Winning Weekend

Hello there – This Sunday has been full of lovely spring sunshine and is getting me excited for warmer weather!

This past week at Mercyhurst has been a fun one. There was an awesome Student Activities Council (SAC) event on Friday, Hurst Idol. Kind of like American Idol, students were able to audition to earn a spot in the line up. SAC welcomed six performers to the stage, all of which were fantastic. In the picture to the side, you see the judging table. From left to right the judges were: everyone's favorite art teacher, Ms. Patty, the Area Director for Freshmen Housing, Michael Grasso, A-list 'Hurst celebrity from our cafeteria, Rhonda and finally, Mercyhurst Student Government (MSG) President, and my personal friend, Richard Molloy. First place winner won free books for next term, second place won two tickets to see Of Mosters and Men in concert. There were also a few gift cards raffled off to audience members. 

Photo credit @alagruth3

On Saturday, our No. 1 men's lacrosse team took on No. 9 Dowling and won 12-11. This was the team last year who took away our chances of playing beyond regular season games. Then on Sunday, our Lakers beat Alderson-Broaddus, 19-5. The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) victory is the 30^th straight regular season win for men's LAX. It was a great weekend for the Lakers! 

In the photo to the left you see the men's team and their coach ringing the Sister Damien Bell in the middle of Garvey Park. It's a tradition on our campus when you win a game, graduate or achieve any other major accomplishment, you ring the bell.


Also on Saturday, I spent the afternoon with my fellow MSG executive board and advisors. As a senior gift to us, our wonderful advisors took us on a wine tasting trail. When you come to school here, if you drive to North East you'll see tons and tons of grape vines. Along with the home of Welch's grape juice and jams, there are a lot of quaint wineries. I highly recommend, for those 21+, to explore "Lake Erie Wine Country." We visited 21 Brix, Johnson Estate Winery, Sparkling Ponds Winery, Quincy Cellars and Mazza Vineyards. They were all wonderful and I think I'm going to take my family for a tasting during graduation weekend. See some of the pictures below:

Thanks for reading!
 

 

Endless Events!

A chilly hello from Mercyhurst U. today!

Currently we are under a Lake Effect Winter Weather Advisory and have about 30 inches of snow. So shortly after this, since two of my classes were cancelled for the day, I'll be throwing on some warm gear to play in the snow. Okay, maybe not really, but if you're into sledding, snowboarding and tubing, Erie is the place for you!

Last week MSG had David Coleman, the Dating Doctor in the Performing Arts Center. We had an awesome turn out and David gave a ton of great advice to students mixed with a good amount of comedy. We love having him on campus, and may bring some of his other presenters from his production company in for orientation week next year. So if you decide to become a MU Laker, I'm sure you'll have the opportunity to meet him and listen to him again.

This week is full of fun and exciting things!

This week MSG is hosting a forum on Wednesday to help inform students about all the little details about our change from trimesters to the new 4-1-4 semesters. Since I am a senior, this does not affect my scheduling, however I want the students to be as well informed as possible. So I am encouraging all to come out and ask as many questions as possible.

Also on Wednesday, MSG is holding a self defense workshop. This is something that SAC provided a few years ago, and we thought it was a good thing to bring back. It is always a good idea to be prepared for a variety of scenarios, I really liked the workshop the last time we offered it because it taught me how to help myself stay calm in such a high stress situation. And hopefully, I will never have to put these tips to use, it's nice to know I have some frame of reference to go back on.

On Thursday, I am taking the Ambassador Club snow tubing at a ski resort that is not too far from campus, Peek'n Peak. It's a social event that we are using as a fundraiser and as a way to get off campus and to have some fun.

On Friday, SAC is hosting it's third annual "Are You Smarter than a Professor" event. It's exactly what it sounds like, three Mercyhurst University professors will go head to head against MU students to compete in a battle of wits. Every topic can show up; from math to English, and even some pop-culture questions will appear.

And finally on Saturday, SAC and another club I am involved in PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) will be hosting a Frozen Putt-A-Thon. We are inviting the Mercyhurst and Erie community to the Harbor View Miniature Golf Course to be bold in the cold. Basically, people can come out for a few rounds of mini-golf in the snow to help a good cause. This year, we are fundraising for the Erie City Mission.

I can't wait to post pictures and tell you all about how these events went.

Until then, stay warm! And thanks for reading :)

Dating Doctor

Happy New Year! I hope your Christmas and holiday season was wondeful.
 
The week back from Christmas break is always the hardest. After spending some time at home, it's always a struggle to come back into the swing of classes. But somehow we all managed and here we are.

This week for student government we have the second installment of our Distinguished Speaker Series. The first speaker was MTV's Andrew Jenks, this time we are welcoming the Dating Doctor, David Coleman back to campus for the third time. He's a relationship expert who the movie Hitch was based off of. We always get a full house and are hopeful that we will tomorrow too. The Dating Dr. gives tons of great information for improving relationships, finding love, and just how to live a more fulfilling life. To find out more about the Dating Doctor, check out his website here.

The Doctor on our stage from his last visit.

I'll have to let you all know how it went next time!

Have a wonderful week and thanks for reading.

:)

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 :)

Whatta Week!

Can you believe it's already October? Tomorrow is the 1st, and this term is zooming by!

This past week was pretty uneventful in comparison to homecoming last week. This coming week is the mark of midterms for Mercyhurst, then this Thursday we go on Fall Break – which I'm super excited for.

So besides preparing for midterms let me give you a run down of what happened this week:

I had MSG meetings on Monday night. Monday at 8:30 p.m. are weekly MSG meetings, this is a great opportunity for any Mercyhurst student to voice concerns, issues, suggestions, or praises to student government. We swore in our new freshmen senators, so now we are working on a full senate for the year.

On Wednesday, I had a Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) meeting. This is a club that I am involved in that combines fun and practical professional experience in the field of PR and marketing. This year our big event is going to be the Frozen Putt-A-Thon. If you'd like to read up more, please read Joe's blog, he's the president of PRSSA and has blogged about the details, and I'm sure more are coming. I'll keep you posted too!

Also on Wednesday, I attended the Senior Gift Committee meeting. We've been hard at work narrowing down potential gift ideas for the senior class to vote on. Some of the ideas include: a green house/bio-dome, a breakfast bar in one of our dining venues, fire pit, a pavilion area by our athletic fields, or a concession stand in our athletic center. A senior gift is something that the outgoing senior class leaves as their mark at the 'Hurst.

Wednesdays are also my duty night as an RA, so I ended the night with the Res Life staff and rounds. 

On Friday I gave a big presentation in my Advertising Branding and Strategy class. It went well, it was a partner project and we had to analyze commercials, and apply theories and methods we have learned. It was actually pretty fun for a class project!

To end the week, there was the blessing of the new Mary Garden outside of Old Main. If you ever come for a visit, you can't miss it as you go up the drive. It was a wonderful way to bring the Mercyhurst community together on a Friday afternoon.

Thanks for reading and wish me luck on my midterms this week! I'll talk to you next week and tell ya what happened at the 'Hurst.

:)