Media Advisory: Carnegie Mellon Engineering Students, Steelers Mascot To Pack Care Boxes For Afghan School Children

April 17, 2008

Contact: Chriss Swaney
Carnegie Mellon
(412) 268-5776

Event: Carnegie Mellon University engineering students and Steelers mascot Steely McBeam will stuff more than a dozen boxes with pencils and paper for Afghan elementary students. The drive, dubbed “Pencils for Pupils,” stems from a need for basic school supplies including notebooks, chalk, bottled glue, crayons, rulers, coloring books, scissors, ink pens and tote bags. Donations for the project came from the university’s Naval ROTC program, the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, the Mechanical Engineering Department, and juniors and seniors at the Winchester Thurston School in Oakland.

John Wiss, an adjunct professor in mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, said the students developed the idea of helping the Afghan school children after receiving information from Carnegie Mellon alums serving in the U.S. military that terrorists had destroyed the Afghan children’s school in December.

When: Noon - 1 p.m., Friday, April 18.

Where: Dean’s Conference Room, 120 Scaife Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, off Frew Street.

About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 144-acre Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. A global university, Carnegie Mellon has campuses in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia and Europe. For more, see www.cmu.edu.