At Thompson’s childhood dinner table in High Point, NC State was a regular topic of conversation. Her dad, a 1984 alumnus, made Wolfpack football and basketball games regular activities for Thompson and her brothers.

Her father’s passion led Thompson to enroll here four years ago. It also drove her commitment to preserving and expanding NC State traditions as student body president.

“I wanted every student who graduated to love NC State,” said Thompson, who led the student body for the 2011-2012 school year. “So the goal throughout the year was … what do we need to do so that, when students graduate, they reflect back and have the same experiences my dad had.”

As student body president and, before that, Student Government Traditions Commission Chair, Thompson spearheaded several efforts to bolster campus traditions:

• Distributing decks of cards based on the “54 Things To Do At NC State” list to all incoming freshmen
• Publication of “The Brick,” a full-color book about campus traditions
• The tradition keeper program, which allows seniors to earn medals for completing 80 percent of the activities in “The Brick.”

“I know of no other student who’s done as much to remind our current students of the past and history of this great institution,” said Chancellor Randy Woodson of Thompson.

Thompson (far left) takes the Polar Plunge in Feburary 2012.

Thompson also worked hard to improve life on campus for students. Sometimes that meant a simple phone call to request more barbells in a workout room.

Other issues required more sustained effort. Thompson cited the elimination of a fee charged to distance education students as a highlight of her year in office. Thompson and past student body presidents had worked with administrators for more than a year to retire the fee. In March, Provost Warwick Arden announced its elimination.

Thompson also worked closely with campus security officials and University Communication to improve Wolf Alert, NC State’s emergency notification system.

“She always does things to benefit and assist and help students,” Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Tom Stafford said. “She’s all about doing things that will make NC State a better place for students. Not for herself, but for her fellow students.”

Her efforts for students created a demanding schedule for Thompson. One day during homecoming week, her schedule including six appointments consuming eight hours. Plus two hours in her office. Plus an hour of class. Plus 4.5 hours of studying because, in case you forgot, Thompson was trying to wrap up a college degree.

Thompson estimated that she worked 300 hours on Student Government duties this past semester, not counting email and social media correspondence. And she’s very active on social media, tweeting about student issues or checking in on the Wolfpack Students Facebook group several times a day.

Thompson speaks during a groundbreaking for the Talley Student Center renovation in August 2011.

“She has done a fantastic job of continuing to elevate the role and value of the student body president to the students,” said Tony Caravano, who was student body president from 2003-2005.

A spring 2012 graduate, Thompson is going to the University of Georgia to work on a master’s degree in higher education leadership.

It’s too soon to reflect on her tenure as president, but Thompson has an idea of how she’d like her year to be remembered.

“Traditions were reintroduced and focused on, and accessibility was at an all-time high, not only with the student body president but with everybody in Student Government,” she said.

With six kids and a booming pro football career in San Diego, Rivers said he doesn’t make it back to Raleigh as often as he’d like. Those rare trips back to campus are special times, he said.

Between graduation events, Rivers sat down for an interview about his Rivers of Hope Foundation, the impact NC State made on his life and the growing awareness he sees of the university around the country.

“You’re most relevant when you’re here. And those four years when I was out here (and) visible every Saturday, that’s when it was very clear what a big part of the Wolfpack family I was and I loved it,” he said. “I still have that same love for NC State.”

“It’s people that I run into when I’m here that strike up those memories,” he added. “The football, all those things are great, the touchdowns (but) it’s the people that you interacted with … that’s what’s most special.”

Walt Wolfram, William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor of English, took a class to Ocracoke to teach middle-school students on the island about dialects.

Ocracoke, home of the Outer Banks brogue dialect, has long been a research subject for Wolfram and NC State’s North Carolina Language and Life Project. During their week on the island, the students taught Ocracokers about their own historic dialect and others, including Southern American, Appalachian, African-American and Spanish-American.

The trip was an eye-opener for Liang Zhang. It was her first opportunity to teach English to native English speakers. Prior to enrolling the master’s linguistics program at NC State, she taught English in her native China.

“They are so interactive and so cooperative,” she said of the Ocracoke students. “They’re so clever.”

“They were very enthusiastic, and they were really, really sharp,” added John Forrest.

The graduate students also met some of the native Ocracokers who’ve appeared in films about Wolfram’s work. The students recalled studying some of the people they dined and socialized with during the trip.

“Knowing that I was going to actually see those people in real life was really cool,” said Carolina Myrick.

“Yeah, they’re like stars to us,” Arika Dean added.

The purpose of Wolfram’s annual expedition has shifted in the 20 years since his first. Initially, he and his students did research on the Outer Banks brogue. Today, however, the trip aims to teach young Ocracokers about a tongue rarely spoken by anyone but the elderly. Coming back to teach each year brings linguistic insights gleaned from Ocracoke back home, Wolfram said.

