Saturday, December 22, 2012

End of the World

Well, since I am making this post- it is obvious that the world did not end yesterday as "predicted" by some. Which is a very good thing- because there is way too much to look forward to next semester!

To begin with, I will be traveling to Barcelona on January 1st (which is sneaking up quicker than I thought possible) to take a class titled "Global Business- Issues/Culture".  Specific, huh?  But the trip will last two weeks (from the 1st to the 14th) and will be my first ever trans-Atlantic flight! I intend to keep updates going during that time to share more about the class.

In other news- finals are all done!  I completed the semester, which is all I can ask for.  The first few days of break did not go as planned- with a broken down new vehicle that delayed my return home, but it all ended up working out so that I got home safe and sound before the big blizzard hit Western Kansas.  My Christmas present from my boyfriend was tickets to see The Nutcracker at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts.  Since they started construction my freshman year, I have been dying to see a show there, so it was a perfect opportunity to discover even more about KC.

A picture from online of the center-- my camera's quality leaves much to be desired.

Otherwise, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas- I look forward to spending time with my family and friends here in Western Kansas for the next few days.  I hope everyone stays safe and enjoys this holiday season as much as possible!  

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Traditions

We're coming to a close of the semester!  The best part about coming closer to the end is all of the traditions that go along with the end of the semester at Rockhurst.  One tradition for Student Senate, is our annual dinner at Dr Quick's house.  Dr Quick is our Senate adviser in addition to the Vice President for Student Development and Athletics for our university.  Every year (to my knowledge) he and his family has welcomed our rowdy group of college students into their home for a holiday dinner.  It is often such a relief to have an evening off campus to just think about being with friends, and what is considered a part of your Rockhurst family.  Driving to a more residential part of Kansas City also gave me my first glance of Christmas lights displays rivaling those back home.  This reminder that the holidays are near also put classes into perspective, which is exactly what we all need going into finals week.

Senators enjoyed taking pictures around the fire and the Christmas tree in the beautiful home of Dr Quick


Another tradition I'm looking forward to is Senate Midnight Breakfast.  Every year, we sponsor breakfast from 10pm-midnight in the caf, right before finals week.  Rockhurst students fill up on food to energize them for the coming week (or night of last minute studying)  Senate only asks for $1 or a canned food item to fill up on all the breakfast food you can eat, and we donate the money and canned foods to St Francis Xavier church- across the street from Rockhurst.  Its a great way for students to hang out and enjoy a meal as the semester comes to a close!  


Some pictures added after the event.
The whole Senate group ready for breakfast!
Collecting the cans and donation money for SFX

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

What happened?

You can tell the level of this week just based on the fact that this post was evidently saved as a draft last Saturday instead of submitted for you to view!  So now here it is.
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I have been overwhelmed by all the support and attention my team's recent success at the Grundfos Challenge has received from faculty, staff and students alike at Rockhurst.  So anyone reading, I'd like to thank you for that!  An experience that began as a project for class credit has become a new life experience that I will be able to learn innumerable skills and contacts to be useful in the future.

Staying in KC for Thanksgiving resulted in a lot of hours on my feet- 34 hours in 4 days- working at a restaurant on the Plaza.  The 'break' that I expected by having all the time I could want just focusing on my own well-being seemed to disappear with my hours at the restaurant, and the projects I planned to finish only obtained a half-hearted first draft of a few papers.  Oh well, the best break prepares you for the coming weeks, and I was definitely ready to get back to class!

The closing of the semester comes with it plenty of stress, but also plenty of opportunities for fun activities.  Social Mentors had their annual ice skating event on Friday night at Crown Center.  It's always fun to watch the freshmen as they have developed new friendships and become truly at home at Rockhurst as the year goes on.  The gorgeous Christmas display in that area of Crown Center always produces a few gasps and plenty of photo ops for every social media enthusiast.
It's always necessary to pose for a roomie-pic, even if its only 3 of us pictured... with a different 4th person...

I ended up going back to the same area the following night with less of a time constraint and fewer people. (My boyfriend visited me for the weekend)

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Grundfos opdatering (Grundfos update)

For anyone interested-- I'm pretty sure my mom mostly, I've found some updated photos from the Grundfos challenge last week on their Facebook page.   There was also an article on the Grundfos site here about the challenge.  

