August 30, 2008
The first week of classes is now over and done with. It was a week of high stress and craziness for me. My classes are tougher than I originally expected and my organizations are taking more of my time than anticipated. Unexpected meetings and events make my free time even rarer and more valuable. However, as a complete disclaimer, I did bring most of this on myself. I spread myself a bit (ok, maybe “way” is a better word) too thin in terms of commitments. I believe that I will reevaluate my priorities in a week or two. With that said, I think that I might be more succinct this year in these posts. Covering each meeting for Student Government or Large Group for InterVarsity or basketball game doesn’t seem very productive. So, I will try to hit on the main events and my more pressing thoughts for the week. For this first post, however, I will delve into my activities on-campus, both academic and organizational.
Classes:
Software Tools (M 9:20-10:10) - This is definitely my easiest class. It’s only a half unit and it basically teaches me about how to use Excel, search databases, and format information. No homework for the first three weeks, so I hardly count this as a class right now.
Financial Accounting (MWF 10:25-11:15) - Accounting is going to take some work. The teacher is well-respected on-campus but expects a lot from his students. He expects at least two hours of individual work between each class. A fun thing about this class, though, is that he uses the Socratic method, which is basically the teacher not lecturing or stating anything. He simply asks us students questions at random and tries to guide us to our own conclusions. It’s quite fascinating and makes the class more engaging. Here was my first introduction to my professor. It was in an e-mail he sent before I arrived to campus.
“The course outline for the fall semester is attached. I need for you to read it. I need for you to read it carefully. I need for you to read it twice and think about it. I want more students to make an A; I want more of my students to do excellent work. I have told you everything in this course outline that I think you need in order to give me that excellent work. I need for you to read it. I need for you to come to class commited to doing well. Watch the Olympics. Those people have worked hard and they have become great. The two go together. You can do the same.”
Political Campaigns (MWF 11:30-12:20) - This class should be a lot of fun. The teacher is fantastic and he is not afraid to show his opinions. He’s great at playing the devil’s advocate. As I mentioned, I am taking this class as part of a Living and Learning Community, so everyone who’s in the class lives on the same hallway. We’ve already read the candidate’s biographies, attended events for speeches of the Democratic National Convention, and watched the live revealing of McCain’s VP pick. I’m looking forwards to some of the group projects and the creation of media ads for the campaign.
Justice and Civil Society (T Th 2:15-3:30) - My only class on Tuesday and Thursday (which means I get to sleep in!!!) will be a lot of work. It’s a standard class that discusses what justice is as well as the relationships within society. Service is a huge component since we are expected to work with a group that is less advantaged and very different from our own. So, 30 hours of community service are required. That scares me. I like service, but 30 hours in one semester is a lot to get done. I’m hoping to find a site that will fit into my schedule and interests. Some tutor inner-city kids, others help the visually impaired adjust to their new life, while others work in schools helping English as a Second Language students. The first paper is due this Thursday. Yikes!!!
Rhetoric and Public Address (M 12:30-1:20, WF 7:50-9:05) - Yep, I’m one of those crazy kids who takes a 7:50 AM course. Even though I might not go to bed until 2:30 AM (which has already happened and regularly will), I still need to be up and going at the break of dawn. This class is a lot more reading than I anticipated. The speeches and essays pile on the work as well and I’m curious to see how this goes.
So, in all, I have classes that place an emphasis on lots of reading, which isn’t exactly my forte. I do better with exercise problems and such. However, I’m sure I’ll get through it…. hopefully. Although I’m incredibly busy, I don’t intend to drop any classes. I do like my classes thus far and I’m hoping for the best. I don’t have any clue where my grades will be, so only time will tell.
Organizations:
InterVarsity: IV is a non-denominational religious organization that has a Large Group for worship and fellowship, Small Groups for Bible Studies, and social events just to hang out and have fun. Service projects will also take a role this year. I’m on Leadership and in charge of New Student Outreach and Men’s Ministry, basically most social events. The calendar I created has 32 events for the Fall Semester alone, with me being in charge of 8. I don’t have any hope of making all the meetings and events, but I’ll still try to attend as many as possible. It’s definitely one of my more important organizations. Oh yeah, the incoming IV freshman class has been amazing to meet thus far.
United Methodist Campus Ministry: My local church offers a ministry to the students of UR, so we meet for a lunch and Bible study every Thursday. We do have some service projects we might do as well later in the year.
