Centralight

CMU Today Meet 'Scrappy' CMU senior Robert Lefi ef turned thousands of metal scraps into a 22-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex he named "Scrappy" and then sold to benefi t charity. "I guess you could say Scrappy is a 'green' dinosaur," says Lefi ef, an engineering major from Caseville, Mich. "He originated from 100 percent recycled scrap metal. I used everything from chains, shovels, sheet metal and plow parts to old oil drums to make him what he is today." Lefi ef built the T. rex to help out a friend from his hometown who was looking for something to add to his dinosaur-themed corn maze. Scrappy quickly grew in popularity, and its food dish became a source for people to donate canned goods and cash to benefi t a local food pantry. Remembering the After the corn maze ended last fall, Lefi ef auctioned off Scrappy on eBay. An artist from Chicago appraised Scrappy between $20,000 and $30,000, but it went for $2,000 to a Bad Axe, Mich., resident and owner of a salvage yard as a surprise Christmas gift for her husband. Holocaust World War II scholar Gerhard Weinberg, who personally experienced the Holocaust, visited campus in November as the inaugural speaker for CMU's Dr. Harold Abel Endowed Lecture Series in the Study of Dictatorship, Democracy and Genocide. Weinberg is a noted military historian who has written numerous books on World War II and Adolf Hitler, and he has found and edited for publication a book Hitler dictated in 1928 but never published. History professor Eric Johnson spoke of the importance of Weinberg's visit: "The history of World War II and, more specifi cally, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, are subjects that thousands write books on every single year. There could be no person in the world more qualifi ed to speak on this subject." • Lefi ef donated half the proceeds to the buyer's charity of choice, which was the National Marfan Foundation. Marfan Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder of the connective tissue, which aff ects the skeletal system and other organs of the body. "That's the greatest part of this," Lefi ef says. "It was just a bunch of metal that was destined for the scrap yard, and I was able to turn it into something that could really do some good, especially in these hard economic times we're facing today." • Fighting fl u CMU physician assistant students helped vaccinate more than 4,000 children against the H1N1 fl u last fall through a partnership with the Central Michigan District Health Department. Lauren Miller, left, a CMU physician assistant student from Grosse Ile, Mich., says being a part of the clinics has been an opportunity to gain practical experience while providing a valuable service. "This is a very unique time in our community and the nation – dealing with the H1N1 virus," says Miller. "We wanted to provide assistance to the health department within our own community with its vaccination eff orts. This is a very large population, and a very vulnerable population, that needed to be vaccinated." Health department staff members said the CMU students made a diff erence at all of the fl u clinics. "In this day and age, collaborative eff orts like what we have with CMU are vital," says Mari Pat Terpening, a personal health supervisor for the department. "If we work together we are able to achieve greater outcomes, improve the health of more people and have a greater impact on the health of our community." • 2 centralight spring '10 PHOTO BY PEGGY BRISBANE

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