Global Lens: The Y Partners with the Art Theater

UPDATE: Art Theater showings will also be FREE!

Exciting news for the University YMCA's Global Lens International Film series! Each month, the Art Theater will now be screening the same films on Second Thursdays on the big screen for free.

The Light Thief trailer:

Summer Schedule:

June 9: The Light Thief  |  Art Theater  |  Free

June 16: The Light Thief  | University YMCA  |  Free

July 14: Soul of Sand  |  Art Theater  | Free

July 21: Soul of Sand  | University YMCA  |  Free

August 11: Street Days  |  Art Theater  |  Free

August 18:  Street Days  | University YMCA  |  Free

Film descriptions and other information available on the University YMCA's website:

http://www.universityymca.org/globallens

The C-U Art Theater website: http://www.thecuart.com/

The Global Lens film series is sponsored by the Center for Global Studies and the Global Film Initiative.

For more information, visit www.globalfilm.org.

Dump & Run: Quirky and Cool Collections Ended Last Week (to resume in August)

When local residents call with questions about Dump & Run they often reminisce about how full the dumpsters around campus used to be 10 years ago. They would pull working TVs, power tools, and furniture, wondering at the unnecessary waste resulting from quick student move-outs at the end of each Spring semester. When their parent's cars were packed full, students without the time or means to donate ended up dumping a lot of perfectly good stuff.

Fortunately, local residents also donate beautiful and useful items that they've been meaning to part ways with. The Y is always grateful to receive these contributions because the sales benefit the Y's cause.

This May, the University YMCA celebrates its 10th year of Dump & Run. By holding collections of unwanted goods on campus and offering pick-ups for furniture, the Y is accomplishing three things:

1. Helping students move out.
2. Keeping items like chairs, food, and clothing out of dumpsters.
3. Holding a sale in August as a fundraising event for the Y.

Students were happy to rid themselves of clothes that no longer fit, presents that they never really wanted, furniture that just wouldn't fit in the car, non-perishable food they didn't get around to eating, and books that had served their purpose. The University Y sorted and boxed these items, prepared for the big sale in August!

This year, the Y received some great stuff, and let's be honest - some eyebrow-raising items that no one was sure what to do with. But that's the fun of being involved with Dump & Run - finding treasures and separating out the nonsense. 

More treasures - quirky, functional, and awesome - found this year can be seen on the Y's Flickr set.

LINC Students Connect with the University Y

Each semester, Bruce Litchfield's Engineering 315 "Learning in Community" course offers students to work on and even manage real projects with community partners, such as the Y.

On Wednesday, May 4th from 6:30-9:00pm, students were present to show their research results in a public forum and the Levis Faculty Center. I was fortunate enough to speak with three students who had expansive working knowledge of the Y's functioning, garbage, roof load-bearing capacity, and potential for furthering sustainability as part of our mission.

"Greening the Y" as the students have proposed includes significant insight into the Y's energy consumption, materials purchased and used, indoor environmental quality, and an idea for a green roof. Much of the changes suggested can happen on a daily basis, but the idea for a green roof is an exciting project coming up in the next phases of building improvement. With their analysis of structural, material, alternative energy, and design for the green roof, the students provided the Y with an excellent starting point for exploring and creating a multi-functional, cost- and energy-efficient green roof!

The project managers are the driving force behind the more than 20 projects per semester that happen through the course. It's an opportunity for student leadership that several of our current Y students have and will participate in, including Martha Webber, David Hsu, and Julie Fry.

Interviews are happening now for Fall Project Managers: https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/9593703

Flickr photo set here.