About Annie Brown

I'm an English major, writing minor, and Honors Program student at McDaniel loving life as a soon-to-be junior! Follow me as I write about my day to day life and what's happening on campus!

Spring is coming!

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Annie Brown

Spring break is close, but spring seems even closer! The weather on campus was beautiful this weekend. A small number of students made their way to the quad on both days for some sunbathing and studying and playing catch, and as the weather gets warmer, more students (including me) will join them.

Because the weather was so nice, nine and my friends and I walked to Baugher’s for dinner. This was a lot of fun and the food was delicious (I had a hot turkey sandwich with a chocolate peanut butter sundae for dessert), but next time, I would go with a smaller group or on a different day in order to get seated faster–ten people on a warm Sunday evening is a recipe for a long wait at Baugher’s.

I’m looking forward to the emergence of warmer weather because it means I’ll be able to get off campus by myself more. Though I have friends with cars, I only ride in them when we go on group outings. I don’t have a car on campus, so my only solo means of transportation is walking, and in though there are plenty of things within walking distance from campus, when the weather is freezing, walking off campus usually isn’t worth it for me. (I also don’t like to rely on others to drive me places.) But with spring weather, I’ll be able to allow myself to go on more errands and go get coffee off campus. And with only eight weeks in between spring break and summer, it will be those little things that will give me something to look forward to when spring break is over : )

CEO Open House

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Annie Brown

McDaniel College has a wonderful office in the lower level of Decker College Center, McDaniel’s student center, called the Center for Experience and Opportunity, abbreviated to CEO. The CEO is not just a career services office–they also have tons of resources to help students and alumni find internships and volunteer opportunities.

This semester, the CEO has been trying to get students to be more familiar with their office and their services by holding open houses for each class year. The senior class was the first class to get two days of open house devoted just to them, followed by the juniors, who got two days of their own.

The sophomore open house was finally today, so I went to see what I could learn about finding jobs, since I’m trying to find some sort of job or internship to occupy me over the summer.

I’m really glad I went. I’ve actually been pretty anxious about what I’m going to do this summer, but some of the resources the CEO counselors showed me has made the process of finding and applying to jobs and such less intimidating. In addition to giving me a tour of the entire office and showing me through some of McDaniel’s job search databases, they also introduced me to Indeed.com, a job search engine that lets users search for any type of job based on location. Since a lot of McDaniel’s connections are based in Maryland, but I don’t live in Maryland, I think Indeed will be a great resource for me. Over the coming days and weeks, I’ll be sure to take some time to search for writing internships and internships for English majors on the website.

The CEO is a really great resource on campus, and I encourage all McDaniel students to use it! If they don’t already know of a job listing for you, they’ll help you find one that’s right for you based on your interests, abilities, major, and location.

Expect the unexpected

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Annie Brown

A lot of unexpected things have been happening on campus over the past couple of weeks. On Tuesday night of last week, gastroenteritis, which came to be known on campus as the McVirus and the McPlague showed up unexpectedly. (In our college campus bubble, not many people were aware that gastroenteritis had been going around Carroll County for a couple of weeks.)

This week, something more delightfully unexpected happened: yesterday at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the College announced that we would be having a snow day today in anticipation of several inches of snow. While many people on campus had been expecting snow for a couple of days, none of us expected McDaniel to declare a snow day so early.

To celebrate the snow day announcement, four of my friends and I went to Denny’s for “second dinner” yesterday evening before the snow started falling. It was nice to go out, since I hadn’t seen much of my friends because I had been sick, and I ordered enough food to have leftovers for today so I wouldn’t have to go outside to get lunch.

Though the snow ended up being not as dramatic as we thought it would be, having a snow day today has been nice. I spent a lot of time sleeping today, so tonight I have to work on returning to reality by getting some homework done. Fortunately however, since the school is closed, I don’t have any activities to go to tonight, so I still have plenty of time to accomplish things!

