Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

​Some 120 ​Washington University students help mentor local high school students through the college application process in a national mentoring program called Strive for College. The program was started on the Washington University campus in 2007 by a group of Rodriguez Scholars and today thrives under the leadership of alum Michael Carter. On Monday, Feb. 16, local high school participants will visit Washington University, where they will shadow mentors in class and around campus. ​

​Class Acts takes a look at John Schmidt, a senior in Arts & Sciences and the white playwright behind this weekend’s Black Anthology. Schmidt also is an editor for Student Life, writer and director for Lunar New Year, a residential advisor and opera singer. Schmidt says his “listening ear” helps him in his various roles. Black Anthology takes place at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6 and 7.

After a year of planning, the Bear-y Sweet Shoppe opened Jan. 12 on Gregg Walkway on the South 40 at Washington University in St. Louis. The business is supported by the innovative Student Entrepreneurial Program (StEP), which has provided resources and guidance since 1999. The shop is the first StEP business to sell food, use crowdfunding and to be founded exclusively by women.

Female members of the Washington University in St. Louis community are invited to register for the RAD program, a 12-hour comprehensive self-defense program which includes awareness skills as well as physical techniques. Classes will be held Feb. 7, 14 and 21 in the Village House.

​Watch as Washington University in St. Louis students rehearse a Phillipine dance form called tinikling, one of more than a dozen performances scheduled for this year’s Lunar New Year Festival Jan. 30-31. More than 160 students will perform in the annual celebration of Asian art forms and traditions. ​

Reuben Riggs, a senior in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says the fight for social justice is the foundation of a liberal arts education and he has embraced that fight in light of events in Ferguson in 2014. “To know that and not go out and engage when it’s happening on my doorstep would go against everything I believe in,” said Riggs, who also is an Ervin and a Civic Scholar.

​Conducted by the Association of American Universities, the Sexual Assault Climate Survey will collect data from 800,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students across the nation. The survey is completely anonymous and will take most students 20 minutes to complete. ​

Endless Electronics, a locally owned computer, tablet and smartphone repair business, has moved into the final retail space at The Lofts of Washington University on the Delmar Loop, an $80 million residential and retail project. The business opens to the public Feb. 14 and joins retail tenants United Provisions, a full-service grocery store, and Peacock Loop Diner.

Norman R. Seay, a key figure in the struggle for desegregation in St. Louis, will receive the 2015 Rosa L. Parks Award at Washington University in St. Louis’ annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19, in Graham Chapel. At the School of Medicine, St. Louis native Charles Stith will be the featured speaker at its commemoration at 4 p.m. Jan. 19 in the Eric P. Newman Education Center.

Washington University in St. Louis employees donated more than $778,000 to the 2014 United Way of Greater St. Louis workplace campaign, surpassing its goal by $68,000. The money will support 170 local agencies that address education, health, hunger, poverty, unemployment and other urgent issues.