University of Richmond

Archive for the 'Class Cabinet' Category

Super Sized Week

February 1, 2008

Welcome to February, everyone!!! As I prepare to enter my fourth week of classes (WOW! That’s scary to consider) I am attempting to make sure that I get all of my homework done, complete my organizational obligations, and still find time for fun. So, amidst class readings, reading applications for our alternative spring break trip, and meetings, it’s easy to say I’ve been plenty busy. In fact, Tuesday had me in meetings lasting from 5:00-11:00 PM. Wednesday had me busy from 5:00-9:00. Then, I was gone all weekend on a retreat for another organization. Now, I find myself more than ready for a slight break, but I can’t say I’m not having fun amidst all of this hecticness. I enjoy reading all of the applications for our Spring Break trip and hearing the amazing things some UR students have done. I loved the retreat this past weekend. And, I’m finding myself enjoying most of my classes.

One of the fun things that I did this past week was go to our Commons to watch the movie of the week. They show a movie there from Thursday to Sunday night. This week, it was “Role Models” and I thoroughly enjoyed it, laughing throughout most of it.

Another fun event was a Modlin event. Our performing arts center, the Modlin Center, brought in Cirque Eloize. It was only $8 for students and a very interesting show. It combined acrobatics and illusion and circusesque theatrics. It was really neat. Below is a link to some clips from their show:

Cirque Eloize performing Nebbia

The main event from this past week, however, was the Beach Retreat through InterVarsity. We went to Virginia Beach (yes, we realized it was still January) for a weekend and dealt with issues of Faith and Doubt within Christianity. I met several new people and really had a blast. We had team competitions throughout the weekend (my team was the ultimate winner), held several discussions and talks, but also had time for fun. We did beach football, card games, and so much more. We even did a polar plunge. I led the way and led the charge into the Atlantic Ocean on a January day in which the highest temperature was 40 degrees. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It got my team points and I’ve always wanted to do it. So, I did it once…. and then I decided to do it again a few minutes later. Here’s a video I made commemorating the event:

Brrr….

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The view of Virginia Beach from our hotel room
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Having fun with friends on the retreat
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Playing games amongst our small groups
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Polar Plunge into the Atlantic Ocean

Lastly, I ended the weekend by hosting two Super Bowl parties. That’s right, two. One for InterVarsity and one for Class Cabinet. So, I ordered twenty pizzas, got seven cases of soda, and tried to please dozens of people. Needless to say, I was glad to finally sit down in the second half, enjoy some commercials, and watch our alum, Tim Hightower, play for the Lombardi Trophy.

Quote of the Week: “Faith is the acceptance that we can grasp the reality of a truth, not be fully understanding of it, but know enough to understand it’s right, it works, it’s perfect.” -Anonymous
Thought to Ponder: Why is it that when you’re driving and looking for an address, you turn the radio down?
YouTube Video of the Week:

Peculiar Art

Semester in Review

Now that the first semester of my Sophomore year is officially done, I feel as though it would be a good time to give a recap of everything that I have done this semester. So, as I promised, here is a look back at all of my experiences from fall semester:

The best word to describe this past semester would be “busy”. At times, I was juggling academics, organizations, and work. I admit I tried to do a bit too much at times and that was my own fault, but I learned as the semester went on. I don’t know how I kept up with everything at times, but it all got done. It required much finesse and numerous calendars and checklists, but everything was kept straight and I completed every assignment on time. My first priority, academics, was quite tough this semester. I took Financial Accounting, Rhetoric and Public Address, Business and Software Tools, Justice and Civil Society, and Campaigns 2008. I had numerous papers, thirty hours of volunteer work at a local ESL program for my Leadership class, and a calculated 3,841 pages of reading, which made academics quite challenging, yet interesting and educational at the same time. During this semester, I officially declared my intention to double major in Business and Leadership Studies with an additional minor in Law and the Liberal Arts. I also decided to become a Speech Fellow in the Speech Center next year. Now that grades are posted, I am incredibly proud of the grades I have been able to achieve. It wasn’t easy, but it feels good to see my hard work pay off. I feel like I should mention a bit more about my classes, but don’t really know what else to say right now.

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All of my textbooks from this semester
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Celebrities Marlon Wayans, Jurnee Smollett, and Tatyana Ali
visited my Leadership Class to Rock the Vote
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Just one of my calendars which keeps track of my life

One of the classes I took was Campaigns 2008. With this program, we were the guinea pigs for a new type of residence hall at the University of Richmond. All fifteen of us in the class lived on the same hallway and participated in outside-the-classroom activities to supplement our readings and in-class discussions including debate watches and convention viewing parties. In addition, we created our own media ads and volunteered on the presidential campaigns. We lived in an amazing residence hall and had a lot of fun. Sure, we got rather heated at times and it is difficult to have fifteen politically active students with various political leanings living side by side, but it was fun and a great semester. We created our own little family. We had hallway dinners and used the kitchen to bake and decorate Christmas cookies and then have a Home Alone party. It was a lot of fun to be in the program.