Getting back in action

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Annie Brown

Like so many others, last week I caught what has come to be called the McVirus and the McPlague, so I was home from Thursday morning through Sunday evening recovering. Though students on campus coined those terms to include the name of our college, it’s important to know that gastroenteritis, the medical name of the McVirus has been widespread across the region this year and the disease definitely did not originate here. And because college students live in such close quarters, a quick and wide spread of a virus like this could have happened on any college campus, not just McDaniel.

I came back to McDaniel after my four-day weekend feeling about 90% better, but my homework and other obligations were 110% ready for me to be back. I’ve been doing a reasonably good job keeping up with things, but I still get tired pretty easily. Since it feels like I have a million things today and they were stressing me out by floating around in my head, I made a list on one of my whiteboards of assignments and when this week they need to be completed by. This way, instead of convincing myself I have to do 50 things, I’m able to prioritize and break things up into smaller tasks.

Last night was fun because at 8:00, I met up with other members of Contrast, our campus literary magazine, so we could decide which prose submissions we should include in the magazine. Contrast holds a contest at the beginning of every spring semester, and McDaniel students are allowed to submit up to three pieces in each of three categories: prose, poetry, and artwork. The authors/creators of three best entries in each category, as judged by the members of Contrast, win prizes! Going through the prose pieces ended up being a long (and even tedious at times) process, but it was worthwhile because we were able to thoroughly discuss each piece before deciding whether or not we should publish it. While one piece was everyone’s clear favorite, the most difficult part of the selection process was choosing which pieces should receive second and third place in the prose category. Eventually though, we came to a satisfying decision that we all agreed upon. I can’t wait to do it all over again for poetry next week!

Today was fun because I finally had a chance to shadow a writing tutor in the Writing Center for the first time. (I was supposed to shadow her last week, but I began experiencing symptoms of the McVirus within an hour of when that was supposed to happen.) In my Peer Tutoring class, we’ve been reading a lot about the pedagogy and philosophy of writing centers, so it was nice to finally see a lot of that in action! Once the appointment was over, I also enjoyed talking a couple of the writing tutors who didn’t have appointments. Since I was sick last week, it had been a while since I had had a nice conversation with some of my peers.

Overall, I’m doing the best that I can without overburdening myself. I know that if I try to do too much at once, I’ll stress myself out and I also won’t have enough energy to get me through the rest of the week. Tonight, I’m looking forward to a couple of meetings with Alpha Lambda Delta, our first-year honor society, and the Free Press, our student newspaper, before hitting the books and hopefully going to bed at a reasonable hour!

Scrabble Madness

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Annie Brown

Yesterday, for the second year in a row, I got to participate in Carroll Literacy Council’s third annual Scrabble Madness tournament, which was hosted here on the Hill. The tournament is open to anyone who is in sixth grade or older, and each team ranges from one to three players.

I played last year as a last-minute alternate on a team with two McDaniel then-seniors. To our huge surprise and delight, we ended up winning the tournament!

Because we did so well last year, I, as the only member of my team who is still in college, was asked by the English department to form a new Scrabble team, which I happily did. I named my team “The Whom” and excitedly went into the tournament yesterday with the goal of reaching the final round again.

Unfortunately, after two rounds of competition, The Whom got sixth out of fifteenth place, just two places shy of having enough points to be one of the top four teams who got to play in the final round.

Still, we really enjoyed playing in the first two rounds, which all of the 15 teams got to play in. Our second game was particularly challenging yet rewarding, since we drew mostly vowels and were playing against teams that had an affinity for playing short and simplistic words. Though it seemed really difficult as we were playing it, we finished that round with a satisfying score of over 175 points, which contributed nicely to our two-round total of 325 points. It was definitely a fun challenge!

If you like Scrabble, definitely seek out sponsorship to be in the tournament when you come to McDaniel. Though the fee to register a team is $100, departments on campus such as the English department and Academic Affairs happily sponsor student teams, so you could very well end up paying nothing to compete. The rewards of competing are great! You get to spend an afternoon playing Scrabble with others in order to benefit Carroll Literacy Council and their endeavors in Carroll County. You’ll also get a complimentary Scrabble Player’s Dictionary : )

I’ve been busy!

