I'm Home!

I'm finally home from school! I had to stay at school an extra 4 days to be on duty.  The men's basketball team had a game vs. Yale on December 19th and because some of them live out of state or had no way of getting back and forth to school everyday for practice, they had the option of staying in my building.  Six boys stayed on my floor in an empty room; seems intimidating but they had rules to follow and they were tired most of the time due to practice.  I'm happy to be home though because when no one is at school, it's weird! The campus was so empty and it just didn't feel the same.  When I came home I packed 2 suitcases and I'm starting to think I probably packed too much for a little less than a month home but oh well!  I've been super busy with work, too.  I've been working every single day at Abercrombie and the holiday shoppers are keeping me busy at work!  Over break I'll try to blog about some fun holiday things to do and any other activities I get myself into :)

Finals Week!

Finals week is upon us and most college students are stressed out.  Luckily, most of my finals were papers or presentations so my finals are over with (woohoo!) I can finally breathe a breath of fresh air.  One nice thing that Albertus does to try and help students calm is providing them with a snack cart!  The snack cart just stopped by my building and I'm writing this right after I got my snacks!  The snack cart stops by every year during finals week and provides students with some small snacks to munch on while writing papers or studying.  We get the choice of picking two small snacks whether it be chips, crackers, granola bars, some candy and we also get either water or Capri Sun.  The snack cart is just a nice gesture to students to encourage them to keep studying and pushing through their finals!  So whether you have papers, presentations, or tests, keep pushing through your finals because you're almost done :)

Christmas Night!

Last Night, we had Christmas Night in the pub!  We provided students with graham crackers, frosting, candy, and other groups to not only munch on, but so they could make a gingerbread house to take home with them.  While this was going on, we also played Christmas cartoons that students could enjoy as well.  This was a smaller event that we did, so we did something a little different with it to advertise.  A member of SGA created a winter-themed cross word puzzle and hung flyers up across campus letting people know about them.  The crossword puzzles were allowed to be picked up from Erin Morrell, assistant director of student activities and orientation, on Monday, December 3rd.  The first person to hand the crossword puzzle in on December 4th with all the words correct won $25 cash.  Fellow SGA member and student blogger, Matthew Brancaccio, won the prize!  All students that came down had a great time and showed that even in the midst of finals week coming up, their still ready to have some fun on campus.

Becoming an Albertus Tour Guide

I've noticed that more and more often students at Albertus are asking me how to become a tour guide on campus.  It's actually pretty easy to join the program.  You can make an appointment with Jessica Ballas, an alum of the college and a assistant director of the Admissions office who oversees the tour guide program.  Once an appointment is made with her, you interview with her (make sure you dress your best!) and she asks you some questions like why you want to be a tour guide.  If you are chosen, you are now a tour guide and ready for your training! 
I became a tour guide the beginning of my junior year.  I'm really passionate about Albertus and I wanted another way to get involved on campus, tell others how much of a great school Albertus is and get paid for it!  What's better than talking about something you truly enjoy and still being able to get paid for it?  Once I started with the program, I was really nervous.  I don't like speaking in front of large groups of people, so I was nervous to speak in front of group tours.  In training, I received a packet with a lot of information about Albertus that I had to read on my own.  The packet included information on each residence halls, the history of the campus and athletics.  It was interesting to find out information about the campus that I didn't know before!  Did you know that Rosary Hall, the  library on campus was actually a wedding gift from parents to a daughter? Or that Siena Hall had Tiffany jewels encrusted in the building (which are no longer there), or that each of the mansions were actually someone's home before the college purchased them?  You can find all this information out in the packet!  After I read the packet, I was required to "shadow" a tour.  You can shadow as many tours as you feel necessary.  The point of shadowing a tour is so you can see how a real tour goes with someone else.  Every tour is going to be different every time and you can never really expect what will happen but as long as you know your facts, you'll be good to go :) 
I've been a tour guide for a year now, and even though I know a lot about the campus, there's still some things I don't know or don't know how to answer when people ask (like when they ask about a major other than business.)  If you don't know this information, it's OK!  You can let one of the admissions counselors know that they were asking about it, and they can direct the question in the right direction.  It's weird that I hate public speaking, but I actually prefer to do group tours.  I like being able to tell a lot of people about the school and I like being able to tell others how great of a school Albertus is and what we have to offer here. 

