News Briefs 02/09

GV engineering students looking for volunteers to test new fountain choreography software

A group of Grand Valley State University computing and engineering students have created a choreography software that will be used to program the historic Grand Haven musical fountain, and they are looking for volunteers to help them test the software. The software allows the programmer to choreograph the lights, water and music for different displays. The software will eventually be made public to anybody who is interested in choreographing their own song after the testing phase.

This new software comes from a partnership between the Grand Haven Musical Fountain Committee and GVSU in an effort to update the fountain. The fountain’s water formations have not been updated since the building of the fountain in 1963.

Former student athletes to be honored at women’s sports event

Four former Grand Valley State University student athletes and club sport players will be recognized at the annual Celebrate Women in Sport and Physical Activity event Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Fieldhouse at 11 a.m. Those being honored were selected based on how their experiences in sports or physical activity have contributed to their successes and accomplishments since finishing.

The women being honored are GVSU associate professor of management and former softball player Catherine Jones-Rikkers, the founder of the women’s ice hockey club Molly Mahoney, member of the 2006 women’s basketball national championship team Jaida Bourke Fitzgerald and the associate vice president for academic affairs at Western State Colorado University and former field hockey and softball player Kathleen Kinkema.

Tickets cost $25 and include food and beverages, and $15 of the ticket will go toward the Boand and Rowe Endowment for Advancement of Women in Sport and Physical Activity. To RSVP, visit www.gvsu.edu/womeninsports

Screening of short film ‘Arrival’ Thursday, Feb. 9

There will be a special screening of the short film “Arrival,” directed, written and animated by Alex Myung, in the Kirkhof Center Thursday, Feb. 9, at 4 p.m. The film follows a boy’s journey into adulthood and the complications that come with that transition. The film takes examples from Myung’s own life and past experiences and centers on a modern LGBTQ couple and the daily dilemmas they face in society and the challenges they face in loving the right person.

After the film, there will be a Q&A session with Myung, for which attendees are encouraged to stay. The event is LIB 100 and LIB 201 approved.