Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Groundbreaking for Arrupe

                “Grant me, O Lord to see everything now with new eyes, to discern and test the spirits…” Pedro Arrupe. On Friday afternoon, the first cut into the ground for the new building at Rockhurst began. The day was perfect and for me it seemed like a really nice beginning to a new building. I can only hope that the same sun will be out and shining for the grand opening of Arrupe Hall, unlike the grand opening of Rockhurst high school. When they opened the doors of Sedgewick hall, it was pouring rain for the first day. I am bummed that I won’t be taking classes in Arrupe Hall unless I end up going to grad school here. So, that is a tempting factor to come here for PT school, of course that wouldn’t be the only reason, but it would be nice to take classes for the first time in the building.

                The ceremony was really fun and it was nice seeing all of the people in the community coming out to see the ceremonial event. The joke was cracked many times that it took us 100 years to break ground and a new academic building. All of this is part of a twenty year plan at Rockhurst. I really can’t wait to come back twenty years from now to see all of the changes that have been made to enhance the student experience here at Rockhurst. I already love the campus, but I can see the positive difference that this would create in the community here at Rockhurst. It makes me sad to see my days at Rockhurst closing, and seeing the new beginnings that are sprouting up all around campus. I know when I am older and God willing I will walk the halls of all these buildings again and see how the final plan turned out!

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

What Are You Going to Do After your Graduate?


That is the question I have been getting lately. What are you going to do after you graduate? I don’t know that was the question of the century for the longest time. I feel like by now I should be like all of my friends and know what I am going to do, who I am going to work for, where I am going to go to school. There are so many things happening right now. Not only am I supposed to be figuring out all of that stuff I am also supposed to be keeping up with all of my school work, RA duties, ambassador duties, and enjoy my last semester. All of those commitments make it difficult to look for jobs on top of it. However, that’s not something that I can just push off until later. So, like any good student I went to the career center and asked for advice. I was amazed by all the different opportunities that they suggested for me. I know that after I left my head was swimming with all of the different things that I could do with my life next year. I know that I want to grad school, and I think I want to go for physical therapy, but I know that right now I can’t afford it, so it was nice to talk to them about different things that I would be able to do to make my application look even better since I am taking the year off. When I was getting interviews to different jobs, I went to the career center again to ask about dress attire, for a dinner interview and what I should do if it I haven’t heard back from a job in a while. They did a lot to soothe my troubled mind about what my options were and could be for next year. I am happy to say that I have found and accepted a job that I feel very lucky to have found and been offered. Who knows, I may have found my niche in a different career field from physical therapy. So, next time someone asks, I can proudly tell them my plan and look like I have a thing or two figured out in my crazy world right now. I am really happy that the career center was there to work with me. I wish that I had used them as a source more often than just this year. I feel like they are an underutilized resource on campus even though they have so much to offer.

Photo Citation: http://www.athleticscholarships.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/UnderstandingTheRecruitingProcessAfterGrad-175x300.jpg  

Dear Dominican Republic, I Can't Wait to Meet You!

Spring Break is less than two weeks away and I am excited and nervous, anxious, and ready to go! Very soon I will be in the Dominican Republic helping to construct buildings, and working in coffee fields to set up a sustainable way for the Dominicans to continue a profitable business when we leave. There have been several meetings so far that have been prepping me for our departure. The first one was a time where I got to meet the group of ten people that I will be going with and we just chatted about our expectations and our personality types and how all of our differences are going to help make this trip that much better. Every day of the trip we will be doing prayer and reflection; we each have one of the core values that we will represent on our day. My partner and I were given cura personalis or care for the whole person. I think that this will be fun to do some sort of reflection on in the morning time because the whole point of the trip is to help someone else, and to understand them. Not to put them as person of their circumstances, but as a human being who is striving to be beyond their circumstances. I really hope this trip will help me to act more in line with this value, because it is one that I have never been quite sure how I can express it or how I can be better at it, and I think this trip will help me explore that more. I am excited for the experiences and hard labor that will be coming from this week and the insight that I hope to gain from it. I encourage everyone to try to go on one of these trips, to get out of your comfort zone and open your mind to the different things that are happening in the world around us. For me that is what I have been challenged to do ever since I have come to Rockhurst. To challenge my preconceived ideas and to think through them to new insights, and new reasons for how everything works.  



Photo Citation: http://tarletonphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/galleries/post-45/full/ILAC_Dominican%20Republic05.jpg 

Love Your Letters!

Valentine’s day was on a Friday this year, and as president of Order of Omega I wanted to try to do a Greek unity event on that day. So, we sponsored a wear your letters day, where faculty, staff, students, and anyone else that goes to Rockhurst or was on campus could wear their Greek letters. I think that it went pretty well, for it being the first time and I hope that we can keep up the tradition that around Valentine’s day that everyone will be invited to wear their letters. I think that it was really cool getting to see everyone in their letters. I almost felt like I was in a buzz feed titled, “Teachers That Were Greek!” I am looking forward to more things that we can do on campus this semester for Order of Omega. I want it to become a stronger organization here on campus. It makes me excited and gives me chills to think of a future where all the Greeks on campus will work together to accomplish something that we were not able to accomplish before. I think that were are starting to head in that direction! Next time that there is a letters day I want to include people who are in the Greek Honor societies, like the business fraternity, pre-med fraternity, the Spanish and French honor societies. It is a rare and amazing thing that we have so many men and women that are making themselves better men and women for others and I think that this is another way to be able to express that through the club and organizations that they are in. It is such a diverse community at Rockhurst and I am going to miss that a lot once I graduate, it is rapidly approaching and I am getting nervous as we approach under 90 days until graduation.

Picture Source: http://images2.fanpop.com/image/answers/83000/83744_1266090452577_319_206.jpg

The Best Day is a Snow Day!

 It’s been a while since I have blogged, so there is a lot to catch you all up on! One thing at a time though. As a senior I have been praying to have at least one snow day this year. You may be wondering why, but I think it’s really simple. This is the last year that I can just enjoy the day without worrying about the consequences of not going to my job, or if I am still going to be expected to go in. I don’t have to think about if the day off will count as vacation time or use up my sick days. Nope, I just get to chill out and take care of business. Which I did let me tell you! There was a huge snow ball fight on Lower Burke and I went down there and had a grand old time pelting people with snowballs, and getting my fair share of them in the face. After playing in the snow some more, I went to Starbucks on campus and got hot chocolate and went back to my room to, catch up on a lot of Residence Life work that I was a little behind on, as well as planning stuff out for the rest of the semester, so I could have adequate time to prepare everything. I got a lot accomplished on that first snow day, but I could not help hoping for one more. I did not want to be greedy though, so I did not bank on it, but it happened anyways! Two snow days, I could not have asked for more in my last semester here at Rockhurst. I used my second day to socialize and get ready for class the rest of the week. It was really nice only having to go to school for two more days that week. Since, my wish for a snow day was granted two fold, I am not banking on any more, but I think that would be awesome if we did get another one!