Tom Flusk

Copy Editor

After months of preparation, Michael Lowry of NJIT has won the 2010 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Design Competition for District A, held last Saturday at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. Lowry won with his recycling robot named “RUFUS.” This year’s competition was called “Earth Saver.” Students had to create a robot that would sort glass, plastic, metal and aluminum recyclables. The competition usually consists of teams of up to four, but Lowry competed as a team of one.

According to Lowry, the ASME competition is, “Really a game to try and create these attributes in this design…  We want to create a product that is smaller, uses less power, and has a minimal weight.” All of these factors are given certain point values for judging, along with successful sorting, not sorting, incorrect sorting, size constraints, weight, and sorting speed, (There was a five minute time limit.).

Lowry said of his robot’s performance, “It sorted six items correctly, three items incorrectly, one item was in the unsorted bin, and two items remained in the robot.” He continued, “The next most successful device sorted three correct items, one incorrect, and then got jammed. It was a great challenge for all of us to keep from getting jammed.”

Since Lowry won the District competition, he now qualifies for the Finals, which are to be held at the ASME International Council and Exposition in Vancouver, Canada. The event will last one week, from November 12-18. There he will compete against the other district champions to be the overall winner. Lowry said, “I kind of feel like I got my ticket to the Super Bowl.”

Lowry said of winning, “It is a great personal satisfaction to have brought home the first place trophy.” He went on to say, “It was great to have all of those people there to support me, and to share in this victory.” He thanked all of his family who was there with him, and also thanked, “All the people who weren’t there who had given me support… The Vector staff, the Nucleus staff, Jack Gidney from the robotics lab, and Professor McDermot from the IE department next door.” Lowry also wanted to thank the members of the other NJIT team; Phong Pham, Tina Narine, and Faizan Naqvi, who he said helped him, “quite a bit.”

This is not Lowry’s first taste of success in the ASME Student Design Competition. He won third place in the 2009 competition, with a “Mars Rocks” theme. For that competition, he designed a mars rover type robot named “BRUCE,” that could pick up “space rocks.” Like he did in this year’s competition, he competed as a team of one.

Mike Lowry

Editor in Chief

Last Friday night, the annual semi formal masqueraded through The Bethwood in Totowa NJ, as NJIT students, staff, and administrators gathered to celebrate the end of another year. The dance has been an ongoing yearly affair organized by the Senior Class committee of the Student Senate.

“I think people were just ready to have fun,” said Annacler Harris-Blevin, Senior Class President for the class of 2010. “Everything around here has been so stressful. Maybe it’s just me because I’m a senior and everyone around me is stressed, but people, I think, were just ready to get dressed up.”

The event has been a long standing tradition for NJIT seniors, Athletes, Greeks, Club Members, staff members, and administrators. “There were 6 or more Greek organizations; there were people from the guys soccer team, the girls soccer, team, the guys and girls volleyball team, a lot of the girls basketball team, the Nucleus, the Vector, EOP—Everyone. I think there was a [wide] variety of people, so everyone was happy and dancing.”

The ambiance was that of a vibrant Venetian Carnival, with bright colored feathers, masks, and centerpieces. Many guests took time to decorate their own customized masks for the party, and some took the theme to the extreme. Overall the attendance at this year’s event seemed in the mood for a party.

“I don’t know [if] semi formal has been bigger or smaller in the past, but I really think that it’s getting bigger,” said Harris-Blevin. “Some people still don’t know what the NJIT semi formal is. When they see signs, they’re like ‘what on earth is this?’ I know in my freshman year, I [thought], ‘what is this, prom? Who’s going to go to this?’ but it’s actually a really good experience. “

Despite dinner being served at almost 9:30pm, there was still plenty of time for dancing and partying while still leaving time at the beginning for appetizers and casual socializing. “Honestly, every other NJIT function I’ve attended, there were never that many people dancing,” said Harris-Blevin. “ I looked around and there were so many empty seats…I was really happy with the DJ [too], he was actually an NJIT student.”

