Yesterday I spent the day with the Mercy Presidential Scholarship Committee conducting interviews throughout the day. I got to meet with some extremely capable candidates. Being a Student Representative on the Committee has been extremely rewarding to me. It has allowed me to create relationships with various faculty members on campus and showed me a whole new side to the areas involved in higher education.

It also allowed me to look back to two years ago when I was interviewing for my Mercy Presidential Scholarship. I can't believe how much I have changed in such a short period of time!! (All good changes if you were wondering) I remember being more of a quiet leader in high school and a bit more on the shy side. Since I have been at MAC, all of that has changed. I am nowhere near the quiet side anymore. Sometimes I think I talk too much!! :o) I have definitely learned more about delegation and getting other students involved around campus. I love meeting new people and embarking on new adventures.

Speaking of adventures, I am appling for the Resident Assistant position on campus for next year. I think that it will be an excellent opportunity for me and my future career in higher education. This position will allow me to see all areas of my career field and help me to create stronger relationships with those serving in Student Affairs.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Laura

PS- Today is my Dad's Birthday so Happy Birthday Dad!!

Posted by Laura Deely at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday several of my fellow students, Sue Brugh (Director of Student Involvement and Leadership), Dr. Grassadonia (Vice President of Student Affairs), the Metz Staff, and myself met for our second Food Focus meeting. We discussed the progress of our original ideas to improve the food program that had been raised in the previous semester. There was nothing but positive praise from the students in the changes that had been made. The Metz staff had expanded the Deli and Salad Bars , added various entree options, and created a pizza station among other things.

We were informed that the college will be hosting its own Iron Chef competition on March 17th. Three teams of five will compete in a head to head cooking challenge in which they will be given twenty-five secret ingredients to create five dishes. They will be judged on taste, presentation, originality and name. Becky, Dannie, Ashley, Lindsey and I created a team called the Hot Skill-Its and plan to dominate!! :o) Since it is being held on St. Patrick's Day, we will be sporting our green and showing some Irish Pride. I am a full-blooded Irish lass so I can't wait!!

We also discussed the extension of the Sanck Bar hours for the next academic year as well as adding a portable Coffee/Hot Tea bar to Cosgrave Center. We are going to be holding a contest, sponsored by the Student Government Association and Metz, to name the Snack Bar. We are looking into adding a personal cooking station to the dining hall which will allow students to make their own personal dishes such as omletes, stir fry, waffles, ect. We will also be planning different themed nights to be held during finals week in which we wil offer various food choices late at night for those students who are up studying and could use a midnight snack. Some of the themes will be a pizza night with all the toppings you can imagine, and sundae night (for those of us who enjoy a good sugar buzz), etc.

Overall, it was an extremely postive meeting. We had so many ideas that we were there for nearly two and a half hours.

Well I need to study for an American History exam and prepare for Mercy Presidential Scholarship Interviews being held during the day tomorrow. Have a great weekend!!

Laura

PS - Come to our Belated Saint Patrick's Day Visitation Day on March 19th!

Posted by Laura Deely at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today Mount Aloysius College celebrated Mardi Gras by inviting various food vendors and their new produts to the campus for a day filled with entertainment, prizes, and Mountie spirit. Walking into the Dining Hall on Mardi Gras is like stepping into a whole new world. The perimeter of the room is lined by food vendors and their new and interesting food products. It is an all you can eat event given that it is Fat Tuesday!! You are given a voting ballot when you arrive in order to choose your favorite food porducts. In turn, the Metz Staff takes into consideration the top choices and works to incorporate those choices into the menu for the following academic year.

There were also prize giveaways!! The Metz staff gave away prizes ranging from Mardi Gras t-shirts (I won one of those), book bags, binders, cd cases, watter bottles, etc. I got to spend the whole afternoon with my friends Becky, Dannie, Lessette, Ashley, Bobb, Brittany, Amber and Christine. We definitely enjoyed stuffing our faces and seeing eachothers reactions to some of the food choices. Haha :o)

After Mardi Gras, we had t-shirts made by a "Crazy T-shirt Maker" that the Department of Student Involvement and Leadership had brought to campus for the day. You could choose from various templates and then have your picture taken to be placed in the background. It would then be ironed onto your t-shirt. My friend Becky had her face placed on the body of Mario (The videogame) and it turned out so well!! I decided to be different and had the photographer take a picture of a sketch I had drawn for the Step Team. It turned out awesome!!

Well I should go. It looks like another busy and exciting week at MAC!!

Laura

PS- This past weekend was the end of basketball season and both teams came out with wins over Penn State Altoona. We also had our final Step Performance and blew the crowd away!!

