In their last concert of the ’09-’10 season, the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra (UCDSO) will present their annual Family Concert on June 3 at 7 p.m. at the Mondavi Center. Tickets are available to students for $5. The concert will feature two pieces showcasing the winners of the two different competitions held at UC Davis.

The UC Davis campus alone is home to over 10,000 trees, not including the Arboretum, with new species being planted regularly. For some students they provide shade or a place to hangout. For everyone, they provide oxygen. And though some of the trees have been around as long as the school, their origins are not widely known. In support of the trees and their stories, The California Aggie sat down with senior landscape architect Skip Mezger and assistant landscape architect Christina De Martini Reye to get the dirt on these campus giants. Tree: Cork Oak

UC Davis plans to establish a clean energy hub in the greater Sacramento-San Francisco Bay area. This hub consists of a network of researchers, government officials, corporations and investors united to utilize innovations in the marketplace. The event on May 12 was titled E3: Economic Prosperity, Energy and the Environment.

Co-captain Rachel Lee said the club’s success took awhile to register. With their first national tournament bid in club history, it’s likely they have now captured not only their own attention, but many others as well. “(The nationals) were on the radar,” said captain Rebecca Musser. “We just had to put in the work to get there. Last year was a building year and it came together this season.”

Over 100 students lined up to dance to the music of the Super Mash Brothers on May 20 at Freeborn Hall. But even for first-time listeners, the tunes were familiar. That’s because Super Mash Brothers creates mash-ups, or combinations of music originally created by other artists. Musicians, lawyers, corporations and music lovers alike have long debated the legality and legitimacy of the mash-up. And in today’s digital age, the argument is still far from settled.

As we approach the end of the quarter, senior undergraduates will submit their senior projects and theses, as the final assignment of their undergraduate career. The National Survey of Student Engagement reported 87 percent of students participate in a capstone project, with a majority completing a project within their major. The 2009 report surveyed 640 universities. At UCD, some colleges require a senior project, while others leave the choice to students. The College of Engineering requires students to create a senior project, said associate professor of biomedical engineering Angelique Louie, who also serves as the senior project class instructor.

This Memorial Day weekend over a thousand students will be abandoned at Lake Shasta with nothing but alcohol, hamburgers and healthy sexual appetites. Accompanying the students is a program called Safeboats, which will be along for the three-day excursion providing much needed medical attention, granola bars and condoms for the third year in a row.

This month, the Davis Cemetery will host an art show inside its office. Itself a work of art with its manicured green lawns, decorative tombstones and grass labyrinths, the cemetery’s show is titled “Layers of images, color and texture.” The show will feature the artwork of Judith Monroe and will take place the entire month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. A meet-and-greet with the artist will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on June 13.

For the last four years, senior Polly Gnepa has been hurdling himself into UC Davis track history. The Turlock, Calif. native won the 110-meter high hurdles with a career-best 13.79 at the Big West Conference Championships and holds the second-fastest time in school history for the event. Before the NCAA West Preliminary Championships, Gnepa took some time to talk with Aggie Sports Writer Matt Wang about his four years as an Aggie, the recent successes of the track program, and his leadership as a senior.

Many of us have everything we need on campus – classes, dining commons, student housing and friends. But in the Community Chambers on Russell Boulevard, the city government is making decisions every day that affect several aspects of our lives while attending college.

A major is everything. It gives both peers and employers an idea of your knowledge and skills. And it may also determine your chance at landing a job. According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), graduates majoring in accounting, business administration, computer science, engineering and mathematics are the most likely to receive and accept job offers.

UC Davis has always been known as a bike-friendly campus. What is less known, however, is that the campus is also friendly to the disabled community. Wheelchair users as well as blind students said that in general, the campus has few physical barriers that make getting around difficult. Nevertheless, they report that additional changes and a more educated community are necessary to make the campus even more accommodating to disabled students.