Review of Burere Project Set for This Week

This coming Wednesday, April 4th, the Burere project will reach an important milestone. The project design is complete and our proposed design and construction plans are up for review by the EWB-USA Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). The TAC will assure that the design and construction schedule protect both the Burere community long term and EWB-UC members

who will travel to help with the implementation.

The hope for the project is to begin construction this June by installing the foundation of a new 2

classroom building on the current school campus. Trips throughout the coming year will be planned to finish the columns, beams and the roofing structure. The construction segment of the project will be a collaboration of Burere community members and EWB-UC members working together to finish a several year long project initiated by the Burere community and Village Life Outreach Project.

Please check the website in the next few days for any news on the review or its results! The project team has been working hard on this submittal and we are hoping for a positive reception from the TAC. A huge thanks go out to all of the students, partners at VLOP and technical mentors who are involved with the project. We also want to thank our donors, including Walsh Construction for a donation of both money and safety equipment including gloves, safety glasses and hardhats and CDM Smith for a donation of several hardhats. We are always seeking new donors, so please visit our "donate" page if you can help the cause! Also, check out the photosynth of the Burere site to get an idea of the improvements that can be made at http://photosynth.net/userprofilepage.aspx?user=ewb-uc.

Announcing the EWB-UC Spring Banquet

Friends and partners of EWB-UC,

I would like to announce the date and time of the EWB-UC spring banquet. This year's banquet will be Wednesday, May 2nd starting at 5:00. Last year, we held our banquet on campus and it was a great event. This year, we have stepped it up and are having the banquet off campus at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. The venue is amazing and even provides a courtyard for a more relaxed cocktail hour at the beginning and comes complete with a koi pond.

The banquet will feature a speaker from the Cincinnati Zoo, the president of the Cincinnati chapter of the US Green Building council, and the state of the chapter address from the new EWB-UC president. Dinner promises to be delicious and features two chicken options and a vegetarian dish. We will also be able to have special guests at the zoo, different animals will be making an appearance before dinner is served. The event will bring all of our friends, partners and everyone with an interest in EWB-UC and our work together for a night of food, networking and fun.

If you did not receive a save the date for the banquet, but would like to attend, please email our banquet team at banquet@ewb-uc.org and we will be sure to get you on the list of people on the list for formal invitations. Also, if you have an item you would like to donate for our silent auction, we would appreciate the help. I look forward to seeing all of our friends at the event this spring!

EWBers of the Month - March

Congratulations to March’s EWBers of the month Blake Baldwin and Andrew Nottingham. Both Blake and Andrew are first year mechanical engineers who’ve done a great job co-chairing the education committee this quarter. These gentlemen are responsible for revitalizing the tradition of cultural meetings here at EWB-UC and have been doing an excellent job. Blake, Andrew, and the rest of their committee are hard at work creating educational material on laying concrete foundation for the travel team heading to Burere this summer. We hope to see both Blake and Andrew continue the great work they are doing for our chapter.

Q & A

Q: What is a short term goal you have relating to EWB?

Blake: Finishing up the educational material for this summer’s trip.

Andrew: Determine what Blake and I can do to make the education committee grown and function to its fullest.

Q: What is one of your longer term goals?

Blake: I hope to continue to educate our peers about the intricacies of African culture and building methods.

Andrew: My long term goal is to go on at least one of the trips to Africa; specifically the Nyambogo implementation since that’s the project I’m working on.

Q: What is a fun fact that not everyone may know about you?

Blake: I'm currently employed with the Cincinnati Circus Company where I juggle, unicycle and help run a trapeze class.

Andrew: I really enjoy going on such service oriented trips as our ones to Africa are, and I've been on similar trips to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

Andrew Nottingham

February EWBer of the Month

February's EWBer of the month is Ceejay Boyce. Ceejay is a first year BME who has really gotten involved this past quarter. She filled the role as acting design committee chair with Allison Bosworth away in New York on co-op. Ceejay has stepped up into the executive committee as well as leading weekly design committee meetings. She has recruited seven new DAAP students as members of  her committee. During this past month she has facilitated the completion of the EWB newsletter, project posters, and Kegs for Kenya fliers.She has gotten a head start on the design work for the banquet.

Overall, Ceejay has done a great job transitioning into this role. We hope to see her continue to grow in leadership in our group and we look forward to what all she'll accomplish in future. 

Date Auction Sets New Fundraising Record

This year’s EWeek was an eventful one, per usual, but the Date Auction was truly record setting.

EWB’s own Morgen Schroeder had this to say, “This was my 4th time attending the CEAS Tribunal EWeek Date Auction and without a doubt it was the best one yet! This year the venue was changed to the Mad Frog and there was an all-star cast of auctionees that brought in record breaking money.  It was so awesome to see the entire college of engineering and applied science come together and support EWB's cause!"

The proceeds from the event totaled an incredible $3,800. That money will support our travel group as they head to Africa this June! Thank you to everyone who attended this event and a special thank you to CEAS Tribunal for all their hard work that went into this year’s EWeek. If you’d like to see more photos from the date auction click this link:

http://tribunal.uc.edu/photos/eweek-banquet-2012

Be sure to keep up with all EWB-UC’s events by checking out our blog, liking us on Facebook, or following us on twitter!