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My half of my room in Lakeview
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Another part of my room
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Our hallway’s lounge where we like to hang out
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Displaying the political divisiveness of my own suite


My ad for Campaigns 2008
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Hallway dinners we cooked in our residence hall’s kitchen
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Making Chex mix for our hallway’s Home Alone holiday party

Besides academics, organizations have consumed much of my time. InterVarsity has probably been the #1 time consumer. I was in charge of social activities for the semester and we had a ton that took place. So, we had a Medallion Hunt, Scavenger Hunt, Movie and Game Nights, Karaoke Nights, and so much more. They were a lot of fun and here are some of the highlights:

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Watermelon eating contest at Extreme H2O
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Sunrise Trip to Virginia Beach
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Karaoke Night
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Winner of “I can’t believe we all fit in here”
for the Scavenger Hunt
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Halloween Dance Party in the Commons

InterVarsity also does some larger events throughout the semester that I participated in. I went on the Fall Retreat in the mountains of western Virginia and also the 222 Conference in Hampton, Virginia. Both lasted the entire weekend and were a lot of fun. They are a great way to escape campus for a short while and meet new people.

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Fall Retreat in western Virginia
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Hanging out at the bonfire on Fall Retreat
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Having some fun and acting like kids
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Dance party at the end of 222
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The UR group who went to 222

Of course, I am in other groups besides InterVarsity. I remain President of my class and also actively involved in planning this year’s Alternative Spring Break for the Collegiate Disaster Relief Team. In addition, I was Captain of a Relay for Life team and also active in the United Methodist group on-campus. There were lots of events, but more meetings than anything else. It was quite taxing at times to keep up with everything, so I might reevaluate my commitments rather soon.

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A Rockband Tournament that I hosted for Class Cabinet
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Baking Christmas cookies with the United Methodist group
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Some of the members of my Relay for Life team

The last group that I should mention is my Oldham scholar group. Once again, we went on a trip this November. New York City was the destination this time. The family that gives the scholarship paid for us to fly round trip to New York City for a weekend getaway. While there, we ate at fantastic restaurants, saw the opening night of “Faust” at the Metropolitan Opera, and also saw “In the Heights” on Broadway. During the trip, we stayed at a Hilton on Avenue of the Americas and right outside my window was Radio City Music Hall. It was so much fun to get to travel with friends and experience some amazing things that I would never get the chance to otherwise do.

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Having fun in the subways of New York City
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Viewing the Statue of Liberty
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Lady Liberty on the way to Ellis Island
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The set for “In the Heights”

Of course, life isn’t only academics and organizations. I also make plenty of free time to have fun with friends. There were numerous a cappella concerts, improv comedy shows, intramural sports games, movies in the Pier, and dinners in downtown Richmond. Here are a few of the highlights:

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Going to an 80s-themed sorority social with a friend
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Eating out at Capital Ale House for Dollar Burger Night with friendspa095634-1.jpg
Having Nerf gun wars across my entire residence hall
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Jamming out on Rock Band with friends
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An a cappella concert by the Octaves

One of my favorite activities this semester was going to the football games. We had a rough start, but ended up having a miracle season and winning the National Championship for the Football Championship Series. Despite being much smaller in school population than the other teams we played, we overcame a lot of obstacles and won it all. This was our first team title since our school began 178 years ago. It was an amazing season to watch and track all throughout the playoffs. The team created the most school spirit that I have seen since I arrived and they really added a lot to this semester.

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Watching our football team do magnificently
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Our football team winning the National Championship

Some of the other fun events included scheduled big-name performances through the Modlin Center and other groups. I am a big fan of these performances and their cheap or free tickets for students. This semester, I only made it to a few, but they were worth it. I saw the Reduced Shakespeare Company, David Sedaris, LA Theatre Works, Rockapella, and several other performances. In addition, Ben Lee came to campus and gave a great show.

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Reduced Shakespeare Company
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Ben Lee performing at the Pier

Throughout this entire semester, I didn’t go home once. I stayed on-campus for Fall Break and went to New York City over Thanksgiving Break with friends from high school. It was a lot of fun, but it was much-needed to finally get home after a long and trying finals week.

