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Vol. 93, No. 29 JYL October 18, 1999 p, _ ina Community since 1Q08 WWW.GAMECOCK.SC.EDU ' U N I V E RSITY O F S O U T H C A R O L I N A ' COLUMBIA, S.C. City Year holds 6th Serve-a-thon by Kelly Haggerty Staff Writer City Year’s sixth annual Serve-a-thon took place Saturday morning. Rochelle Brown, City Year’s director of public relations, said the Serve-a-lhon unites the Columbia community while giving people the chance to do service work throughout the *ity. “It’s an excellent opportunity for everyone to get involved with the community, to make a difference and to see what the CiSiimunity needs,” Brown said. “I think it is an absolutely wonderful event. I just fell in love wfth it and City Year when I volunteered in ‘95,” she said. About 85 teams and 1,500 participants worked together at various locations around Columbia for about five hours. City Year planned 50 service projects for Saturday. Teams participated in projects like cleaning and organizing Gallery 701 community center, tutoring people at the South Carolina De partment of Juvenile Justice No. 3, planting trees along Main Street, serving as shelf readers at the Richland County Public Library and helping with Walk for Mental Health Awareness. ■ ■■ m According lo Brown, several USC organizations created teams this year. “Typically, we have 10 to 15 groups from USC come out each year and do the event,” Brown said. A liberal arts University 101 class was one of those groups lo participate. Peer leader Maryanne Rhett had participated in the event for two years, and she got students and NADA resi dents involved. University 101 students have a requirement to perform community service, and residents of NADA, an on campus international living community, also have a require ment to fulfill. “I thought it was a great way for my University 101 stu dents to meet some of the international students and give back to the community,” Rlietl said. The students separated into different groups and worked at the Carolina’s Children Garden, part of Clemson Universi ty’s research program to teach children about gardening. “I planted the front part of the children’s garden. It wasn’t that bad. I felt pretty good about helping out,” international studies freshman Ingrid Mitchell said. Working with a team from WIS, Rlietl’s team helped do ba sic gardening. They planted pansies, pulled weeds and did a a mulching. They also helped to rebuild some fences. “By the end of the day, 1 think everybody had a lot of fun. They’d gotten a lot out of it,” Rliett said. Another University 101 peer leader, Allison Smith, agreed with Rliett. “We did a lot,” Smith said. “We got so much done, it was unbelievable. 1 think everyone felt really rewarded.” Rliett’s team helped get pledges, as did all participants. Through such fund raising, City Year hopes to reach its goal of $60,000. The money gained will be used by City Year Corps for its projects over the next seven months. “We are fairly confident that we will meef our goals this year,” Brown said. In 1998, the goals were met, find the Columbia branch got an award for best Serve-a-thon in the nation. Columbia is the only City Year chapter in the South of the 11 City Years na tionwide. City Year is for young people ages 17 to 24 who dedicate 10 months of their time to community service. Each of the 50 members performs 1,700 hours of community service a year, Matt Iukens The Gamecock Jamie Gethen works barefoot at Finlay Park on Saturday during the annual City Year Serv-a-thoa Gethen said she was barefoot so she wouldn’t get her new shoes dirty. rood pnces: A companson by Mackenzie Craven Skniok Writer Students who compare USC Dining Services’ prices witli those at other ven dors will find campus prices to be higher. According to Liz Bohlke, Marriott’s resident district manager, the prices for on-campus food are competitive with such convenience stores as Citgo. Every year, Marriott Dining Services does a comparative analysis with those stores and keeps the prices at USC the same or lower, Bohlke said. Still, some on-campus prices are high er than those at local grocery stores. For example: • A 15-ounce box of Kellogg’s Corn -,ops Cereal costs $ 1.99 at Food Lion; a 10.9-ounce box costs $5.09 at the Country Store. • Dannon Yogurt is 99 cents on campus, but 69 cents at Bi-Lo • A small bag of chips is 79 cents on campus, but 30 cents at Publix. The cost of a 2.5-ounce Celebrity Turkey sandwich at Andy’s Deli, on Greene Street, is $2.25, while the price of the same size Healthy Choice sandwich at The Grand Marketplace is $3.05. Rising High Natural Bread Company, on Hard en Street, sells 2.75-ounce Sara Lee turkey sandwiches for $4.99. According to Bohlke, higher prices at The Grand Market Place are caused in pan by labor costs. Prices aren’t always higher on cam pus, though. For example, Chick-Fil-A sells grilled chicken sandwiches for $2.51 at olf-campus locations and $2.39 on cam pus. Pizza Hut sells a personal pan pizza will) any lopping for $3.14 olf campus and between $2.60 and $2.90 on campus. Bohlke said all students won’t bene fit from eating on campus. “It depends on the eater,” she said. “It’s definitely convenient. Students don’t have to prepare anything. Additionally, students don’t have