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Workshops CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 fer two to three years of study at Oxford University or another British university. Beskid encourages first- and second-year students to attend the workshops because the expe rience will offer insight into im proving personal achievements and will help them create a well rounded application later. Students will also have the op portunity to receive personal ad visement from professors and ad ministrators who serve on the Fellowships and Scholar Programs Advisory Committee. “Students will learn about themselves just going through the process,” Beskid said. “Of course, we want USC stu dents to win the award. That is our ultimate goal; but we also want the process for them... to be helpful and educational in and of itself,” she said. Many of the-awards are inter disciplinary and will be available to students of all majors and in terests. Some students apply for more than one award. The primary prerequisite for most of the awards is top aca demic performance. The average grade-point average of past USC award-winners is 3.86. - A strong academic perfor mance isn’t enough, Beskid said. “If you’re just really good on pa per and looking great in the class room but don’t have any other di mensions to you, you may not be successful, particularly in some thing like the Rhodes or Marshall competitions, where they’re also looking for contributions you have made to the community around you.” Besides academic performance and leadership, intellectual cu riosity can improve applicants’ chances. Some awards also re quire students to participate in interviews. Brandon Fomwalt, a 2002 USC graduate and a Goldwater and USA Today All-Academic Team Scholar, said the application pro cess was difficult, especially be cause, for some awards, students must be nominated by USC. Networking with students and professors helped lead to his sue cess with scholarship applications, said Fomwalt, who also worked at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts. Fornwalt won his awards the second time he applied, after his work in Massachusetts. “I guess you have to have a thick skin about these things,” Fomwalt said. “I guess you have to say, ‘Well, since I wasn’t ready .for it that year doesn’t mean I shouldn’t go out and do more re search and try again.’ ” Fomwalt’s awards were for un dergraduate study, unlike the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships. He said he plans to either attend graduate school or medical school after he finishes his work with the Peace Corps. Since the establishment of the Fellowships and Scholar Programs office in 1994,180 USC students have won more than $4 million in national fellowship and scholarship awards. Forty-two percent of the awards have been for research or study abroad. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com STATE Claflin University band student dies ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) - A 19-year-old Claflin University student collapsed and died dur ing band tryouts at South Carolina State University Friday. Before 8 p.m., Erin Patrice Stewart of Columbia collapsed in the band hall after practice, South Carolina state officials said. She was taken to a hospi tal, where she died around 8:30 p.m. University police are inves tigating the incident. WIS-TV in Columbia report ed initial autopsy results were inconclusive, and the coroner hadn’t determined whether heat was a factor. Judge claims mold is making him sick LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) - A family court judge says the mold in the Lexington County courthouse has given him asth ma and migraine headaches. Judge C. David Sawyer Jr. is the second courthouse employ ee to complain about the mold to the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission. More complaints are com ing, says attorney Richard Breibart, who represents 40 county employees with various health problems. Sawyer has been asking for total disability benefits since Nov. 29, when he was making $800 a week. The date is about a week before the courthouse was closed for the first time last fall. A letter written by Sawyer’s specialist this past fall says the judge’s asthma is almost cer tainly a result of sick building syndrome, Breibart said. Lexington County Councilman Johnny Jeffcoat said he’s weary of hearing mold complaints. “To my knowledge, there’s nothing there, but maybe Judge Sawyer knows some thing the rest of us don’t know,” Jeffcoat said. The courthouse has been closed again as officials wait for test results on air and materi al samples from the building. NATION Harris Teeter has hepatitis A scare CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Health officials were advising customers of a Harris Teeter grocery store to receive treat ment for hepatitis A after a food service worker was diag nosed with the virus. The employee, who was di agnosed Friday, might have ex posed up to 7,500 customers while working in the grocery’s deli between Aug. 10 and Aug. 18, said Dr. Peter J. Morris, medical director of Wake County Human Services. Morris said the worker was not hospitalized and had re turned home after being diag nosed. Morris also said, “He did not return to work.” The county was offering in jections of immune globulin, a preventive treatment, to any customer who had purchased and ate food from the deli and deli restaurant in the Cameron Village Harris Teeter between Aug. 10 and 18. Morris said Harris Teeter was cooperating and has pro vided customers transporta tion to the health department. FBI probing to rind who leaked reports WASHINGTON (AP) - FBI agents investigating the leak of classified information have asked members of the Senate Intelligence Committee for tele phone records, schedules and other documents indicating any conversations lawmakers had with reporters. The FBI wants information on any contact those senators had with reporters between noon June 18 to 3:15 p.m. June 19. That’s when CNN reported the details of two Arabic-lan guage messages the National Security Agency intercepted Sept. 10 making vague refer ences to an impending attack on the United States. The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are conducting a joint inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks. WORLD Afghan forces might have been warned ZORMAT, AFGHANISTAN (AP) - The commander of a U.S. military operation in search of al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives said hostile forces appeared to have been tipped off that American troops were coming. Operation Mountain Sweep, de scribed as the biggest in five months, ended Sunday in south eastern Afghanistan with U.S. and coalition troops detaining nine people, seizing a ton of weapons and ammunition but failing to en gage any sizable al-Qaida or^| Taliban units in combat. Huggins didn’t speculate about how Taliban and al-Qaida forces might have received advance warning of the operation. U.S. forces often coordinate with Afghan warlords and government units, which are supposed to know the area of operations better. Some villages were empty when U.S. troops arrived. Troops raid hideout, kill one gang leader MANILA, PHILIPPINES (AP) - Government troops Sunday raid ed a hideout of a kidnap gang in cluded on a U.S. list of terrorisW groups, rescuing two captives un™ harmed and killing one of the gang’s leaders, officials said. