Well hello hello once again everyone! For all of your returning readers, I am so glad that you have decided to continue on in your journey to becoming a true Diva. It isn’t an easy road, and there are so many lessons to learn! But each lesson is a chance to gain some new knowledge and maybe learn about yourselves as well! For any of you who might be reading for the first time, feel free to look at my previous posts and read through them to get back up to speed! It’s never too late to start on your journey to become the best Diva you can be. That’s just a life lessons for y’all. So moving on and talking about the current lesson at hand, this week we’ll be talking about some charity realness! To be a Diva is a blessing in itself, and sometimes, we need to remember to take the time and thank those who have either helped us along our journeys or simply to help out a worthy cause that could use the help of a fabulous Diva! That’s why this week, I’m servin’ up philanthropy realness in Diva Lesson #7: Give Back.

A few weeks back, I was asked to volunteer some time this week and help out at a campus wide event set up by an organization known as Up ‘Til Dawn. Basically, Up ‘Til Dawn is a charity organization which raises money for Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital, which is primarily funded by donations, which is why these large charity events are held. Every fall semester, there is a big letter sending party, where people from all over campus can come and send out pre-written letters to family members and friends asking them to donate to this wonderful cause, which helps fight cancer. Of course, I immediately agreed to help them out for a number of reasons. Primarily, I believe that Up ‘Til Dawn is a phenomenal group and anything that people can do to help out is wonderful. Other than that, many of my friends here on campus are involved with the organization as Executive Board members. Primarily, the advisors of the organization, Kristen and Christina, are amazing and I had the chance to work for them over the summer. I love them both so much, and wanted to show them how much I appreciate them by helping them out with this event. Also, my friends Faith, Brittany, and Stephen are some of the Executive Board members and since they are all important to me, I wanted to make sure I was there when they needed me to support them and lend a hand. As a Diva, it is important to recognize those who are important to you, and show them you appreciate them by giving time, energy, and whatever else you can to them when they’re in need. Wouldn’t you want them to do the same?

Moving forward in the story, last night after my class let out at 5:45, I went over to Jazzman’s Cafe and got myself a caramel latte and then went back to my room to get ready for the event! At about 6:30, I went over and helped them prepare for the event. During the letter sending party, I would be helping to direct the entertainment and have them fill out letters just like everyone else who was simply attending the event as a regular attendee. Once the event got started, I also was put in charge of giving people stamps after they had filled out three letters so that they could get the free food and things at the event itself. We had a lot of pizza, popcorn, cotton candy, and other snacks. The best part of the food was probably the free cupcakes they had! Moxie cupcakes, who has a small store in town, donated a bunch of little cupcakes of all different flavors. They were super cute! My favorite would probably have to be the peanut butter and jelly cupcake. It was probably one of the greatest cupcakes I’ve ever had.

As soon as the event started, it was so amazing to see all of the people who came. There were a ton of sports teams such as the basketball team who came together and filled out a bunch of letters. The cheer leading team came as well, since they were one of the performing groups. Residence Hall staffs all came together as well, and it was really nice to see them all sitting together at different tables bonding with each other, and coming together for this wonderful cause. Over the course of the night, I really enjoyed walking around the room, giving out stamps to people, and just seeing everyone all together. So many professional staff members, including the President of the school came as well, and it was also great to see all of them come out to support the Up ‘Til Dawn organization as too. Beyond this, I really loved that Up ‘Til Dawn gave different performing groups the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of this large audience. All of the A Capella groups were able to perform, some of the slam poets (my friend Bre included!) performed, Epic Glee!, and Shades (a stomp group here on campus) all performed along with the cheer leading team to help keep everyone entertained while they worked hard filling out letters to send. I really loved all of the different performances that were put on throughout the night because they really showcased the wide variety of activities the students here on campus can get involved with, and the diversity on our campus as well which is something that sets New Paltz apart from other schools and really makes it a unique and special place.

As the night went on, people began to hand in their letters and head out. After the event was over, I helped to clean up by taking out garbage with Lil’ Fabz (who left a trail of soda/water which leaked out of her trash bag and then covered my shirt in this mystery liquid as we tried to hoist the bags into a dumpster!), and I took a trip to the library with Stephen to give back some laptops that they were using to register people at the event. Once everything was all cleaned up, Lil Fabz and I went back to Capen. I stayed around there for a little while, and then Jordan and I went out for a late night walk. We started off on campus, and then ended up going around town. It was really interesting to see how different the town was late at night when it was all deserted and there weren’t many people around. We talked about our lives, and all of that deep nonsense that people usually talk about on those long, clear, quiet nights. There were so many stars and the moons were beautiful. It was such a lovely way to spend the night.

When a Diva sees the opportunity to give back, a Diva should take it. It is important, as a Diva, to realize how blessed you are to have all that you do in life, and then make note of the fact that other people may not be as fortunate for a variety of reasons. Up ‘Til Dawn’s Letter Sending Party was such a perfect example of this. Not only was I able to give back, and support an amazing event on campus, but so many other people were doing the same thing. I got to see so many of the Orientation Leaders who were helping out or volunteering in various roles throughout the night, as well as all of the other students who were generously giving of their time to help make this event the huge success that it was. Most importantly, I was able to help support my friends and people who I care about by giving back to them, and giving my time and energy to them when they need it. In life, having support is essential, especially when it comes to people who care about you. One of the best ways that you can show your appreciaition is by giving back to them, and helping out when they need you. I suppose this is the key of this week’s lesson. It’s not just about giving to organaztions which seek to create greater amounts of good or positiviity in the world, but also giving to those who support and care about you. It all comes back to love, y’all. Learn it, use it, and spread it! That’s it for this lesson, so enjoy, and always keep in mind, Diva Lesson #7: “Give Back.”

Extra Credit! This week, I had a lovely Starbs date with Jen. She’s the best. Also, I’m considering applying for a job at the Welcome Center. We’ll see what happens. There’s an opening on Capen Hall Gov, and I’m not a part of Hall Gov currently, so I’m thinking I might need to take advantage of this oppertunity which I passed up the first time around. I’m pretty sure the universe is trying to tell me something. And finally, Willow Smith came out with a new song this week called “Fireball” featuring Nicki Minaj, AND the pinnacle of it all, Beyonce’s video for “Countdown” came out this week. I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m sure it’s flawless and I can’t wait to see it.