“When you do research with a group, you’re also obligated to work with that community and get that information back to them in a usable format,” Wolfram said.

“It gave a face to what we do,” Dean said. “Community interaction and community involvement are big tenets of this program.”

During the spring semester, students studying industrial design, graphic design and computer game development got the chance to work together designing a video game on a prototype of the 21-foot-wide, high-definition video wall that will be the centerpiece of the library’s game lab.

The Serious Side of Gaming

The students learned to research the needs of a client, orchestrate the work of a team of designers and engineers, and complete a project on a tight deadline. They scoped, planned and delivered NOL, a collaborative pursuit video game designed to use real-time data from the library’s database to allow players to work together to guard the Vault of Knowledge, a mystical storage site holding the collected wisdom and secrets gained from the innate human capacity for curiosity and thirst for understanding.

Michael Young, associate professor of computer science, said the vast visual real estate provided by the Christie MicroTiles screen encouraged the students to develop a game more adapted to large groups than the typical computer game. They even combined two motion-sensing devices to double the number of players connected to the system.

‘We Can’t Wait’

“We can’t wait for the Hunt Library to open so we can further bolster our program by using the whole ecosystem of visualization spaces in the building,” he said.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing during the semester. The design students had to resolve dilemmas involving the large aspect ratios and wide camera angles inherent in the giant video wall. They were also consulted by library staff designing the user experience for the game lab in particular and library in general.

“This is fundamental to the work of a great designer,” said Tim Buie, assistant professor of industrial design. “A new technology comes along and the best designers find productive and creative ways to use it. Our students have now had an immersive experience earning their wings on a new technology.”

Seeing the game run for the first time on the Christie MicroTiles screen, one student summed up the experience of the semester: “This is epic.”

The Hunt Library, designed to be nothing less than the best learning and collaborative space in the country, is scheduled to open in January.

Honking and hollering from Hillsborough Street, to be sure. Every half-hour, you’d catch the Westminster tone played on the chiming carillon.

But what else would you hear? The distant howl of wolves? The echoes of decades-old celebrations at the Belltower’s base?

We’ll likely never know. The Belltower only has vacancies twice a year, and the guests at these sleepovers aren’t talking.

Boxes of senior class rings sit at the base of a plaque in the Memorial Belltower Shrine Room.

They’re quiet because they’re jewelry, and their annual Belltower sleepovers form a cherished NC State tradition. For the last eight years, Vice Chancellor For Student Affairs Tom Stafford has given graduating seniors’ class rings a night in the Belltower.

This year, for the first time, the students themselves placed their rings in the Shrine Room. As an added bonus, their rings spent two nights in the Belltower.

“That means that your rings will be twice as powerful and will absorb twice as much Wolfpack spirit as those students who only had one night in the Belltower,” Stafford told a group of about 50 students and their loved ones during an April 27 ceremony to place the rings in the Shrine Room.

Savannah Revelle, a communication major from Apex, got a one-year jump on the ring tradition. A junior, she won’t graduate until spring 2013, but she couldn’t wait to participate.

“It just embodies the spirit of NC State,” Revelle said of the tradition. “I live across the street, so whenever we win a home game, I get to see the Belltower lit up … it’s just a symbol of everyone coming together for one goal, and it means so much to me.”

The university held its spring commencement ceremony Saturday morning at PNC Arena. NC State football legend Philip Rivers addressed the graduates and thousands of their friends and family members.

Rivers, who now plays quarterback for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League, recalled the uncertainty he felt at his own graduation. He also challenged the graduates to fill their post-collegiate years with purpose.

“I knew as long as I stay focused on my priorities, I would be ready for life’s ups and downs,” said Rivers, who holds many school and Atlantic Coast Conference football records. “What are your priorities? What is the foundation on which you will build your future?”

Since his December 2003 graduation, Rivers has been a success on and off the football field. He is a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback. In 2010, he founded the Rivers of Hope Foundation, which works to support orphaned and abandoned children and help them find homes.

NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson conferred 5,236 degrees on Saturday – 67 associate’s, 3,500 bachelor’s, 1,398 master’s, 195 doctoral, and 76 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees. He also recognized 124 valedictorians for earning perfect 4.0 grade point averages.

With the 3,041 degrees NC State conferred last December, the university awarded a total of 8,022 degrees in the 2011-12 academic year.

Woodson also conferred honorary degrees on Robert B. Jordan III, former North Carolina lieutenant governor and NC State alumnus, and David H. Murdock, chairman of Dole Food Company Inc.