Rosary Hall

Winter Wonder Week

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately!! I've been so busy this week it's been so hectic for me!  I finished all but one of my finals (woohoo) so I've been able to focus on this busy week.  I'm chairing the Winter Wonder formal dance that we put on every year in the Campus Center BCR.  This is one of the bigger events that we have on campus and it's stressful especially for the chair person!  I'm thankful that I have a co-chair on this event, Sharinna who is also an RA and the advertising chair on SGA.  Every year, we have picked a theme and stuck it with and decorate the whole BCR to this particular theme.  In the past years since I've been here, we've done NYC theme, Disney, and Santa's Workshop theme.  This year we have decided to do a classic black and white christmas with certain touches of NYC in there.  It was going to be too hard to just stick to completely black and white themed, so we added some NYC in there to help us find more decorations and what not.  We have a big Christmas closet that we put all of the decorations in- and there is A LOT.  We have a ton of trees as well as blow up figures, signs, cardboard cut outs, ornaments, wreaths, garland and many other items.  We pulled all of these items out of the Christmas closet Sunday night and have been hard at work all week putting together the room to look the best it can be.  Many of the people that are helping set up are all volunteers on SGA or the SGA volunteer committee.  They have been hard at work making sure that everything gets done right and looks great!  The dance is tomorrow night (Friday) and there is still a lot that needs to get done so tonight is going to be a long night but it will all be worth it.  I have helped setting up in the past and I can truly say that even though it's a stressful week and you feel like it's never going to get done, it always does and it looks totally different when you are done. 

Black Friday Madness is Over With

 
The most hatred time of year came and went in a flash for retail workers:  Black Friday.  I have been working at Abercrombie and Fitch in the Milford Post Mall for a year now and have survived two Black Fridays.  Last year, I had just started working at the store and they put me on fitting rooms from 12 am- 5 am.  It was horrible! Not only was I completely exhausted but people were so rude and left all of their items in the fitting room.  It's crazy to see how much I've changed in a year because now I'm not afraid to tell customers like it is.  I was really quiet last year, but this year I knew I couldn't let customers walk all over me.  I worked 9 am- 6 pm, so I had just missed the crazy mark of 50% off the entire store.  When I arrived, the entire store was 40% off and I was put on the register the whole time.  The store was so busy the whole day, but I survived!  I was happy to have my shift over and done with, and now I have time and a half to look forward to on my pay check :)

I can't deny though, me and my mom went out last night to Walmart in a spur of the moment.  We saw some things in the ad that we wanted and figured we would just stop by and see if they had what we wanted.  They didn't have a few items that we wanted, but it's OK because we got some other things.  I was sad to leave my mom- I was only able to stay home for 2 days because I have to be on duty tonight (Friday 11/23) for the mansions.  The campus is very quiet though- nearly everyone is home except for basketball players. 

If you are looking for a job in the area and you attend Albertus, it's convenient to get one.  Located in New Haven, we are close enough to Hamden, Downtown New Haven, and even Milford where the mall is.  You can hop on the Yale shuttle, or there are bus stops on the corners of school that you can get on and pay $1 to get where you need to go.  I know a lot of people here at Albertus that have local jobs and live out of state.  Some stores that people work at that attend here are my store, AnF, American Eagle, Kohls, Walmart, and Stop and Shop.  Stores are always looking for fresh, young people to work so getting a job locally is fairly easy.  Even if you live out of state, most jobs are flexible when telling them that you need to go back home.  Some jobs even allow you to transfer to stores near your home so you can keep your job.  If you don't want a job off campus, you can always get one on campus!  If you have financial need, you can be a part of the Federal Government funded Work Study Program.  Work Study allows you to have a job on campus and they pay you minimum wage ($8.25) per hour.  When you are put into the program, you receive a sheet that states what you're interested in.  You can work in the admissions office, the Act II Theater, Athletics, Financial Aid, Business office, Common Ground, Academic Dean's office or even the pub on campus.  They give you a certain amount of hours and you can only work up until all of these hours are used.  Being a part of this program is a great opportunity because you can have a job on campus and not have to go far!  If you apply to be in this program but aren't accepted- no worries there are other ways on campus to have a job.  One way is to be a student tour guide.  This is through the admission's office and you can pick and chose what tours you want to do.  Each tour such as a group tour or single family tour is a different amount of money to earn, so if you do a lot of tours you can get a lot of money which is always nice.  Also throughout the year, there are various special events such as Accepted Students Day and Open House that you can work at and you receive a great amount of money!  Another way to have a job on campus is to work in the Writing Center located in Rosary Hall.  In order to work in here, a professor needs to recommend you.  If you excel in your written expression courses, your professor could recommend you to work and you will have to go through training, but you can earn money by doing weekly appointments with students.

Overall, having a job while in college is rewarding.  Coming from someone that has two jobs, if I wasn't working, I don't know what I would be doing (maybe I'd actually have a life! hehe)  I think that being able to save money while in college is so important.  If you have to take out loans, it will always be nice to have a little money to fall back on or at least enough money to buy you necessities like groceries, going out, or other spending money. 

Candy Apple Night!

