Meals

These past few days, organizations have sponsored two very successful gatherings for "mealtimes".  But I will share more here.  Yesterday evening, Student Senate sponsored a picnic dinner that allowed any students or faculty to head out to the quad and enjoy their meal outside on the quad alongside other students, with live music and free cookies provided by Sodexo.  A lot of students took advantage of the chance to get out in the beautiful weather Wednesday evening and socialize together!  This was the first time Student Senate put together the event, and I would say it was a success!  We are looking forward to hosting this a few more times before it gets too cold this fall (for those on campus who are interested)

A few students enjoying dinner

The second event was lunch today, sponsored by the Helzberg School, which invited the faculty of the Helzberg Business School to eat lunch with all students enrolled in the Freshmen in Business Seminar (all freshmen interested in a business major).  Although we experienced a downpour which delayed some of the professors from arriving at the beginning of the class time, several professors and staff were able to chat with the freshmen and get to meet them (many for the first time).  I think the connections that were made along the way will be helpful just as they are beginning their freshmen year!  

Some of the FIBS students before the professors arrived

Personal Evaluation

This week in several of my classes, we have been working with self-evaluation and self awareness through different "strengths" and personality tests.  I have always found these incredibly interesting, even though I've felt it to be a bit overkill this week, but I'm ok with that.  So I thought I'd share a little bit about some of these tests.

1) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

   -Ok, so this is not one that we have done in class, but it is one of my favorite.  This test asks you a series of about 60 questions- some of which seem repetitive, but they are all yes or no, so it makes it go by very quickly.  Your results of this test come out as 4 letters which each stand for something.  The "choices" of letters include:  a) Extraversion vs Introversion (E/I)  b) Sensing vs Intuition (S/N)   c) Thinking vs Feeling (T/F) and  d) Judging vs Perception (J/P)   My result for this test is ENTJ (Although when I took it in High School I got INTJ)  Because many people have had access to this test and have evaluated it, there are a lot of sites which evaluate how your personality result will relate to other personality results, which to me, is the most interesting part of it. 

2) Social Styles (Merrill & Reed)

   -If I remember right, this test asks you to assign a rating/preference to particular tasks and skills under certain situations and will then assign which "Social Style" you are most similar to.  The choices are Driver, Expressive, Analytical, and Amiable. My result was as a Driver- which means I'm more likely to take action on a given task than be concerned about the human element.  

3) Strength Deployment Inventory (Porter)

   -The Strength Deployment Inventory begins by having you consider 2 situations- one time when a situation is going well, and another time when a situation is going badly.  It asks you specific questions about how likely you are to react in each of these situations which you respond to with a points value- 10 points that you divide between the different situations and you add up the point value at the bottom of a column.  The numbers on each column allow you to graph your "motivational" score on a triangle graph divided between 3 colors (which you can be a combination of).  For instance, mine came out as Red-Green meaning Judicious- Competing.  A second score shows how you are more likely to react under stress.





Overall, these tests serve different purposes, and help make you more self-aware as you are working with others, which is useful in many different situations.  If you get a chance to take one of these assessments in your organization or classes, don't ignore the results!  They're useful across many parts of your life!  

Harvesters

This Wednesday, I had the opportunity to volunteer at Harvesters, here in Kansas City.  Delta Sigma Pi, the business fraternity that I am involved in, signed up for times to allow us to help out.  So Wednesday evening, a few of us showed up and were put to (work) volunteering!  Our job for the day was to sort out pallets full of sliced bread, hot dog and hamburger buns, bagels, and all assortment of bread-type products.  At other times I have sorted vegetables in huge bins, and friends have helped put together boxes for donations, among many other tasks.  We always end up having a lot of fun volunteering, because we get a chance to visit with whoever you are working with, and often times, getting to know someone new- who you wouldn't have talked to before!  Something about Harvester's is that they are the only food bank in the area.  At their warehouse-style location, businesses, grocery stores, churches, and individuals donate food which is then sorted into all different categories to then be distributed to other local nonprofit agencies and organizations.  (which according to their website, is over 620)  Their work requires countless volunteers who come in daily to assist with sorting the donated food.  We actually worked with a group of women from an area company (I didn't catch where at) who actually come in weekly to assist in this sorting.  I also know that Rockhurst will often bring in large groups whether it is from different organizations, for our Finucane Service Project, or the Service Project for Family and Alumni weekend, both Rockhurst and Harvesters benefits from this relationship.

So if you ever get the chance, I would definitely recommend giving back to your community with an organization such as Harvesters!

Photo courtesy of kcchiefs.com

New Internship!

This past few weeks have been exciting to start back up the new year for several reasons.  While homework and decrease in free time has been a major drawback, I've also been lucky enough to have a new internship here in Kansas City!  Christian Foundation for Children and Aging is an organization that works to sponsor children and aging adults in 21 different countries around the world.  Their main sources of support are from the Catholic church, and they have priests that travel around the country to speak in different parishes; however, their message and their goal transcends across all denominations, making it an organization that everyone can get behind.  One of the most impressive things about CFCA is their commitment to bringing donations to those who need it most.  93.6% of the money donated to CFCA goes directly toward program support.  So that means all of the administrative and fundraising support offered by the offices in Kansas City and Florida are not included as part of the 93.6% that goes toward program support.  (this is one of my favorite parts about the organization-- the accounting major in me is showing I think)

But anyway, I've been hired as part of the US Outreach department, so I am assisting in the programs that reach out to sponsors and potential sponsors across the US.  Part of what has made this such an awesome experience for me is that CFCA is an organization I had only dreamed of interning at while in high school.  Upon entering Rockhurst, I was thinking of places that I could work at following graduation; I had wanted to work for a non-profit that was working to help people in developing countries, and immediately CFCA came to mind, because my parents have sponsored multiple children through them since I was small.  So I am very excited to be a part of the growing team at CFCA!

