Student Designed Field Labs

Week of October 14 , 2005

UNC and Chapel Hill Emergency Services
Submitted by Alice Feagan, Meghan Horne & Jospeh Schwartz

On October 14, 2005 , six students set out on a cross-town tour of town safety. The tour included a behind the scenes view of a police station, an EMS dispatch center, and a fire station. On our three stops we were able to get a peak and a personal view of what goes into maintaining a safe and peaceful community. All of the other amazing things we’ve witnessed during lab sessions - cancer research, athletics, and dental work, among others - could not happen if it weren’t for the brave people we met that day. Everyday they make an impact and contribute to the life of the community by making UNC and Chapel Hill a safe working and living environment.

The Department of Public Safety (DPS) at UNC Chapel Hill serves the campus community in its mission of being the best Public Safety Department in the nation. As part of this mission, the department provides police, security, parking and transportation services, and emergency communication to the University. During the Emergency Services Field Lab, Major Jeffrey McCracken led a tour of the DPS facilities and discussed the different duties of the department and how they are carried out. DPS received roughly 80,000 calls between October of 2004 and September of 2005. The communications department managed responses ranging from larceny reports, the most frequent crime on campus, to requests for P2P transportation. Also located in the DPS is the Emergency Operations Center, where safety is coordinated for major events on campus. The Operations Center allows access to all forms of communication such as email, internet, radar, news, and radio dispatching, which in turn allows officers to address emergency situations while maintaining normal campus operations. Serving the faculty, staff, students, and visitors of UNC, the Department of Public Safety’s presence is seen throughout campus life.

Another stop on the lab was the Orange County EMS Station 2 in Carrboro. Students toured the facilities, including a look inside the newest ambulance. The station also has a vehicle specifically for water and high-height rescues. The station is strictly a volunteer unit and the volunteers work twelve-hour shifts, responding to calls that range from rescuing cats to delivering babies. Furthermore, the station also attends local sporting events at UNC, Apple Chill, Halloween, and other annual local events. To assist in maneuvering around these events, the station recently purchased a John Deere Gator that is painted Carolina blue, showing its ties to the university and the integral role that the station plays at UNC. To further this commitment to the university, the Orange County EMS is planning for an all-student EMS team to further serve the needs of the people at UNC.

The Unsung Founders Memorial, which was installed on May 11, 2005, is a piece of art built by the world renowned artist Do-Ho Suh. It is comprised of 300 bronze statues holding up a stone table-top that bears an inscription: “The Class of 2002 honors the University’s unsung founders the people of color bond and free who helped build the Carolina that we cherish today.”

During the dedication several people spoke, but all carried the same message. The student a cappella ensemble Harmonyx brought people to tears with their renditions of three spiritual songs. Chancellor Moeser, who has been a great proponent of exploring our university’s history and taking the necessary steps to recognize and grow from our mistakes, introduced and concluded the dedication ceremony, speaking on the subject of slavery in our past and the importance of this gift that is special to the university in a historic way. Other speakers included the 2002 president, Ben Singer, and vice-president, Byron Wilson, who spoke about their class gift and its importance in being in a prominent spot like McCorkle Place that is also home to Silent Sam, Old Well and other famous UNC landmarks. They reminded us that “this monument is about people….[who had] birthdays….died….[had] dreams and hopes.” Bernadette Gray-Little spoke about the missing history that she and other African-Americans deal with due to the fact that little or no information was kept concerning their lives apart from their monetary value. She said that these people were “born in anonymity and died in unmarked graves,” and that for many of them “we [still] do not know their names.” Gray-Little asked that “this monument stand to remind us daily” and give all those unsung heroes voice.

For more information visit: http://www.unc.edu/tour/LEVEL_2/unsung.htm

To help with maintenance of this memorial visit: https://www.webslingerz.com/uncdev

Outer Banks and UNC Press
Submitted by Landis Wofford

The UNC Press, which opened in 1922, exists “both to advance scholarship by supporting teaching and research and to serve the people of the state and beyond.” While the UNC Press publishes authors from all over the nation reporting on a variety of topics, one large aspect of the work it really prides itself on is publishing native authors who are writing on historic North Carolina places, ideas and stories. The group wants to help shape our cultural heritage and safeguard it for future generations.

I decided to do my independent field lab while I stayed on Hatteras Island at the Outer Banks for fall break. More specifically, I was very interested in the myths and legends that surround this part of the state and the direct link that the UNC Press has with important areas, such as the Outer Banks, in our state.

There is hardly an inch of North Carolina’s coast that doesn’t have a legend or mystery attached to it. The people of the Outer Banks have been telling and retelling their stories for years. The accounts have come about because of the immense history in such a small area of land. Numerous shipwrecks spawned tales of ghosts, but also many important historical people frequented the Outer Banks, including some infamous pirates. Stories attached to the haunted Nags Head Woods, Roanoke Island and every single lighthouse barely skim the surface of the rich folklore in this area.

The dual goals of UNC Press are surely met, as almost every book on the Outer Banks at the UNC libraries as well as in the island gift shops were published in Chapel Hill.

NC State Fair
Submitted by Anisa Mohanty, additional comments from Catherine Durham

To learn more about the North Carolina citizens that UNC serves, I visited the North Carolina State Fair on October 23, 2005 in Raleigh , N.C.

I decided to attend the fair because, in my sixteen years as a resident of North Carolina , I had never before visited our fair or a fair in any other state. One of the first exhibits I visited was the Village of Yesteryear , filled with arts, crafts, and traditions from all across the state. A boy, no more than 13 years old, was spinning on a pottery wheel.  He told us that it had taken him one year of practicing to make a decent piece of pottery.  Another man was blowing glass figurines.

The second exhibit visited was the State Fair Ark, complete with an 854 lb. pumpkin and 201.15  lb.watermelon! This exhibit highlighted how many North Carolina families take a great deal of pride in their blue-ribbon produce, prized livestock, and renowned cooking – The exhibit helped remind me what an important annual event the fair is for people across the state, particularly from rural areas.  Someone explained to me that, at least in the past, children in portions of the state would to get a week off school so that they could come showcase their families’ accomplishments at the fair.

The rest of the night was interspersed with sampling typical fair foods, a ride on the Ferris wheel during the fireworks show (including a spectacular overhead view of the fairgrounds and downtown Raleigh ), and taking in the sights.  Another observation of the fair – I believe the demographics of fair-goers was much more representative of the state as a whole than what we experience everyday on campus.

Catherine Durham, who also attended the State Fair as her lab experience, similarly commented on the diversity (age, race, and other aspects) of the fair-going crowd. But many of these fair-goers were united in their affections for one of North Carolina's institutions of higher education, as Catherine noted crowd members in clothing and hats supporting their team or alma mater.