 
Once again, McAuliffe Hall did another floor function.  This time we had a candy apple making night!  I bought all of the treats that we would need.  The essentials:

• Apples of course!  I bought green apples because I prefer them
• Wilton's chocolate melts- dark chocolate and white chocolate
• Brach's caramel 
• Reese's peanut butter chips
• M&M's
• Walnuts
• Apple cider to drink while you wait for your apples :)
• Popsicle sticks
• Twist ties
• Seran wrap and wax paper

O.K. sooo who knew that apple making could be so hard right?  My  mom makes them every year and she does it so effortlessly and they always come out looking so good!  Me?  I guess my culinary/ dessert making skills are lacking.  First of all the stove started smoking and I got nervous!! I had to open the windows in the kitchen in fear that the room would smoke up!  Luckily it didn't but melting the caramel was difficult itself.  We had to keep adding water to it or else it would have gotten really thick and not gone on the apple well.  When I melted the chocolate, I put the chocolate in and added 2 teaspoons of water.  After I did that, I realized I probably should have used a double boiler- whoops! About 10 residents came down in total and we made their apples to order.  Some people did just caramel and chocolate or just caramel and Reese's- really whatever they wanted we made for them.  So if you want to make candy apples, don't be like me!  Here are some helpful tips to making your apple making successful :)

• Twist off the stems from the apples and push the popsicle stick down into the core
• Put apples in the fridge while preparing the chocolate because they'll coat better if cold
• Melt the chocolate or caramel in a double boiler over hot water
• Dunk each apple into the caramel or chocolate
• Roll dipped apple into a bowl of your toppings (M&M's, walnuts, etc.)
• Put apples on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper
• Put in the fridge until chocolate is set

I got this recipe from the Food Network Station.  Check out their other recipes on their website Food Network

Back from NACA!!

Well I'm back from NACA and I survived! Let me tell you 3 days of essentially no sleep takes a lot out of a girl! NACA was a great time and being able to see what other schools in the area have done was pretty awesome.  In total, 50 schools came from the areas of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and even Maryland!  Because there is so much to discuss about, I just want to highlight some of my favorite moments of the conference :) :

• School Swap

School swap is a really fun part of NACA but it's totally hectic!  Each year, there is a theme for NACA.  This years theme was "In Pursuit of Knowledge" like the game Trivial Pursuit.  Each school is asked to created a board of any kind- you can highlight your most successful events, use lots of color, really just go in any direction you want with the board.  We tried to stick with the Trivial Pursuit theme and did "Albertus Pursuit."  We put different categories on the board such as Geography, History, Sports, and Entertainment.  Each category had various questions with the answers underneath and pictures to go with it as well.  The best board won a certificate, as well as best use of theme and best dressed (hence the reason why we are all decked out in blue!)  Unfortunately, we didn't win best dressed but it was fun to show school spirit and rock our blue wigs!  Frankie Falcon even made an appearance at NACA and had a blast dancing with students from other schools and challenging other mascots to a dance off;  and no surprise Frankie won every dance battle he was challenged to! Along with school swap, schools are given 45 minutes to literally swap any left over items that they have from events.  You can bring t-shirts, pens, note pads, frisbees, posters, etc.- anything you have left over from the events you have done in the past year and trade with other schools.  Not only does this provide SGA with ideas for events but we also get to keep everything that we receive!

•  Showcases

As I explained in my previous blog about NACA, we attend showcases of various performers, comedians, spoken word poets, musicians, hypnotists, lecturers, and self proclaimed "love doctors."  Each performer gets 15 minutes to perform part of their skits and this gives the audience a taste of what they can bring to their school.  Due to these showcases, we found 4 performers we are highly interested in to bring to Albertus!  NACA is the best place to find performers that we like and want to bring to AMC.  The picture above is of Amanda Corbett, Vice President, Matt Brancaccio, President, and myself after a showcase rocking some mustaches that we received!

On the last night there was a late night special showcase.  It was a "Party Rock" themed concert with a stage, DJ, laser lights and special glasses.  Once you put the glasses on, the laser lights looked so crazy!  It was dark in the room and the music was so loud but it was a lot of fun.  They played a lot of techno which isn't my favorite type of music, but everyone was into it so I enjoyed myself. 

Some other things I enjoyed were:

•  The Campus Activities Market Place where various performers and novelty companies gave away cd's and novelties to try to sell themselves to your school
•  The closing dinner ceremony- Matt Brancaccio won a student leader award! So proud of him.
• Spending time with my fellow SGA members

and of course last but not least, being able to relax!!

Getting the dedication you need at Albertus

At Albertus, we offer a variety of Master's programs that undergraduates of the school as well as other students can apply to.  The Business department here at Albertus recently added a program where you can get your MBA with only one additional year of school.  I have decided to do this program- getting my master's in only one year what can be better than that?!  However, while registering for classes I found out that I was supposed to declare my junior year that I wanted to be a part of the program.  When I found out, I was really upset and disappointed; I didn't want to miss out on this opportunity.  I emailed the professor that is the head of this program and met with him today.  What he told me that I need to do is to apply to the grad school program and he would meet with the head of the Business Department and get my schedule figured out.  We figured it out that I would have to add two more classes to my schedule next semester.  These two classes would be considered "module" classes which means that they are 8 weeks each (an accelerated program.)  I take one class for 8 weeks, then another class for 8 weeks so that would take up 1 whole semester.  This will then catch me up to where I need to be.  This is one of the perks of being an Albertus student- I feel like professors are always going out of their way to help you out.  The professor I met with was willing to do whatever it took to get me into this program.  I know that it may be difficult taking on 5 classes plus an additional class next semester but I know that it will be worth it in the end.  It will help me towards my goal of getting my MBA in marketing. 

