Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone,

Hope you had a great thanksgiving! Rockhurst students got off of school on after classes Tuesday (although some students took off earlier to go home for the holiday weekend. I survived my classes and my test and took off Tuesday evening to fly home! It must have been international college kids fly night on tuesday evening. I have never seen more college kids all flying on the same night. I would be tempted to say half of the flights were full of college students!

It has been a really relaxing thanksgiving break! I had a productive day running so errands. Then on Thanksgiving day our family went to mass in the morning before coming back and relaxing until we had some family friends over for thanksgiving dinner. Our dinner was a complete feast. It was so amazing. It was really fun just to have time to catch up with family friends and to realize how much we have to be thankful for.

I have gotten connected with a friend who I have lost touch with over the last few years. It has been amazing over break to reconnect with her.

Looking back on the last year I have so much to be thankful for. The Rockhurst community over the last year has continued to be such a huge blessing to me. The opportunities I have been gifted with through Rockhurst have been countless. From the trip to Haiti to the trips to New York and Boston, and the chance to meet Doc Hendley.

Well I only have three weeks left of school. Two weeks then finals week. For me finals week it shouldn't be bad so I am actually excited for finals week!

Have a great week everyone!

NCHC Conference!

Hi All,

Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week!

I got the privilege of traveling to Boston, MA this past weekend for the NCHC (National Honors Conference in simple terms). It was held downtown Boston. Over 2,000 people from all over the country came to the conference. The purpose of the conference is to exchange ideas between the honors programs at various colleges and universities from across the country.

My friend Phil and I presented at the NCHC conference on the trip we took to Haiti last year and how it plays into the honors senior seminar. The honors senior seminar is a class that is now mandatory for all incoming honors students to take their senior year here at Rockhurst. It will be a really fun class, I firmly believe! What's cool about presenting at a conference like this is the connections you get to make both with fellow students from across the country and faculty members from across the country.

Another cool thing about the conference was getting to meet students from Jesuit Universities from coast to coast. It was fun getting to hang out with them.

Additionally, we did get a little time to explore Boston. For example we went to Boston College and Harvard square. We also had some good seafood in Boston and got to walk around the city for a bit.

Well I got a test on Tuesday and a quiz today (monday). So I will keep this short but hope everyone has a great thanksgiving!

Week at the Rock

Wow! This last week has flown bye. There were lots of exciting things that have gone on around the Rockhurst University campus over the last week. These exciting events included Dinner with the Industry and Doc Hendley, author of the book Wine to Water, which was the freshman common reading book this year.

For Doc’s talk there were about 450 students in attendance there. At the end of the talk Doc received a standing observation from the students who attended the talk. Additionally, there were even a few parents from as far as St. Louis who came to hear Doc Hendley.  In addition to students there were some alumni there. As an added bonus, I got invited to attend dinner with Doc and about 40 other students before Doc’s talk. We had original KC BBQ at the event which was great. (As a student you always enjoy getting free food. No clue why everyone just seems to!). Doc is such a humble guy and is full of so much insight when it comes to working in the developing world. It is so inspiring. I really find his approach, partnering with local organizations who are already on the ground in a country to be beneficial. Additionally, I find it extremely important how he always puts the people first. 

For those of you who have been following my blog over the last year you might remember that I took a trip with the business school to Haiti last January. Doc Hendley has supported an organization in Haiti called FilterPure. To read more about our efforts as we are working with FilterPure click here: http://www.filterpurefilters.org/ru.htm.

It was really neat to get a chance to talk with Doc about his efforts in Haiti and how we can benefit from what he has learned. This project has been my baby since I had the idea for it a little over a year ago so it is really neat to see it all come together. Below are a few pictures from the event and a poster our group made to educate the campus about the issues. 

Sorry for the delay

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in not posting sooner. This week and last week are probably the busiest weeks of the semester for me. The good news is I have one of them done with and the second one has started.

Last week I had a an essay due for my developing worlds economics class, a Finance exam and an accounting exam. In addition, last week I was also busy helping with an event in Kansas City called National Philanthropy Day put on by the local chapter of the Association of Fundraising professions. Being that I am a Nonprofit Leadership Studies major here at Rockhurst, it is the perfect type of event to help out with. Over the last year I have been meeting with the planning committee and helping them work through the logistics of the event and then was there to provide support on the day of the event. One of the nonprofit classes here at Rockhurst came to the event even. The event went great. In case you were wondering, National Philanthropy Day recognizes the people (both paid and unpaid) in the Kansas City area that have been influential in fundraising for various nonprofit organizations. It was really exciting to hear about this kid who won the Youth award by painting pictures and then donating them to nonprofits to auction off and keep the proceeds. He is still a teenager but since the time he was 6 he has raised over $700,000 for various nonprofits. It was really inspiring to hear his story.