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Annie Brown

It was a busy week for me here on the Hill!

In addition to attending my three Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes, I devoted much of my Monday to helping out the Honors Program by eating at the luncheon for prospective Honors students and spending time in the Honors study lounge, the Room of Requirement. I had a lot of fun meeting prospective students and answering their questions.

On Tuesday, I went to support the McDaniel Free Press by having s’mores and hot chocolate in Ensor Lounge, where organizations can reserve a fire pit for s’more roasting. Spending time with my friends and fellow Free Press members was a lot of fun. After the event, I went straight to the Free Press meeting, where I picked up an article to be submitted on Sunday and pitched a well-received idea for another article I’d like to write at some point in the next couple of weeks.

On Wednesday, I went to the second meeting of More Love Letters of the semester. More Love Letters is a fun and laid back new club on campus that is based on the organization of the same name that promotes sending love letters to people in need. In addition to writing letters to people suggested by the More Love Letters website, we’ve also been working on letters and notes of encouragement to hide around campus for people to find. I have a collection of over 20 letters that a friend and I made over the past couple of weeks, but I am guilty of not being able to make time to hide them!

On Thursday evening, I went to the Ridington Lecture, the first major lecture of the semester. It featured Dr. Muqtedar Khan, an associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware, who spoke on Islam and contemporary challenges faced by American Muslims. Thought it was longer than I would have hoped, it was an interesting lecture. Afterward, I put a lot of time into writing about it for the Free Press (this was the article I had signed up for on Tuesday).

It may now be Friday evening, but I’m still busy! In order to fit all of my assignments in without overloading myself on any given day this weekend, I’m going to have to tackle some homework tonight. I’m also participating in the Scrabble tournament being hosted on campus tomorrow, so that will also keep me busy for several hours this weekend! (I’ll be sure to let you know if I did well!)

Taking 20 credits instead of the typical McDaniel 16 plus being active on campus certainly keeps me occupied, but it’s quickly teaching me how to work harder than ever before, which I know will help me be successful throughout my life.

Sharing the Honors Program

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Annie Brown

Today was a busy day for me! Immediately after my first class of the day, Logic, I headed to the Forum to eat at a luncheon hosted by Admissions for prospective McDaniel students eligible to apply to our Honors Program.

I sat at a table full of high school seniors who were clearly bright, talented, and interested in a lot of different things. While we only had about half an hour to talk and figure out who was interested in what, I enjoyed spending time with them. I did a lot of the talking, so I hope that what I said gave them a better idea of what McDaniel and the Honors Program is like.

After the luncheon, I had my second class of the day, Growing Up in America, in which we’ve been discussing Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. I really enjoyed reading the book, and today’s discussion was interesting and useful.

After this class, I went directly to the Room of Requirement, a study lounge just for Honors students, to meet with more prospective students and answer their questions and their parents’ questions. This was a lot of fun, since other current Honors students were there too, so we were all able to give our input on questions and have a fun and laid back conversation. Unfortunately, my time in here was also limited to an hour, since I had to go to my third class of the day, Adventures in Number Theory. This happens to be an Honors class, so we had two prospective students sit in on it.

Between going to class and sharing McDaniel and the Honors Program with prospective students, my day was crazy busy but also a lot of fun! I hope that today’s visiting students got a good feel for McDaniel and that some of them will decide to come here!

A great day for chocolate

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Annie Brown

Though I didn’t have a valentine this year, chocolate was here and everywhere for me this Valentine’s Day.

After I was finished class this afternoon, I went to my campus mailbox to find a lovely bar of fair-trade chocolate I had ordered for myself last week. (I also received two Valentine’s Day cards and a birthday card from relatives. My birthday is less two weeks away!)

On my journey to Glar, more chocolate came into my possession. I bought a pussy pop–a chocolate lollipop shaped like a vagina–to benefit the Vagina Monologues and their One Billion Rising cause. Since the Vagina Monologues show was last weekend, the pussy pops were on sale for only a dollar! I also made sure I picked up some Hershey Kisses from the Writing Center table outside of Glar.

