InternationalStudent.com is excited to announce the launch of the 2012 Travel Video Contest!

We have been getting a ton of emails already asking about this year’s contest, so here’s the skinny. This is our seventh year in a row, and the Grand Prize will be $4,000! There will also be some great runner-up prizes. Entry deadline is Halloween – October 31.

To enter the competition, you need to create a short movie (no longer than 5 minutes in length) telling us why you want to study or travel abroad. If you are already studying abroad, the movie can be about any trip you would like to take. Review all of the rules and regulations to make sure you are eligible, and be sure to check out our previous winners so you can see what it took to win in the past.

Finally, we are delighted to welcome our judges panel consisting of two previous winners of the contest (returning judges Sandy Florez, 2009 Winner, and Matt Brattin, 2006 Winner), as well as two international education gurus (returning judge Jim Crawley and first time judge Joe Avison). Judges, thank you in advance – it’s tough to choose a winner, and the pay really stinks!

Good luck contestants!

Kathy Boyle ’72, French, will display her original hand-carved bird sculptures for the 29th time at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, next month. Easton’s Star-Democrat newspaper profiled the carver over the weekend.

“I became interested in carving through collecting. After collecting carvings for several years, I decided to try carving as a hobby,” says Boyle. “When my son was born, I took a year off from my job. My son will be 34 this year and I never looked back.”

Read the full article in the Star-Democrat here.

Boyle prides herself, she explains on her website, on thoroughly researching the bird before carving in order to achieve realistic color and form. She worked for the federal government after graduating from UMBC, but became a full-time carver in 1978.

See Boyle’s work here.

Maryland’s own Towson University is in the heat of the national spotlight.

TU’s claim to fame (or shame) is the  attempt by one undergraduate to launch a White Student Union organization on campus.

A senior studying U.S. History at Towson, founder Matthews Heimbach explained to the university’s newspaper, The Towerlight, that the Union would:

…replicate what every student union does on campus…you have a Black Student Union who promotes black heroes; we want to do the same thing.

He also argued that the organization would serve as:

a safe space for members who have filed hate/bias reports and who have had anti-white language used against them.

With the exception of having a faculty adviser, the club has met all of the requirements to be formally recognized as a legitimate student organization by the Student Government Association. However, it has met with a great deal of contention, though apparently this is nothing terribly new for Heimbach.

He once started an anti-multiculturalism, right-wing group at Towson that eventually lost recognition with the resignation of its adviser. However, Heimbach is attempting to reach out to a broader audience with the White Student Union, insisting that the organization is open to everyone.

In a video interview with the Huffington Post, he stated: “if you’re fighting for white interest, and you’re fighting to advance my culture, that’s fine. Join.”

Some argue that the Union should be allowed as a club on campus, but, as Towson’s Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs for Diversity Victor Collins puts it:

In my observation in American society and history, I don’t know if white students have been discriminated against or denied access to intuitions. This is a predominantly white institution. I don’t understand why they have to [form.]

Others, rather ironically, reacted to what they viewed as racism in a rather racist manner. Said one black student during a forum on the matter:

What is white history? What is white culture? Because if you look back over history, nothing positive has come out of white history or white culture, because you’ve done nothing good.

Apparently this individual is not terribly familiar with history.

Regardless of some of the misguided responses to this contentious issue, there were some students who expressed their concerns more tactfully. For instance, one white student said that he was initially excited about the prospect of a White Student Union, but he came to realize that its intentions were not as he had anticipated, stating: ”I feel like this is for all the wrong reasons.” 

What’s your view on the matter?

If other ethnic groups are allowed to organize on university campuses, then should it naturally follow that white individuals be allowed to organize for the same purposes as well? Or should the idea of separating into different groups based on ethnicity be discouraged altogether to promote true equality in America? 

Perhaps you’re somewhere in between the two extremes, depending on the circumstances. After all, there are very few issues that can really be viewed in plain black and white.

Over the weekend Felix Baumgartner broke all kinds of records with his free fall from the edges of outer space. Most impressive was how Felix broke the sound barrier with his own body. 

After flying to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) in a helium-filled balloon, Felix Baumgartner completed Sunday morning a record breaking jump for the ages from the edge of space, exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier flying in an experimental rocket-powered airplane. The 43-year-old Austrian skydiving expert also broke two other world records (highest freefall, highest manned balloon flight), leaving the one for the longest freefall to project mentor Col. Joe Kittinger.

The Redbull sponsored mission was designed to gather data about the extreme conditions on the outer limits of our world. A video of the jump can be found here. 

Truly cool stuff. This has been a great year for space geeks. What do you think is the next great stunt?