UI new student convocation starts school with a bang

A professor, a balloon and a blowtorch.

Put them together on a stage and what do you get? A lesson in physics and some advice for new University of Illinois students.

Freshmen expecting to snooze through Monday's new student convocation at the Assembly Hall were treated to a show that included small explosions, flying packing peanuts and a slide presentation with images of UI Professor Paul Kwiat in a blond wig, a not-so-friendly looking nun (a chemistry teacher) from Kwiat's past, plus video clips of an underwater hockey game.

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