Off to NACA I go!

This weekend I'm heading off to Hartford, CT to the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA for short) conference at the Hartford Marriott convention center!  I've been lucky enough to go to NACA for the past 3 years and this will be my final year going.  Being on the Student Government Association (campus activities), you're always looking for new events that students will want to attend, ways to make your events marketable and find performers that you would like to bring to Albertus.  Most schools located in the North East head to NACA in order to show what types of events their school has done.  It's really cool and fun to see what ideas other schools have come up with and we have even brought some of these events back to our school and made them our own.  Some events that we have gotten the idea at NACA and brought them back to Albertus include:  Albertus Got Talent, the whole "Albertus at Night" series, Western Night, and the Cake Challenge we hold annual in the cafeteria.  We have even found shirts that another school did and got the concept to make our own SGA shirts!  The shirts are orange and have a Dunkin Donuts theme to them and they say "Albertus Runs on SGA" with a picture for each word.  Also a part of NACA is finding performers that you would like to bring to your school.  As a group, we sit in these huge show case rooms and various performers such as comedians, magicians, motivational speakers, singers, musicians and many more perform!  If you like the performer enough, you can meet up with them in a place called the "marketplace" and book them to come to your school!  We've gotten many of our performers from NACA such as comedians Anton Shuford, and M.Dickson, and hypnotist Jim Spinnato.  In the market place as well, there are various booths where there are free give-aways such as bamboo, stuff your own teddy bear, and air brush trucker hats.  These booths try and give things away so you can get an idea of some events that you want to come to your school.  Overall NACA is a long weekend (Thursday-Sunday) but it is so much fun!  If you join SGA when you come to Albertus, maybe you will have the opportunity to go to NACA; it's definitely worth it!


Here's some pictures from NACA North East from previous years :)


In order to show school spirit, we all wear the same colored shirt- also to find each other in a crowd because there is a LOT of people there!

At the end of the weekend, there is a formal dinner.  Everyone dresses up nice.  This was taken at NACA 2011.

Last year, @NACAne tweeted a question, and because I was the first one to answer the question on Twitter, we won seating on the couches at the very front of the showcase! It was exciting!

One of the vendors was giving away free mustaches! Being an avid mustache lover (hehe), myself, Brittney, and Jessica took a funny photo with our sweet 'staches!

Hurricane Sandy can't stop Albertus from our event!

As Hurricane Sandy ripped through the NorthEast, especially New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, we were all fearful of what this hurricane would bring.  At Albertus, we had a set plan.  If the power was to go out, we would meet in the Campus Center.  Luckily, the power did not go out and we were fortunate enough to be able to stick around in our residence halls.  If you are not from around the area, I'm sure you heard on the news of the destruction Sandy has caused.  Thousands went without power, sadly, some people were killed, homes were under water and a trampoline even ended up in a power line in Milford, CT!  It was really sad to see that some people lost everything and I hope that they are O.K.  My family, in Hamden, CT, is still without cable or telephone up until this day (Wednesday) and they have no idea when it will come back on.  It's crazy to see how much people rely on technology and other devices in their day to day life!  However, Monday night we had a FIFA tournament and even though Sandy was still going full force outside, students still came down to play in the Pub. There was a $50 cash prize to first place and $25 to second place.We also had just dance tournament that same night and the prizes were the same. Students were tired by the end but pulled through for the win. Everyone had a great time and the competition for both games were tough.

 

These are some pictures from Hurricane Sandy:

 

 

 

Pumpkin Patch Night!

Last night I chaired an event for SGA called "Pumpkin Patch Night" held in the Pub. The event started at 8 pm and there was Halloween Trivia and crafts! About 32 people came down which was a lot considering we just got hit with Hurricane Sandy this past weekend. Luckily, we still had power at school and some commuters even came to stay at school with friends because they were out of power at their house. Halloween trivia was played and a lot of people came down to earn bragging rights as well as winning $100 cash! Those who came down to participate in the craft night had a lot of fun too. During craft nights, we usually get ceramic banks, however this time I wanted to do something a little different so I just bought ceramic pumpkins and owls that the students could paint. I also purchased halloween magnets & scratch leaves. We ordered pizza for the students that came down & overall the event was successful!  I really think the students enjoyed the crafts that we had and the owls were a huge hit!  This event is just one of the many that SGA puts on throughout the year :)

 

 

 

