By BALLERINA POTLUCK

Allegheny students around campus claim to have been brutally misled by one of the Experiential Learning trips for the summer.  To clarify, Project Chacocente will help families move out of a Managua dump in Nicaragua.

“Students have not taken the time to understand the point of Project Chacocente,” said Micheline Shuman, faculty coordinator of the EL trip.  “We are embarking on this trip to give students an opportunity to develop their perspectives and sense of humility – let me make this very clear: there is no chocolate.”

“I am so excited for this event,” said Gary Ghirardelli, ’12.  “When I was on the college search, I saw a bunch of other colleges having chocolate festivals and it looked like a lot of fun.  I am confident that this event will provide students with great eating enjoyment.”

“No, OK, listen,” said Shuman.  “There’s no chocolate.  No fudge, no brownies, no cocoa. You don’t hear about GAP events and assume you’ll get free clothes. You don’t hear about Lambda Sigma events and assume you get free lambs.  Stop asking about free chocolate.”

“I am very disappointed,” said William Wonka, ’13. “Why call it Chacocente if there’s no chocolate?”

The name chacocente is indigenous to Nicaragua; it’s the name of a sea turtle reserve on the Pacific Coast.

“In the same way that they protect the sea turtles until they lay their eggs and the babies can crawl to the sea, we are protecting a vulnerable sector of society until they can stand on their own,” said Shuman.

“Oh, so we’re getting free turtles.” said Wonka. “Cool.”

The student body has not appreciated getting their hopes up for what turned out to be quite a depressing topic.  But student partcipants in Project Chacocente hope their peers will instead show their support for this cause in a more effective, considerate way at Club Chacocente.  By dancing.