Posted by Laura Deely at 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was probably the busiest day I have ever had...

8:00am: Started the new day with a delicious bowl of Special K Fruit and Yogurt, a hot shower, and some tunes to get me going.
11-12:20: Abnormal Psychology class; we took some notes on the lecture and finished up our chapter. I am still catching up on everything from being away.
12:20-1:00: SAAC Meeting; we discussed some of our upcoming events for the spring sports season including a third Take a Kid to the Game Day and ideas for a celebration for student athletes.
1:00-2:00: Physical Therapy; my neck and shoulders are doing much better since I injured them during soccer season. This is just in time for softball season. However, I do have to say that my arm isn't what it was in high school and I have a lot of work to get it into shape. I'm so glad we have a clinic on campus!
2:00-3:20: General Psychology; we had some amazing discussions about the impact that a normal sleep cycle and dreams have on our lives. I have always been fascinated with dream interpretations and keeping a dream journal. It's amazing some of the stuff you write down and read later. We also discussed how men and women dream differently.
3:30-4:30: Mercy Presidential Social/Celebration of African American HistoryMonth; several student organizations came together to celebrate African American History Month. We had a small prayer service, learned about influential African Americans and their influences on society, a student exerpt of Matin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream Speech, and a poster contest. Students made posters honoring their heroes and wrote a one page paper on what impact these heroes had on them. I did a poster on Wilma Rudolph, the first American woman to receive 3 Olympic gold medals after a childhood of living with polio. -I just got an email a few minutes ago saying that I got 1st place!! :o)
4:30-5:00: Dinner with JP, Jess and Jonathan
5:30-8:00: Softball practice; I went a half hour early to get in some extra workouts. It looks like I will not be a catcher this year. My coaches were talking to me last night and they would like me to play short stop. I haven't played short stop since my sophomore year of high school so I have a lot of work to do before our tournament at Myrtle Beach in a couple of weeks. Practice went really well and I was sore afterwards but I felt great because I was finally settling into my old ways.
8:00-10:30: Step Practice; I went an hour early because I needed to learn the routine for the final basketball game this Saturday. It is Senior Night, Alumni Night, and we are playing our rivals so this game will be a pretty big deal. Luckily I caught on to the routine very fast and now have very little to learn before the performance.
10:30-1:30am: Homework!!!

My favorite part of the day was bedtime to say the least. I guess that little, well not little, timeline gives you an idea of a normal day for me. Even though I was exhausted at the end of the day, the day itself was still great and I got a lot accomplished. Today looks pretty much the same only I will also be helping out in the Admissions Office in between classes. Just give me a bottle of soda and a chocolate bar for some caffeine and I will be fine!! Haha :o)

Back to work...

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hey Everybody!! I am officially back from my trip to Florida. It was amazing to say the least. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the parks seemed to be more magical than the last time I had been there. I love discovering new things with each trip. That's what makes it so exciting and unpredictable.

I loved going to MGM Studios above all the rest. We went to the Lights! Motors! Action! Extreme stunt show. They showed us how they create all of the high speed car chases and extreme stunts in the movies. Some of the stuff was pretty amazing, especially the drivers' abilities to operate the cars so smoothly while going backwards. It wasn't until they showed us the "movie magic" until we understood the trick...you don't think I'd spoil it for you. You'll just have to find out for yourself. We also went to The Magic of Disney Animation. Here they showed you how Disney Animators create characters for the movies and all of the behind the scenes goodies!! We even got to take a 10 minute speed art class. They taught us how to draw Minnie Mouse and you can just imagine how much fun I had!!

The cheerleaders made it into the semi-finals which were held on Sunday at the Disney Wide World of Sports Resort. Their routine was so perfect and they nailed every stunt. They ended up getting 3rd out of 21 teams in the semi-final round which secured a place for them in the finals. When all was said and done, the girls came out with 9th place in the nation. This is better than any other Bishop Guilfoyle squad in history!! We had about 60-70 fans that traveled down to Florida with the squad so the cheerleaders had an awesome cheering section. Several of us really got into the spirit and dressed like pirates because their mascot is a Marauder (land pirate). We wore bandanas, eye patches, earrings, and beads. Because the girls placed in the top 10, their performance will air on ESPN sometime in March along with our fans cheering and screaming for them. I am so proud of my sister. She and the other girls did such an amazing job. We also have a lot of prospective future Mounties in that crew!