Here's a few of my favorite pictures:

We noticed the camera guy creeping, but we continued our discussion about the presentation

After being announced as winners moving on to the next round, we got our picture taken with the judges and our plaques :)  

Now everyone enjoy your Thanksgiving with family, food, friends, and in my case, papers.  :)

Saturday, November 17, 2012

DENMARK!

For the past two days, I have been competing in a nationwide competition with water pump manufacturer Grundfos.  I first learned of this competition through a class- EC 3400- Developing World: Econ, Politics and Culture.  We were given the option of a few different volunteer options and then split up into different teams.  Some of the options were working with St James Place, helping with the water relief initiative in Haiti, or attending the Peace Colloquy.  The final option was attend this Global Grundfos Challenge.  The company facilitates a challenge between competing business and engineering groups, each given the same case regarding a current water issue.  There were about 6 students involved in the preparation process for the challenge through the class.  We did as much research as we could about different water challenges over the past few months and didn't find out about the challenge until Thursday morning at 9.  Therefore, it was such an educational experience all the way around!


Grundfos paid for the three participants from each school (pictured above is our Rockhurst team in front of our 'tent' workspace) to stay in a hotel, and covered all of our meals for the two days.  We were put in a room at 10 am on Thursday with the challenge information.  We left the Grundfos headquarters in Olathe at 8 pm, where we returned to the hotel to continue working on the case.  The following morning, the bus departed at 7:30 to return to Olathe, when we were given a few hours to do final changes and practicing on the case.  Friday was full of presentations and stress about who were chosen as winners of the case.  It was such an incredible opportunity to work with two other Rockhurst students on a particular issue and meet other business students from schools such as Fresno State, KU, Mizzou, Purdue, and K-State.  Additionally, the number of Rockhurst alumni working for Grundfos was inspiring to see!  

Friday afternoon, we found out that our group was in the top two and....

I AM GOING TO DENMARK FOR A WEEK IN MARCH-- ALL EXPENSES PAID BY GRUNDFOS!!!!!  

Anyway- that's enough for tonight.  I'm hoping to post the press release that will be coming out next week also!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Networking

Election week this week proved to keep me entertained all Tuesday evening, (while studying for a test, of course).  The news commentators always have the funniest thing to say whether it is in error or on purpose.  The speeches by both Governor Romney and President Obama proved to be worth the wait, since it was necessary to stay up late to enjoy.  My favorite site is this map of how the states' votes were divided-- whether you are Republican or Democrat it is fascinating to see how people voted in different areas.

Wednesday was our annual event, Dinner with the Industry.  What started five years ago as a chance for business students to interact with professionals has continued to grow and make it possible for medical students, law students, and business students to talk to professionals regarding med school, working in a law firm, and all areas of business.  Students were encouraged to talk to the professionals about anything in the professional world, and gave students a chance to have dinner in a professional setting since it was catered by Sodexo.  Freshmen who were just looking for experience all the way to seniors looking for internships were welcome and gained many beneficial skills through this experience.


The following day, I had a luncheon with a professional for a possible summer internship- so I could say that three years of Dinner with the Industry has been good practice for interviewing with a meal involved!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

November already??

Where do I even begin with this week??  I can proudly say that I have successfully navigated my way through two tests (in my most difficult classes), two papers, and two very big events for Student Senate.  And I'm still standing!

Student Senate held our bi-annual Town Hall forum on Tuesday.  This event (which I was responsible for last year) is a chance for students to get to hear from the President and various departments throughout the university about current issues.  Students are then given the opportunity to direct any questions to the panelists (we had staff from 8 departments) that they may have about university affairs.  It was a success, even with a change of venue- so I hope that students can say that it was helpful for them to learn about the university!  I know I was excited to hear that our new academic building should begin the first stages of construction next fall as long as the donations fall into place.  

