About Robert

I'm 19; a sophomore student at McDaniel College. Hometown is Annapolis, favorite color blue, the only thing I love more than my home state is McDaniel!

Mr. McDaniel!

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Robert

Mr. McDaniel is a contest held once every year by Alpha Sigma Tau sorority on campus. This event is always fun since it is the sister event to the Ms. McDaniel competition hosted by the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. The events are known for being more comical than serious in comparison to other competitions that go by a similar name, and this year was unique for me because I was selected to compete in the AST’s Mr. McDaniel competition.

Of five competitors, two of my brothers were also selected to compete. There were three Alpha Sigs, one Phi Delt, and one Phi Kapp in total and each of us offered a unique take on comedy. The first event was formal wear, which was pretty basic. As we went onto stage, one of the ASTs hosting the event would read us a question and we would do our best to answer in a way that would appeal to the crowd. A few of the questions were given to us before the event so that we wouldn’t make complete jerks of ourselves on state; but most questions were given on the spot to show how quick we were on our feet.

The competition was more than anything just to entertain the campus and help the ASTs raise money for their sorority. Judged by two students, one randomly selected by the ASTs and the other the current Ms. McDaniel, and a faculty member, the criteria were most visually appealing, crowd appeal, best answers to the questions, and of course, general sense of humor; criteria that brought out the best in each contestant including myself.

In the course of the night, we saw one guy rap, too much speedo during the swimwear portion of the competition, I performed a song I had learned earlier in the day, and one of my brothers brought out a harpoon and stared seductively at the audience…which was interesting. Though I didn’t win, I thought it was a great opportunity and a really good time.

Let the Greek Games Commence!

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Robert

Monday around 4:30, the opening ceremonies for Greek Week were held on the ANW quad. Each year this tradition serves to commemorate the spirit of interfraternal togetherness and competition. Monday was simple field games like tug-of-war, water bucket relay, hoola-hoop passing, and a crazy relay where one person spins around a bat the runs to a chair and is fed a number of gross things.

Since it was boys against boys and girls against girls, Alpha Sig’s only two competitors were Phi Kappa Sigma and Alpha Gamma Tau (mostly known as the bachelors). I was surprised, since most of the bachelors are football players are football players and since most of the Phi Kapps have played highly physical sports that we did really well. We won the tug-of-war competition, the hoola-hoop passing competition, the sack race, the wheel barrow race and number of others.

If that wasn’t enough excitement, today was swimming events. At 7 all of the greek organizations gathered in the pool for a number of…interesting challenges. The first two were your typical biggest and smallest splash contests which we placed second and first in respectively. I was lucky that none of the Phi Kapps had anyone as skinny as me for the smallest splash contest. Then the events went on to include a race to gather rings off the bottom of the pool, a regular relay, crocodile wrestling, and even an animal noises challenge.

It has been a lot of fun and Alpha Sig will go into the track and field games of tomorrow leading by ten points and it’s truly an exciting time. Reasons like this are why college can be so much fun. Sure I’ve had to put a few assignments aside to make time for it, but it’s worth it. Who needs sleep anyway?

A Very Alpha Sig Night at Bdubs

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Robert

A while back I blogged about a philanthropy event that I organized for my fraternity at a local gaming place, Players. It was a huge success. Well tonight the Alpha Sigs hosted another fundraiser at my direction, a fundraising night at Bdubs (Buffalo Wild Wings) to help raise money for Relay for Life.

Typically money for Relay is raised by going door to door essentially asking your friends and neighbors for money. Since we live on a college campus, however, and only really have immediate access to our families, it is important to get creative. So I had the idea a while back to use a restaurant that’s popular on campus, like Bdubs, and see if they wouldn’t give me like 10 or 15% of the profits on a given night if I could rally the campus to come out and eat.

Well this is apparently a common thing for them. The manager set me up with a printable ticket format that said “Alpha Sigma Phi Relay for Life Fundraiser” and said that I would get 15% of whatever was sold as long as the customers presented that ticket (By the way, never miss an opportunity to get out there an build professional relations with business owners). So I printed out 1000 tickets and for the past few days my brothers and I have been standing outside of Glar (the dining hall) handing them out to everyone walking in, instructing them to go to Bdubs Thursday from 6-9 and help support our cause.