This week Doc Hendly the founder of an organization called Wine to Water is coming to speak. Doc recently wrote a book called Wine to Water. Here is a link to his website: http://winetowater.org/home. Back a few years ago he was one of the finalists for CNN Hero of the year award. Here is a great speech that he made http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-IW1gankbM.

Have a great week! I will let you know how Doc's speech is when he comes to Rockhurst on Thursday evening.

Week one back from fall break complete

.Hi all,

           So week one back from fall break is complete. It is a good feeling to have one full week of classes down. It is getting to be the hardest time of the semester for me. Classes are starting to kick into high gear. In my two accounting classes we are starting to really dive into some tough stuff. This past week has been homecoming week. So there have been activities every day this week as a part of homecoming week . The theme for homecoming week is Candy land. The annual homecoming dance is going on this evening. Incase anyone is wondering I did not go to the dance. I instead worked in the front desk of XL hall so that the other Desk Assistants could attend the dance.

Sorry for not getting this posted sooner this weekend I was working on my blog entry on Saturday evening then I got sidetracked and Sunday was full of a run and homework. It was a perfect day to run through the weather was great and I had a great friend to go running with! This week looks to be busy week. So it will be interesting as always. There are some exciting events coming up in the next few weeks. I am helping out next week at this event called Nonprofit Philanthropy, which is a Kansas City area event in which they honor people who have made a big impact in the nonprofit sector, whether they be paid or volunteer at area nonprofit organizations. It is a really powerful and fun event. That is only one of the events I have going on over the next few weeks. Over the next few blog entries I will describe these events. 

Have a fantastic week everyone!!!!!

Fall Break

Hi all,

I am currently sitting in Chicago Midway’s airport waiting for my flight back to Kansas City. Thus, this is the end of my fall back. At Rockhurst our fall break (really mid-semester break) was Wednesday through Sunday. It has been an awesome fall break filled with lots of time with family. Yesterday my Dad and I went to the Notre Dame vs. Stanford football game. It was an amazing game, Notre Dame ended up winning. The weather was not the greatest, it rained for most of the game but it was still awesome. While I was in South Bend, I got to visit with my grandma who lives there. It was great to get to see her, I had not seen her in a while.

                Other than the trip to South Bend for the game I spent the weekend relaxing at home. I took a trip to the food bank where I did my summer internship this past summer and got a chance to catch up with them which was really nice. Additionally, I did get a chance to do a little bit of homework over the break which gives me a sense of accomplishment for the break.

                It is hard to believe that this semester is already half way over. This next month will be the busiest time of the semester. I have multiple outside of class events that are taking place over the next month, including a trip to the National Honors Conference in Boston a month from now. Prior to the trip to Boston, I have an event called Dinner with the Industry taking place, Doc Henley coming to speak at Rockhurst, an event with the Fundraising Professionals of Kansas City called National Philanthropy Day and finally a Residence Life event called Beyond Words.  Not to mention exams in all my classes. Thus it shall be a fun but busy next month.

While registration for the Spring semester is next week so I should go figure out my class schedule for next semester. Have an awesome week! 

Last two weeks!

Sorry for the extremely short blogging entry last week. It has been a busy time of the semester for me (only two days of classes left till fall break J J J). I have thankfully not had many midterms but many of my friends have been spending this full weekend studying for midterms. Since fall break serves as the midpoint of the semester. Our fall break this year is Wednesday October 10^th to Sunday October the 14^th.  For fall break I am flying home to Chicago and spending time with my family and then my Dad and I are going to the Notre Dame Football game on Saturday. It will be a busy weekend at home but a fun one!

Meanwhile last weekend here at the Rock was Family and Alumni weekend. My Dad and one of my sisters can in for it. It was great to see them I hadn’t seen them since the I left on August first for Residence Life training. Speaking of Residence Life, part of the festivities over family weekend was a breakfast Residence Life put on for all the Resident Assistants and Desk Managers and their families. It was a really great breakfast! They even took family pictures J (see below for ours). It was such a great weather weekend on Friday night they had the soccer games, carnival and cookout. On Saturday afternoon we spent time walking around the plaza because it was such a nice day out! Finally, to conclude the afternoon we went to the annual family and alumni mass which the President of Rockhurst presided at. The three of us helped at mass with passing out programs. It was a really awesome liturgy in which they honored the “Golden Hawks” as well. All in all it was a really fantastic weekend! Although it made for a super busy week this past week having to play catch up because of course the weekend that my family came in I had a lot of homework. Have a great week everyone!

The Quote for the week is, "It took cancer to realize that being self-centered is not the way to live. The answer is to try and help others" - Terry Fox. He was from Canada and after diagnosed with caner decided to start running across the country on one leg since he lost the other to cancer.