Done with finals!

As of about 3:30 this afternoon I was officially done with finals! Ahhh! Thank you God it feels so great to be done with finals!

This afternoon! I had my last final my Cost Accounting one. It was my hardest final but I am so happy to be home in a few days! Tomorrow night we have a residence life staff party then we will be done! So Saturday morning I am making the 8 hour journey home. I don't mind the long drive home actually it gives me some good time to think etc.

Ahhh busy week!

Hi All,

It is getting that time of  the semester. I have a big exam in Finance class Wednesday and if I do good on it I will not have to do take the final in the class! Also I am throwing a Christmas Party and watching the Polar Express on thursday night so it is sure to be a busy week! Check back after Wednesday for a longer blog entry.

In the meantime... there was an awesome awards show on tonight called the CNN Hero's Awards Show. If you have never heard of it before check it out. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/index.html Their stories are sure to inspire you.

Have an awesome start to your week and check back later in the week for more!

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!!!!!