Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I really enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. For me the Thanksgiving holiday is just such a nice time to reflect on all the blessings I have been given with over the last year. Our families church back in Naperville, IL does a very nice Thanksgiving mass where the homily consists mainly of time for those in attendance to share if they want how they have been blessed this past year. My sister came home from college and my Grandma came in so it was nice to spend thanksgiving with them. I think my sister Hannah (the only one of us three still at home enjoyed a break from the quietness although she is not fast to admit it). Again I asked her if she wanted to be my guest blogger and write my blog entry for me but she did not take my up on the offer.

My Dad, Hannah and me hanging Christmas lights.

This Thanksgiving break was shorter than last year. Last year we got the whole week off and this year we only got three days off plus the weekend. In case anyone was wondering I was not one of those inline at 10pm on Thanksgiving day waiting for Walmart to open. My question is what happened to Thanksgiving being a day to spend with family…at the rate society is going black Friday might become black Thanksgiving. Any who those are just my thoughts.

So this is the last week of classes before finals. I cannot believe I am almost done with three semesters of Rockhurst. Next week is finals then CHRISTMAS BREAK! It was nice being able to tell my parents this morning when I left that I would see them in only 12 days.

The two days of classes last week were a little crazy I had two big exams in those days. Both of them went pretty good I think. One of them took my like three hours… It was all writing too. I have never had my hand cramp up so badly.

I hope everyone enjoys this advent season.

As we enter into this busy holiday season I would like to share part of song with you:

“ I need a silent night, a holy night
To hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise
I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here
To end this crazy day with a silent night
To end this crazy day with a silent night” I need a Silent Night by Amy Grant

Shortest Week of the Year

Hi everyone,

So I am excited... I get to go home Tuesday night. We only go to classes for two days this week but those in those two days I have a paper due and two big tests so it should be an interesting week. When I get back from Thanksgiving break I have 4 days of classes then 4 days of finals. Then I am done for Christmas break :) It is hard to believe I am already done with one and a half years of my college experience. 

Hope everyone has safe travels where ever you might be going over this Thanksgiving weekend. 

Ill post a longer entry later in the week. 

It's almost 70 out and Thanksgiving break is only 9 days away!

Hi all, Well it is 8 days and counting till Thanksgiving break! (really only 6 days of classes, 5 for me because I do not have class on Friday). I am very happy I had a pretty productive weekend this past weekend. The weather was awesome this weekend. The temperature yesterday was around 70!  On top of getting  a lot of school work done. I also went out for breakfast with my Aunt on Saturday at First Watch which was very enjoyable.

The Rockhurst Men’s Soccer team played Friday night winning and also played yesterday (Sunday) as well. Their win on Sunday advanced them to the Elite 8 and gave their head coach Tocco his 600^th lifetime win. So congrats to Coach Tocco who is also my Professor for Accounting. The team plays next weekend out in Pennsylvania. If you want to stay up on how they are doing make sure to “like” Rockhurst University Athletics” on Facebook. (as a side note I am the one in charge of updating the Rockhurst Athletics Facebook page).

Men's Soccer team after their win on Sunday

            Last week was just such a crazy week. I had the nonprofit breakfast which I helped with on Monday morning. Then that afternoon I did week one of a four week volunteering stint at a local YMCA with their afterschool programs as part of my nonprofit administration class. That evening I spent a majority of it preparing for the Dinner with the Industry event sponsored by the Dean’s Student Advisory Board. I coordinated the online sign up for the event. That Dinner was Wednesday night and it went really good. It was a great event were students who signed up got a free three course dinner and got to network with a industry member from a field that interested them. This event serves as a great way to get internships. There were about 30 industry members at the event and about 100 students; which was comparable to the numbers we had last year at the event. On Friday I assisted with the Resident life event Beyond Words (which I have decided to make a separate blog entry later this week probably).

Quote for the week: “For with God nothing shall be impossible”-Luke 1:37

P.S. I am not sure if it is too early but as I write this I am listening to Christmas music…It just makes me so happy. The Christmas season has always been one of my favorite times of year.

            

The good (busy) life.

So I apologize in advance that this entry will be shorter. I will have more time to post later in the week. This is just a really crazy week for me (or at least crazier than normal).

One of my friends last year recruited me to help the Association of Fundraising Professionals in Kansas City with a breakfast for National Philanthropy to honor those who have given back to the community. It was a super nice event. I did the audio and visual stuff for the breakfast and awards presentation. I am sure I will elaborate on this event at some point later one. (I have a confession there is a test I should be studying for right now but I really wanted to post.). But procrastination is the life of the college student right?... Well not for me normally I try not to (and succeed at not procrastinating 95% of the time).

On Wednesday night there is an event on campus called Dinner with the Industry sponsored by the Dean’s Student Advisory Board (which I am a part of). We bring in about 30 local professionals in all careers and give students (all majors invited) to come network and have a free three course dinner. Which college student will pass up free food right? Well sorry to cut this short but I have an American Government test I should get back to studying for.