When asked how they arrived at the theme for the party, Harris-Blevin explained, “We had to plan things way in advance. [We] had a committee meeting last semester, and each idea that people came up with had already been used. Mara Crespo was the one who actually came up for the idea with the idea for a Venetian Carnival [theme], and I actually didn’t know what it was. So we looked it up and I was like ‘It’s perfect! Like a masquerade.’ It seemed like something fun.”

Many guests were regular attendees of the event through their years at NJIT, and had a lot to look forward to. “People had been telling me weeks in advance: I can’t wait till semi formal’. I think it was just a good place where people could get together with their friends.”

But pulling off such an event seamlessly to yield such a great experience is no simple task, attested Harris-Blevin. “It took more than six hours just to pick out the glassware. We had to deal with the florist, find a DJ, [etc].  We spent so much time just Googling [everything]…It took [about] six hours a day for like three weeks.”

Behind the scenes, there are always challenges and unexpected kinks in the planning process. “The one huge problem was the day that we were leaving,” said Harris-Blevin. “Other people had sold tickets for the bus and written [their information] on the receipt but not on the list…so we were [about] 20 people over.” However, with the addition of a second last minute bus, the problem was resolved and all was well.

When asked what advice she would give to the next Senior Class president, Harris-Blevin said ““Write everything down, and make lists so that you have everything covered, because every part of the night is important, and you don’t want to forget anything. Also, make sure that you have a good committee [and] have people who are committed. … It was so helpful this year to have [good] people. I would recommend getting people who are really dedicated, because then they really care … [our committee] would do whatever we needed to make it a successful event. “

After the music stopped and the people went home, the work of the senior class committee came to a close. “I’m happy that so many people came and that everyone had fun. I’ve been getting facebook messages and compliments…and that was really nice. … After it’s all over … I feel really good about it. “

Monica Pajdak

Staff Writer

This past week, the Rutgers-NJIT theatre program held its production of Autobahn, by author Neil LaBute. Directed by Louis Wells, the play featured a series of seven scenes taking place between pairs of actors.

Each scene begins in the middle of a conflict and then progresses to slowly reveal the exact nature of that conflict and the history of the characters affected by it. This structure is not entirely unfamiliar. I can’t say how many times I’ve sat in the front seat of a car with someone I was in the middle of an argument with only to be subject to a kind of forced development to the situation that, no matter what, fell short of resolution.

Such development without resolution is exactly what we see in Autobahn, and even though the conflicts in the play are much darker and squirm-inducing that your everyday squabble, the arrangement does make the wild circumstances presented in each skit relatable.

Neil LaBute once said, “Hidden in the back seat of a sedan, I quickly realized how deep the chasm or intense the claustrophobia could be inside your average family car.” Deep chasm and intense claustrophobia are exactly the feelings clearly portrayed by the cast in each of the situations presented.

In the scene “Funny” viewers see the development of a relationship between a mother (Janelle Zapata) and her drug-addict daughter (Sam Glovin), who sharpens the divide between them by openly admitting that she would do everything in her power to relapse while nobody listens to the mother cry wolf.

In “Bench Seat” claustrophobia kicks in as a young man (Scott Kesselman) finds out about the psycho-stalker activities that his girlfriend (Jessica Santos) engages in with the last guy who dumped her.

In “road trip” we see a Driver’s Ed. Instructor (Jonathan Noto) taking his teenaged student (Marjani Smith) off to a cabin halfway across the country, who in her helplessness can do nothing more than sleep it off in the front seat until the car ride is over and she has no choice but to face the circumstances.

The striking scenarios in this play are nothing less than of the highest impact, and the actors’ abilities to fully and effectively convey their stories with little more than dialogue, silence, and a limited amount of time really attests to their skills as artists.

Considering other aspects of the play’s execution, mostly everything was done very well. The stage was set up with a movable, makeshift car behind which was a projection of footage of the road traveled. I can’t say I always followed the decision made with the footage.

For the most part, the settings established in the film were fitting to the scenarios, but one of the playlettes has a sort of split screen film behind it that sometimes matched up between sides and sometimes didn’t. I didn’t exactly understand the stylistic choice there, and it was a bit distracting, but otherwise all was well with the lighting and effects.

