Homecoming 2012

Kohawk spirit was at an all time high this past week since it was Homecoming! There were activities during the week and campus got busy Friday and Saturday as alumni came to campus to reconnect and remember. 

Saturday morning I ventured over to the Writing Center to meet alums and show off our new space. Then it was off to the PUB for a short tour for prospective football players. And it ended up being a BEAUTIFUL day so the tour was lovely. 

I dropped the three prospective football players off at the Brat and Bev Tent, sponsored by the Alumni Office and the Student Alumni Association (SAA). I met up with some friends for food before heading into the bleachers to cheer on our Kohawks!

The football team played Buena Vista. President Phifer and his wife, Linnie, were honorary captains since it was Phifer's last Homecoming football game. The Kohawks got off to a bit of a slow start but once we got going, we didn't stop.

The final score was 51-0. We now improve to 4-0 (1-0 in conference play). 

After the game it was time to get ready for the dance. I got ready with two good friends of mine, Whitney and Chelsea. We ordered some pizza, put on some music, and just took our time getting ready. Heidi and Alison C. (my other roommates) returned and got ready. Here are just some of the photos we snapped! :)

L to R: Whitney, Alison C., Heidi, and me

The dance took place at the Clarion, a hotel about ten minutes from Coe. Transportation is provided to and from the dance so Whitney, Chelsea, and I hopped on a bus and ended up at the dance. It was nice to see people and just enjoy a Saturday night. 

The dance got over and the three of us headed back to Coe. We got to our apartment, sat down to rehash the night and fell asleep. Whitney snapped this adorable photo of me. Guess I was tired!

Going to be another busy week for me, but really, does that surprise you? Can't wait to see what next week brings! :)

I know you want to come to campus!

Today during my shift at Admission, I escorted the nicest boy to a chemistry class. He looked familiar and I found out he toured during Iowa's Private College Week. As we walked to his class, he talked about he had visited a bunch of schools over the summer and then was coming back to the ones he liked the most. So Coe made his short list! Yeah!

The reason I'm sharing this story is because I want you, yes you prospective student, to come to campus and see what Coe is all about. Find out if Coe should be on your short list (I mean, it probably should)! And, a perfect opportunity to see Coe is actually next Saturday, October 6th for our first Fall Campus Visit Day.

During your vist you can go on tour, meet current students, ask them as many questions as you can think of and start to discover Coe! Also, there is a home football game next week so if you're interested in watching some football and seeing our awesome Kohawk spirit, you have to come.

Register here! It's that simple.

Hope to see you soon! :)

Weekly Recap

 Well, this lovely photo is of your Writing Center consultant of the week! Me!

Ha. I thought I might make a weekly recap; it seems like the best way to stay on track with my busy schedule and whatnot!

So Monday marked my crowning at our Writing Center staff meeting. I was nominated because "I'm wonderful."

Aw thanks. But seriously, I love the Writing Center, symbolized by the amount of time I spend in that place. Currently, I'm using one of the Writing Center computers (it's a fancy touch screen one) to write this post. When I strolled into the WC one of my fellow consultants said, "Oh you're back?" I had seen him earlier in the day when I stopped by to do a little bit of homework between classes and meetings. My reply was, "You always come back."

It's true.

My week flew by with classes, homework, meetings, and other odds and ends. It's Homecoming week here so campus is a buzz with excitement.

So needless to say, I've been keeping myself busy. I try to swim once a day and on Tuesday I tried out one of the free fitness classes. It was awesome and I definitely plan to try it again. I'm active and learning a lot.

Of course, I need breaks too. Last night, post Senate, Alison W. and I had a little off campus adventure. She took me to a nature trail/spot a little ways out. It was beautiful and it was a nice night. We just sat on some blankets, talked, and relaxed. It was exactly what I needed; it slowed me down, let me figure out what I needed to do, and come back to campus reenergized.

More going on tonight; going to a fiction reader from a Coe alum and then Kohawk Rock (a talent show for the members of Homecoming court to show off their talents). Should be fun.  

Organization Conference

On Saturday, Student Senate hosted our first Organization Conference. We wanted to gather as many campus leaders as we could to spend part of a day learning about how to be an effective leader as well as passing on important information as a new semester begins. The Senate Executive Board, below, was fired up for a fun day!

