View from the back of the Rosen Centre Hotel, Florida!
Kerry, Anna, John Gardner, Me: at the Publisher’s Dessert on Sunday Evening!
My delectable chocolate covered strawberry!
Award Ceremony: The recipients of the Undergraduate Student Fellowship!
Hibachi!
Enjoy! -Jessie
Greetings from Atlanta, Georgia, as I await the final leg of my trip, and head to Stewart International Airport, located in Newburgh, New York. When I return to my life tomorrow, and attend classes and meetings galore, I most certainly will have a new level of appreciation for my busy college schedule and every individual involved with it. These past few days have been incredible and I wish that each of you will have the opportunity to attend a conference on a subject which you are passionate about at some point in your life.
Before I write about the conference, I want to take the opportunity to once again thank everyone involved with my attendance at this conference: Robin Cohen-LaValle, the Center for Student Development, President Poskanzer, RHSA, SA, several hall governments/ RA staffs, and the phenomenal staff at the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition. I also really appreciate the support of my professors, the Deyo Hall staff and the RHSA executive board.
The conference officially began during the later part of the afternoon on Saturday. When I entered the grand ballroom, I was astonished to see so many people! In all honesty, I was a quite overwhelmed to be surrounded by such an immense number of college professionals. However, within minutes, that changed! During the opening speech, Stewart Hunter asked us to introduce ourselves to the person next to us. To my right was an academic advisor from a school in Missouri and it was just so neat to interact with someone with such a contrasting background from mine, yet with such a strong common interest. Then, several presenters spoke, including our keynote speaker Freeman A. Hrabowski III.
When I began my first-year at SUNY New Paltz, my RA, and my amazing mentor Jenay, encouraged me to become active with hall government, which rapidly became a seed for my expansion of leadership opportunities. I kept joining different clubs and organizations, and getting more involved, mainly because I really enjoyed building community on our campus. I had such a positively transformational first-year at college, that I soon became active with working with first-year students on our campus on several different levels. As time has progressed over the past three years, I have adored all of the time I have spent being so connected to SUNY (or as many people I met call it, “Sunny”) New Paltz. These upbeat feelings influenced my decision to want to pursue a career in higher education because I just enjoy working with college students.
Hrabowski’s keynote speech on Saturday, February 7, 2009 was a crystal clear confirmation for me that higher education is certainly what I want to dedicate my career to. He spoke about the power that education has on our future, and this theme just inspired me greatly. He spoke about how the number of students who graduate college is far too low and that we have the strength to impact these individuals, and enhance their college experiences. We need to be able to educate; we need to be able to teach our students to think critically, to write well, and to know what it means to be educated. He said, “We in America must educate more people than we are right now… and we need students to prosper in their institutions.” Hrabowski put a strong emphasis on attitude, as attitude can strongly impact these statistics.
My day on Sunday began at 7:00am, yes, I know-YIKES! But let me tell you, it was worth it! After a generous cup of coffee, I attended my first workshop, pretty much followed by workshops all day until 6ish. During these workshops, I took notes galore, so please contact me if you are interested and I can share my wealth of fascinating data and interesting information with you. The workshops which I attended were so great! I definitely learned so much at each session, from both the presenters and the individuals at the workshop with me. I went to workshops ranging from “Habitudes- the Habits and Attitudes of First Year Students,” to “The Challenges of Teaching for Engaged Citizenship in the First College Year: The Role of Cognitive-Structural Theories,” to “Successful Academic Endeavors in Residence Halls and Non-Academic Settings,” to “Balancing the Scale: Maintaining Wellness and Job Satisfaction as a First-Year Professional,” just to name a few! I learned a significant amount and I am excited to hopefully implement some of the practices on our campus. I have so many ideas and it is just so exciting!
At my last workshop on Sunday evening, I met one of my fellow-fellows, Anna! It was wonderful to meet her! That night, I went out for some delicious Italian food with Anna and a professor from her school, Kerry. Dinner was wonderful! First off, the food was beyond delicious! Secondly, the conversation was great! It was so nice to have the opportunity to connect with a student with such similar interests and goals. Anna and Kerry are such great people, and I feel lucky to have met them. It was a really fun meal, followed by a really fun dessert! For dessert, we headed back to the hotel, as one of the publisher’s was hosting a dessert. I am being 100% honest when stating that I truly had the best chocolate covered strawberries I have ever had in my entire life. My entire 20 year life. It was really cool to be at that dessert, as many distinguished individuals were there. We were having a lovely conversation with the head of an FYE program in Minnesota, when we were fortunate enough to be graced by the presence of John Gardner!