As usual, the set design was very immersive, with some props spilling over into the house, drawing the viewer s in all the more into the scene. I also really enjoyed the music and sound choices.

All in all, the production was very well executed and had a lot of impact. As any good production should, the show left me thinking about the plots and theme long after the play was over.

Mike Nusspickel

Web Editor

The NJIT-Rutgers theater group hosted a short play cycle by the name of Autobahn by Neil Labute over the weekend, an interesting and deep play that isn’t for everyone. Those who would enjoy it, however, will find it deep and extremely meaningful, and I applaud the theater group for yet another masterfully put on production.

You walked into the theater not quite knowing what to expect, finding yourself looking at a rather plain set with unusual pieces, with random car parts strewn about, and a mock front seat in the center, and this is where the entire play cycle takes place. Autobahn is not a play in the typical sense of things, in that its more a series of short stories, all taking place during a car drive, as the notes put it, ‘halfway from where they’re going from.’

What this setting allows is a highly realistic look into a situation we’re all familiar with: conversations in a car. There is something about this setting that we can all relate to, the idea of being trapped in a conversation you can’t get out of. What Autobahn does is drop you into these conversations with no context, the context of which you discover as you watch, learn, and listen to the characters, watching intently.

The show alternates between monologues and dialogues, although the monologues are not true monologues in that they’re talking to someone, who is simply either silent or whose response is unheard, and given only through expression. Our first glimpse, for example, is of a young woman speaking with a driver, whose relation is unknown to us at first. Is it her sister? Her mother?

As the speaking woman continues, we learn our first bit of context, in that she is being picked up from somewhere by her mother. Where, again, is unclear, vague just enough for the imagination to start up, and put in some of our own context, until we are given that last bit of information that it is some sort of rehabilitation center.

This sort of subtle introduction of the context of the situation we’re dropped into repeats itself each time, working in different fashions, such as the dialogues, which give us the information at the pace of two people interacting in the way we’re used to.

For example, the second dialogue gives us a scenario where a rather nonchalant woman appears to have been raped and is discussing with her husband, but we learn more and more through the drive that she not only consented, but that it was, in fact, not the first time such an event had occurred.

Although, even during the dialogues, each character has some quirks that we’re not used to, and facts are revealed more and more as the play goes on in a masterful portrayal of the darker side of the human condition. What you watch isn’t a play with much of a story, but people, with problems of the everyday, and issues that range from the simple to the deep, complicated, and sometimes utterly disturbing.

The play simply needs to be seen to truly understand, as it is not something with a simple plot, or a simple way of telling its stories. It uses language and body language as its defining features, something not usually found in plays where you have multiple characters, an arcing story, and a simple formula to follow.

The NJIT-Rutgers players once again wowed me with their ability to do a range of emotions and in this case a play that was so unconventional it impressed completely. I highly recommend the play as a read, and if you can ever find the play performed, to see it, if only for a change of pace.

Monica Pajdak is a Biology sophomore and can be reached at mpajdak@njitvector.com

Mike Nusspickel is a Computer Science sophomore and can be reached at mnusspickel@njitvector.com

Lori-Ann Sciachitano

Distribution Manager

NJIT started Green Week with two NJIT collection drives. The Soles for Souls shoe drive for Haiti, sponsored by Track and Field, with collection boxes spread throughout campus, provided plenty of opportunities for students to drop off gently used shoes. According to Team Service Representative Jamil Wilkins, the team has already collected about 100 pairs of shoes and is looking for more. Collections end May 7th.

The second collection drive is the Better World Book Drive for Literacy which accepts numerous books. The book drive coincides with the Book Stores Buy Back program and allows for books that cannot be sold back to be donated instead.

Other events that happened during Green Week were Rotaract’s Campus Clean-Up held during common hour; members of the club walked around the campus picking up trash. According to club member Bryan Ehnes, the club plans to continue their cleaning efforts throughout the year by cleaning up the NJIT campus every other Wednesday.

The Nucleus decided that, instead of being only an organization that documents events on campus, they wanted to create an event for the campus community to participate with them in the creation of this year’s yearbook. By allowing students to express “Why They Go Green” Nucleus got a broader range of students to participate in the yearbook while showing the many ways that NJIT students go green.