The other big event on Tuesday involved several organizations across the campus, including Senate, Relay for Life/ Colleges Against Cancer, ASA, and ADG (I apologize if I missed any!).  This was a Bone Marrow Donor Drive that was held all day.  This drive gave students the chance to sign up as bone marrow donors on the national registry.  An alumnus of Rockhurst, Dr John Murry, approached us and asked if we would be willing to have this donor drive.  He has four grandchildren with a disease called Diamond Blackfan Anemia, which requires them to have monthly blood transfusions-- but if a bone marrow donor is found, they can cease receiving these transfusions.  Therefore, Dr Murry has made it his personal mission to increase the number of possible donors in the registries.  I could not believe the turn out of students--we were just shy of our 500-person goal on Tuesday, and we should (with the help of two very committed students) be able to reach this goal by the end of the week!  

Friday, October 26, 2012

Firsts

Even after living in Kansas City and going to Rockhurst for 2 years (almost 2 1/2!), I have this week still been able to experience several "firsts".

On Tuesday, my dad (who travels for work) visited me in KC and I had sushi for the first time at Friends Sushi and Bento Place.  It was SO wonderful!  I would recommend this to ANYONE- we had an appetizer, two small sushi rolls and one large sushi roll plus dessert for less than $30- which was plenty to fill both of us!  I have a feeling this will become one of my favorite places to go.
Slightly blurry picture of our sushi rolls from my phone

Then on Wednesday, I went to my first ever professional soccer game through DSP!  First I'll explain the organization-- Delta Sigma Pi is our professional business fraternity on campus.  I have been involved in this organization since my freshman year, and I have had many opportunities as a result of it.  The UMKC chapter of DSP organized a brotherhood event to attend a KC Sporting game.  So, obviously, I wanted to attend!  I paid $25 and got 4th row tickets to see KC Sporting defeat Philadelphia Union to win the Eastern Conference title.  I always forget how much I like sports (I was a cheerleader in high school) until I actually GO to sporting events!  Therefore, I definitely got into the excitement and energy that comes along with such a devoted fan-base like Sporting has!
View from our seats

This week also included a phenomenal presentation by James Wanerski, a man who has exposed fraud in several companies that he has worked with over the past 30 years.  He attributed his successful present life to his Rockhurst educational background- both with undergrad and his MBA.  Rockhurst has been able to bring many different speakers with different backgrounds over the past years-- its incredible to be a part of!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Just the beginning

... of another amazing year!

Being asked to write a blog is being told that someone believes that your life is interesting enough for others to read.  I find this to be an incredible honor!  So I'm excited to start this little experiment!

This year has already been filled with some incredible opportunities and memorable moments- I guess the best place to start though is with one of those opportunities!  

At the end of September, I was able to attend an event with political commentator, George Will.  Rockhurst invited about 40 student leaders from many different organizations around campus to attend a special Q & A session with only Rockhurst students and Mr Will, in addition to a lunch event with over 600 people attending at the downtown Marriot.  As a member of Student Senate- I sat at one of the head tables with executives from Inergy, right in front of the stage.  I am always amazed at how our little school is not so little when it comes to the opportunities and connections that we have.  

Here's a picture I found from the event-- there I am with George Will!

And this is from the luncheon-- I sat at table 6(!!)  and this is one of the executives from Inergy-- we were right in front of the stage.

And finally- this is a picture with several of the Student Senators who attended.

Memorable moments are abound in a college community-- living in a Townhouse this year has resulted in numerous burns and fails while I'm cooking and baking.  But none can compare to my roommate-- who after purchasing a Mandolin-- was slicing apples.  She got excited and sliced her pinky finger right through-- I arrived home to her sitting outside waiting for the Rockhurst Security Officer to arrive and check it out, because it had been gushing blood for 20 minutes.  She does not like blood and so per the Rockhurst Security Officer's advice- we went to the emergency room since it was still bleeding and she felt sick.  After being allowed into the parking garage by the officer at St Luke's, we went ahead and unwrapped her injury- only to find that it was healing quite fine!  So we quickly left the emergency room parking garage, avoiding the officer's eye, and went to CVS to take care of it ourselves.  

Moral of the story-- be careful with sharp objects, no matter how old you are.  

But every week is sure to be full of these new adventures-- and I just can't wait!