for our trip home. It was a wonderful week of historical experiences, sites and museums.
Kanton Reynolds
Director of Undergraduate Programs and Associate Teaching Professor, Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering
Rwanda Study Abroad Program
The College of Engineering launched its inaugural Study Abroad Program to Rwanda this past summer. Previously, the program had operated as an Alternative Service Break offering but was expanded to include STEM activities at both Rwandan primary and secondary schools, training workshops with Rwandan teachers and visits to Rwandan colleges and universities including INES Ruhengeri, Rwanda Polytechnic, The University of Rwanda College of Education, The University of Rwanda College of Engineering and The University of Rwanda College of Science & Technology. Led by Kanton Reynolds, the student group consisted of four graduate students from both the Colleges of Engineering and Education as well as three undergraduate engineering students.
Ajaya Francis Jonas, director of Global Programs for the College of Education, joined the group halfway through the program to help with the development of relationships with the institutions. Most recently, the U.S. Department of State awarded the program a $35,000 grant spearheaded by Laura Bottomley with the Women and Minority Engineering Programs) and Veronica Catete in the Department of Computer Science, along with Reynolds to increase the number of students participating in the program and expand opportunities for collaboration and research.
UK STEM/Liberal Studies Study Abroad Program
This summer, we reactivated our UK STEM/Liberal Studies Study Abroad Program after a two year hiatus due to COVID-19. Kanton Reynolds (Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering) and Tom Koch (Department of Music), who had been the primary sponsors of the program, were joined by Jenny Campbell (Department of Biological Sciences) in relaunching the program with a smaller footprint and a shorter duration. One of the previous mainstays of the program was to visit local companies and understand their operations in the context of the subject matter for each course. With those options being limited, Reynolds created a new element by inviting NC State alumni living in the London area to join the students for NC State trivia and appetizers at a local establishment. Three alumni: Amanda Guthrie (Animal Science), Anna Cheng (ECE) and Bethany Vohlers (Statistics/CSC) were able to join the group and engage with the 24 students in the program.
Campbell worked with Guthrie who is the lead veterinarian at the London Zoo to provide a behind the scenes tour of the facility for her course – ZO 233 – Animal/Human Interaction. Reynolds worked with Cheng, who works in sales and distribution for Intel to facilitate a visit to the Intel/Dell product briefing center where the ISE 311 – Engineering Economy class was hosted by Trish Blomfield, UK Country Manager for Intel. It was a remarkable experience for both the students and the alumni who were able to share their expertise on living abroad and working in a different culture with students who have aspirations of doing both as well. Next summer, we hope to expand the event to include even more alumni as we restore the previous elements of the program.
Alex Rocco
Research Assistant, Center for Marine Sciences and Technology
I, along with two Doris Duke Conservation Scholars, Kylan Rivera and Mary Grace Ussary, spent the summer tagging blue crabs in the Newport River, Carteret County, North Carolina. This mark-recapture study uses tiny injectable coded wire tags to track subadult and adult blue crabs. Since tagging started in May 2022, hundreds of crabs have been marked, and a few have been recaptured. The project will inform estimates of growth and mortality in the North Carolina blue crab stock, the most valuable fishery in North Carolina.
Brittany Salmons
Science Communication Fellow, Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center
In 2021, the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (SE CASC) celebrated 10 years of the Global Change Fellows (GCF) program. It was founded in 2011 with the goal of training the next generation of global change scientists through financial, scientific, and professional development support. Our students have come from various departments across the NC State campus and have contributed greatly to the SE CASC mission of delivering science to help fish, wildlife, water, land, and people adapt to a changing climate. Students have gone on to have successful careers in federal and state governments, universities, and non-governmental organizations. The GCF program has trained 97 graduate students, with a new cohort set to begin this fall.
Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center
The STEPS Center located in the Plant Sciences Building on Centennial Campus hosted 16 students in their Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. During the 10-week program students participated in 13 research projects focusing on phosphorus sustainability in keeping with the center’s 25 in 25 vision, which is to facilitate a 25% reduction in human dependence on mined phosphates and a 25% reduction in losses of point and nonpoint sources of phosphorus to soils and water resources within 25 years, leading to enhanced resilience of food systems and reduced environmental damage. Scholars from NC State, Appalachian State University, and Clemson University visited research stations and treatment plants in addition to working in the lab. At the culmination of this program, scholars presented their research at a two-part event called the STEPS REU Showcase in the Plant Sciences Building and the Teaching and Visualization Lab in Hunt Library on August 4. Scholars, mentors, PIs, staff, and family viewed the students’ printed research posters then attended a live presentation by each of the scholars utilizing the Teaching and Visualization Lab’s panoramic screen. Guests interacted with scholars on a one-to-one level and were able to ask questions. The event was followed by a career development panel and resume workshop on August 5. The STEPS Center hopes to host another set of undergraduates next summer. Special thanks to our planning team consisting of Keyon Kemp, Brenda Gainey and Jasmine Covington.
Janice Sitzes
Associate Director, Marketing Services,
Continuing and Professional Education
This summer I spent a week riding my bicycle across Iowa in RAGBRAI XLIX (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa), along with 17,000 other cyclists. This was my 12th year participating in what has been likened to a rolling state fair. The ride always goes west to east, with you starting by dipping your tires in the Missouri River and finishing a week later by dipping your tires in the Mississippi River. This year’s northerly route, officially 454.1 miles with 11,954 feet of climbing, went from Sergeant Bluff to Lansing, with overnight stops in Ida Grove, Pocahontas, Emmetsburg, Mason City, Charles City, and West Union. The ride is not only a tremendous amount of fun—enabling you to visit, explore and learn about the history and culture of the communities along the way–but it enables you to provide funding and resources (through your food purchases) to these communities. While you enjoy your pancakes or ham balls or slice of pie or spaghetti dinner, you are helping fund new textbooks for classrooms, new marching band uniforms, a new fire truck, a new roof for a church–to name just a handful of the many local causes that benefit from this ride. While the food (especially the “church lady pie” for which this ride has become known), is invariably a highlight, the people are what make this truly spectacular—the welcoming people of Iowa and the cyclists who come from all over the world to participate.
Salma Soliman
ASSIST REU Summer Intern, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
I came to NC State as an exchange student from the American University in Cairo in the spring of 2022. I took classes in the College of Engineering and the Poole College of Management and did some extracurriculars at the Entrepreneurship Garage. I came to the U.S. with a vision in mind that I wanted to come here again for graduate school. I was keen on having a research experience abroad before graduating and even before applying for an exchange program. I kept searching for research internships for the summer. However, most of the programs I found required U.S. citizenship or a permanent residency. I took that extra mile and applied for volunteering positions.
I got accepted at the Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST) Center REU program, under the supervision of Daryoosh Vashaee. I worked on a nanocomposite-based thermoelectric generator, which is a device that can convert the heat that’s being dissipated from the human skin to electricity that can power up wearable devices, with hope for getting rid of batteries soon inside wearable devices. Thermal energy can be harvested and converted into electricity through transducers such as thermoelectric generators (TEGs), to produce electric power for small devices. However, the harvested power density from the body using TEGs is limited to a few ten micro-watts per square centimeter, which is insufficient to turn on many wearables. To date, the highest power density of 44.2 μW/cm2 under no airflow conditions, and 156.5 μW/cm2 under airflow is achieved by the ASSIST Center, NC State in 2020.
The device consisted of a nanocomposite- p-type with commercial n-type legs (unmatched legs). Compared to commercial TEGs tested under similar conditions, the nanocomposite-based TEGs exhibited 4–7 times higher power density on the human body depending on the convective cooling conditions. However, this previous study proved theoretically that a TEG with both p- and n-type nanocomposites could produce 55% higher output power, increasing the system efficiency. A lot of research has been conducted in this area but what we were doing this summer is that we were trying to fabricate a thermoelectric generator that is fully made of nanocomposite materials to increase the system efficiency, and contribute to satisfying the increase of the global demand for batteryless wearable devices.
Since the process of using nanocomposite materials in TEGs is expensive and valuable, I had to be trained first on fabricating TEGs out of commercial materials that are available and existent. The process of fabricating a device takes around 16h due to the machine cutting time (without any unexpected failure). By the end of the program, I was able to fabricate four test devices that were made out of commercial materials, paving the way for fabricating the nanocomposite ones by following the same procedures I found. Finally, I participated in the ASSIST summer symposium as well as the NC State Summer Symposium.