Barham developed a prototype system called Touch It, Key It, Speak It (TIKISI) that makes Google Maps usable for blind people. The ongoing product of his doctoral research in computer science, TIKISI is more than a scholarly project for Barham, who is blind himself.

“When I began working on my Ph.D., I realized I had an opportunity to affect the kinds of changes I wished existed when I was younger and struggling to learn STEM topics,” Barham said. “With TIKISI, I’m hoping to give low-income and under-privileged people access to these educational tools.”

Read more about Barham’s groundbreaking work.

Meanwhile in Raleigh, the Independent Weekly hit the streets with a cover story titled, “The Amazing Journey of Saul Flores.” There were calls from radio and television producers seeking interviews, and lots of messages from strangers.

“I heard from people offering help, asking when I was going to graduate and if I needed help finding a job,” Flores says. “I’m so excited about the future.”

What that future holds is anyone’s guess, but it’s unlikely to be typical. Like many NC State students, Flores leaves the university profoundly changed by his experiences here. As a member of the Caldwell Fellows program, he’s learned to order his life by the group’s philosophy: Think big.

Two years ago Flores did just that. Carrying only a camera and a backpack with a change of clothes, Flores made a journey of more than 5,000 miles, mostly on foot, from Ecuador to North Carolina, tracing the route many immigrants take to reach the United States and the promise of a better life.

Along his journey, which he called the “walk of the immigrants,” Flores took more than 20,000 photographs documenting both the breathtaking beauty and heartbreaking poverty of the region. On his return to the United States, Flores began displaying his photos and giving talks to raise awareness of immigration issues. And he set aside money from the sale of prints to support an elementary school in his mother’s hometown of Atencingo, Mexico.

From the beginning, the response to his journey was remarkable. Within weeks of returning to campus, Flores was invited to give the keynote address at the 15th annual Latino Diamante Awards, presented with a leadership award at NC State and invited to give a two-hour lecture at rival UNC-Chapel Hill for Hispanic Heritage Month. He was a featured speaker at the first TEDxNCSU event and appeared on the American Public Media interview program, “The Story,” heard on more than 100 public radio stations.

His story has been told and retold: in the student yearbook, on the university website, in the alumni magazine and in the chancellor’s annual report. His photographs are the subject of a major exhibit in the D.H. Hill Library and his face, full of thoughtful intensity, is seen briefly in a video celebrating the university’s 125th anniversary.

Janice Odom, director of the Caldwell Fellows, says Flores is typical of the students in the program.

“There’s a lot of inspiration in this community,” she says. “The bar gets raised when you’re with people who are all doing exceptional things.”

Students in the Caldwell program receive a scholarship that covers the cost of their education. But, Odom says, the program expects something in return. “To whom much is given, much is required,” she says. “This is a privilege, this is not a prize.”

For Flores, it’s a privilege he won’t forget.

“From the moment I took a tour of campus as a high school student, there was no question at all. I knew NC State was the place for me,” he says. “They taught me that you are your only limitation. Anything you want to achieve, you can achieve. If there’s nothing stopping you, why should you stop yourself?”

Flores graduates in May with a degree in graphic design. After completing two summer courses, he will also earn a degree in business marketing.

In its 11th year, the event gave 18 student designers a showcase for transformational creations. Models wore dresses made of balloons, toilet paper, seashells, maps and other unconventional elements.

“There’s a heavy emphasis on experimental materials even though these come out to be garments,” said Charles Joyner, professor of art and design. “And on the runway sitting some 50 feet, 75 feet, 100 yards away, you don’t see that, you don’t get the fact of all the intricate handwork that’s gone on.”

Art2Wear began in a design student’s room more than a decade ago. As its popularity grew, it moved to a courtyard outside Kamphoefner Hall and the Court of North Carolina before settling at Reynolds.

Veronica Tibbitts, a senior in design and textiles, participated in her third Art2Wear Tuesday. Her first two go-rounds — highlighted by dresses made of roadkill and metal air filters — sparked an addiction, she said. This year, Tibbitts worked beeswax, animal bones and rose petals into designs inspired by human rituals: first love, coming of age and sacrifice.

“I think it was sort of a retrospective of my life to this point because I’m graduating and I’m thinking about the major rites that I’ve passed through up until this point,” she said.

See designs from Tibbitts and her fellow designers:

The educational services company, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, released this week a free, downloadable guidebook that highlights 322 green colleges and universities.

The guidebook has college profiles, facts, statistics, and other information on the schools’ environmentally related policies, practices and academic offerings. The book can be downloaded at www.princetonreview.com/green-guide.

NC State is a leader in a number of sustainability areas, including research on sustainability, green buildings and engagement. Find more information on how the red and white go green: http://sustainability.ncsu.edu/.