Milwaukee's School of Engineering takes St. Patrick's Day seriously. Well, OK, not too seriously.
"St. Patrick is the patron saint of engineers. At MSOE St. Patrick's week is a mini-engineering week," says Nick Seidler, MSOE assistant director of student activities. "Everyone has a week to have fun."
MSOE gives St. Patrick a weeklong holiday with events every day and the slate of events is built on challenges.
Seidler explains that MSOE's student body is the Green Army while the faculty and staff makes up the Fir Darrig, or the red army.
"Fir Darrig in Irish mythology are evil leprechauns," Seidler says. "We do this to create the animosity between students and faculty and staff (for the events)."
The Fir Darrig tries to keep the Green Army from taking over the school through competition. Most of the events are challenges for the engineering students. Like the egg drop, which involves dropping a raw egg from a height in order to see who can create a device that will best keep the egg from breaking.
"Different fraternities and sororities are given a bag of random stuff -- toothpicks, gummy bears and little soldiers -- to engineer a three-story drop," Seidler says.
There are also two different Leprechaun Launches, one at 4 p.m. Friday, March 10 at House of Harley, 6221 W. Layton Ave and one at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 11 at Pere Marquette Park.
"Teams have to compete in design a catapult in which to launch (a leprechaun) for accuracy and stuff," Seidler says.
There's also a faculty and staff versus students basketball game, engineering olympics and a dance for MSOE students. The week culminates with the MSOE president signing the school over to St. Patrick.
"On St. Patrick's Say, the president signs the school over to St. Patrick, kind of like homecoming king and queen. We have a skit that goes along with it," Seidler says.
The fraternities and sororities name candidates to be St. Patrick. The winner gets a few perks.
"Whoever the St. Patrick candidate is, he or she can cut off the faculty's ties," Seidler says. "St. Patrick goes to different rooms and says 'St. Patrick is here and you need to give your tie,' usually a hundred ties get cut off."
St. Patrick also has the ability to let classes out early.
Seidler says that freshman never know exactly what's going on, but the other students are eager for the festivities. The public is invited to come check out the events, too.
Seidler says that this week is a celebration of engineering and college and it shows that MSOE students know how to have fun.
MSOE's Web site is msoe.edu.
Originally from Des Plaines, Ill., Heather moved to Milwaukee to earn a B.A. in journalism from Marquette University. With a tongue-twisting last name like Leszczewicz, it's best to go into a career where people don't need to say your name often.
However, she's still sticking to some of her Illinoisan ways (she won't reform when it comes to things like pop, water fountain or ATM), though she's grown to enjoy her time in the Brew City.
Although her journalism career is still budding, Heather has had the chance for some once-in-a-lifetime interviews with celebrities like actor Vince Vaughn and actress Charlize Theron, director Cameron Crowe and singers Ben Kweller and Isaac Hanson of '90s brother boy band Hanson.
Heather's a self-proclaimed workaholic but loves her entertainment. She's a real television and movie fanatic, book nerd, music junkie, coffee addict and pop culture aficionado.
