Author Archives: Kat Brookshier

Shower Heads at Olin: Fun Facts

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In the short survey I sent out a few days ago for IPD, I asked students to guess how many gallons a typical 10 minute shower uses.

Corey Cavicchi, Olin’s Associate Plant Manager, has informed me that Olin shower heads have a 2.5 gallon per minute flow (the maximum federal regulatory standard since 1994), but that facilities is “planning to install 1.5 GPM shower heads over Thanksgiving break.”

Based on this information, an average 10-minute shower uses 25 gallons of water now, but will use only 15 gallons of water after the anticipated change.

The State of Politics in MA

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Massachusetts held a special election this past June to fill the vacant Massachusetts senator position left by new Secretary of State John Kerry. Obama selected Kerry for the position after Hilary Clinton stepped down from her post at the end of January.

This marks the second time in the past four years that a long-held senate seat was up for election. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry served as Massachusetts senators for 47 years and 28 years, respectively.

Since Kennedy passed away in 2009, his senate seat has been well contested; he was followed briefly by interim senator Paul Kirk, then Scott Brown and finally Elizabeth Warren today.

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Boston Mayoral Election

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oct2013_bostonMayorBoston is looking to elect a new mayor in November. The current mayor, Mayor Thomas Menino has been in office since 1993 for five consecutive terms, and has decided not to run for a sixth.

In late March, Menino revealed his decision: “I’m here with the people I love, to tell the city I love that I will leave the job that I love.”

Since this announcement, there has been a flurry of movement among potential mayoral candidates who would like to take Menino’s seat. What kind of mayor will succeed Menino? He is known for being an excellent mayor, who developed many neighborhoods, touted pro-equality politics, created highly successful programs like “Boston Bikes,” and turned “Beantown” into “Greentown.”

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Try a Club, Find a Passion

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Larger universities throughout the country have more clubs than Olin has students – UCLA clocks in at more than eight hundred clubs, while Harvard boasts about four hundred. Finding a way to test out all of those clubs would be a daunting task to any student.

Olin is different because you can try out nearly all of the clubs if you want to! (However, you would be crazy to be in them all.)

At the beginning of each academic year, the upperclassmen show off their favorite clubs during Club Fair, so that all students (new and returning) have the chance to see what each has to offer. It might remind you of Candidates’ Weekend, only this time the weather will be better and you can actually join the clubs. There are dozens of student clubs to see there, from long-standing clubs like Olin Fire Arts Club to new clubs like Dr. Who, which is barely two years old.

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Stats to Start Conversations

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Hello everyone! My name is Kat, and I like taking surveys: I get a rush seeing, about a minute after sending out a survey to the student body, the results pouring in. The resulting data quantifies the thoughts and behaviors of Oliners, giving a better impression of what the student body is actually thinking and doing rather than relying on hearsay.

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