L to R: Hayden (Communications), myself (Treasurer), Anna (President), Max (Vice President), and Christina (Recording Secretary)

We had a brief lunch before heading over to Cherry Auditorium (in Peterson) for our keynote speaker, Justin Jones-Fosu. He talked about how we, as leaders, need to be an ACTion H.E.R.O. He stressed the importance of making a mark in an organization yet making sure the legacy and impact of the organization lives on after you are no longer leading it. Justin was also just a fun speaker, often doing crazy things (like singing and dancing) to make the audience laugh.

After the speech, Hayden, Max, and I each had a 20 minute presentation for club leaders. Hayden discussed successful PR techniques, Max showed off our new club pages on Moodle (our online class database/resource center), and I talked about the tasks, like writing checks or filling out supplementary allocations, treasurers should know how to do during the semester. The conference ended with another presentation from Justin, where he discussed how we each have our own social styles. My style is "amiable." Basically, I usually have emotional and personal reactions to experiences and will watch out for everyone in the group. There are four social styles (amiable, analytical, driver, and expressive). We discussed the pros and cons of each and how we can work with all social styles in our organizations. It was a fun way to end the conference.

This was the first time Student Senate had ever hosted an event like this. We did a lot of things right but of course, there is always room for improvement. It was nice to get the executive board together in creating a conference. We hope the organizations that did come got a lot from it; I know the five of us sure did!

First Senate Meeting

Last Wednesday, senators convened for the first Student Senate meeting of the fall 2012 semester. Elections had happened the week before and it was nice to see some new faces in the Lynch room. Anna and Max have some big plans for the upcoming semester and I am excited to get some treasurer items rolling.

The first item of business was to elect a chairperson, the person who runs our meetings. Once we did that, the executive board introduced themselves and explained our roles. Hopefully this week my Budget and Finance Committee will be able to meet and get started on allocating some money!

The next big item on Senate's agenda is our Organization Conference on Saturday. All the campus leaders will be meeting to discuss ways to improve their clubs and keep interest going throughout the semester. We are bringing in a motivational speaker and providing lunch. It should be fun.

Glad Senate is back and I'm ready for another great semester of working with clubs and helping them do the things they want to do!

Sapolsky Visits Campus

Picture from Indiana University

Last Monday, Robert Sapolsky made his visit to campus.

Who is Sapolsky? He is a primatologist who has spent over 30 years in Africa studying baboons. Sapolsky is also the author of A Primate's Memoir, the common summer reading for first-years. He arrived early on Monday and gave a presentation to the first-years. It was then my job to take him over to the Clark Alumni House, where he had a little bit of down time, before he spoke to a class.

I didn't see Sapolsky again until Monday night when he spoke to a fairly large crowd in Sinclair Auditorium. I was there not only because I wanted to hear him speak, but also with my journalism class. One of my assignments was to write a news article about his visit. It was nice that I had the inside scoop.

The talk was entertaining; Sapolsky got the audience laughing. He was joined up on stage with John Chaimov, our professor of foreign language, who conducted an interview. John loved A Primate's Memoir and was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak to him, even if it was on stage with people in the audience.

What I loved about the talk was how passionate Sapolsky was about his research. You could so clearly see he loved his baboons and the work he has done. He described his discovery of primates as "imprinting" and that he "just wanted to live in a museum diorama." He was definitely inspiring; I hope that someday I'm doing what I love and can share my experiences with others.

After the talk, Sapolsky was out in the lobby signing books. I had brought my copy of A Primate's Memoir along and got it signed. Paging through my copy, I saw all my notes and annotations I had made. It was sort of a bittersweet moment knowing I was finished with A Primate's Memoir but it was nice to meet the author of the book I read on the committee, selected for first-years, and created a study guide for.  

A Working Weekend in Chicago

As I mentioned earlier, I'm part of the Presidential Search Committee. This past weekend, I was in Chicago helping conduct interviews.

I can't tell you much, but it was a successful weekend.

What I can say, is that this has been an incredible opportunity. The people I've met and gotten to know through this process are fantastic and I'm lucky to have met them. The committee is composed of Coe faculty, staff, and trustees along with Max and I. To hear from the trustees, all who graduated from Coe, and what their experiences have been has been so interesting. They all have great stories to tell. This weekend has renewed my love of Coe; I was reminded once again what a fantastic college I attend and the quality of the education I am receiving.

I am so lucky to have the opportunity to take part in this experience. It's not often that a college choses a new president and to be able to proudly say I helped to chose the new president of Coe is pretty amazing.