Class Schedule

I just picked out my class schedule for the Spring 2013 semester and it's bittersweet! I'm so close to being done but it's a weird feeling at the same time.  I'm ready to move on and start my career, but I've made so many connections at Albertus that at the same time I don't want to leave yet!  I planned out my schedule this semester so that I would have to take requirements for my major, so that next semester, I would only really have to take electives.  I ended up signing up for Ceramics, Money and Banking, Computer Ethics, Career Prep, and Grant Writing- I only have to go class 3 days a week again!  The way Albertus works, which is much less stressful compared to bigger schools, is that we meet with an advisor who helps pick out our classes with us.  My advisor, Tim Raynor, who is head of the Business Department, literally helps me pick and choose what classes I need to take.  He tells me what I need to get done as a requirement in order to graduate, and I can then pick what electives I would like to take.  The next week after you have chosen your classes, there are specific days where you go online and register.  Day 1 is for seniors, day 2, juniors, day 3, sophomores and day 4, freshmen.  Even though you may feel like you won't get the courses you would like to get as a freshmen, you typically do get them because we are a small school and not everyone signs up for the course you want to take.  At other schools, such as state schools, my friends tell me about their process signing up for classes; having to wake up at 5 am just to pick the class they want!  This sounds crazy to me because your advisor here helps you pick and choose what you need to get done first.  As I soon enter my last semester at Albertus, I hope to make it a good one.  I will definitely miss it here, but because of the connections I've made here, hopefully I will find a job soon after I graduate :)

Who's ready for the HAUNTED MAZE this Saturday?!?

THIS SATURDAY 10/27 is Albertus' first Haunted Maze!! This event is sponsored by the Student Government Association and is a week long process to set it up!  We have blocked off the Behan Community Room (BCR) located in the Campus Center so no one can peek in and see what it looks like!  We have thought of various scenes; just imagine creepy clowns coming after you or possessed dolls?!  Scary things are not my cup of tea at all but I'm going to try to join the fun and force myself to go through the maze.  Hopefully I won't get too scared! I could have joined and participated, but I really don't like scary things! Maybe scaring people wouldn't be as bad though.. If students want to participate, they can volunteer and be a part of the maze.  A lot of the things we have made are home made things.  We even created a scary Jack in the Box, where someone can actually go inside the box and jump out.  One of the SGA members put on a mask and sat in the SGA office waiting for other members to come in and popped out at them!

Albertus Madness

This past Friday night was the annual Albertus Madness held in the gym!  Albertus Madness essentially kicks off the men's and women's basketball season but there's also lots of fun that goes along with it!  Everyone comes decked out in their favorite Albertus gear- lots of royal blue is worn because this is our athletic colors!  The first 100 people at the door received a free t-shirt!  Eye black was sold through the Albertus Student Alumni Association which was pretty cool as well.  We all patiently waited in the bleachers; students, friends, and parents were all there.  At first, there were lots of contests and prizes to be won.  They spun people around and had them try and shoot the most basketballs into the hoop.  They also had a dance off and played Simon Says.  2 day students also showcased their dance moves and danced for the audience.  The athletic's intern and fellow blogger Dan "Sunshine" Kmietchick even danced for the audience which was very funny!  The winners of these games won various gift cards.  After all of the games were over, the basketball players came out and were presented to the crowd.  They shot some hoops and everyone cheered them on!  Right after Midnight Madness, the showing of "Nightmare on Elm Street" was played in the pub where there were free nachos!  Overall it was a great night and everyone showed their Albertus pride by participating.

Pumpkin Painting Party

Today my residence hall put on the second floor function of the year.  My co-RA and I decided to do a pumpkin painting party.  We bought mini pumpkins and gathered in the McAuliffe Hall common room at 7 pm to start painting.  We had 15 residents come and a few other residents came in and out to see what was going on.  Some residents from other buildings even came!  We watched the movies "Hocus Pocus" as well as "Beetle Juice" while painting our pumpkins.  Students really got into it and made each of their pumpkins their own. I had advertised for the event at the beginning of the month by posting flyers, but I also made mini pumpkins out of construction paper and wrote a reminder about the event tonight.  I taped each of the pumpkins onto each residents door.  I think this definitely helped remind the residents of the event. I love Hello Kitty, so I decided to paint a Hello Kitty pumpkin!  I also painted the Resident Director, Justin Cirisoli a Chanel pumpkin.  He is into fashion and had asked me to make him a pumpkin so I thought that he would enjoy the Chanel pumpkin :).  About 45 minutes into the floor function, we had pizza delivered and also served soda for the residents to enjoy as well!  Overall, it was a great time and the residents got to take their mini pumpkins back to their room.  Hopefully their pumpkins put them in the Halloween/ fall spirit!

THIS THURSDAY!