So my quote today is going to be from the song Ride of Your Life from the What a Girl Wants movie. Come on here’s your chance. Don’t let it slip right through your hands. Are you ready for the ride of your life. Your dreams are riding on the wind. Just reach out and pull them in and get ready for the ride of your life” 

Board of Directors

So I figured I would make an entry of what I submitted as my candidate statement for the NCHC Board of Directors:

I am a sophomore at Rockhurst University, double-majoring in Nonprofit Leadership Studies and Accounting.  Rockhurst University is a Jesuit university and one of the major tenets of the Jesuit mission is service to others. This has always been an important value in my own life.  This past year, I had the honor and privilege of becoming a kidney donor to my Dad.  I am currently working with a grant from the Helzberg School of Management at Rockhurst University to coordinate a trip to Haiti, inspired by a service trip to Haiti that I took in high school. At the NCHC 2011 conference, I was a student moderator for two sessions and a session presenter. At Rockhurst, I serve on the Honors Student Association Executive Board and as a Student Senate Representative on the Honors Advisory Committee. Since I have been VP of Activities on the Honors E-Board there has been a tremendous increase in student involvement in activities. Further, last year, Rockhurst hosted the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Honors Conference and I played a major role in the planning of the conference and presented a session.  I also had the good fortune of attending the NCHC 2010 conference, where I volunteered with conference set up. I am also the Desk Manager of 19 Desk Assistants in Corcoran Residence Hall (the site of our Honors Housing) as well as co-president of a student health organization on campus and serving on the Student Advisory Committee for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance in January. A student seat on the Board would only allow me to further serve others.

The opportunity to serve on the Board of Directors for NCHC would provide me valuable experience with nonprofit organizations, which would be applicable to my major in Nonprofit Leadership Studies. Moreover, I am tremendously dedicated to the honors program. By year’s close I will have already completed the required 24 honors credit hours. Additionally, I will have half of my nonprofit courses completed, so I have a strong understanding of how nonprofit organizations work. Finally, Kansas City is located only a few hours from the site of the annual board of directors meeting in Lincoln, which will ensure attendance at the required meetings. I humbly ask you to consider me for the two-year student board position. Thank you.

This will soon be online at http://nchchonors.org/2012_nominees.html along with the other candidates that are running. 

Hope you have a great week! 

"There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream" - Author Unknown 

NCHC 2011

So you are probably wondering what in the world NCHC stands for. NCHC stands for the National Collegiate Honors Council, which the Rockhurst University Honors Program is a member of. There are over 800 colleges and universities across the country that are members of NCHC. This past weekend was the annual conference for NCHC bringing together over 1600 students and honors from over 500 colleges and universities. The conference took place in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. So I got to take a nice but busy weekend trip out to Arizona. I along with another student from Rockhurst had submitted a proposal to present at NCHC last spring and found out over the summer that our proposal had been selected to be presented at NCHC. This is the first time in recent history that any Rockhurst students have presented at NCHC. So Kaela and I along with Dr. Walker, the director of the Rockhurst Honors Program, made the trip out to Phoenix.

            In addition to doing our presentation at NCHC we also heard countless other presentations and two keynote speakers. The other presentations we heard gave us numerous ideas on how the Rockhurst Honors program could be improved and what is working well for other schools. It is really a great conference that helps me to understand what makes the honors programs at colleges and universities across the country so special. At these types of conferences you get to meet really awesome people from all over the country which is fun.

            One other cool thing about this conference is that they have student positions open on the Board of Directors for NCHC. My honors director nominated me for one of those positions and now it is up to the voting member from each institution to vote on who they would like to see on the Board of Directors for NCHC. I am writing a personal statement for people to know more about me so I will post that as my next blog entry in case anyone is interested in reading it.

Hope you have an awesome week! We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fall Break then comes Fall Weather

Well I am not quite sure where that fall break went to. It seemed like it was almost over before it started. My youngest sister wanted to write my blog for me this week but she never followed through on this...So I am sure you all probably want to know what I did over break. Well when I got home on Wednesday I went to a couple of meetings I had set up with the organization I had done a volunteer internship for over the summer. It was a great experience doing that volunteer internship. There is something to be said for completing an internship without pay. In the end I learned so much doing that internship that will help me when I graduate from RU. An additional perk of going back last week to the organization was that I got to be interviewed to be on a local news station. After my meetings I came home and relaxed I was still tired from the bus ride home.  

            On Thursday it was try to attempt to get my homework done day. Fact of the matter is you never get as much done as you want to at home. It is just so nice being home though, sleeping in your own bed and catching up with your family.

            On Friday it was a day to spend with my Mom. We went out to breakfast at my favorite place Corner Bakery (It is a Chicago thing) then she took me birthday shopping since my birthday is this week. Most importantly though we just got to spend time together talking about life. Nothing can top that.

            Then on Saturday our family went down to visit my sister at Bradley University which is about 2.5 hours from our house. It was awesome to see her. She is a freshman this year. However it makes for a long day. It was the first time I had ever been down to Bradley.

Over the break I think I figured out I think I spent at least 20 hours traveling from Tuesday night to Sunday morning. Want to hear about how I am getting to go to Phoenix AZ next weekend? Stay tuned for the next blog! Have a good week!

Quote:"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. 

Norman Vincent Peale"