John Gardner is the father of the First Year Experience. He is the individual who is/was dedicated to making FYE a respected aspect of higher education in our society. As I told him about my past involvement, and my future goals, he was more than helpful with guiding me in a direction, and making many recommendations. It was really a gift to meet him! Throughout the remainder of the dessert, other FYE researchers sat with us, and it was just an unbelievable experience!
Monday, starting once again at 7:00am, was also fantastic. I had the chance to be exposed to many posters which were really interesting to look at and choc full of ideas and statistics. During the poster session, I met a lady who actually taught with my aunt at Seaton Hall University! Fancy that! I also met a really cool girl from Alaska, and we decided to be pen pals, and send each other small tokens from our institutions, along with pictures and ideas of what we are doing on our campuses!
For lunch, I went to the Random House Luncheon. I had the privilege of hearing several authors speak about their texts, including Donovan Campbell, Louise Steinman, Michael Greenberg, John Elder Robinson, and Tracy Kidder. This alone was an unbelievable experience!
Then, we had the award ceremony for the recipients of the Undergraduate Fellowship. It was at the ceremony which I met Ryanne from Vermont, another recipient! We decided to all meet up that night, so after more workshops, we decided to go shopping!
Please note, we took a trolley! Yes, a trolley! Anyway, first we got hibachi, which was scrumptious. Our chef was so fun and kept playing tricks on us. It was such a good time! Then, we went to the shopping mainly we needed more luggage for all of the free books we received! We had an absolutely wonderful time, especially in the Gap! It was crazy that we only knew each other for a few hours, yet were able to joke around and just laugh! We each got something in the Gap, which is going to be our way of staying connected! Then, we got some Starbucks, and took the trolley home.
Today, yet again, an early day, was a half day of workshops followed by a town hall meeting. I went to the airport, where my plane was delayed. First, there was an emergency with one of the employees working on the plane, and then once we finally got on the plane, the engine wouldn’t start! But, it was a fine flight, and now I am here in Atlanta, waiting for the last leg of this fantastic journey.
I would certainly consider this trip to have been an adventure, one which will have a lasting impact on me as a human being. Traveling alone was completely new territory for me in itself. In addition, having the opportunity to interact with hundreds upon hundreds of individuals from all over the world, including 6 countries and approximately 500 institutions, about something which holds such deep meaning to each of us was remarkable. I think that it was important for me to be exposed to so much intellect and philosophy behind the principles of higher education, more specifically, on the first year experience. I am so excited to do something with all of this positive energy and valuable information.
In a nutshell: unbelievable four days. It was the perfect time of winter to escape to palm trees and bright skies for a few days, in addition to the plethora of priceless data I was able to gather!
As I get ready to board my plane, I assure you that I will post pictures soon! Thank you for reading this rather long post. From Atlanta, I wish you the best! Enjoy! -Jessie
Alright, so hey guys!
I know I’ve been talking about London for ages now, and not ever putting up pictures or telling you what I did there. Not cool of me, I know. So, I’d like to just do a quick play by play of my 2 weeks in London over winter break. I’ll add some snapshots (certainly not ALL of them, because well there are over 1,000 of them at least) and I’ll just tell ya where you can look up videos if you’re interested. I took a lot of videos too!
Ok, so as some of you know, I went to London for the London Theatre Seminar through the SUNY New Paltz study abroad program. It’s an intersession, which means it’s a study abroad program between semesters! So that worked out perfectly for me!
Alright, now it’s time for the play-by-play. Hope you’re ready!
Monday Jan 5th:
We arrived in London. We met up with a girl named Angela, who studied abroad last year at SUNY New Paltz. She showed us how to purchase Oyster cards so we could ride the subway (or in London it’s called The Tube). We walked through Covent Garden, and took pictures at Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter! We ate at Henry’s Restaurant where I had my first ever English Breakfast for dinner. An English breakfast consists of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, mushrooms, baked beans, hash browns, and half a tomato. It was definitely interesting. That night we saw Avenue Q.
Tuesday Jan 6th:
10 AM we met at Professor Paul Kassel’s flat (our chaperon and supervisor for this London Theatre Intersession.) We saw 39 Steps the matinee. We went to Yate’s a pub, with native Englishman and friend Alex Oates (who also studied abroad here at New Paltz.) You go up to the bar and order instead of a waiter coming to you. Your table has a number on it, so you tell them your number and they deliver you the food. That night we saw the play 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover at Christmas.