NJIT’s chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Fraternity and the newly formed Craft Club members of both organizations collaborated by tabling and selling plants in hand painted terra cotta pots. The pots were painted by members of the craft club as well as students who were interested in helping out. The sale ended on Monday.

Some students from NJIT ended Green Week with a great opportunity to participate in one of the largest Earth Day events in the country. On a rainy Sunday morning 80 people boarded two buses in mid-town Manhattan to head to Washington DC for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

The bus was sponsored by the Earth Day Network and was offered for free to anyone interested in attending the rally. It was a diverse group of people, including men and woman, old and young, black, white and every color in-between. The minute we stepped on the bus a community was being formed. People began talking about where they were from, why they were on the bus, and what they were looking most forward to from the day.

These 80 people joined up with the estimated 200,000 other attendants to enjoy the sun and blue skies. The day was filled with speeches from many different people involved in the environmental movement. From famous President Obama, Reverend Jesse James, football star and TV personality Dahani Jones, Olympic gold medalist Johnny Spillane, and James Cameron to grassroots organizers from organizations such as Greenpeace, Operation Free, League of Conservation Voters, the Coal River Mountain Watch, and The Peace Corps.

Many of these organizations had booths along the Mall where they were giving out further information about their organizations. The most popular tent was definitely the Avatar Home Tree Initiative. It was giant tent where people would pledge to plant a tree in the year, and get their face painted to look like a Na’vi native.

The best part of the day was definitely the musical performances, which really pulled such a diverse group of people together for the event; styles like R&B singers, funk, blues, classic rock, and electronic were all brought together.

The highlight of these performances was defiantly The Roots. The band not only played their own set (where they blew out the sound system three times) they also played back up for the remaining artists of the afternoon; John Legend and Sting.

From our own Green to The Mall of Washington DC students showed their support for the many Earth Day events in both big and small ways. As many of the speakers said, it is the small movements that occur at home that create the ripples that make big changes in DC; NJIT is truly doing its part.

Lori-Ann Sciachitano is a sophomore in Science Technology and Society and can be reached at LSciachitano@njitvector.com.

Bryan Ehnes

Sports Editor

Men’s Baseball travelled to Chicago State this past weekend where the Highlanders won all four games. NJIT scored at least eight runs in each of the four games, including a 14-0 victory in the opening game of the weekend series. Bobby Wyrwa pitched six scoreless innings to record his second win on the season. Four Highlanders had three hits each in the game as NJIT posted their highest run total of the season with fourteen.

Saturday featured two games in which the Highlanders won by scores of 9-7 and 8-5, respectively. DJ Roche came into the game in relief and recorded his first win of the season for his one and one third inning of work. Austin McAuliffe pitched a scoreless inning to get the save and clinch the Highlanders taking the first game of the double header. Mark Leiter Jr. pitched a great game in the Saturday finale as he pitched a complete game while allowing three earned runs and striking out ten marking his second victory of the season. Jeff Peterson and Bryan Bleakley each drove in two runs for the Highlanders in the win.

Steven Ace got his first win of the season in the fourth and final game against Chicago State when he came into the game for an inning and a third performance. McAuliffe pitched an impressive two and a third innings to record his second save of not only the season, but the series as well. NJIT combined for fifteen hits in the game, including three Highlanders that scored at least two runs each.

Men’s Baseball improved their overall record to 9-23 on the season including an impressive conference record of 5-3. The Highlanders will now host Farleigh Dickinson followed by three games against Texas-Pan American.

Bryan Ehnes is a senior in Civil Engineering and can be reached at sports@njitvector.com.

John Fostek

Managing Editor

After a relatively short and vibrant campaign, the winners of the Student Senate Elections held last Monday and Tuesday have been announced. Roughly two weeks before the elections, the Senate held nominations for candidates, and later held a public debate at their weekly meeting prior to elections.

