We posted recently about alumnus Daniel Herrington ’09, who’s racing in the Indy Lights series, which is sanctioned by the Indy Racing League (he’s No. 6 in the points race right now). Today, a press release about Drew Herring came across my desk. A junior mechanical engineering major, he’s the points leader in the USAR Pro Cup Series, a stock car series that has produced NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers such as Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth. A transfer student from Johnston Community College, he’s trying to balance studying and racing:
“I do probably three to four hours, at least, a minimum of homework at night,” Herring explained. “It’s tough, but I get all that done during the week and then I try not to have any on the weekend, during race weekend.”
Even though Herring may not want to bring his homework to the track, the engineering concepts he’s learning are invaluable.
“I definitely feel like once I really get into the heart of it and start learning some of those things, that I can apply them to the racing and help me out,” Herring remarked.
Students take a chemistry test in 1995. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
Share your memories of tests and studying. What was the most unusual or memorable project or exam experience you had and why? What was the strangest question you were ever asked on a test or the oddest bit of information you retain today? What did you do to survive the end-of-semester crunch and what did you do to celebrate after finishing up? Do you have any particularly memorable study sessions or group project experiences? You can leave your memories in the comments section of this post, on our Facebook page or in our online survey.
A selection of memories will appear in the Winter issue of NC State magazine.
A student sits in a "trainer" that was used by aeronautical students to get the feel of flying an airplane. Professor Robert M. Pinkerton, head of the Aeronautical Option Program, stands beside the trainer. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
I grew up in a textile town and had a grandmother and other family members who worked in the mills for decades. Knowing the beating apparel manufacturing has taken, I always smile a little when I see businesses like Raleigh Denim thriving (even if I can’t afford a pair of the jeans). It’s run by the husband-and-wife team of Viktor ’04 and Sarah Lytvinenko ’09. From today’s N&O:
Their passion is a large part of their success. Theirs is an ideal husband-and-wife business partnership, each bringing experience and a different style of energy and enthusiasm. She was studying at N.C. State University’s College of Design and was involved as a designer in the popular Art to Wear fashion show. He was an NCSU business major who taught himself to sew so he could make himself a pair of jeans that fit him the way he wanted them to.
They’re sourcing local, too, getting most of the cotton from the Carolinas and using shuttle looms that ran 60 years ago in Cone Mills’ White Oak plant in Greensboro:
Almost every part of Raleigh Denim is from North Carolina. The jeans are cut and hand-sewn by a crew in a production space in Stewart’s building on Bloodworth Street in Southeast Raleigh. The denim and labels come from Greensboro, the zippers from Oxford, the thread from Mount Holly, and the screen-printed pockets from Raleigh.
Next week I’m interviewing Dr. John Townsend ’74, a relationship expert and leadership coach who co-founded Cloud-Townsend Resources, for a feature story that will run in NC State’s winter issue. Dr. Townsend has written or co-written 21 books on topics such as dating, parenting, emotional struggles and marriage. A sampling of his book credits: Boundaries, Leadership Beyond Reason, and Loving People: How to love and be loved. He also co-hosts the nationally syndicated daily radio show, New Life Live.
Dr.Townsend has agreed to take questions you may have about a relationship or situation in which you need some guidance. Visit cloudtownsend.com and see the type of questions he’s answered in the past. (i.e., “How do I tell a toxic person I don’t want a relationship with her/him anymore?” “I was sexually molested as a child. Can you help me mature?” “How do I lovingly tell my new mother-in-law that I need time alone with my new husband?”) If you have a question you would like to ask Dr. Townsend, e-mail it to me, Cherry Crayton, associate editor of NC State, at cherry_crayton@ncsu.edu. We’ll run some questions and Dr. Townsend’s responses as a sidebar to the feature story. All questions you submit will be published anonymously and will be kept confidential.
Wolfpack fans in the 1930s scaled the trees outside Riddick Stadium to watch NC State play football. If you don't have a ticket for tomorrow's game against Pittsburgh, don't worry. You can catch it on ESPNU at 3:30 p.m. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
Michael Chinneck ’06 has a degree in middle grades language arts and social studies. But in 2008, he began working for Central Texas College, running education centers on military bases in Afghanistan. After spending several weeks helping to set up education centers on different Army bases, he settled at Forward Operating Base Sharana, in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. There he oversaw the offering of college courses to the more than 3,000 members of the 62nd Engineer Battalion. He returned to North Carolina in May and talks here with former NC State intern Ryan Greene about his year of challenge, danger and personal growth.
On his job
[It encompassed] setting up classes for soldiers to take on site. I hired teachers [and] worked with universities to facilitate getting books to their students there. One of the things that soldiers have is goarmyed.com. [The military] gives [them] $4,500 while on active duty to take college courses. There were over 300 different colleges within the system, and the number of degrees was in the thousands. So there were a lot of choices for the soldiers.
On the importance of the work
It sets up their career after the military. I saw soldiers positively working toward something they thought could be attainable in the future. And it provides an outlet for them while they’re deployed to take their mind off the combat environment. I saw soldiers going to classes at night, and they said, “This is the only thing I have besides going to my room and just sitting there and thinking about what’s going on.” On the base, you really don’t have anything else. You have maybe a small [Morale, Welfare and Recreation area], which provides computers and phones. But when you have 20 computers and over 3,000 soldiers on the [base], it’s really not going to be feasible for them all to do that.
On the dangers
Our bases got attacked a couple times while I was there. One base in particular, Salerno, it was attacked twice in two days. About [2 a.m.], I heard something fly by and thought, “That does not sound good.” (more…)
Physics professor Newton Underwood in the 1950s. He worked on the Manhattan Project and was one of a handful of faculty members who led the development of NC State's nuclear reactor, the first university nuclear reactor in the world. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
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