Clint Stevenson Lab
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Clint Stevenson is an associate professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at NC State and is the principal investigator in this program. He leads an instructional design team that creates and promotes innovative learning experiences and assesses their impacts on students’ knowledge, skills, and behavioral intentions. Stephanie Cotter presented at the Food Safety Outreach Directors Meeting.
Eliza Sweeney
First-Year Student, Fashion and Textile Design, Wilson College of Textiles
This spring/summer I hiked the Appalachian Trail! I started my journey February 26 in Springer Mountain, Georgia, and hiked the total length of the trail, 2,194.3 miles to Mt. Katahdin, Maine, finishing on July 11. My adventure was filled with amazing people and rewarding views at the tops of difficult climbs. There were plenty of snowy cold days, rainy hot days, and everything in between. It was an incredible (exhausting) experience, and even more rewarding reaching the end!
David Tarpy
Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Applied Ecology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Several faculty programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Biotechnology Program (BIT) have been mentoring summer REEU students for our BeeMORE program.
Funded by the USDA, the intent of this program is to invite undergraduate students—prioritizing non-NC State students from under-represented groups in STEM—to come to campus and be involved in research projects that involve bees (social bees, solitary bees, other pollinators) and microbes (e.g., pathogens, beneficial bacteria, parasites). The program has been going on since 2017 and has been a big success for faculty programs and the participating students. The variety of topics and research subjects has been highly varied and fascinating (see website for examples), and the students have left with very positive reviews of NC State and the program.
Lindsay Veros
Career Counselor, Career Development Center, Division of Academic and Student Affairs
I was born in Bermuda and still have relatives who live there. Due to COVID-19, I had not been able to go back to visit since 2019. Until recently! I was able to spend a week in Bermuda with my partner celebrating our national holiday (Bermuda Day), seeing tons of family members, relaxing on the pink sand beaches, swimming in the clear blue water, hiking, boating, exploring underground caves, spending time at my family’s stables, eating delicious food, and so much more! I am so grateful for the time I got to spend in my home country and am already looking forward to my next trip.
Dan Webb
Junior, Business Administration, Poole College of Management
This summer, I took a workshop at the NC State Crafts Center in which I learned the ins-and-outs of street photography. Street photography is a type of photography in which you capture candid images of people, places, and objects in an urban environment. The course was taught by Thomas Way, a local photographer, who helped us all get out of our comfort zones and capture moments that we wouldn’t normally insert ourselves into to shoot. The shots I was able to take were phenomenal. The Crafts Center is a great place to learn a new medium and appreciate art.
Jada Williams
Junior, Fashion and Textile Management, Wilson College of Textiles
This summer I interned at Belk Headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was a sourcing intern and worked with fabric and materials, mill and vendor strategies, and production and logistics. Throughout the 10 week program I worked on a Material Library project — in which the primary goal was to create a robust library of fabrics that are core and always rebooked by designers. I learned a great deal of information that I will carry with me throughout my career in the fashion industry!
WKNC
WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 hosted its first video game event, a 111-entrant Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament on July 15 at NC State’s 111 Lampe Drive.
With players traveling from all over the Southeast, WKNC’s “Rock N’ Roll With It” gave world-class players like Lima, Peabnut and Anathema a sneak preview of the NC State campus before the Just Roll With It two-day tournament in Talley Student Union on July 16 and 17.
More than $500 in proceeds from Rock N’ Roll With It entry fees was donated to Girls Rock NC, a youth-centered organization dedicated to building community and power among girls, transgender youth and gender expansive youth through musical collaboration, political education for social change and creative expression. Sales of posters specifically commissioned for the event by artist Cactulio added another $150 to the overall donation. Posters are still available for sale from the WKNC swag store for $10 each.
“Rock N’ Roll With It serves as a glimpse of the avenues in which WKNC hopes to provide the local community while providing high-quality fun events for the NC State Wolfpack,” said Adrian Lopez, WKNC program director and the tournament organizer. “While making WKNC a known name throughout Smash Ultimate communities spanning from Ohio to Florida, Rock N’ Roll With It and Just Roll With It also gave a welcoming atmosphere to many who are interested in joining the community and competing among Raleigh’s best and beyond.”
NC State also hosts regular Smash events including Dair 2 Care, a biweekly charity tournament in Talley Student Union and a tournament held at 111 Lampe Drive every other Friday during the fall and spring semesters.
