Junior Chris Clark and sophomore Danny Hupp have both qualified for the National Collegiate Climbing Series competition.  In order to qualify, each had to place in 10 regional tournaments.  Both are members of the Belmont Rock Outing Club (B-ROC).

Hupp, a songwriting major, has been with the club for two years. He is the group’s safety coordinator and oversees outdoor climbing. Clark, an audio engineering technology major, serves as the group’s vice president. The two are leaders in the club beyond their titles. “We try to act as the coaches, too,” said Hupp.

The competition will take place from April 19-20 in Melbourne, Fla. In order to fund the trip, the two students have created a donation page. If they are able to raise enough money, they both intend to participate in the competition.

There will be more than just competition. The students will have an opportunity to attend a climbing clinic on one of the days. Last year, nationally recognized climber Daniel Woods spoke.

This is the second consecutive year that members of B-ROC have received an invitation to compete. Last year, alumnus Andrew Bellisle placed in the top 50 at the national competition.

On Saturday, Feb. 16 Belmont’s a capella group, The Beltones, won their quarterfinal division. The group will now move on to the semifinal regional competition which will take place at Vanderbilt University on Mar., 23 at 7 p.m. This was the second year the group participated in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella since they were formed in 2009. It is the group’s first competition victory.

Their winning performance on Feb. 16 consisted of “Bottom of the River” by Delta Rae, “Barton Hollow” by The Civil Wars, “Down to the River To Pray” the traditional American hymn and “Cry Me a River” as performed by Joe Cocker. Senior religion and the arts major and president of the Beltones Robert O’Brien described the experience at quarterfinals.

“It was a little intimidating to be the only group from out of state performing at the Duke quarterfinal,” he said. “We thought that we would do well–partially because of the unique, dark feel to our set–but we never thought that we would win. Right before we went on stage we collected ourselves and told each other that the main thing to do is have fun doing what we love. We did just that, and we won!”

In the semifinal round, the Beltones will compete against nine other teams from the southern region. The winner of the semifinal round will go on to compete in the final international round held at the Town Hall in New York City.

Advance tickets for the semifinal event at Vanderbilt are available for purchase.

Belmont placed third in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Investment Challenge for its work in 2012. TVA’s Investment Challenge is an innovative partnership between TVA and universities in its service territory that provides a real-world learning experience in portfolio management. The Challenge gives teams of students hands-on experience in managing TVA stock portfolios.

Currently, 25 universities participate in the program, including Vanderbilt, UT Knoxville and Murray State. In each university’s first year of participation, the TVA awards $300,000 from their Nuclear Decommissioning Trust Fund for that university to manage. Belmont was awarded their grant in 2011. At Belmont, the Equity Trading Club manages the entire $300,000 portfolio. The club holds stock in each of the 10 different sectors.

Though it is primarily composed of finance and accounting majors, anyone is welcome to join the club. The team meets every Wednesday at 5 p.m., and often meets on Saturdays. “We come to together to work on our discipline and build a model,” said Rami Nofal, economics, finance and international business major and president of the Equity Trading Club. The clubs hopes to put together a long-term operations manual in order to ensure the group’s success in the future.