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NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Overinvolved students expose pretension

By Christine Pao

Rice is home to some of the brightest young minds in the country. Students hail from all sorts of backgrounds, and there is no denying that we are all highly intelligent and capable. There is no doubt at all that Rice is a prestigious university - but prestigious universities attract overachievers.Coming from a competitive high school, I felt immensely pressured to get involved in school and extracurricular activities. All around me, overachieving students participated in several sports and academic teams, were very active in several clubs and held positions in student government - all while maintaining stellar grades. I was brought up to believe that this standard was normal, so I gave in and joined the overinvolvement bandwagon, even though I didn't particularly enjoy half the clubs and teams I was a part of.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Summer time, when the weather is fine

By Staff Editorial

That's all, folks. The Thresher is closing up shop, shuttering the shades and tossing out all the trash littering the office. Summer is here, and we're done.Well, for a couple weeks, at least. Fingers crossed, a road trip to Omaha will be in our future, watching the baseball team battle in its fourth consecutive College World Series. We may not have home advantage during the Super Regionals (thank you, University of Central Florida), but an 11-6 road record should keep us in the running for another National Championship.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

The Sammys: The Best of Rice Theater

By Joe Dwyer

First awarded in 1980, the Sammys are the Thresher's way of recognizing Rice theater productions. This year, over 200 of you voted on the performances and productions that made you laugh, cry or both. There were several excellent original productions that were put on this year - enough to merit the addition of student-written categories in both the play and musical categories - and hopefully we will see this number grow in the future

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Red, White and Blue

 

... and Goldenrod too! A color palette of academic regalia filled the Academic Quadrangle for Rice's 96th commencement ceremony May 9. Read the commencement speech by Women for Women International CEO Zainab Salbi and see pictures from the event.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Rice baseball downs Xavier to continue play Sunday evening

By Meghan Hall

The Owls looked out of place in the third base away dugout at Reckling Park, but they were in fact the visiting team in this afternoon's 2009 NCAA Houston Regional contest between No. 1 seed Rice (41-16) and No. 3 seed Xavier University (39-21). The unfamiliar location didn't slow them down, however, as Rice romped to a 12-5 win and sent Xavier's squad packing. Five Owls had multi-hit games in the 15-hit attack.Assistant Coach David Pierce credited starting pitcher Jared Rogers' performance as a big help in the win.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Thresher summer break

By Casey Michel

With the coming of summer, the Thresher staff is taking a break. But while there will be no issues until next semester, make sure to check back for updates on the baseball team's run to Omaha, beginning with the May 29 NCAA Regional, held at Rice's Reckling Park.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Blogging creates window to self-discovery

By Caitlin Porter

Everyone should have a blog. In today's society, blogs are no longer hobbies of a few, but near-necessities for the majority. At the very least, it allows you to have good, quality "you time" with the computer while you write about your day. Your entries might begin with something like, "Dear Mr. Mac, Today I fed a squirrel and ." Ideally, however, you might discover something you did not know about yourself, like how deep down, you are a sex-crazed egomaniac. And as college students, aren't we all about self-discovery?

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

After late-season bumps, Rice sprints into postseason

By Meghan Hall

The baseball team is used to blitzing through the heart of the season, but with two recent losses, this year has been a bit different. Fortunately, the second-ranked Rice baseball team has finally righted its ship injury-wise and is sailing toward the postseason. The Owls (34- 13, 15-6 Conference USA) got junior starter Mike Ojala (3-0) back from injury before their week-long break for finals, and junior starter Ryan Berry (5-0), second on the team in wins, returned in the first game back.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Ojala helps Owls kick off regionals with 5-2 win

By Hall

In the first inning of Friday's College World Series regionals at Rice University, Sam Houston State University started off with a bang on second-hole hitter Ryan Mooney's home run off Rice starter, junior Mike Ojala.But for the Bearkats, there wouldn't be many more fireworks in Rice's 5-2 win.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Man shot near Rice

By Josh Rutenberg

Metro Police shot and killed a man carrying a knife last week just outside of the Rice campus. The police had been following the man after he became involved in an altercation at METRORail's Dryden/TMC station, south of campus. When he took off along the outer loop, Metro Police fatally wounded the man, Rice Director of News and Media Relations B.J. Almond said. According to the Houston Metro Police Department, the incident was the first fatal shooting in the history of Metro's law enforcement division.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Casey, Dillard selected in fifth round; Clement waits

