Christmas Craze

Hello readers!

The famous tree we light!

Christmas is in full swing at the 'Hurst! This past week we finished up MSG's 12 Days of Christmas, held the Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, and Miracle on 38th Street (or as we used to call it, Christmas on Campus).

The 12 Days of Christmas wrapped up at the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony with a blessing of the seasons by Monsignor Rubino, Dean of the Business Department, and the lighting of one of the largest pine trees located in the center of campus. At the Ceremony, the twelfth gift, and iPad, was given to one lucky Laker – Jacob Griffen. It was great to see someone I know win! Not only is he a fellow Ambassador with me, he was one of the other students who studied abroad in Italy, Greece and Turkey with me.

Diving into some crafts

Also at the Ceremony, we help the RSCO Christmas Decorating Contest. Fifteen trees competed for top prize, money to their organization's budget. And the Ambassadors won, woohoo! We won by a landslide with 150 votes. The Honors Council was second followed by the Outdoor Adventure Club.

On Friday, Miracle on 38th Street was held. Typically children who may not be as privileged as some come to campus for an afternoon of holiday fun including crafts, food, games, and a visit from Santa with some other surprises! Every year MSG lets the children go "shopping" for items in our make-shift store for their parents or guardians. It's a great way to get involved on campus, and it's always so gratifying to see how appreciative most of these children are.

The final Christmas-y thing that ended my week was a part of my work in the PR and Marketing Department, a virtual Ugly Sweater Contest! We're using Instagram and a holiday hash tag, #HurstHoliday to get Lakers to share their most hideous sweaters. We'll be picking a winner before students leave for break this Friday. See the picture below for the graphic I created for the contest.

Thank you for reading, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. Hopefully, I'll be able to post at least a little something over break!

But until next time, happy holidays!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas... All around the 'Hurst

The travel packs, I figured you needed a visual!

As always, this week FLEW by!

This week was full of fun and festive activities. Let me start off with MSG's 12 Days of Christmas. I know in my previous post I told you that we were starting the gift giving last Sunday. But here's a little more detail – every year MSG gives 12 gifts leading up to their annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, we started last Sunday and are still going strong. So far we've given:

1. playing cards
2. Laker shirts
3. winter hats
4. blankets
5. school supply packs
6. gloves
7. t-shirts
8. travel packs (mouth wash, chapstick, hand sanitizer)

And there's more to come! The final gift is given during the Tree Lighting Ceremony, and it will be extra special for one Laker, because it's a raffle for an iPad.

Lindsay, a freshmen senator & leader of the 100 days celebration

Another fun thing to happen this week was the celebration of the freshmen's first 100 days of school. At Mercyhurst, our senior year we celebrate the 100 days to graduation. So, a new tradition as been added to mix. Freshmen were asked to sign a banner in the cafeteria with their favorite memory from their first 100 days, and during their senior year once they hit the 100 days until graduation, they are opening the banner sort of like a time capsule. Traditions are all around the 'Hurst. 

Today was also an annual event for the Ambassador's Club on campus, Christgiving. No, that's not a typo, it's our own holiday after Thanksgiving, but before Christmas where we come together as a club to celebrate the seasons. I; and my co-chair for the social committee, Lisa, planned a wonderful holiday dinner for the year. We fed over 100 hungry Ambassadors and admissions team members, and even had an ugly sweater contest. Though, I'm happy the stress of pulling this event together is off of my shoulders, it's kind of sad at the same time. This was my fourth and last Christgiving, maybe this will be a Mercyhurst tradition that I implement into my family after graduation!

Ambassadors filling the Student Union for Christgiving dinner

Another traditional event that I'm overseeing this year is the RSCO Tree Decorating Contest. RSCO stands for registered student clubs and organizations, we have tons of them on campus... literally, more than 60! New ones are starting every year, that's the cool thing about Mercyhurst, if you have an interest and can find two other people and a club advisor, you can start the club! The Tree Decorating Contest is a good way to get RSCOs recognized and increase club participation, but it's also an easy fundraiser. Students vote on the "best tree" and that club wins $100 for their budget.

Judging for the Tree Decorating Contest takes place at the Tree Lighting Ceremony this Thursday.  I'll keep you posted on the gifts, winners, and all of those other holiday events happening around campus!

Thanks for reading :)

Welcome Winter Term

Hungry Lakers at the Grand Opening!

Hello everyone! This past week was the first back, and the start of Mercyhurst's Winter Term.

This is my last Winter Term, as I'll be graduating in May. I cannot believe that in six short months I will be done with my undergraduate degree at Mercyhurst. This term started off crazy as ever with classes, MSG, residence life, and Ambassadors.

I'm enrolled in four classes this term: Marketing Management, Managerial Economics, Strategic Communication I, and Professional Development. It's a plate-full, but I'm excited to attack them. After these four, there are only three more classes I need for Spring Term. My degree never seemed more in reach!

Last term I completed my internship, and this term on top of my classes, I have accepted a part-time position within Mercyhurst's Marketing and PR Department. It's flattering and an awesome experience that I am blessed to have.

One of the 12 gifts

This past week was also full for MSG. As the event coordinator, I planned a Grand Opening event for our Student Union Great Room. We held it during tonight's Steelers vs. Ravens game and supplied pizza, wings, and more. More than 100 students showed up to cheer on their favorite teams and break in the new student space.

Today was also the start of MSG's 12 Days of Christmas. Each year leading up to the Annual Christmas Tree Lighting, MSG gives out little gifts each day to students. This year gifts include blankets, travel coffee mugs, school supplies, eco-friendly bags, and more. Our final gift is a big one this year, one lucky Laker will walk away with an iPad! I'll have to give you some more details and write a little more in my next post.

Twitter door decs

For residence life, a new term means fresh bulletin boards and door decorations for my residents. I created a Twitter theme this time around. I cut out blue birds and hand-stamped my residents names after an @ sign. I think they turned out pretty good! I was going to make one per resident, but I decided to do the whole room to make it look more like a Twitter feed. And I'm guilty of going the easy way out for my bulletin board for the short time before Christmas break, I did a Christmas-y "let it snow" theme. I promise I'll freshen it up for the new year!!

Finally, for Ambassadors, I have been working on our annual Christgiving dinner. It's happening next Sunday and I'll have to fill you in on it more when I post next week. It's a big dinner that the club hosts between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we all get together with four turkeys, 30lbs of potatoes, and tons of desserts to celebrate the holidays with good friends.

Well, that's all for now! Come back next week for some more Mercyhurst fun :)