Dinner was when the real chocolate treats began. There was a huge buffet table with strawberries and pineapple for dipping in chocolate, cupcakes (in chocolate and vanilla), Rice Krispie treats (which were not chocolate but they were read), and chocolate-dipped almond cookies. The most enticing and delicious dessert, however, was a rich chocolate cake. It was moist, filled with chocolate ganache, and covered with chocolate shavings. It only took one piece to fill me up, so it was good that I decided to skip dinner!

I actually haven’t eaten any of the chocolate I picked up today at the post office or outside of Glar, but tonight, I indulged in some of the chocolate that I got in the mail from my mom on Tuesday.

Since my waistline can handle only so much chocolate in one day, I now have plenty of chocolate to indulge my sweet tooth for a long time!

Visiting the Writing Center

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Annie Brown

I have a confession to make: up until this point in my college career, I had never had an appointment at the Writing Center. A lot of this has to do the fact I tend to finish my papers at the last minute. I had always had this unfounded idea that in order to take a paper to the Writing Center, it should be pretty complete first.

However, this semester, I’m taking a course called Peer Tutoring. This may sound boring and nondescript, but it’s actually a class to teach me how to work in the Writing Center. It’s been neat to learn about how the Writing Center works, what services they provide, and how to be an effective writing tutor. As part of this training, I’m required to make appointments at the Writing Center to experience the process of peer tutoring firsthand.

It’s become a lot clearer to me that going the Writing Center can be extremely helpful at any stage of the writing process. For example, students who need help with brainstorming and prewriting can schedule an appointment at the Writing Center to focus on that.

I went to the Writing Center with almost three pages of a paper that needs to be around four to six pages. While my ideas were solid, I wanted to discuss ways to better organize the content of my paper and discuss ways that I could make it more interesting. The paper I’m writing is actually about my writing process, and we decided that to make it more engaging, I should include some specific examples and anecdotes to illustrate aspects of my writing process.

Because I’m in training to be a writing tutor, throughout the discussion we also talked about aspects of McDaniel’s writing center and tips on how to be a good tutor. Though I have a few peer tutoring guidebooks to help me learn how to be a tutor, I know that my firsthand discussions will be particularly memorable lessons. There’s just something so genuine about advice from one tutor to a future tutor.

Overall, I’d say this evening’s trip to the Writing Center was a success! I got some great feedback on my paper, learned some important things about the Writing Center and being a writing tutor, and I even got to spend some time brainstorming strategies for how to go about another paper that I’m in the process of starting.

When you’re in college, take advantage of the Writing Center. No matter how good of a writer you are or what stage of the writing process you’re in, you’ll receive valuable help and advice from a friendly and knowledgeable tutor!

Joining new clubs

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Annie Brown

This semester, I’m trying to get involved with organizations that I haven’t been a part of before, since I’ve become less involved with organizations that I’ve been heavily involved in in the past.

Last night, I went to the first meeting of More Love Letters of the semester. It’s a brand new club on campus that started up late last semester, and I’m looking forward to being as involved with it as possible. More Love Letters is an organization that promotes writing love letters to people and identifies people who are in need of letters so that people can write letters to send to them. College campuses across the country have More Love Letters clubs, and I’m glad that we now have one at McDaniel. Last night, we wrote letters to some of the people that the More Love Letters website has listed as needing letters. We also wrote letters to hide around campus on Valentine’s Day for people to find, though we hope to distribute these sorts of letters throughout the school year. It’s going to be a fun semester with this club!

Tonight, I went to the first meeting of Active Minds of the semester. This club strives to promote good mental health on campus, which I think is an incredibly important cause. The club is relaunching itself after being inactive for a few years, so not a lot of people showed up to the first meeting. Hopefully, more people will come to next week’s meeting and the club will be able to flourish.

College is a great time and place to get involved in new clubs, particularly clubs that aren’t like the ones you were a part of in high school. A lot of the clubs I joined last year were very similar to the clubs I was very active in during high school, but I’m hoping to branch out this semester.

Stories from the Hill

Author Archives: Annie Brown