This Thursday is the event 213 Days Until Graduation.  As the Senior Events Coordinator of Student Government Association, I am chairing this event.  To chair this event means that you are in charge of it- you make sure everyone comes to set up, clean up, and help throughout the event if need be.  You also have to go out and purchase items if you need any for the event.  The event this Thursday is for the seniors of the class of 2013.  I am beyond excited for this event!  I put a lot of hard work planning this event trying to think of what the seniors would enjoy doing at this event.  Headshots will be taken for the year book, there will be free pizza and wings, $1 beers all night and BINGO will be played!  The Albertus Magnus Admissions Office generously donated 10 t-shirts and 2 coffee mugs, while the Albertus Athletics Department donated 10 t-shirts, a folding chair and a couple of sweatsuits.  The Albertus Bookstore also donated a Albertus Magnus College Alumni hoodie- a essential for any graduating senior!  I also went out and bought various items that reminded me of the 90's and created a big 1990's basket.  Using items that were donated, as well as buying a few more items from the bookstore, I was able to make a few baskets to be used as big final prizes for Bingo, while the prizes for Bingo in the beginning will be various giftcards and a t-shirt.  I am trying really hard to get as many seniors to this event as possible!  In order to advertise, I have been posting all over Facebook and I made flyers of graduation caps and ended up cutting them out (how I didn't get carpal tunnel, I don't know but my hand hurt so much after!) and have been handing them out to seniors.  Hopefully a lot of seniors come and enjoy this event =)

Lyman Orchards

On October 13th, my mom and I went to Lyman Orchards, a local golfing course located in Middlefield, CT. Lyman Orchards is a popular festive place to go during the fall.  They have a store open year round that sells various pies, donuts, apple cider, sandwiches, and other delicious treats!  During the fall, they cut out a huge corn maze;  each year is a different theme.  This years theme was “Get Lost in the Rivalry:  Yankees & Redsox.”  Being an avid Yankee fan I was ecstatic to see that it was Yankees theme.  Admission was $10 for adults, $5 for children.  If you go, buy your tickets online at www.lymanorchards.com in order to receive a dollar off admission.  It took my mom and I about 40 minutes to find our way through the whole maze.  We went down so many dead ends and ended up going in circles, but it was a fun time.  There were different checkpoints throughout the maze.  Before you entered, you picked what questions you wanted to answer to help guide you through the maze.  The different categories were sports, Halloween, Yankees, Redsox, or tiny tots (meaning small vegetables, not the show Toddlers & Tiaras like I thought it would be!)  I chose Yankees while my mom chose Halloween.  At each check point you looked on the piece of paper to see what the question was.  If you chose the right question, it sent you either left or right.  I thought I would know most of the questions because I watch the Yankees frequently, however I only knew about 3 out of 10!  We finally made it out and headed over to the store and bought an apple crisp pie and tripleberry muffins.  If you’re looking for something festive to do to get yourself in the mood for fall, head over to Lyman Orchards.  A dollar of every ticket sold for the corn maze goes towards The American Cancer Society.  Last year, they earned over $30,000 to donate to the society.  Down the road is the driving range, as well as apple picking and a sunflower maze.

Albertus Magnus Women's Tennis

Last year, I joined the Albertus Magnus Women's Tennis team.  I had never played a sport before- I danced for 12 years.  Joining a sport was something I never thought that I would actually do.  I have never really been good at sports but I decided that I wanted to do something to stay in shape and have fun with.  The tennis program is one that is still growing, so I felt that it would be perfect for me- not too challenging & I would get to learn everything.  We got a new coach last year for both the women's and men's team, Coach Bob Migliorini.  Most of the girls on the team last year were unexperienced, like myself.  Although we lost most of our matches last season, we had definitely improved by the end of the season.  This season, we announced that our captain would be senior Na'Tasha Mesidor.  Thus far into the season, we have won 3 matches in total- a total improvement since last year! It's crazy to look around and see how much better we are than last year.  I have even noticed in myself that balls I wouldn't have been able to get last year, I am this year.  Yesterday we played St. Joseph's of Brooklyn at the U.S. Open in Flushing, New York.  It was pretty awesome to play there, especially knowing that tennis pro's such as Venus & Serena Williams have played there.  I played the longest tennis match of my life! 18 sets with a total score of 10-8.  It was such a close match and I was happy that I pulled through and won.  I also played a doubles match with my doubles partner this season, Malika Grant.  We won our doubles match with a total score of 8-5.  If you're interested in playing tennis, or any other sport, you can visit the Albertus Athletic website at athletic.albertus.edu.  Below are some pictures of myself, my doubles partner Malika Grant & my team at a match.

Giant Game Night & Insomnia Cookies..Yum!