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo rushed to the scene of the raid in Magallanes town in Cavite province, about 40 miles south of Manila, to demonstrate her com mitment to her government’s campaign against criminality and insurgency. Police identified the slain kid napper as Faisal Marohombsar, a leader of the Pentagon gang who escaped from the National Anti Kidnapping Task Force’s deten tion center in Manila last June 19 in a major embarrassment to a po lice force long plagued by corrup tion and incompetence. Patricia Chong, 4, and her nan ny, who were kidnapped recentlj^ by the gang, managed to escape and were rescued unharmed, said senior superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, a police spokesman. Bataoil said two gang mem bers, including a policeman, were captured in the raid. Bookstore CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The Russell House Bookstore has been operated by Barnes & Noble, which has more than 400 campus locations across the coun try, since May 2001. “Barnes & Noble loves to be on campus. We’re in a prime spot,” said Mike Comiskey, store direc tor of the Russell House Bookstore. The university holds a contract with the Russell House Bookstore, and Barnes & Noble “secret shops” the store six times a year to check for quality. The Russell House Bookstore has an average grade of 87.5 out of 100. That Addam’s University Bookstore and South Carolina Bookstore, two other places to buy books on campus, are often con sidered smaller and more inde pendent than the Russell House Bookstore makes Comiskey laugh. “Wallace Bookstores used to run the Russell House Bookstore, and before Wallace, Follett oper ated the store. Follett owns Addam’s Bookstore, and it is a huge company,” he said. Odom said: “In the past, before Barnes & Noble, there were some problems with the Russell House Bookstore. As we have signed with Barnes & Noble, the amount of money has increased.” South Carolina Bookstore also used to give a scholarship, but the store has since changed hands. “The scholarship is not discon tinued. We just haven’t deter mined what we’re going to do yet,” said Greg Yancey, South Carolina Bookstore manager. University students also can find their books without stepping outside. According to Steve Loyola of Best Web buys, an online compa ny based out of Altadena, Calif., “USC students frequent the (Best Web Buys) Web site. In fact, stu dents from over 1,400 colleges and universities have used our site to save money on books.” According to Bestwebbuys.com, its shoppers save 31 percent on av erage over list price. “Our primary advantage over on-campus stores is that students can always find better prices on textbooks using us,” Loyola said. “Since we search the major online bookstores and many smaller ones, we can find great prices on new and used books.” Best Book Buys, part of Best Web Buys, has a scholarship pro gram as well. The winner of a 500 word essay receives a $1,500 schol^ arship, and five runners-up get $300 each. Best Book Buys isn’t alone in the online textbook market; other com panies include StudentMarket.com, which provides comparative shop ping. The new online competition hasn’t affected the Russell House Bookstore, Comiskey said. “Half the time, the books aren’t in stock (in online bookstores),” he said. “It’s a hassle to return books online and you never know what you’re getting.” Yancey encourages students to shop around. “I think the more competition, the healthier it makes the market,” he said. “We push people to find a better deal.’^ Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Bid Day CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 show her around and look after her,” Parrish said. “We have an eight-week initiation period where we have events planned for our new members,” she said. On the other side of the coin, the pledges were happy to at last have completed the process. Ryan Burch, a first-year business stu dent who is now a member of Delta Delta Delta, said she was tired after a long week. “I made lots of fr iends and had fun, but am really glad to be as signed my place at last,” she said. Shannon McCabe, a first-year business student, pledged Chi Omega. “I was so happy to finally know where I’m going to be for the next four years,” she said. “The girls have been so helpful, it was a dif ficult decision to decide which sorority, but it’s great now that that’s over.” First-year students were en thusiastic about their ilw chosen sororities and praised the Rho Chis, who guided them through out the week. Robin Curtis of Chi Omega said she and other sophomores were excited to be involved in the pro cess, having completed rush as freshmen last year. “We are planning a pool party and cookout, but we’ll see about the weather,” Curtis said. “It’s nice to finally know who is going to join us. This year’s pledge class will be, for us, 69 really special girls,” Curtis said. The welcome for the pledge class of 2002 was equally enthusi^ astic for Zeta Tau Alpha, where class of 68 would allow the sorori ty to complete its move to the new Greek Village on Blossom Street. Parrish was enthusiastic not only about the pledge class, but also about their new facility. Sororities Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta and Kappa Delta plan to move to the Greek Village in the next year. Comments on this story?E-mail gameaxkudesk@hotmail.com . :as..-• -;. • ........ .' . _u._ All Registered student organizations must be represented by an officer. i-*-—i If you receive or plan to receive funds, the Treasure must attend the Treasurer's Workshop. Thursday, August 29,2002 Tuesday, September 3,2002 Thursday, September 5,2002 Tuesday, September 10,2002* Tuesday, September 10,2002 Thursday, September 12,2002 3:30-5:00pm 3:30-5:00pm 3:30-5:00pm 3:30-5:00pm 7:00-8:30pm 3:30*5:0Qpm RHUU 322/326 RHUU 322/326 RHUU 322/326 RHUU 322/326 RHUU 322/326 RHUu 322/326 Workshop dates, times, and places are subject to change due to the renovation of the RHUU. FOR UPDATES AND CHANGES PLEASE GOTO WWW.SG.SC.EDU ‘FOR SPORTS CLUBS ONLY 15% Student Discount* ID Require ^ * Excludes all feed Your one-stop-shop for dogs, cats, fish, birds, and small pet supplies. PET FOOD & GROOMING CENTER locally owned by a U5C Alumni _3) 2841 Millwood *771 -PETS | , (7387) 1