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!

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 :)