Off Campus: Multimedia Belt

November 24, 2014 - 2:35pm
Over 40 people slept outside as part of the Syracuse Homeless Challenge in an effort to raise awareness of hunger and homelessness in Central New York.

It’s that time of year to reflect on all things to be thankful for, and for 40 Syracuse residents that reflecting took place under multiple layers with chattering teeth and violent shivers. Community members spent Friday night in the subzero temperatures Syracuse is all too famous for, and as the biting cold managed to sting through the most durable winter gear, residents were able to catch a small glimpse of what it’s like to be homeless in Syracuse.

November 20, 2014 - 9:25am
Hackers from Syracuse to Rochester and Ithaca gathered together to create apps and web services aimed at helping those experiencing homelessness.

Tony Kershaw remembers being homeless twice in his life. The 2005 alumnus of the College of Engineering recalls when he was 10, he had to go to his aunt’s house to take hot showers. He was homeless again while still an undergrad.

November 11, 2014 - 9:21am
The Young and Talented Dance Company allows students from low-income areas to perform all across Syracuse.

Akilah Cage was put on bed rest when she had her first child at 23. Most people would have taken that as a sign to stop working, but instead, Cage started the Young and Talented Dance Company.

November 5, 2014 - 7:14pm
The Connective Corridor staff and students are working together to bridge the gap between campus and downtown Syracuse.

Why don’t more Syracuse University students go downtown?

A small group of students asked this question at the first meeting of the Connective Corridor Student Advisory Council that met in Newhouse on Sept. 26. They came up with many answers: It’s far; it’s hard to get to; parking; people aren’t aware of events that are going on.

The advisory council aims to find creative solutions to fix the disconnect between students and the city of Syracuse through programming.

November 5, 2014 - 11:30am
Syracuse alum creates a natural space for creative thinkers to collaborate on and build original and imaginative projects.

After completing his MFA in Sculpture at Syracuse University, Michael Giannattasio was looking to regain the sense of community that came with university life. He had begun to compile tools for his own workshop, but missed the connection with other creators. Eventually this feeling led him to expand his vision of a workshop, and share both his knowledge and tools with the world by building a makerspace.

November 4, 2014 - 10:41pm
Democracy in Action students cover local, state and national races for the mid-term elections in Onondaga County.

Through the Democracy in Action project, undergraduate and graduate students in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications share voters' Election Day stories through photos, audio, video and text.

Students went to the polls, speaking with voters in Syracuse and the surrounding suburbs, where they heard voters' opinions about electronic voting scanners; met families casting their ballots together; and witnessed local traditions, such as Syracuse's annual Election Day spaghetti dinner.

November 2, 2014 - 10:57am
A schoolteacher, landscape designer and painter, Brett Rewakowski creates art that help others cope with loss.

Brett Rewakowski did not have it easy growing up. One by one, everyone who was close to him decided to leave. 

At 10 years old, his father had a heart attack. In college, his best friend died in a car crash. In his twenties, a hunter shot and killed his cousin. Years later after a fine party, his friend’s girlfriend insisted she wanted to drive. She was slightly drunk. On the way back, she flipped the car over, killing them both.

This pattern has continued.

October 28, 2014 - 10:57pm
Syracuse inner-city high schools strengthen programs to help students graduate with more than just a diploma.

It isn’t too often you see 17-year-olds eagerly go home to explain to their mothers the exact medical terminology for a nosebleed or why their clavicle is sore. But this is exactly what Henninger High School students on Syracuse’s west side are doing now, thanks to its new medical assistant program.

October 26, 2014 - 10:35pm
After creating a successful tech startup in Syracuse, Andrew Farah aims to bring his company’s innovative technology to businesses in San Francisco.

Andrew Farah, a Syracuse University alumnus, rose to fame when he and his colleagues at Rounded Development created Density, a product that helps customers and small business vendors measure traffic at their shops.

“We used a simple wireless router to count every time any customer enters or leaves the shop premise,” Farah said.

October 24, 2014 - 1:25am
The nightlong event was structured like a bar crawl, except most of the attendees dressed as the undead.

Those who decided to go out last Saturday night at Tipp Hill likely encountered someone with a bloody wounds and tattered clothes.

There was not some fierce battle -- just a lot of makeup application and clothing destruction for the 6th annual Zombie Crawl on October 19.

The event was structured like a normal bar crawl, except many of the attendees didn’t look like they should be alive.