Council for Christian Unity: I am on CCU representing the United Methodist group. Each religious organization has someone present on it and I represent all three of us (maybe we’ll get some freshmen to join). It meets every other week, but I am considering dropping this commitment for a while until my life gets back under control.
Richmond College Student Government Association: I am the Richmond College 2011 Class Chair, so I plan events for all of the sophomore men. I’ve already met with my Cabinet and we hope to have some fun events this year. We’re looking at kicking it off with a sign-up table for the on-campus alert system as well as a Tailgate Party at a home football game. It should be fun. However, there are weekly meetings and when they run long, as they did this week, I will not be able to attend InterVarsity.
Admissions Office Tour Guide: I’m back once again to my job as tour guide. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with the torrid pace of tours like last year, but I’ll still probably get in one or two a week.
Collegiate Disaster Relief Team: I am on Leadership for planning our return to New Orleans for an Alternative Spring Break. I’ve already made a promotional video for it over the summer. Hopefully, though, I’ll take on a smaller leadership role, such as being in charge of finances as treasurer. That would be my ideal officer position.
Disc Golf Coordinator: Technically, this is through Student Government, but it’s large enough to count separately. I am working on bringing a disc golf course to the University of Richmond. I’m really excited and I’ve poured in a lot of time and effort thus far, about thirty hours I would say. I wrote an 8 page proposal and it is currently under review by our Wellness Center. However, they have given us their full support thus far, which is encouraging. Hopefully we’ll be able to complete it this year. Still, it takes a lot of my free time.
As you can see, this week has been crazy. I’ve been running here and there with Presidential Picnics, Freshmen Fellowships, Student Government meetings, Cabinet meetings, auditioning for a speech at Investiture, giving tours, learning about the University’s Strategic Plan for three hours at Spider Senate Saturday, attending a United Methodist lunch, representing IV at an Organization Fair, meeting with the Dean regarding Cabinet events, going to church, shopping at Wal-Mart to get things for my room. Did I mention that I had classes and homework still? Oh yeah, I was also sick for most of this week as well with a slight cold. Craziness. I called home at one point during this week and was sick and worn out and tired. It wasn’t exactly the way I’d hoped to start the semester.
Freshmen hanging out at the President’s Home for the President’s Picnic
The new members of InterVarsity playing games at Freshmen Fellowship
In terms of fun, I do try to relax. I watched a movie with friends on Friday night as well as hung out for a while on Monday night. However, the highlight was Extreme H20, an InterVarsity event on Friday afternoon. We bought 15 watermelons and had lots to eat. There were seed spitting contests, water balloon tosses (which quickly became a water balloon fight), and volleyball. Still, the best part was a watermelon-eating contest. Crazily, I decided to participate. Each of us had half of a watermelon (though they were very different sizes of watermelon we soon learned) and we had to eat it all without breaking the watermelon. Style points were awarded. Trying to inhale half of a watermelon is definitely not easy. I went to town. I was grabbing chunks of watermelon with my bare hands and shoving them into my mouth. It was so hard after a while. No one threw up, but I know I came close and some spectators also came close just watching us. In the end, I lost handily but five of us still had plenty of watermelon left (the others were going for style points, I was just slow and had a huge watermelon). Needless to say, I wanted to have some fun, so I started a watermelon fight. Throwing chunks of watermelon at each other and pouring the water into each other’s hair was an absolute mess, but a lot of fun. I was picking watermelon from behind my ear and inside my ear for the rest of the night. It was disgusting. My shirt became dyed pink, but I still think everyone had a blast.
This is when watermelon actually looked appealing to me
Watermelon-eating contest
I think many of us felt like Jenna (left) at one time during the contest
Me and Kelly after we stopped throwing watermelon at each other
I finished an entire half-watermelon!!!
Water balloon fight!!!
That’s the end of Week One. I hope Week Two is milder, but I doubt that. Modlin events are coming up as well as InterVarsity’s Fall Retreat and, of course, papers and speeches. I hope that you’ll continue checking out what I’ve been up to this sophomore year and are somewhat curious as to what I’m going to do. I know I am, at least.
Quote of the Week: “There are very few certainties that touch us all in this mortal experience, but one of the absolutes is that we will experience hardship and stress at some point.” -Dr. James Dobson
Thought to Ponder: When the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
YouTube Video of the Week:
This is kind of cool. Watch it all the way through