This past Friday, we had another Albertus at Night event.  The event was called “Giant Game Night.”  We had a variety of literally, giant games, that students came down to play.  We had giant Jenga, giant checkers, giant Kerplunk, and giant Connect Four.  We also provided students with chips, dip, and salsa.  As always at our late night events, we had nachos for free as well.  Although it is a long weekend (due to Columbus Day and there being no school on Monday), students that decided to stay for the long weekend decided to come down and have some fun on their Friday night!  Insomnia Cookies, a new cookie shop located on Chapel Street in Downtown New Haven even came to our event to provide some free samples!  Insomnia cookies is open every night from 6pm-2am and they deliver warm cookies to you in a pizza box!  The cookies really are amazing and the company noticed that they have been delivering more and more to our campus, so they decided to contact our campus activities coordinator, Erin Morrell, and asked if they could provide samples to our campus!  They brought M&M, peanut butter, sugar cookies and chocolate chunk and the cookies seemed to be a big hit amongst the students.  If you live in the New Haven area I would definitely suggest checking them out.  Click on the link if you want to check out their website =)  http://www.insomniacookies.com/

Strategic Planning Session

This past week I attended a strategic planning session.  I attended this session 3 times before; once during the summer when I helped with reunion, another time for my class, and once for athletics.  This time I attended the session as a member of SGA (Student Government).  These strategic planning sessions are being done for all aspects and members of the college:  day students, graduate students, parents, alumni, staff, and whomever else is a part of the college community.  During these sessions, we are asked a variety of questions and give our honest opinion.  For two of the sessions I attended, it was more like an interview session.  One person would be assigned a question and they would ask you it and you would give your answer.  The other times we’ve had big note pads and would be asked a question and were asked to write down the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT.)  As a part of doing these sessions, we’ve received small gifts such as $5 to Dunkin Donuts or $10 to Starbucks.  Yes, it is nice getting a little token of appreciation, but this is such a great way for the college to learn about what people really think!  By doing these sessions, our answers will be compiled and brought into a strategic 3-5 year plan where the College can work on the issues.  They can see what they are doing right, where some opportunities lie, and what they can do to make the college a better place.  Overall, I think this opens up some great opportunities for prospective students!  The college is taking steps to make our school an even more awesome place overall and that’s what sets Albertus apart from other schools!

Jackpot BINGO!

We recently started doing Saturday night event programming, called Spice Up Your Saturdays!  This past Saturday, we had Jackpot BINGO!  Normally, Student Government does Bingo during the week on a Monday.  We try to do Bingo at least once a month.  Typically, when we do Bingo we give away giftcards to restaurants, fast food places, etc.  However, this Bingo was a special one because we had 20 “regular” rounds and an additional 4 rounds where you could win some awesome large prizes!  The first 20 rounds, we had prizes ranging from $15-$20.  If you won during any of these rounds, you had to return your cards and wait to play the last 4 rounds if you wanted the chance to win a big prize.  I usually win at Bingo and this time during the first 20 rounds I didn’t win at all!  I was pretty sad but it was O.K. because I got to spend time with friends.  When the time came to play Bingo for the big prizes, you had the opportunity to win an iHome, Blue Ray DVD player with the movies “Stepbrothers” and “The Avengers”, a Kindle Fire, or a 22 inch television.  The first game played was regular Bingo and you could win the iHome.  The second game was to get 2 Bingos on one card and I won!  I was so excited I didn’t even know what I had won.  I ended up winning the Blue Ray DVD player and 2 movies.  The two other prizes were won soon after.  Overall it was a great event- we had over 60 people attend which is a great turn out for Saturday programming!  Bingo gets very competitive at our school, however everyone had a great time =)

 

Use the Yale Shuttle- For Free!

Another busy week almost over with!  Being a senior in college is a lot of work!  I feel like in movies they make it seem like all you do is hang out with friends and relax but I feel like I’m running around non-stop.  I’ve been feeling stressed out lately because I have zero time for myself but I was happy when I had my weekly Resident Assistant meeting on Tuesday night.  Justin Cirisoli, the Resident Director announced who had one “Program of the Month,” and my co-RA, Alex, and I won!! Program of the month essentially means that you have chosen to do a “fun” event of your own choice and implement it.  You can really choose whatever you want to do. Alex and I did “Latino Night” and when Justin announced that we won we were pretty surprised.  It just goes to show that even if you are having a good or bad week, people do notice your hard work!

Even though I am really involved on campus, I still do have a job off campus.  I work at Abercrombie & Fitch at the Milford Post Mall.  It’s about 20 minutes away and I do have a car on campus so that’s how I am able to get to work.  One great thing about Albertus is that you can have a car on campus during your freshmen year (and no, you don’t have to pay any additional fees!)  I know of a lot of schools that don’t allow you to have a car on campus your freshmen year, but here at Albertus we do.  This is a plus because you can take a trip to Downtown New Haven to enjoy the shops, the New Haven Green or even go clubbing.  Don’t have a car?  No worries!  You can hop onto the Yale Shuttle which picks you up right in front of the campus (near Rosary Hall, the library.)  This is convenient for those who don’t have cars to use;  all you have to do is show your Albertus ID and they’ll let you on for free!

