Winter has arrived in Cresson -- very late this year. Because of this, Owen decided he wanted to make an igloo. On Thursday night, Owen and I started our project. My friend Laura came to help us as well. We kept shoveling snow into one pile. We used over half of the snow in front of Misciagna Hall. Around 11, I decided to head back inside to warm up.

On Friday, my friend from Children's Advocacy and I worked on our book drive. I feel that the book drive was a huge success. We collected books that students donated after they were done with them for the semester. The books then are shipped to children around the country. It took awhile to pack them up, but we got the job done. That night Justin, Owen, and I worked on the igloo and we watched a few movies.

Saturday was pretty slow. I got a lot of my homework done and I went to work. Justin and I headed to Wal-Mart and bought some much-needed groceries. We also bought some puzzles and ordered pizza. Later we headed back outside to work on the igloo. I also did some laundry and worked on a few jigsaw puzzles.

Well it is pretty late, so I am going to head to bed...

John

Posted by John Porter at 3:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first few days of this week have been nice and stress free. I had a meeting on Monday for Children's Advocacy. We discussed upcoming events and fundraisers. I think we are going to sell another round of Sheetz coupons. We also might sell candles and chocolate bars. In April, we are holding our second-annual Fire Prevention Event. It will be held in the Cresson Fire Hall. We bring in children from the surrounding community and we introduce them to some fire safety tips. They also get to look at the fire trucks and meet the firefighters. The club has also been asked to help tutor some children from some of the are schools. We are looking forward to this year-long project.

I have also been asked to peer tutor some of my classmates for another semester. I started tutoring a student Tuesday night and it is going well. The great thing about peer tutoring is that the tutor is paid by the college, but the tutee does not have to pay a dime. I am also thinking about going for another minor. I am thinking about the Religious Studies minor, but I still have to think it through and talk to some people about what they think.

Well, Owen wants me to help him with a project...I will tell you all about it in my next blog...

-John

Posted by John Porter at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My first week of classes went by fairly smooth. I think my favorite classes are going to be my Philosophy class and my Comparative Politics class. I really enjoy the subject matter of these classes, but I also think my other classes are going to be great as well.

On Tuesday, I worked with Sue Brugh, the Director of Student Involvement and Leadership. We put some things together and finished getting ready for the new student orientation that was being held in the afternoon. I also helped with that. On Thursday, I participated in the College's Strategic Planning Committee. This meeting discussed many important things including the College's future, vision statement, and the values that the school wants to teach its students and community. It was a very informative meeting, and I am looking forward to the next one in May. It is an honor to serve the Committee.

This weekend I completed some reading for my classes. For Survey of American Literature, we are reading works by Mark Twain. I also read Plato's Apology for my Philosophy class and worked a couple of hours in the student union. The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies. We watched Memoirs of a Geisha, The Benchwarmers, and Pirates of the Carribbean II. I think we might watch a movie tomorrow, as well.

Well, I am going to start my reflection paper for my Philosophy class tomorrow...but I'm hoping to see ya'll on campus soon!

John

Posted by John Porter at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am finally moved back into my dorm room! I am so excited. I have missed all of my friends and am hoping to see most of them in the next few days. After moving all of my stuff in, I made a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up some of the things that I have seemed to have forgotten. The weather has been really warm for the past couple of days. We had some rain today, which should have been snow, but I am not complaining.

I am going for fifteen credits this semester. I am taking World Geography, History of Civilization I, Survey of American Literature II, Comparative Politics, and Introduction to Philosophy. I am looking forward to my 3 classes tomorrow. They should be interesting.

My roommate, Justin, got back a few hours ago; tonight we are planning to watch the movie Fun With Dick and Jane. It should be amusing. Owen brought his water cooler for us to enjoy. I am going to get ready for our movie now and then I am going to head to bed.

Hope to see you on campus soon! G'Night-

John

Posted by John Porter at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey All! I am finally back from my trip to the Gulf Coast. The entire trip was a great experience and I am hoping that we will be able to do this again in the future. The rest of my two work days were similar. We finished dry walling the one house on Thursday. On Friday, we had to travel 45 minutes away to Waveland, MS. There, we worked on taking out ceiling throughout a bedroom, the hallway, the kitchen, and the dining room. We then had to put in insulation in the walls and in the ceiling. After that we started to put up dry wall. This was the hottest day of the week. I think we had temperatures in the mid 80's. We also found several huge spiders inside one of the rooms, so I naturally booked it out of the room...

Since our job site was further away, we had to eat somewhere in Waveland. We all decided on Sonic Drive-In. It was a great meal, which brings back many great memories from home. Hopefully they will start construction on the one they are putting up in Greensburg so I can take all of my Mountie friends there.

On our last night, Casey, a couple of other friends, and I went to the beach one last time. The moon was out for some time and made beautiful reflections on the water. The next morning, we left for Cresson. On the way back, we stopped in Birmingham, AL to visit some of the places that were important in the Civil Rights Movement. It was a very nice stop and was very educational.

We got back to Cresson early Sunday morning. It was a great to come over the mountain to see the College in my sights. I am excited to get back to class in a week...

Thanks to Sister President and Sister Helen Marie for giving us such an opportunity in assisting with the rebuilding of the South from Hurricane Katrina.

Until next time...

John

Posted by John Porter at 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey Y'all! I am currently in Mississippi helping with the rebuilding effort for Hurricane Katrina victims. It is a bittersweet experience. Although there is a lot of damage and destruction, we are still having fun, making many new friends, and sharing many laughs.

Our trip to the Gulf Coast was pretty tiring, but we finally made it to Long Beach, MS after a 20 hour drive. We started in good ole' Cresson, PA and then drove through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and then through Mississippi. I only slept for about 4 hours. On our way down, we watched a couple of movies and played a few games. I started reading the Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. It is a very interesting book that I have always wanted to read, but never had the opportunity to do so.

We arrived at Camp Coast Care on New Years Eve. Since it was Sunday, there was no work to do, so a couple of friends and I headed to the beach. It was a 30 minute walk to and from our camp, but we found things to talk about on the way down. The people we encountered were very nice and had an aura of warmth and kindness that surrounded them. The beach was beautiful, but we couldn't enter the water because there was storm debris that was still hidden in the water. The camp started a bonfire where we roasted marshmallows and talked about our stories.

New Years was also a free day for the camp, so all 18 of us, 13 students and 3 faculty members from Mount Aloysius, and two other volunteers from outside of the campus community, went to New Orleans for the day. Jenna and I went shopping in a couple of stores and walked around some of the markets. We also ventured through some of the French Quarter and ate at Jimmy Buffett's. The food was excellent, and they even offered alligator and barbecue frog legs. I would have liked to have tried them, but I didn't want to order the whole meal. I had chicken and some great French bread. After touring New Orleans, we headed back to Camp.

Every night the lights turn off at 10pm and they turn back on at 6:30am. Our first day of work was yesterday. We got to demolish the walls and ceiling of a house. We all grabbed our tools and started pounding away. Some had axes, others had sledgehammers and crowbars, but I had a regular hammer. The hammer wasn't working to well for me, so I just started kicking the walls down with my boots. It made everyone laugh, but it worked really well. It was supposed to be an all day job, but we finished it very early, so we started pulling nails, assembling scaffolding, and putting boards on the outside of the house.

Today, we put up insulation inside another house and started measuring for drywall. We had a lot of people in the afternoon putting up the dry wall, so Jenna, Casey, and I started cleaning up some of the walkway. We were known as Team Student Ambassador, and we got the job done. Well I am going to get cleaned up before I head to dinner.

Later...

John

Posted by John Porter at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)