NJIT Senate Executive Board elections often coincide with a vast amount of executive board elections among clubs and Greek organizations. In an effort to reduce slanderous campaigns and tactics, the campaign cycle of most organizations on campus is rather short lived. But this is not to say that some campaigns in the Senate were not highly scrutinized and intensely debated. Naturally the candidates for President of the Student Senate received much attention, as well as those running for the Vice President of Finance.

For the position of Student Senate President, Dominick Cirillo won against his opponent Muhammad Elgammal. “I want to thank everyone who supported me, the people who encouraged me to run for the position in the first place, and all of my campaign managers,” remarked Cirillo after the elections. Cirillo will be a senior next year, and currently serves as the President of the Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity chapter at NJIT.

Cirillo commented about his prior leadership experience, and how it would benefit him as President, “Something that I’ve learned just from being a leader in general is actually listening and following through. If I don’t listen I won’t be able to work, so I need the students to speak up.” He continued by saying that student participation in the senate government process is vital, as indicated by this past election’s results.

The results of all the other executive board positions of the Student Senate are:

Vice President of Administration, Tessy Thomas, Vice President of Finance, Jessica Pereira, Vice President of Student Affairs, Luis Gonzales, Treasurer, Elizabeth Benoy, Recording Secretary, George Scoullos, and Corresponding Secretary Jamil Wilkins.

Leean Orama, current President of the Student Senate, showed that overall he was pleased with the results of the senate executive board positions. “I’m very happy with the turnout of the election and very confident with the new e-board and my successor,” stated Orama. With regard to Cirillo specifically, Orama said, “Dom’s work ethic speaks for itself. He’ll keep up the good work. He has a solid e-board.”

When asked about how students not involved in senate activities can find other ways to be active, Cirillo stated, “I would encourage them to actually get involved on campus. There are a lot of opportunities to practice leadership and communications skills. If they see something they aren’t happy with, they should speak up. Our duty as senators is to make sure students have the most enjoyable experience possible.”

Finally, Cirillo claimed that, “All students should feel free to approach myself or any other senator to see what’s going on at our school. I want them to feel confident that they have qualified people leading them.”

The entire list of results for the Student Senate Elections can be found at: senate.njit.edu

WONHO RHEE
STAFF WRITER

Recently, US News, one of the well-known college rating agencies named, NJIT the 19th popular school in America. According to US News, the ranking was based on student’s yield rate. Yield rate is the percentile of admitted students accepting admission. High yield rate means large numbers of students are accepting admission once they get admitted.

The first place for this category was taken by Brigham Young University (78%). Harvard University (76%) took the second and Stanford University (71%) was placed third. With 50% yield rate, NJIT surpassed top popular schools like University of Virginia (48%), Dartmouth College (49%), University of Michigan (46%) and Cornell University (46%).

Kathryn Kelly, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Service and Dean of Admissions believes that well-known name of NJIT in New Jersey is responsible for high yield rate. “Most applicants know NJIT very well. The close distance to home and NJIT’s expertise in technology education are the main reasons, students apply to NJIT. As the result, when students get admitted, they are more than likely to accept the admission.” said Kathryn Kelly.

Robert Altenkirch, the president of NJIT thinks, outstanding marketing strategy and “CRMS” (Customer Relations Management Systems) performed by NJIT admission office and colleges are main factors that drove high yield rate. “We have continued each year for the past 4 years to increase applicant pool by a variety of recruiting and marketing tactics. We also have added more tactics to follow-up with our admitted students including using “CRMS” (Customer Relations Management Systems), and asking faculty to communicate with these prospective students in their respective disciplines at open houses, via email, and other social networking tools. This has helped us to increase our yield of admitted students.” said President Altenkirch.

In addition to these, he also named expanded degree programs, notable achievements in research and increase in value of NJIT diploma as elements that resulted high yield rates.

On the other hand, Eugene Deess, the director of official of institutional research and planning argued that US News calculation is simply wrong. He said yield rate has been stabled for years due to uniqueness of NJIT. He thinks that US News should not be used as absolute comparison since he believes that there is a flaw to US News ranking calculation.
Dr. Deese’s argument is that there is too much ambiguity in admission acceptance and as a result there is no absolute way to calculate yield rate. He believes that the NJIT yield tells us how special NJIT students are, not how special the recruitment process is.