 

Diabetes Walk

On September 25th, for Residential Life, the RA’s and I walked for Diabetes in West Haven.  Once a semester the Resident Assistants do a walk to help find a cure for life threatening diseases.  Last year the Resident Assistants walked at Relay for Life at Southern Connecticut State University to help raise money to find the cure for cancer.  We all met up at 8:30 am (soooo early!) and headed over to West Haven Beach where the walk was being held.  The walk was near Jimmie’s of Savin Rock, a local restaurant spot in West Haven that has some awesome seafood.  It was really cold out- fall is here!  The walk went down the West Haven Beach boardwalk and was about 2 1/2- 3 miles long.  My ankle has been hurting me due to tennis so I was happy to make it through.  At the half way mark, volunteers handed us a flower and there was water, apples and Nature Valley bars.  We stopped for a moment and continued to go on.  Overall it was a great experience.  I have never walked for a cure before so it was nice to do this especially because my mom suffers from Type 2 Diabetes

Founder's Day 2012

What a busy week it was!! I felt like my whole week was consumed by classes, meetings, work, and homework! Yesterday was Friday, September 21st, the first annual Founder’s Day at Albertus Magnus College.  Being on Student Government as the Senior Events Coordinator and the senior class representative, I had to “host” the annual candlelight ceremony.  Candlelight Ceremony is an event held every single year since the College was founded in 1925.  It is essentially the senior students passing on the light of truth and knowledge to the freshmen.  The event took place in the Tagliatela Academic Center.  Chairs were lined up for the freshmen and as they came in they received a candle.  Sister Helen Kieran, Director of Campus Ministries lead us in prayer, followed by President Julia McNamara making a speech.  Matthew Brancaccio, Student Body President made a speech as well about his experience during his candlelight ceremony.  Sister Margaret Ormond, OP, Prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Peace was able to join us as well.  Dr. Sean O’Connell made a speech as well about the Tradition of Honor and how important it is to uphold it.  The Tradition of Honor essentially states that all the work you complete is your own.  I had to make a speech and introduce each speaker- to say I was nervous is an understatement.  I was petrified!  I am not fond of public speaking at all so to have to get up in front of 100+ people and speak was not easy for me.  I made it through and afterwards it was nice to have people come up to me and tell me that I did a good job.  During the candlelight ceremony, graduating seniors (class of 2013) lit the candles of the class of 2016.  The class of 2016 also signed the tradition of honor and received a red rose.  This tradition has been passed on from year to year since the founding days of the college and is the longest tradition still held in Albertus.
After the candlelight ceremony, 31 people were asked to give President Julia McNamara a white rose, marking 30 years of her serving as President and 1 extra rose for the year to come.  She didn’t know about us presenting her with these roses and she was very surprised.  It was nice to see how happy she was and how appreciative she is.  After this presentation, there was an all campus barbeque outside of Aquinas Hall.  Tables were set up and everyone was able to eat and socialize with each other.  I felt like this was nice to do because I was actually able to talk to some of my professors that I don’t normally get a chance to talk to outside of class as well as meet some new professors in other departments!  After the barbeque there was a presentation in Rosary Hall, the library, about Our Living Heritage.  As I was there, I noticed a lot of the Dominican Sisters of Peace as well as former alumni of the college there.  It just proved to me that you are truly an Albertus student even after you graduate.  So many people are passionate about Albertus even as alumni!
Overall it was a great day!  Hopefully Founder’s Day is a tradition that will continue throughout the years. Pictures from the Founder’s Day celebration can be found at the Albertus website.
 Below are 2 pictures- one of Sister Mary Faith Dargan during the presentation of the roses to Dr. McNamara and one of Matt Brancaccio and I in the Tagliatela Center before the Candlelight Ceremony started.

Latino Night

Tonight my residence hall hosted a hall function called Latino Night.  Being an Resident Assistant in McAuliffe Hall, my co-RA Alex Dudley and I thought we would do this event in honor of September being Hispanic Heritage month.  We purchased chips and salsa from Chili’s and bought some festive plates and bowls to go along with the theme.  We also bought a bull pinata from the party store, filled it with various candy, played musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey.  Due to the fact that we couldn’t hang the pinata in the building, we went outside of McAuliffe and looked for a tree that would be suitable.  Who would think that hanging a pinata would be so hard?!  I laughed so much while trying to hang the pinata but after about ten minutes, we finally figured it out and the pinata was on the tree and ready to go. =)  Our event started at 7 pm and people started to come down.  In total, we had about 12 people come down and partake.  We started with the pinata and Daniel Valmont, an alternate RA, tour guide, and also featured in the Albertus Magnus Viewbook, ended up hitting the pinata and breaking it.  Once we came inside, the residents ate chips and salsa, played musical chairs, and played pin the tail on the donkey.  We also listened to Latin music & played card games such as crazy eights.  Overall it was a great time and my resident’s thanked Alex and I for a great night! =)