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Attending the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
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Hanging out with friends from high school at the Macy’s Parade
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Our Times Square adventures
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Hanging out in Central Park
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Celebrating Thanksgiving in New York with friends

So, after all of this, I won’t claim to be the average student here. I’m pretty involved, but that’s the way I like it… most of the time. I do hope that this past semester’s blog has given you a chance to get a taste of life at UR. If it hasn’t or you simply have some questions, feel free to click the “Contact Me” link at the top of the blog and send away. Thanks for following this semester and I hope you continue for another semester. Merry Christmas.

Ben

Favorite Quote of the Semester: “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” -George Eliot
Favorite Thought to Ponder: Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
Favorite YouTube Video of the Semester:

 

Meeting Celebrities

September 12, 2008

Before I go into anything else, I want to mention a cool story from one of my classes. My Leadership Studies class met on Thursday and we were told that we would have guests visit us during class. At first, we all just thought it would be some faculty members. As it turns out, we were surprised to have Marlon Wayans, Jurnee Smollett, and Tatyana Ali walk through the door and visit our class. We were all so surprised. We had discussed the role of citizenship in America and gotten onto the topic of voting. These three celebrities have been traveling the country and getting young people energized to vote in a type of Rock the Vote movement. It just so happens that they were in the area and able to stop by our class. Marlon is famous for the shows and movies he’s created with his brother, such as In Living Color, The Wayans Brothers, White Chicks, Little Man, and the Scary Movie series. Jurnee has appeared in Full House, The Great Debaters, Cosby, ER, Gridiron Gang, House, Grey’s Anatomy, and Selma, Lord, Selma. Tatyana is famous for her work on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Star Search. It was so cool to be able to see them. I think they were the last visitors we were expecting. They briefly talked about what they were doing and how important it was for young people to get involved with their country.

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Marlon Wayans, Jurnee Smollett, and Tatyana Ali
with someone in my class

In other news, I’m three weeks into school and still settling into a routine. My life is still crazily busy, but I’m hoping that the next few days will allow me to settle down and take a deep breathe to recollect myself. I continue to try my absolute best to stay ahead of my work by planning my classes and events days in advance. Right now, I only have thirty pages of readings and one paper to write before next Wednesday, which is an impressive feat. Yes, the paper is daunting for me and I’m not looking forwards to it at all, but I’m hopeful that early next week will be quite enjoyable.

Since I’ve worked so hard to get ahead in my classes, I have had quite a bit of my time devoted to homework and classes, as well as organizations. Still, I did have a few other highlights throughout this past week.

I returned from Fall Retreat last weekend and two of my friends who lived on my hall used our residence hall’s kitchen to cook an amazing dinner for everyone in my program. There was roasted chicken, biscuits, vegetables, couscous, and chocolate chip cookies. It was so nice to just sit down and socialize with people on my hall. It was almost like a family meal in a way. We had good conversation and even a fun time washing dishes and cleaning up afterwards. Yes, we can get heated with each other in our Campaigns class, but this was just a good old-fashioned fun time. I think we’re hoping to continue this every few weeks throughout the semester. And I believe that is the guys’ turn to cook next time.

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My hallmates and I enjoyed a fantastic made-from-scratch meal

I also relaxed by watching Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull at the Pier as well as the Packers game. As a big Green Bay Packers fan, I was quite pleased with our first game and the performance of Aaron Rodgers.

In more business-like matters, I also attended a panel discussion regarding Accounting. Yes, it was for extra credit, which was my main incentive for going. I also had Student Government drag on for an hour and a half for the third straight week. This resulted in me missing InterVarsity’s Large Group for the third time. I have yet to make it to a Large Group, unfortunately. Another meeting involved me going to an information session for the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. I will be applying this month to the school with the intention of minoring in Leadership Studies. That’s just another thing that I have to add to my to-do list.

Also for Student Government, my Cabinet and I hosted an event where we signed students up for our UR Alert, the system that e-mails and text messages students if there is ever a threat on-campus. In addition, we handed out tons of candy to people passing through the Commons. Watching people eat Warheads (which brought back memories of third grade for me and every other person who stopped by) was quite entertaining.

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One of my friend reacts to eating a Warhead

Before I leave you for the week, I’d like to show you what some of the students who remained on-campus last weekend did as Tropical Storm Hanna passed through. Since there was so much rain, they decided to create a slip-’n-slide on the Intramural Fields. It looked pretty fun.

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Enjoying the tons of rain that Hurricane Hanna brought
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Soaking up all of the rain over last weekend

Quote of the Week: “It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also trye that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.” -Anonymous
Thought to Ponder: How fast do hotcakes sell?
YouTube Video of the Week:

In Remembrance of 9/11