The trauma of a car accident is unforgettable, and one University graduate student in the fine arts focused his entire master's thesis on his.

Tom Pergola was struck by a vehicle three years ago while riding his bicycle, and the anger he felt as a result of the accident was released in the making of his exhibit.

His exhibit, displayed through April in Hollingsworth Gallery on campus, showcased the actual bike from the accident transformed into a piece of sculpture and a stylized video re-creation of the accident. Melted and distorted bicycle parts cast in aluminum revealed the tension and trauma of the event, and information packets on bicycle safety also were included.

The exhibit featured art in different media, including three-dimensional pieces composed of the bicycle parts and a large painting of a hand and a bicycle wheel.

"Putting the exhibit together was definitely a cathartic experience," Pergola says. "I was able to let go of a lot of the hostility that I felt toward the gentleman who was involved and the insurance company. I realized that everything happens for a reason."

Listed in Inside Lacrosse Magazine as one of the nation's top attackmen, Delaware's John Grant has received considerable recognition this year.

Grant earned first team All-American honors as he was named to the United States Intercollegiate Association Division I All-American team.

Sports Illustrated featured Grant, HNS 2001, in its May 3 issue; Face Off magazine listed him as Third Team All-American; and Lacrosse USA placed him on Second Team All-American.

Leading the Hens through a banner year, Grant was named America East's Player of the Week three times and the ECAC Player of the Week once. He also led the league in scoring, with an average of 7.7 points per game.

Claiming the America East championship for 1999, the UD lacrosse team is now ranked sixth in the nation.

UD lacrosse coach Bob Shillinglaw, who has coached lacrosse at the University for 21 seasons, was named Division I Coach of the Year by the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. He also received the award during his first season at UD in 1979.

The lacrosse team posted a 14-3 record in 1999, a UD record for wins, and Shillinglaw was honored as America East Coach of the Year.

Shillinglaw, whose career record is 170-157, the most wins of any UD lacrosse coach, also has been named head coach of Team USA for the USA vs. Canada World Cup series held July 14-16.

'For alumni who find themselves missing Vita Nova's epicurean cuisine, instructional cooking videos may be just what the chef ordered.

The staff of the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management has produced a video series that not only will enhance cooking knowledge, but also will entertain. All of the items in the video are served at Vita Nova, the student-run restaurant located on the second floor of the Trabant University Center.

HRIM executive chef Joe DiGregorio says each video consists of recipes and instructions on how to prepare appetizers, entrees and desserts.

The set of three tapes, priced at $30, was directed and edited by Brian Schmidt of University Media Services and was shot during the summer in the demonstration studio in the Trabant University Center.

Call Vita Nova at (302) 831-0500 for more information.

Three University students left the familiar setting of Newark for a spring semester in Biosphere 2. The environmental studies program is offered in conjunction with Columbia University. Originally built in the Arizona desert for research purposes in 1991, Biosphere 2 (Earth being Biosphere 1) is a self-sustaining ecosystem, housing five "biomes"-a desert, a marsh, a savanna, a rain forest and an ocean.

The UD students, with 70 other national and international students, took part in an academic program called the Earth Semester. All members of the University's Honors Program, the three students who participated were Jordan Green, AS 2001, from New City, N.Y.; Roscoe Leslie, AS 2000, from Laurel, Del.; and Rebecca Crooker, AS 2000, from Fogelsville, Pa.

The students all took the same classes, which met four days a week. Field trips to Mexico and California also were part of the program, and students conducted hands-on research and fieldwork.

Residents of Millcroft Nursing Home in Newark danced the night away in April with members of Kappa Delta Pi, an education honor society at the University. Student members and pledges decorated, served snacks and served as dance partners to the residents, while a disc jockey provided the necessary music.

The $25 million renovations to five residence halls on The Mall will be completed by 2001,
a full year ahead of schedule.

Each residence hall will get new windows, ceilings, ventilation systems, lighting, carpeting, electrical systems and fire detection and suppression systems.

The exterior of the dorms will be altered as well. Ramps and elevators to certain buildings will make them more accessible to students with disabilities.

Remodeling of Smyth and Sypherd halls will be completed this summer. Work will begin next on South Central campus' Kent Residence Hall.

Sharp and Cannon residence halls will be remodeled during the 2000-01 school year.

-Laura Overturf, AS '99

Former Philly Phanatic Dave Raymond, HNS '79, marches mascots across South College Avenue during a three-day mascot camp he ran in the spring on campus. The camp covered such subjects as costume, character development, improvisation, use of props and the scripting of skits. From left are Steamer, Splash, Loco, Raymond, Sharkee, the University's own YoUDee and Rocky.

The student-run University of Delaware Emergency Care Unit (UDECU), one of seven such campus groups nationally recognized in 1999 for excellence, currently involves about 50 students, including a core of 15 nationally registered emergency medical technicians who have completed 140 hours of instruction to gain certification.

The emergency care unit responds to any campus medical problem received at the Department of Public Safety, "everything from headaches to cardiopulmonary resuscitation," says Jack Lynn, the unit's adviser and an investigator for UD Public Safety. In 1998, the group had 420 ambulance runs, an increase of about 70 over the previous year.

The ambulance can be on the road within five minutes after receiving a call and can be anywhere on campus in eight minutes, Lynn says. If patients require further care, they are transported to the closest hospital, the Student Health Service in Laurel Hall on campus, the Newark Emergency Room or local hospitals, depending on the nature of their condition.

Lynn says UDECU is like a big family. "My wife says, 'You have 50 students you call your kids,'" Lynn says. "I enjoy working with them. It's always something different."

The admiration is mutual, according to the students. "Jack is the greatest," says Sue Lalle, AS 2001, from Paoli, Pa. Chris Johnson, AS 2000, from Yardley, Pa., who plans on going to paramedic school and graduate school for EMS management, says, "He's basically been a mentor and a good friend to all of us in the organization. He's let us do our thing and doesn't step in unless he sees us doing something wrong."

UDECU had its beginnings in 1976 when Kevin O'Neill, AS '79, brought the idea of a student-run ambulance service to the administration.

Lynn received funding to purchase UDECU's first emergency unit, a 1976 Chevrolet C20 van, and then spent two months customizing it into an ambulance. The van went into service Jan. 1, 1977. The student-run group obtained its first commercially built ambulance in 1981, and the current ambulance was purchased in 1990, a wheeled coach Ford E-350 Econoline van.

Lynn estimates that 20 percent of the students involved with UDECU go on to full-time careers in EMS, medicine or nursing, while others remain active as volunteers in their localities.