Well as you would imagine, by the third day, our peers were getting a little tired of us giving them tickets that they would likely throw away as soon they got out of sight. 6pm rolled around and I was worried people might not show up at all, but I was gladly surprised to find the exact opposite. There were McDaniel kids everywhere, taking up a large part of each section of the restaurant. Just goes to show you what impact a little bit of persistence and a good cause can have on a community. The good food doesn’t hurt either! I love my fraternity job!

What just happened in Annapolis?: In-field lectures at McDaniel

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Robert

One really cool thing about college in general, and specifically about McDaniel, is the chances it provides for students to get first hand experience in whatever field they are involved in. Tonight that experience manifested itself in a chance to meet two Maryland Senators who came to McDaniel to talk about what happened in the most recent state legislative session that ended at the beginning of April.

For those who might not know what I’m referring to, each year for 90 days, the Maryland Delegates and Senators are in session passing bills and making laws for the state. Since that session just ended, and I’m lucky enough to be a political science minor and be in a State and Local Government class this semester, I got to hear first hand how the proceedings went.

The two senators Edward Kasemeyer (fun fact: McDaniel Grad in 1970 something) and Joseph Getty were very experienced and have each been in the Maryland Senate for a number of years and have been through multiple sessions. What was also cool was getting insider information on new laws that are being passed such as the raise in gas and alcohol taxes, as well as the passing of the gay marriage law in the previous session. One bill I didn’t even know was up for debate was an environmental conservancy bill that proposed a tax for a each square foot of impermeable surface on your property.

If you’re interested in government and law, definitely check out the Political Science Department. They do a good job of getting students in the field, not only with events like this one, but with paid and unpaid internships, field trips to Annapolis and Washington, and experienced professionals like Dr. Herbert Smith who even currently is a lobbyist in Annapolis and used to work as a campaign advisor for nominated politicians.

Intramural Volleyball: Trying New Things

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Robert

Let me just start this one by saying, I’m not very athletic. I’m pretty skinny and I guess you could say I’m toned but not extremely strong or coordinated so when it comes to playing sports at McDaniel, I’m not the first guy on anyone’s mind. I swam in highschool and I’ve always been a decently fast runner so I don’t mean to make myself out to be some kind of loser, this is just to say that Tebow or Jordan. That said, one thing I have really enjoyed at McDaniel are the intramural sports.

Joining my fraternity has been helpful in this field since it gave me a nice gateway into intramurals, this spring especially since I finally have a softball and indoor soccer team that I can just be a part of without signing up. I’ve played all of these sports before though, what’s new this Spring to me is indoor volleyball. I had no idea it was such a fun sport! Having never played before, I wasn’t sure how it would go, but the fraternity had their first game today and I did not do as terribly as I had expected.

Our first game was against the Phi Delt fraternity. They were pretty good. They snagged a girl from the volleyball team to play for them (kind of cheating in my mind but whatever), and then they had another guy on their team who was pretty good. We were better. We lost our first game after staying tied for most of it, then won the second by a landslide. It all came down to the third game in which we had kept a decent lead on them until they snuck up on us in the end and won. The second game was against Phi Kapp fraternity and they crushed us. It might have been that we were tired, or that they were really good, but either way we didn’t stand a chance.

It was a great learning experience though, especially for a non-athlete like me. My brothers taught me how to set, how to block, and a number of volleyball terms that I wouldn’t have ever known otherwise. It was a great bonding experience even if we lost and it’s nice to know that even if you might not be the best at something, there’s still time to learn at McDaniel.

The fun in registering for classes

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Robert

Every year, once each semester, students go through one of the most traumatic and exasperating experiences of college: class registration. Maybe that was an over exaggeration, but most students will complain that this time of year is rough. If it wasn’t hard enough that you have to pick a major and do well in school, you have to get a spot in each of the classes you want. The experience isn’t limited to just McDaniel either, students at all other colleges go through the same stress.