Wednesday Jan 7th:
11:45-1:15 went through a theatrical tour of The Drury Lane Theatre. We didn’t see the actual stage, because they were rehearsing for Oliver, the musical at the moment. We could actually hear them singing. Then we saw the play Sunset Boulevard for a matinee. For dinner we went to Nona’s, a really nice Italian restaurant. Then we saw the play Loot.
Thursday Jan 8th:
We went to the Globe Theatre and received a tour and did an actual workshop. It was great! Then we went to a restaurant on right next to the Thames River. I had a duck and plum sauce sandwich. Would never order it again, but I ate it all. Went to The Tate’s Museum until had a Backstage tour of The National Theatre. During that tour we actually WALKED on the set of August: Osage County, which had the original cast. The set was insanely detailed! For example, all the newspapers were dated in August!Then we rushed to see Hamlet starring Patrick Stewart and David Tennet, where we sat in row AA for only 5 lbs!
Friday, Jan 9th
Slept in. First time yet! Went to see a film of the play Chairs, at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Then we went to Westminster where we saw Big Ben, The Eye and Westminster Abbey. That night we saw Oliver, the musical starring Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) as Fagin. We actually sat in THE KING’S BOX!! Or in this case, the Queen’s box. So if the Queen wanted to see the show of Oliver, she would be sitting where we sat! 
It was quite an extraordinary experience!
Saturday Jan 10th:
We saw August: Osage County with the original Broadway cast. After seeing that show I experience major catharsis. We met up with the actress who played the young daughter in August: Osage County, because she went to school with one of the girls on the trip with us. Cool, right? We went to get some grub at Marks and Spencer Simply Food, which is a really awesome food store/clothe store/everything store! Then we saw the scary play Women in Black. This play had only 2 actors. Then we all came back to our flat and hung out and had fun!
Sunday, Jan 11th
3PM saw Twelfth Night by the Royal Shakespeare Company with Derrick Jacobi as Malvolio. After that we caught dinner and went on Jack the Ripper tour. I had one of the best things in my life, called a pasty, which is basically a big folded over chicken-pot-pie esque food. It’s comparable to meat pies with a crusty, warm outer layer. My pasty was called “The big One,” and boy was it! A beggar asked us for money in exchange for making us wire flowers. We all got a flower.
Monday, Jan 12th
We went to St. Paul’s, which is the church they have in Mary Poppins if you recall. So, we FED THE BIRDS, TUPPANCE A BAG. Haha, I have videos up there of some of my friends getting attacked/taming pigeons at St. Paul’s. We saw the Tower of London, the oldest wall, talked to some of the guards, had fish and chips (the well known English food) and went back to the National Theatre to see a play called Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.
Tues, Jan 13th:
In the morning we posed on Abbey Road like the Beatles. We went for some Indian food and bought scarves for friends back home. We saw the matinee of the play The Mousetrap. Then at night we saw the wonderful dance spectacle of Edward Scissor Hands.
Wed, Jan 14th:
11AM meeting with Paul Kassel in our flat about our experiences so far. We saw the play Complicit, with Richard Dreyfuss, which was still in previews. It was at The Old Vic Theatre, which is the theatre where Kevin Spacey artistically directs. Kevin Spacey was the director of this play, and we actually saw him after the show! After that we explored China Town (which was great) and went to see a show called Roaring Trade, which I actually purchased the script. That night we went to the largest club in London called Oceana, which had 3 floors and 8 rooms! There was a disco room, a ball room, and a hip hop room, to name a few!
Thursday, Jan 15th:
People saw Billy Elliot and went on the Dungeon Tours. We saw a Panto play, which was titled Hansel and Gretel.
Friday, Jan 16th:
We woke up at 6:30AM to leave for Stratford, which was a 3 1/2 hour trip. When we arrived there, we ate at the Food of Love, where I had a proper cream tea which consisted of tea, cream, jam, and a scone. We went through the market, saw Shakespeare’s birthplace, where he is buried in Trinity Church, and then received a tour of the Courtyard Theatre (a theatre of the Royal Shakespeare Company.) Apparently I slept through a major fight on the bus ride back where the bus driver had to eventually cut his tie off because it was choking him. We went back to China town and ate at a Chinese buffet, since I was craving Chinese food. I remember the toilets of that buffet being made of silver glitter.
Sat, Jan 17th:
Me and 2 others took the initiative to go to Salisbury to see Stonehenge. We left the flat at 6am to catch a 7:20 bus, and then took a train, and another bus. A lot of transportation, but totally worth it!
Sun, Jan 18th:
All flew home to JFK!
PHEW! See why that was a hard blog to do? I totally recommend this trip to anyone! You don’t just have to be a theatre major to be apart of this program, so don’t be intimidated by that. It’s a great experience, although short, absolutely jam packed with adventure!
