Question of the Week

Hey everyone!

I'm so sorry that my question of the week has been delayed so long; I've been extremely busy keeping up with school work, mid terms were last week and along with studying for them I also had a few papers to write.  So now I'm back in the swing of things and hope to have movies more frequently.  The question of the week is how do I get mail at Coe?  Well, we have mailboxes, as I am going to explain in my video.  You get your mailbox or GMU box for four years.  In this nifty mailbox you can receive mail from friends and family and also mail from other Coe students and Coe staff.  They're pretty cool and since they are located right near the cafeteria, they are easy to check.  Enjoy!

Cirque de Coeil : HOMECOMING 2010

Our Homecoming Dance group!

All right so last week was Homecoming and it was a blast!  For me things really got kicked off with the Homecoming Concert on Friday night.  Concert band, jazz band, choir, and orchestra all performed pieces and the concert ended with Coe school spirit songs.  Later there was the coronation of the king and queen followed by a bonfire near Eby Fieldhouse.

My friends and I enjoying the football game!

On Saturday there was the football game and our football team took on Wartburg.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day and a perfect to watch football.  Sadly, we lost but we put up a good fight.  Then it was time to dance!  The Homecoming Dance, Cirque de Coeil, was Saturday night from 9:30 PM to 1:00 AM.  It took place at the Crowne Plaza, which is only about seven blocks from Coe, not even a mile away.  There were shuttles to take people to and from or you could walk if you didn't want to wait.  Some Coe students rented rooms at the Plaza so they wouldn't have to worry about getting back to Coe in the wee hours of the morning.  A ton of students were at the dance and we all had a great time.

There are other Homecoming festivities that I didn't discuss because I didn't have a chance to go to them.  There was a Powderpuff Tournament (girls playing football) and boys' volleyball tournament for the athletes and Homecoming Follies for those who would like to showcase a talent of theirs.  I hope that next year I'll get to check out more of the Homecoming events but for my first year, I had a great time!  

Marv Levy: Outlier and FYS Speaker

Part of the First Year Experience is reading a book over the summer before you begin your first semester at Coe.  The book I had to read was Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  It's a good book and Gladwell discusses success and how certain people are more successful than others.  What I like about this summer reading is that it gives you some small talk when you meet other first years because you all had to read the book.  And if you don't decide to use it as small talk there will be plenty of other times to talk about it: we had multiple book discussions and I had to write a paper on the book.

The reason I'm bringing up Outliers is because every year the FYS committee tries to bring in a speaker that relates to the book.  In prior years the actual author of the book has come in and if the author isn't able to make it, Coe tries to chose someone who embodies the theme of the book.  This year our speaker was Marv Levy, popularly known as the Buffalo Bills coach from 1986-1997.  Levy is a Coe alumni and also coached football at Coe at the beginning of his career.  Since it was Homecoming week it was a perfect time for Levy to be on campus and talk to us first years!  






He was a great speaker.  Levy told a lot of jokes and made us feel at ease.  He talked about his career and related his speech back to Gladwell's message of success.  The quote Levy kept saying rang true to me was this: Where else would you rather be than right here, right now.  And it's true, enjoy the moment you're living in right now.  At the end of his speech he gave us a few words of wisdom and here is just a few of his words o'wisdom: idealism, being a friend and having friends that are trustworthy and patience.  I left the speech feeling energized and inspired.

Issue Dinner: Freshman Experience

So every incoming freshman has certain requirements and activities they need to do, it's all a part of the Coe experience.  I got to check one of these items off this week when I attended my Issue Dinner.  An Issue Dinner is where Coe brings a speaker in and instead of eating in the cafeteria, we eat in the Lynch Room (located right next to the cafeteria) and listen to the speaker.  After the speaker is done, we discuss the issues the speaker brought up with our table mates.  For my Issue Dinner, I listened to Momodu Kamava an African refugee.  He shared his experience in Sierra Leone and his journey with his family to the United States.  A few weeks ago, Momodu became an official US citizen and he shared his excitement with us.  The biggest thing he stressed with citizenship is our right to vote; he told us how we take our right to vote very much for granted.  We think our one little vote won't make a difference but Momodu tried to tell us that our vote does make a difference because a lot of little votes add up to one very big change.  He was so excited to vote, he couldn't help from screaming his happiness to us.  Momodu hopes to go back to Sierra Leone because he wants to make a difference and feels his experiences and time spent living in the US will help him do that.  He is already trying to make a difference while he is still in the US by starting his own book collection.  One of the biggest problems in Sierra Leone is illiteracy and Momodu is gathering used books and sending them to Sierra Leone as a way to try to begin to tackle this problem.  Overall I thought he was a wonderful speaker.  I learned more about Sierra Leone and how difficult it was for their citizens to escape to the US while their civil war raged on.  I loved Momodu's spirit, he was full of life and optimism for the future.  He was strong in his beliefs and I believe he will end up back in Sierra Leone, ready to make a difference.        

An Ultimate Friday

Hey everyone!

So at Coe there are a ton of clubs representing all different subjects.  It would be hard for you not to find a club you enjoy.  But the club I'm going to talk about today is Coe's Ultimate Frisbee Club.  You can bet that every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 3 - 5 PM you can find around twenty kids enjoying the whizz of a frisbee on the Library Quad.  The club is all about having a good time, learning the rules of the game and improving one's skill.  And the Coe Ultimate Frisbee Club is pretty serious about their sport; they travel to tournaments and compete against other schools.  It's a lot of fun and great way to relax and worry about catching the frisbee instead of that paper that's due in a few days.  What the club also really needs are girls; they can't play in tournaments unless there are enough girls so the team isn't completely dominated by the boys.  So check it out, meet some new people, throw the disc around for a bit and enjoy the weather, you won't regret it!

BLINDSPOT: First one of the year

Lynette doing some poetry

Friday night was the first Blindspot of the year.  Blindspot is a variety show hosted once a month.  The story behind the name is that anyone can perform anything, the audience is blind to their faults.  Any student can perform an act (lasting no longer than five minutes) in Blindspot as long as they follow three simple rules:

Mike singing it up

1. They can't harm themselves.
2. They can't harm the audience.
3. They can't harm the space.

G playing his flute

Of course they are the regulars, the students who perform every Blindspot and are adored by the audience.  I saw a Blindspot when I came in February so I recognized some of the regulars.  There's Joe, the host, who plays original piano pieces, Georgia, who improvs while singing, the ladies of Sigma Phi Mu with interpretative readings, G beat boxing on the flute, and Ellie who sings.  And these aren't even all the regulars, they are some more but I don't know everyone's names (yet).  And of course there were some newbies and they did a fantastic job.  It was great fun, can't wait for the next Blindspot!