For me, this year’s registration snuck up on me. Earlier this semester I had decided to drop my Spanish major and just stick with an English major in order to open up my future schedule for the exploration of other subjects. Looking at the program requirements for each of the minors I wanted to accomplish, as well as the rest of the classes I needed to complete for my major and the McDaniel Plan the road before me seemed a bit daunting. So who do you turn to for guidance? Your advisor!

Advisors are special academic advice gurus that you select in your major who help you pick classes and stay on course with all major, minor, and McDaniel plan requirements. I’ve been gifted a wonderful advisor, Dr. Mary Bendel-Simso of the English department. This semester, the past three actually, she has helped me completely reconfigure my plan. First, to be a English and Spanish double major with a minor in Education, then just simply an English and Spanish major, and now finally an English major with minors in Political Science, Spanish, and (hopefully!) writing.

Though some students come to McDaniel knowing exactly what they want to do, there are definitely more of us who wing it and see where we end up. I’m in the second semester of my sophomore year and I still might pull of a major with a triple minor so there’s really no rush to choose. The comfort is knowing that even if I don’t end up sticking to this plan, Dr. Mary will be there with me to figure it all out and make it work.

In the meantime, I got all the classes I wanted this semester which is a first (don’t be discouraged freshmen, it gets easier) with the exception of the Yogacore PE class I wanted to take, but I’m waitlisted and those always end up letting you in eventually. Anyway I feel like I’ve finally gotten myself on to the right track in terms of what I’m studying.

Pumping Iron…No but Really…

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Robert

One of the best things you can do for yourself while you’re at McDaniel is go to the gym. College in general is not that healthy. In general it entails staying up late working on assignments, eating while you’re doing it, spending copious amounts of time sitting doing work, and let’s face it–glar isn’t all that healthy either. So with the help of donations from the Merritt family, the same Merritt family whose name appears on many fitness centers in the area and most recently on what used to be Academic Hall after yet another generous donation to the school, the school has provided a fantastic fitness center.

I find it best to use the gym between 2 and 4pm on most days. Sports teams usually take over the gym from about 4 to 5:30 on weekdays, so for a nice uninterrupted workout I prefer the earlier hours. Plenty of people choose to use the gym around 8 or 9 though and since the gym stays open until 11 most nights pretty much anyone can find their perfect time to exercise using state-of-the-art equipment that was almost entirely donated to the school by the Ravens when they used to hold their summer practices here.

What I like most about the gym is its relaxed atmosphere, which is aided by the way it’s set up. The cardio and body weight based workout equipment, like medicine balls and yoga mats, are located on the second floor above the weight machines and free weights, so those less inclined to “pump iron” and simply do push ups or crunches are free to do so without feeling intimidated by the muscle meat heads. Oh, and the muscle meat heads are anything but; they actually are probably the least intimidating people in the world. Just the other day I was struggling to finish my last set and one random soccer player came up behind me and coached me through it, helping on the last few inches. I was struggling with a 150 pound bench but he didn’t judge me, so that speaks nicely to the community established at the gym.

Though it may not be the best part of the day, or even a huge part of your life at McDaniel, the gym is absolutely a wonderful part of the many things that McDaniel has to offer. Whether you’re training for a marathon, getting in shape for your sport, or just purely trying to stay healthy and keep your body in peak shape for summer, the gym has what you need. Plus there’s no sense in passing up a free workout!

Lia Purpura Came to Speak!

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Robert

Tonight was very unique. A guest lecturer and poet, Lia Purpura, read tonight at the annual Bothe lecture, a lecture held every year in honor of Judge Elsbeth Levy Bothe of the Maryland Circuit Court who donated generously to McDaniel in support of the arts and passed away this past March. Normally lectures like this will be accepted as extra credit by professors, but luckily for me I’m an English major, and a successful poet like Mrs. Purpura cannot come within my vicinity without each of my professors grabbing me by the back of my head and shoveling poems and all sorts of advice about the future down my throat.