We're also getting to welcome several employees from CFCA in one of my classes next week, and are going to be talking about the video Rise & Dream, a documentary film about a group of students in the Philippines preparing to perform in a concert for peace.  The film won numerous awards including the Reel Rose Best Documentary Film Award and the Thin Line Film Fest's audience choice award.  You can watch the film Rise & Dream online here and learn how to get involved.

Ways Getting Sick in College is Different than Getting Sick in High School

While I'm sure this has been done before, this subject has been on the forefront of my mind since the beginning of the week, as I've returned from our long Labor Day weekend with a killer cold/flu virus that has kept me up coughing, sneezing, and overall feeling miserable for several days.  So I present:

Ways Getting Sick in College is Different than Getting Sick in High School

1) Skipping Classes
     While for some students, and some classes- skipping class in college would be a very easy decision, with the slightest headache or stuffy nose.  However, in my small classes, with daily quizzes, and impossible-to-make-up notes, it would be more of a problem to miss class for one day than it would be to attend class in my decreased state of awareness.  No more 10 free absences a year- more than 3 and our grades are reduced in some classes.

2) Medicine
      So, you're at college, you have everything you need.  The only problem is you probably don't.  The full medicine cabinet you have at home?  That's not cheap or easy to get back at college!

3) Specialized Care
       One thing about living at home, is that like it or not, your parents are going to take care of a lot of things for you.  Especially when you're sick.  So when you're up through the night coughing and sick- your parents will know exactly what to do.  While you may have picked up a few tricks- its much more difficult to remember it all at 3 in the morning by yourself.

4) Nutrition
      Whether you are lucky enough to have a meal plan or are cooking on your own- both requires a lot of work.  You either have to venture outside of your snuggly bed/couch (wherever you're cooped up to recover from sickness) to try and find something mildly appealing from Sodexo, or else muster the energy to go out to Price Chopper to find that particular comfort food you are used to having at home.


So bottom line collegiate peers- do your best to not get sick.  Allow Lysol, hand sanitizer, and orange juice to become your best friends- get lots of sleep, and eat healthy.  (even with all these things, you may not miss this bug) but good luck!

Safety

Rockhurst provides many services for their students, one of which is our Rockhurst Security Department.  The Security department patrols the campus and will handle anything security related throughout and around the campus.  However, many times they are called on for some non-security related assistance around campus.  For instance, security has already visited our house three times in the first week back at Rockhurst, so I'm going to share the many ways in which Security has assisted us.  Keep in mind that this is in addition to the times over the past 3 years I have contacted security for everything from unlocking doors to hooking up technology to a television (darn DVD players in the Party Barn)

Rockhurst Security Office

The first instance was on our very first day back at RU.  As we were all getting ready to leave the house around 6 at night, our gas alarm kept going off- telling us that there was either carbon monoxide or another gas in the house- not good.  So after calling the officers, they arrived at the house, and assisted us to turn it off.  However, yet again the next morning, the alarm continued to go off for several hours- so again the Rockhurst Officers along with the KC Fire Department arrived at our house to make sure there was nothing toxic in the air.  Luckily, the house came out clean, and we have not had problems since.

The second instance was last weekend, again as we were getting ready to leave the house.  Our toilet overflowed and we ended up with gallons of water flowing in our bathroom floor.  It then flooded through to our basement!  With an urgent call to the security office, an officer promptly arrived who helped us stop the flooding and clean up all the water.  What a great way to start the weekend!

The final time security has visited our house was earlier this week.  I woke up in the middle of the night to some terrible noises outside my window.  In my sleep-deprived stupor, I suddenly became worried about what that could be (person, yeti, or dying cat) and called the security office because I was too scared to check myself.  They stayed on the phone with me the entire time while other officers checked all around the house to ease my worry, and thankfully- there was nothing to be found.  (I later heard cats fighting, so my guess is that a cat was scratching on the windows)  But the officers were very understanding and so nice for coming out so late at night just to ease my worry!

Let's hope the remaining weeks of school reveal fewer visits from security, but I'm so glad that we've had such great support from the Security Office in our times of need and worry.

Now on to homework again for the first time in 3 months!

The last.... Fall Semester

It seems that for many people, this (senior) year is one to live it up before entering another step of their education- grad school.  Since I'm not intending to go to grad school following Rockhurst at this time, I'm trying to decide what things I will either miss most about college, or that I will never get to do again once I have a full-time job, have to pay rent, and deal with similar obligations.  I'm hoping this will help me live every single day with as much enthusiasm as most people reserve for weekend trips and other special occasions. 

I was very happy to get to complete my summer internship having gained many skills and a few more connections (thank you LinkedIn).  And I took my last opportunity to take a week off just to spend time with friends and family right before classes start.  

We are welcoming over 400 (I believe close to 450) students to Rockhurst this week.  They all moved in (along with the upperclassmen) two days ago, on Saturday.  I hope we'll have a great group of Hawks who will continue to be involved on campus, and represent Rockhurst well in all of their endeavors.  I will be facilitating the Freshmen in Business Seminar, which will allow me to continue to be a part of the journey these young students will take throughout the first semester here.  

For now, that is all!  I have more moving in to do and preparation for a day full of meetings tomorrow!