If you’d like to see any videos of any of the tours I went on or any of the discussions us SUNY New Paltz students had about the plays/experiences we’ve been having thus far, they are ALL on youtube. Just search for my youtube user name: Singwithme0703! You’ll be able to skim through what ya like! There are a bunch, and some of them are pretty funny, so enjoy! 
Ok…pic-cha time!
So this semester I am interning at the American Red Cross in Kingston as part of my Disaster Studies Minor. We haven’t done much so far because I’ve only been there for 3 full days. Mostly just prep stuff, like when you start a new job or something. First day we basically filled out all of our information and got our ID cards, second day we did something called a Disaster Table Top which is a group assignment where you guessed, we sat at a table and basically went over a disaster scenario (Where was it? who was affected? how were people affected? where would we set up a shelter if it was necessary? stuff like that). On the third day we met with someone from the Disaster Action Team where we were entered into the DAT team (extra “t” I know, I questioned that right away when I saw it). So, if a disaster ever happens which hopefully it won’t because that usually means suffering for someone I’ll be able to go to the disaster scene and represent for the Red Cross. We also learned the necessary paperwork to fill out when responding to someone who has just suffered from a disaster. It basically just lists their name and information, a description of the scenario/disaster, and a whole bunch of other stuff. From there you’d refer to a little chart that shows you how much of a monetary donation clients will receive in order to get them going for the next week or so. Although it’s not a lot of money that the Red Cross provides it’s still something, and no amount of money would probably ever bring back the things people have lost.
Anyways, when we ( myself and my fellow interns Jen and Rose) were about to leave we were asked if we wanted to fill out some of the paperwork with a client who was currently there. We all replied no because we had only just learned how to do it but we all wanted to watch to see how this typically goes. So we went into the room with the client and her friend, and someone from the Disaster Action Team and we observed.
It was so sad. The client had been at work one day and came home to find their apartment in ashes with all of their belongings inside, including their pets. It was awful to watch this but after I left it really made me remember how grateful I have to be for everything that I have. Sometimes I forgot how easy I have it and I get caught up in everything that’s going on in my life that I begin to take things for granted. So, I’m going to try and be more mindful this semester, especially while I’m interning at the Red Cross because unfortunately I’m sure I’m going to be seeing a lot more situations similar to this.
Sorry if this was a little depressing. Although it is, it is a very good learning experience at the same time. Hopefully I come out of this a more appreciative person. To change the subject a little, I really like my internship so far and I really like the other interns that I am working with. The car rides are fun since we carpool and we’re going to try and get KFC after we get out from work a lot, which I have no problem with, even though my wallet and body will occasionally.
I think that’s all I really wanted to mention about my internship for now. I’m going to go do mail for my Residence Hall now and then off to Psychology of Infancy and Childhood. Then HEROES!!! I don’t know why I use exclamation points when I mention HEROES because I’m not that excited for it since it’s dumb now. Maybe tonight’s show will make me change my mind.
Okay Later,
Kevin
Although its February, somehow its almost 50 degrees and I couldn’t be happier. My favorite thing about spring is the warmer weather and being able to sit out in the sun. There is still snow on the hills and grass, but soon enough it will be cleared off by the sun and then I can’t wait to have picnics and do homework in the sun! If this is February, I just can’t wait for March and April!
Greetings from Florida!
I am currently in Orlando, attending the National Resource Center’s 28th Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience! Yesterday, after a quiz, my fantastic RD Val drove me to Steward International Airport. As I got out of the car, all I could think about was how un-nervous I was! All week long, people were asking me, are you nervous to travel by yourself? As crazy as this may sound, in all honesty, I really was not nervous! So, I checked my luggage (49 ½ lbs.. which means I have to pack really carefully when coming home!) and headed up to Gate 4.
My first flight to Atlanta was TINY! There were 12 ½ rows on the plane, and I was in row 12! The lady I was sitting next to was very nice and we talked for a good majority of the flight. The other part was dedicated to some school work.
When I got to Atlanta, I took a trolley from Zone D to Zone B, bought some gummy lifesavers, and immediately boarded the next plane. This plane was much bigger- 200 passengers. Again, I sat next to a nice family, going to Disney for 5 days. This flight seemed to go by soooo quickly- before I knew it, my ears were popping and we were descending!
Everything went smoothly from here! I got my luggage, took a van to the hotel, and checked in. Once I dropped my luggage off in my room on the 16th floor, I took some time to wander around the hotel! It’s huge and beautiful! There are separate elevators for floors 1-15 and 16-top floor, whatever that may be!