Bryan Ehnes

Sports Editor

The New Jersey Devils went into their game this past Saturday against the New York Islanders knowing that if they won and the Pittsburgh Penguins lost, they would be celebrating an Atlantic Division Championship. This is exactly what happened. The Devils defeated the Islanders by a dominating score of 7-1 and realized minutes after that victory that the Atlanta Thrashers had beaten the Penguins by a score of 1-0.

New Jersey jumped on the Islanders early and often as they scored three goals in the first period in a span of about five minutes just after midway through the period. Zach Parise even scored his thirty-eighth of the season. The game had that rivalry and intense feel despite the Islanders being already eliminated from the playoffs. The physical play started early and stayed constant throughout the entire game. The Devils continued to pile on the goals as they added two power play goals in the second period, including one with under a minute remaining in the second period. The second period also saw a long and intense fight between two tough guys, Rod Pelley of the Devils and Michael Haley of the Islanders. The crowd was into it as the two heavyweights went back and forth.

The third period saw three goals, including the lone tally for the Islanders and Patrick Elias’ second of the game. On top of the goals in the third period, play got a little rough when after the play was dead; Trevor Gillies went after a couple Devils, eventually getting in yet again another long and intense battle with Pierre Leblond. Due to his actions after the whistle was blown, he received nineteen penalty minutes in total for the play. Martin Brodeur came up just short of his tenth shutout of the season as New York capitalized on a power play.

The three stars of the game were from third to first, Zach Parise with a goal and two assists, Ilya Kovalchuk with a goal and two assists as well, and Travis Zajac with three assists. After the game, the Devils stressed that the division was only the first step as they still had a lot of work to do. And the next step was taken Sunday when New Jersey defeated the Buffalo Sabres to earn themselves the second seed in the Eastern Conference.

The New Jersey Devils now turn their attention to the postseason where they will be matched up against the Philadelphia Flyers in the best-of-seven game series in the first round. The Devils will be hosting the Flyers on Wednesday and Friday night at the Prudential Center before heading down the Turnpike to Philadelphia for games three and four.

Bryan Ehnes is a senior in Mechanical Engineering and can be reached at sports@njitvector.com.

Tom Flusk

Copy Editor

Videos of the debates can be seen here.

In what turned out to be one of the more interesting parts of the 2010 Senate Elections, the Senate debates took place last Wednesday afternoon. While some of the debates were clean, others stirred controversy, mostly due to questions asked by the audience in attendance. In their major public forum, the debating candidates worked to prove why they were the candidate best suited for their respective position.

The Vice President of Administration debate featured Tessy Thomas against Ali Elsaied. Thomas said of the debate, “I think my debate went pretty well. I’m really glad that I prepared the night before, I spent a lot of time reviewing and practicing for it, and I think that it showed in my performance in the debate.” Elsaied said of the debate, “I think my debate was alright, I think it definitely could’ve been better.” He continued, “I think I could’ve been prepared better [for the question and answer session].”

Thomas is currently the Chemistry Representative in the Student Senate. She was also the American Chemical Society (ACS) president this year, so she combined ACS events with Senate to get students involved. She helped start a chapter Gamma Sigma Epsilon national honors fraternity for chemistry at NJIT.

“I did most of the paperwork, and we’ve been approved.” She said that she and Dr. Petrova were working on plans for the induction dinner. She wants to help connect with the clubs, and make sure they know when they have access to materials. Finally, she wants to hold a VPA feedback session. She said, “You are working with the students, and their feedback is the most important thing.”

She said her experience in the Senate is an advantage over her opposition. “I personally have not missed a single meeting, and I can say [my opponent] has not shown up to any meetings this semester.” She continued, “To run for VPA, the second highest position, you should at least see how the job is done… It’s done in a very specific manner, and that is hard to replicate if you have never at least seen it.”

Elsaied said that he missed the meetings because they were at the same time that the MSA Chaplain gave lectures. “They were really eye-opening, and I thought that I could benefit myself a lot more by going to those lectures than by going to a Senate meeting.”  He went on to say, “I was always under the impression that [the Senate meetings] were not open to the general public.”