It was a perfect vacation until we tried to come home to PA. Our flight was cancelled just as we were getting ready to board the plane because the Baltimore Airport was shutting down due to the weather. Most people would have loved to stay in Florida for one more day enjoying the warm weather and palm trees. However, by then I was ready to come back to the snow and to MAC. I was ready to get back to my classes and get the softball season underway. We eventually got a flight out the next day and made our way back home! :o)

It's great to be back!!

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey guys!! I am having a blast down here in Florida. :o) The weather is amazing, and I'm having so much fun with Christine and my family. Last night we went to Epcot. We soared over California, had dinner in France, and watched the fireworks over the pond. Haha. Maybe I should fill in some details. Soarin' is a simulated ride in which you feel the sensation of flying. It feels like you're traveling all over the country and it feels so real because of the combination of sounds, wind, smells, and of course the sights. It's by far one of my favorite rides. We ate dinner in the World Showcase part of Epcot. The World Showcase is designed to bring various different cultures from all over the world to one place. France is among those cultures and it is where we decided to have dinner. We topped the night off with the fireworks display over the giant pond in the center of the park. It was awesome!!

Today, we are going to Magic Kingdom. My first stop is going to be at Splash Mountain!! My mom's favorite place to go is Fantasyland with rides like It's a Small World and Peter Pan's First Flight. Personally, I love it all. :o) Tomorrow, we will be going to MGM Studios. The Cheerleading Preliminaries are being held there, and we will get to go to some shows and ride the rides throughout the day. Sunday is the Finals, so keep your fingers crossed for my sister and her squad!!

I will be home Tuesday night and I will be sure to fill you in on everything!!
Laura

PS- Hi to all of my friends back at MAC!! I miss you. :o)

Posted by Laura Deely at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was pretty exciting!! I got my Psychology tests back and I did very well! That was a load off of my mind. :o) We also had our first softball practice of the semester. We had a lot of girls show up, and we worked on fielding, throwing and base running. I was exhausted and sore after practice, but my adrenaline was pumping so I thought I would head down to Cosgrave for some fun!

Student Life arranged for some mind-boggling entertainment last night. Mindgames, which is basically a mental tug of war, brought dozens of students down to test their control over brain activity. You begin by strapping a band around your head...this is the device they use to measure the brain activity. Then, a coin would be flipped to determine whether or not you would have an active round or a calm round, Heads=Active, Tails=Calm. During an active round, you want to exert as much brain activity as you can. By doing this you will control a small ball on the table. The more activity you have, the closer the ball comes to you. During a calm round, you want to do just the opposite. You want to stop all brain activity by thinking of nothing!! Just zone out. This will cause the ball to go away from you and towards your opponent. After awhile, however, it feels like your brain is fried from all of the output. But it was sooo much fun!!

Right now I'm finishing the last bit of packing I have to do for Florida because my parents will be here in about a half hour. I can't wait for the 70 degree weather. In all reality, I just can't wait to meet up with my pal Mickey!! So, my friends, I bid you farewell...only for a few days. Haha. :o) I think my Dad is taking his laptop down so I will check in with you from Florida!!

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week was a little busy for me...what else is new though? :o) I had a lot of studying to do because I had my first tests in General and Abnormal Psychology yesterday. I tend to psych myself out a little when it comes to tests, so I was a bit worried. After I took the tests, however, I felt great and confident that I did well. I'll find out my grades next week, so I'll be sure to keep you updated.

We had our first Student Government Association Meeting on Tuesday. We discussed a Winter Carnival for next week...snow sculpture contests, games, sled riding, and of course my favorite...come on you should know by now!! That's right...HOT CHOCOLATE!! We also broke off into our sub-committee groups to discuss the bigger events coming up this semester like Relay For Life and the Student Recognition Banquet. This gave John and I some time to work on a game plan for Relay. We decided that the theme for this year is going to be New York. I've been researching New York ever since trying to get ideas for the teams and ways to decorate, etc. Let's just say that I have some awesome ideas!!

I'm getting excited because Softball practices start next week!! I'm also excited for next week because I am going to Florida with my family and my best friend Christine. We are going down to cheer on my sister and her cheerleading squad for the National High School Cheerleading Competition in Disney. I can't wait because I looked at the weather and it is supposed to be in the 70s while we are down there. Maybe I can come back to MAC with a tan!! :o)

Well I'm going to head to dinner with JP and figure out my weekend plans. I think I'm going to Rock and Bowl with John, Jenna, Curt, and Justin tomorrow. Sunday, of course, is completely free for the SUPERBOWL. The Residence Hall is throwing a Superbowl Party for the campus so I can't wait!! Go Colts!!

Laura

Posted by Laura Deely at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)