Today looks like a beautiful day. I am planning on catching up on some work for a while, and then heading down to register for the conference. Hope all is well.. Enjoy! -Jessie
I just arrived back from Freshdance, and it was truly remarkable. Remarkable I say, with extra exclamation points! Last year I danced in one of the numbers, but this year I was a regular ol’ spectator. But, ya know what? I am truly happy to have been a supportive audience member, whoopin’ and hollerin’ as each curtain dropped from the heavens. Because each time the dancers froze in time on their final step, I felt a surge of inspiration, a passion of movement and strength and sound, just spill over me like fairy dust blowing from a child’s hands. I felt a reason to appreciate art and love. Each dance piece brought so much emotion in my heart that sometimes it carried through my arteries to my head, where it overwhelmed my eyes, making them brim and slosh with water.
I don’t need to tell anyone who’s ever seen a dance recital how much work goes into these numbers. People become emotionally and physically exhausted with every piece of effort they thrust towards these pieces with grace and skill. Choreographers, dancers, lighting designers, costume designers, sound designers, stage managers, wardrobe crew, run crew, and every other type of crew imaginable combines their talents into one collapse piece of beauty called art. And this art, referred to as Freshdance, is only here for one weekend here on McKenna stage at SUNY New Paltz. So you best get your booties here! I’m serious! Support the students, support the local dance teams, and support art.
Click here for more information on Freshdance!
I’ll be keepin’ ya posted!
Alright, so it’s 10 past 6 in the morning and I’m getting ready to go skiing! It’s my first time skiing this ski season! I’m so excited! I’m going to Windham, which I haven’t gone to since I was younger. (Probably in elementary school?) At any rate, it’s been flurrying nicely for the last couple of days and I think the conditions are gonna be SAH-WEET! I actually just checked the website and they have 46 trails open, 30 trails groomed, and 6 to 7 inches of new snow!
I normally wouldn’t have a chance to do this, since I give tours of the campus Wednesdays, but a really kind-hearted girl named Rita switched with me! So I’ll be giving mine this Friday instead! Perfect!
Ever since I came back from London (which I know, I know, I still have to blog/put up pictures/put up videos for!) I’ve been at New Paltz working my butt off trying to get in shape! I went to a couple of cycling classes, and I spoke to a girl next to me who said she goes a lot so she can get ready for skiing. So that’s a good sign! I’ve also been taking R.A.D Woman’s Self Defense classes (had my 2nd class last night) and I absolutely LOVE IT! I can’t wait to blog about that as well! So anyway, hopefully I’m in shape enough to hit the slopes hard until I have to get back here for my 3:05 class! Fingers crossed that all goes spendidly!
OHH and tonight ladies and gents, I’m going to the Gala of Freshdance. Gala is where all the theatre students get a free ticket to see a mainstage production here at SUNY New Paltz. So I’ll be seeing that tonight! Tomorrow they are half price for students so get those tickets while they’re hot! Freshdance is a student choreographed recital featuring students moving to all different kinds of dances. It’s always an exceptional experience to attend, and I’m really pumped to check it out tonight!
At any rate, I probably should be eating some oatmeal and getting dressed outta these owl PJ’s I have on. Everyone enjoy your Wednesday!
P.S. This is a reminder to myself…I would like to post about last weekend! I even have videos so when I catch a chance I’ll try and do it justice. Homework has been brutal!
Ok have a Whacky Wednesday!
Hey so it’s Tuesday and I have the whole day off. I’m going to get some work done that’s due later in the week, do my laundry, and possibly go to the gym because I really need to. We’ll see how that goes.
This past weekend was a lot of fun. It started off Friday night with some bowling. This year we have something on campus called First Year Fridays where they have a variety of programs throughout the semester. It’s directed toward first year students, but of course it is open to everyone. So anyway, this past Friday there was a trip to the Kingston Hoebowl. For ten bucks you got transportation, 2 hours of bowling, shoes, pizza and snacks. I chaperoned the trip and some of my friends were there so we basically just had a good time. Here’s some pics:
This year the college is also doing something called Saturday Nights at the Terrace where they host different activities over in the College Terrace. That’s a weird sentence. Anyways, this past weekend we hosted Amy Anderson, a really funny stand up comic. The events take place every Saturday night I believe at about 9 or 10 0′clock and it’s free. I know sometme in the future there’s going to be some Rockband competitions there and an Open Mic night so I’m really excited for that. Keep on the lookout New Paltz students!
Okay, workout time.
-Kevin
