Seniors at graduation are at the peak of their educational career. They wait, beaming in all their pride and glory for the hard studying and grueling test-taking they have endured.

They long for the moment their is name called to walk in front of hundreds and receive their diploma-then an ecstatic relative blows an air horn and other students can’t hear their name being announced.

Students are helping students. HABBA, or “celebration,” began today with fun and a contribution to teaching at Warren Regional Juvenile Detention Center hosted by the Future Selves Program.

HABBA is a week-long celebration involving henna tattoos, Indian food sales, music requests to loved ones and a faculty tug of war.

While people are finding ways to save money, often eliminating some leisure activities from their weekly routines, lines at the movie theaters and video stores remain.

The buttery scent of popcorn fills the noses of people at the theater. As they walk into the dimly illuminated room, they plop down on the cushioned chairs, escaping into an alternate reality where it seems that their problems disappear.

If you want to expand your cultural knowledge, the next two nights will be full of sounds and scents that will lure you in to indulge your taste buds, and colorful spectacles that will overwhelm your eyes.

Today, Fresh Foods will open at 4:30 p.m. serving a variety of international dishes including curry chicken and Asian barbecue ribs made by executive chef Gill Holts.

Studying world issues as a high school student, she realized, “The world is so big, and mine is so small.”

Laura McGee, an associate professor of modern languages, studied French in high school and aspired to study abroad in France.

Getting an acceptance letter back, she was told France was full and had to choose from a list of other available countries.

In dorm rooms across campus, some students have delivering restaurants on speed dial and make campus eateries their first choice. Others dig deeper, often flaunting their cooking skills and filling the dorm hallways with the smell of baked and fried foods.

Swarms of students gathered in Jaycees Pavilion Friday night as the scent of beer and anticipation filled the air.

Greek fighters filed out of a doorway shrouded in black focused and ready as “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor roared through the room.

Knuckles were clenched into tight fists as the fifth annual Sigma Chi Battle of the Greeks went into its championship rounds.

Alone and in an unfamiliar place, she asked her ex-boyfriend to come stay the night for emotional support and nothing more. It became more. Something unwanted. And she kept it hidden so it affected future relationships.

“I was crying and saying ‘no,’ while he progressed into having sex with me.”

Grocery bags hung in her hands as she walked down a bustling Scottsville Road on her way home.

“It was an interesting phase – it took me one hour to walk for groceries,” 24-year-old graduate student Clara Figueirinhas said as she reflected on the days she didn’t have a license.

Q1: What brings you to work at the food court? A: Money. I have three daughters, so I am used to being around kids. Q2: Strangest thing ever encountered at work? A: A girl standing at my register started turning gray. She was sick and weak so I ran and screamed at the top of my voice: ‘Help me! Help me!’ I ran forward to catch her as she fainted – scared me to death.