Last Thursday was when we had the opening Liturgy at the college. As a Catholic, this was nothing out of the ordinary for me. I sang in the choir with Vox Nova. Before mass, John Porter, as Student Government President, made an announcement about the Opening Liturgy being a long tradition of starting the new academic year. He also reminded everyone to follow along in the Liturgy handouts, to refrain from eating/drinking/chewing gum, turn off cell phones, and to be respectful and observant.

It was a nice mass. I enjoyed Father John's homily about Christ's first miracle, which was the gospel reading.

I am quite positive that most of the students left with a deeper understanding of how the mass works and about the Catholic faith.

Posted by Owen Standley at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of my latest programs as an RA is the "Talk like a Pirate Prep". The really cool thing about this program is that Professor Maggie Steinbeiser, department chair for CLS*, asked me if TLPD** could be added to the official listing of convocations*** that CLS students can attend. I was very excited and gladly approved. So, there should be a bunch of freshmen that attend my program to gain points for their classes. Dr. Julie Smith is going to give a presentation on Pirates, Pirate History and Pirate Life. Last year was great. I'm sure that she will do an equally, if not better presentation this year.

*Cultural Literacy Seminar- a requred course for all freshmen where they need to attend convocations, perform service projects, and many more enlightening experiences/course work.
** National Talk Like a Pirate Day
***an event or experience that you would not have attended or underwent during your normal daily life. This is to encurage cultural experiences and they require a reflection paper.

Posted by Owen Standley at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As an RA, I have to create programs (things for the students to do socially, physically, spiritually, culturally, etc.) and almost anything can become a program if it is documented properly. This semester, there is a large handful of students that are not from the immediate area. Therefore, I hosted a fun program where we went to the local Drive-in movie theatre. I had Res. Life pay half of the admission cost for resident students. Therefore, our residents paid $3.00 to see a double feature. We watched "Balls of Furry" and "Hairspray." It's kinda funny that MAC saved the movies that night because the rule for the Bar Ann Drive-in in Portage requires at least 15 people in admittance to show the movie. There were only two other people there before the MAC students arrived. We brought 16 students and so the movie was shown.

YAY for MAC! We saved the movie for last Friday. "Balls of Furry" was quite funny. I enjoyed it a lot. I was very open to the fact that there were not a lot of famous names in the movie and it was a spoof of Kung-Fu movies.

"Hairspray" was pretty good. I saw the Broadway production of it. That was sweet! The movie was incredible because of Christopher Walken. He made the entire movie! For me, John Travolta was the biggest disappointment in the world. He came off as himself and had no feminine qualities.

No matter what, it was a great experience. All of the students said that they would gladly participate in that program again. Especially the kids who have never been to the Drive-in before.

Program- Success!!

Posted by Owen Standley at 6:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm really excited for this semester. I have a great deal of goals that I want to accomplish. But I first had to set up my new room. I am the RA for the second floor of the guys half of Ihmsen. I really like it. Because I am the RA and I live alone, my room is a little smaller than the average room. But that didn't stop me from making the coolest room setup. I brought my loft bed from home so you need to cross under the bed to access the main section of the room. I still managed to fit my eight-foot sewing table and all of my other things. And yes, the mirror ball is still here. I put a giant dry-erase board on the front of my door so the residents on the floor can keep me posted with concerns or ideas.

With my Mickey Mouse bed sheets and Cookie Monster "Got Milk?" poster, my room is totally sweet and I am set for a great year.

Posted by Owen Standley at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)