to go anywhere. We offer what you can get somewhere else.” Nevertheless, some students prefer to buy groceries and prepare their own meals. “I choose to buy my own groceries because the campus meal plan is way too expensive,” psychology sophomore Sabrina Moss said. “It’s cheaper to buy my own food olf campus and to make it myself. Dial way I know I will eat it because the campus Brad Walters Graphic editor meal plan food is not very good,” she said. Another concern of students is the way the meal plan is structured. Tlie more meals per week students have on their meal plans, the less they pay for meals. For example, a student widi a 21 -meal plan pays about $2.72 per meal. Students with a 14-meal plan pay more than $3.83 per meal, and students with a 5-mail plan pay $5.69 per meal. Bohlke said the 21- and 16-meal plans are the better deal. “Overall, it’s very easy to go over on your meal plan because things tend to be overpriced,” nursing sophomore Jen nifer Johnson said. There’s a food advisory forum for stu FoODpRICES see pace 2 Comparing grocery prices The Gamecock priced food items from the Rosewood Drive Piggly Wiggly, the Harden Street Food Lion, the Five Points Citgo and the Russell House Country Store Item Jif 18 oz. $1.99 $1.99 $3.29 $2.25 peanut butter 'V Chef Boyardee $1.29 $1.09 $2.19 n/a 15 oz. beef ravioli Campbell’s 11 oz. $1.39 $1.39 $1.69 n/a vegetable soup Del Monte 8.5 oz. n/a $0.65 $2.03 $0.89 fruit cocktail Lay’s 5.5 oz. $0.99 $1.49 $1.49 $1.49 potato chips Sunbeam bread $1.79 $1.79 $1.35 $1.89 Souroe: Gamecock research 1 A A AS, Greek organizations celebrate their heritage Amv Goulding The Gamecock Zeta Phi Beta perform their first-place-wlnnlng step routine Friday at the annual Step Off competition In the Carolina Coliseum. Zeta Phi Beta took first place and $1,200, while Alpha Ki Alpha won second place and $400. For fraternities, Alpha Phi Alpha won first place and Kappa Alpha Psl won second. I The first Campus Cleanup Travis Lynn The Gamecock Volunteers gather Friday in front of the Russell House to participate In USC’s first Campus Cleanup. U.S. ambassador promotes school safety, global thinking by John Huiett Assistant News Editor The U.S. Ambassador lo Great Britain and Northern Ireland visited Columbia on Wednesday, encouraging schools to focus on safety and business leaders lo think globally. Philip Lader, a South Carolina native, gave die keynote address at the Safe Schools Conference to about 1,000 of the suite’s teachers at the Clarion Townhouse Ho tel. He uiged them lo Uike action against the nation’s recent trend of school vio lence. Lader said that by implementing char acter educadon for students, tnigedies like die Columbine shootings in Littleton, Co lo., could be prevented. “We shouldn’t have to wait to have 70,000 people mourning at 13 funerals before we focus on the roots of violence in schools,” Lader said. “Students should better understand the consequences of their actions.” Lader said the keys to understanding are offering more public-service oppor tunities for students, as well as leaching them the basics of right and wrong in the classroom through literary classics. “There needs to be more emphasis on connecting the ‘me’ with the ‘we,’” Lad er said, adding that each child must be made to feel he or she is part of the community. “We should not allow any student to feel isolated.” ' In the afternoon, Lader turned his at tention to U.S. and British trade issues in an effort to “help schools, colleges and businesses develop more links with Eu rope.” Lader addressed a group of 300 rep resentatives from USC, Columbia Col lege, Benedict Col-" lege, tlxe Columbia Uib;tn League, the League of Women Voters and the World Affairs Council, empha sizing the impor tance of global trade. He said Co lumbia needs to adopt a more glob al perspective in Philip Lader order to thrive in U.S. Ambassador the current Euro pean-dominated economy. “One in 12 American factory work ers are employed by European compa niesLader said. “Just drive along I-8f and you’ll see that.” ‘We should not allow any stu dent to feel isolated.' Lader said lew people realize die im portance of British and American trade. “More than 1 million Americans go to work every day for British companies [like] Holiday Inn, Burger King, Haagen Dazs and Pillsbury,” Lader said. While global trade might be of little interest to college students who don't study business administration or politi cal science, Lader said that eventually, every aspect of international business would be impossible to ignore. “Every one of these issues will impact the careers and security of USC students,” ’ Lader said. Weather Today j, 73 [ 57 Tuesday 72 ? 47 Inside I Gamecock soccer wins * Sunbeam Classic 1 Page 9 Datebook mltm •• z&mm s>Ajg Today • Homecoming Week kickoff. 7 p.m., Greene Street. • Fraternity Council, 4 p.m., RH 322/326 • Sorority Council, 5 p.m., RH 322/326. • Carolina Productions, 3:30 p.m. jk^.wx-.- v'x-'-x 8 yw'v.-viv ^<£. '£ * MwtK Tuesday • AAAS, 6 p.m., RH Theater. •FOCUS, 8:15 p.m., Women’s Club. • S.C. Student Legislature. 9 p.m. • Dance Marathon, 8-p.m. • Spring Board, 5:30 p.m. • RHA, 7 p.m., RH 307. / Online Poll Are you fed up with this year’s hurricane Lseason? Go to www.gamccock.sc.edu to vole in this week’s poll. i.