By Yan Digilov

Those familiar with tight end James Casey recognized the congenial, hardworking football player that sat before the Houston press on the afternoon of April 26 at the Houston Texans' facility. But from his description of the previous 24 hours, there was no doubt that a much more fearful and concerned man sat with family glued to the television just moments before.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Volleyball update (Photo)

 

After losing starters Karyn Morgan and Jessica Holderness, the volleyball team got its first bit of action in an intra-squad scrimmage on April 15. As a new senior, Natalie Bogan, spiking, was given the reigns of the squad for the first time.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Faheem's Year in Review

By Faheem Ahmed

After sifting through piles of homework, pesky presentations and dreaded finals, the only thing keeping me motivated is the promise of fresh non-Houston summer air and the badass blockbuster movies that come with it. But seeing as our 2008-'09 academic year is finally coming to a close, I think it is most appropriate to take a look back at the movies released this past year, from the films that were visually stunning and emotionally compelling to the films that should have been thrown into the mouth of Mount Doom.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Amorous relations change a necessary repair

By Staff Editorial

Not long ago, the television show South Park lampooned the recent spate of teacher-student relationships plaguing the nation. But instead of the stereotypical male teacher-female student power dichotomy, South Park showed that the headlines were dominated by female teachers, juxtaposing this illegal relationship with the hypocrisy with which society tends to view it.Ignoring crudeness for a moment, South Park was on to something. The relations between teachers and students - almost always improper and, according to law, non consensual - is no longer relegated to creepy older men, and has become all-too-prominent in our society.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Golf ends season on sour note

By Paul Fitzgerald

The golf team's final event concluded much like their season did: disappointingly. The Owls jumped out to a hot start at the Conference USA tournament last month, but a poor second round meant the team would record a below-expected finish for the third straight year. The C-USA Tournament was held at the Red Tail Golf Club in Sorrento, Fla. and hosted by the University of Central Florida. The Owls posted a last-place finish at the 2008 C-USA Tournament, but headed into this year's tournament with optimism over their prospects.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

2009 Rice Phi Beta Kappa initiates

By Cindy Dinh

Seventy-three alumni were inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society by the Rice University chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Beta of Texas May 8. The society emphasizes learning for the sake of learning, Beta of Texas chapter Secretary Randal Hall (history graduate student '98) said. In addition to graduating within the top 10 percent of their class, students must also have a minimum of 90 credit hours in the liberal arts with at least 10 of these classes outside of their declared major. All inductees of Phi Beta Kappa this year are in the top 10 percent of their class, with a GPA of 3.937 or above, Registrar David Tenney said. During the induction ceremony, the two top ranking seniors, Edward Swidriski III (Hanszen College '09) and Mimi Zhang (Baker College '09), gave a speech on their experience at Rice.

NEWS 5/14/09 7:00pm

Kansas State stymies Rice's late-game rally for 7-6 win

By Hall

The two winners of yesterday's games, Rice (40-16) and Kansas State (43-16), squared off Saturday night in Game 4 of the 2009 NCAA Houston Regional. It was a tight, back-and-forth battle, but Kansas State staved off an impressive Rice comeback to come out on top 7-6 and move to 2-0 in the regional.. Action started early for the Owls when the leadoff hitter, junior second baseman Brock Holt, singled up the middle to start the game. Sophomore shortstop Rick Hague followed up with a hit that skipped under the third baseman's glove.

NEWS 4/16/09 7:00pm

Recession promotes humanitarian careers

By Rachel Marcus

In the past few years, graduating college seniors have flocked toward jobs in investment banking or consulting, thanks to their relatively high starting salaries and the prestige they add to a résumé. This trend is particularly true at some of the most competitive and elite schools in the nation; The New York Times has reported that 40 percent of recent Harvard undergraduates go on to careers in finance.At Rice, the Career Services survey of recent alumni indicates that a large number of bachelor's degree recipients who do not go on to graduate or professional schools choose banking or consulting for their first jobs out of college. However, with the current state of the economy, finance has lost much of its pull: Jobs are scarcer and less secure, and the industry no longer holds the prestige it once did. With these sudden changes in the job market, many current college seniors are left without the traditional career paths that their predecessors took in previous years. Now, the question is, in what direction will the new generation of college students choose to go?

NEWS 4/16/09 7:00pm

Comfy seats

 

Three pairs in the Rice Social Dance Society got their grooves on at last Friday's RSDS Jazz Soiree, the group's annual swing dance. With the Rice Jazz Band providing the beats and these guys providing the seats, the soiree was fun for all who danced and all who just watched.

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