The Vice President of Finance debate posed Melissa Tierney, the current Recording Secretary, against the incumbent Jessica Pereira. Melissa said of the debate, “Personally, I found mine was a little unfair.”

In reference to Pereira being in a relationship with Leean Orama, who moderated the debate, she said, “I wrote a formal complaint to the elections committee.” She went on to say, “Hopefully they can learn for the future, if something like this comes up.” Leean Orama, the current Senate President, said of questions about possible bias in favor of Pereira, “Anyone can be her friend on Senate, so anyone can point to that.”

During the debate, a question was raised about the denial of funds for events to be hosted by the Council of Commuting Students (CoCS). During an interview later that day, Pereira stated, “I spoke with the president of CoCS, and he was not even aware of any of the events that had been requested.” She said that CoCS had been approved for several events, and had only been rejected for that one. She said, “They have gotten well over what most clubs request during a semester.” Orama said that he spoke to the student who asked the questions after the debates, and “they have reached an understanding.”

The Presidential debate, between Dominick Cirillo and Muhammad Elgammal, was a clean one. Cirillo talked about his experience as Junior Class President, and as president of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity. Elgammal spoke mostly of his experience as Vice President of Administration. As of this time, neither candidate could be reached for an interview.z

Lori-Ann Sciachitano

Distribution Manager

Food: ****

Atmosphere: ! ! ! ! !

Service: ****

Price: $ $ $

Distance: .7 miles

Address: 37 Commerce Ave

Website: http://www.foodforlifesupreme.com/index.html

Before ever entering Food For Life I had seen the exterior during closed hours and thought that it was a very interesting looking place. There is a large sign on the exterior exclaiming Food for Life, giving the passerby the ability to know that there is an interesting eatery inside.  The outside is painted with a creamy orange with a darker orange flower pattern. The inside of the restaurant has as much appeal as the outside. The floor is tiled with different types of tiles. Ranging from traditional creams and browns, to a mosaic of rocks.

The walls are decorated with large murals of tropical flowers. The individual paintings on the walls were created by students in Newark schools from ages 6-18 about what their concept of food is.  The staff is very friendly and very knowledgeable about the food they are serving. Any question that I had the server was ready with an answer. Even the cook staff was really pleasant and asked how the experience was.

As for drinks, Food for Life has a selection of bottled beverages, their own blend of teas and coffee. One of the highlights is that they have their own fresh made blended smoothies. The fruits used in the smoothies are all grown on Food for Lifes’ own farm. The two flavors they had were mango and strawberry; the fruits were blended to perfection with slices of the frozen fruit garnishing the top.

The cuisine at Food for Life is a fusion of classic American, Asian, and Tex-mex favorites with a twist. When you order a Cuban sandwich instead of the traditional roasted pork and ham, the Food for Life version is a fillet of salmon with banana peppers, pickles and Swiss cheese. The BLT instead of the magical meat made of pork is made but what is known as Nautical Bacon. The meal that I had was the fried whiting with 2 sides. The coating was crispy with just the right amount of spice, and the whiting was tender and flaky. The serving sauce was a spicy creamy mix that went really well with the spice combination of the coating.  As for sides there was a great mix of sides from carrot fries, green beans and mac and cheese. For my sides I had the smothered potatoes that were long thick slices of potato sautéed with onions and green peppers; and candied carrots that were thick coins of carrots coated with a buttery mix of brown sugar and cinnamon.

As I finished the meal the server came up and informed me that they were having a customer appreciation and giving free vanilla ice cream cones. Even though the ice cream was the only thing not made by the company it still tasted good.

One of the best things about Food for Life is not only that 99% of their meals being made with fish, and ½ of the meals either already vegetarian or with the ability to have a vegetarian or vegan, but also they promote education for people around the country to learn about operating a business. In walking distance from the Prudential Center Food for Life is a great healthy option for a delicious dinner, or pre-game snack.

Lori-Ann Sciachitano is a junior Science Technology and Society major and can be reached at distribution-manager@njitvector.com.