Sunday, March 27, 2011

Busy, busy week-graduation, athletics update

I feel like a broken record, going on and on about how busy I am. It's truly only because I'm taking seven classes, half of which are 400-level.... and I'm working on my honors project, and I have an internship. College isn't always this crazy!
Campus is starting to smell like spring again. I can already imagine the flowers springing up all over campus and the trees starting to get their leaves back. It's been really cold the last few days but since spring break, all of us are getting ready for summer break. It's bittersweet that this is my last spring as a college student.
Our spring athletics have started again. The teams seem to be doing well. Men's lacrosse is 6-0. Tennis seems to be going well (7-4 men's, 3-5 women's). Baseball's gone 3-3 since spring break. Women's lacrosse is 2-2. The softball team is 14-2.
We just signed a new head coach for our men's basketball team... Brooks Miller, who was an assistant coach for Bob Knight at Texas Tech. He seems promising. Our athletics continue to improve and grow.
Campus is busy. Everyone is registering for classes, making sure they can graduate on time, etc etc etc.
The announcement of who will be delivering the commencement speech is always highly anticipated. Last year Bob Knight spoke and he tends to be a tough act to follow. This year, Lou Holtz, the hall of fame football coach, will be speaking. Holtz coached Notre Dame's football team from 85-96. He also coached at North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, and the NFL's New York Jets. Now he commentates games for ESPN and has written numerous New York Times best sellers. It should be a very motivational speech for students emerging from the school, out into the job market.
Well... that's all I have for now.
~Til next time
Sarah

Monday, March 21, 2011

Science Fair, busy work

As we work our way into the last six weeks of the semester, procrastination starts to sneak up on students all over campus. That huge project your professor assigned in the first few weeks of the semester is suddenly almost due. It seems like just yesterday we were returning from Christmas break, bright eyed and ready for another busy semester.
I can say taking 7 classes is starting to catch up with me for sure. Some weeks I have two exams on the same day, followed by at least one more in the week, at least one project or presentation due a week, and a different paper, on top of normal reading and homework... what a crazy semester!
This past weekend, I volunteered through the Honors program to work at the local science fair Trine was hosting. At first I thought it would be pretty boring, but the kids all got really into it, with their adorable little suits and ties, talking about decomposition and solar energy and all sorts of things. They loved everything we were doing for them and we loved working with them.
My particular station was on how to make a biomass gas depressor. Using a graduated cylinder with some water in it, we added beads, to simulate organic materials. Then the kids put a "bacteria" powder into a funnel and down into a party balloon. When I helped them put the balloon over the graduated cylinder, the kids shook the "bacteria" down into the water. This resulted in a reaction that produced a lot of cool fizzing and a gas that blew up the balloon. The reactions on their faces, especially the younger ones, 1st and 2nd graders, was absolutely adorable. It was so rewarding to be able to talk to them about biomass and how through decomposition we can harvest a natural energy, in this case, the second most widely used renewable energy source.
It was a great opportunity to volunteer my time.
Now it's back to papers, tests, and projects.
~Til next time,
Sarah

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Last Spring Break ever

Well, back to school. My last spring break until I have kids of my own has come and gone. I worked 40 hours, wrote two papers, and studied for a couple tests. Oh the life of a college senior!
It's great to come back to campus and see all the huge ice mounds melted away from the sidewalks. Our beautiful campus looks alive again!
Campus is sure to get crazy busy from now until summer. The Humanities department has their free movie series running again. They show a wide range of movies, some new, some old, some foreign, some indy. It's a great opportunity to see movies for free on campus, in the lovely Fabiani Theatre.
Advising week is coming up. It's always pretty crazy, and I expect this to be the most chaotic for me ever, seeing as how it is my last advising week before I graduate. Luckily, the advisors on campus tend to be really helpful and mine, Dr. Jones, is great at helping me make sure I have everything I need to graduate on time. I've looked over the class schedule for next semester and it looks like I should be able to get all my classes needed for graduation in pretty easily.
Off to study some more!
~Til next time,
Sarah