What made it interesting was that I actually had two classes that made the lecture mandatory. One was my Intro to Lit Methods course which is the introduction to the major and conveniently has been covering poetry for the last week and a half, the other was a creative writing class centered entirely around poetry. The latter obviously focused more on Mrs. Purpura’s presence on campus and my professor actually got her to come speak to the class about her life as a writer.

I was shocked to find that I actually enjoyed hearing the perspective of a seasoned writer. Like many college students, I have never really appreciated a guest lecture. I mean I already sit for a minimum of two hours in class being lectured, I’m not going to be the first in line for an hour long lecture after classes are over. In any case, as far as mandatory guest lecturers go, Lia Purpura was very interesting. She was eccentric and enlightening; she even offered a wealth of useful advice during her session with my poetry class.

Her reading was unexpectedly ambiguous. Having never been to a reading, I didn’t know what to expect, but I thought it would be structured as a poem followed by an explanation. Instead, Lia read fluidly from poem to poem, pausing once or twice to offer minimal context for the poem. I was hoping she would give a better window into her writing process, but what she gave was simply a well rehearsed reading. No complaints though, it was still a very good experience and a good example of the type of first-hand learning that McDaniel makes possible.

Road Trip!!!!!

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Robert

I think the value of a good road trip has been lost among our age group. For example, some of the best memories I will take from the year’s Spring Break will be from the 13 hour drives there and back with two of my best friends. Regardless of this, three other friends who also came with us to Florida will be flying back, and they have no idea what they’re missing. After all, nothing will help you get to know somebody better than 13 hours of close, personal interaction. It’s an invaluable piece of the college experience, in fact, I would argue that you have not lived unless you’ve packed up the car with a few of your closest friends and driven through the night to a tropical destination of choice.

For the trip down, Rachel and Stevie arrived at my house at 1am and we began our perilous journey to Florida. On the way down we drank red bull, exchanged funny stories, listened to Taylor Swift, Mackelmore, JT, Calvin Harris, whatever we had on our iPods; whatever was necessary to keep ourselves awake. We took shifts for sleep, always making sure that the driver had someone awake keeping them company. It wasn’t easy but by dawn we had made it to South Carolina in record timing. In five more hours we were smelling the fresh ocean air of Cocoa Beach, driving with the top down on the Florida coastal highway blasting Luke Bryant and loving life.

The drive home is less exciting, naturally. We still have the radio going, but it’s raining and the impending classes on Monday have us all a little down in the dumps. Is still fun though, and I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world. Rachel has been reading to us from a book she has to read for her Spanish class which hasn’t been terrible to listen to.

Go on road trips with your friends! And don’t text the whole time either. Because ultimately your friends now will be your friends forever and this is how you’ll get to know them the best. Well, in my opinion anyway.

Spring Break: All The Cool Kids Are Doing It

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Robert

One of the best parts of college is, of course, Spring Break. You’ve seen it portrayed in the movies, tv shows, and you’ve probably had a few great spring breaks of your own in high school, but in all honesty nothing can truly compare to the awesomeness of a well planned Spring Break combined with the freedom of college. Most students at McDaniel look for warmth after spending a winter in the chilling Westminster wind, and to experience any noticeable difference in climate, that means Florida. I don’t have any definite number, but I could name at least 20 people I know on campus who are in Florida right now and in the process of thawing out.

My friends and I have pinpointed Cocoa Beach, Florida as our salty-aired, sunsaturated, beach of choice. We’re returning this year for a second time; mostly because it’s dirt cheap and you still get all the warmth of the more expensive destinations, but also because Cocoa Beach is one of the Best beaches on the Eastcoast for surfing and two of my friends are really into that. Plus who could pass up this view:

Anyway what I discovered is that you can actually find hotels that have kitchenettes for really cheap. The Days Inn at Cocoa Beach (the hotel we stayed in last year) offered them at a great low fee, and that meant that we could just buy our food at the Publix right across the street. All that was left to cover was the gas to get there. Three of my friends flew because they could afford it, but if you can find two people who are willing/able to split up the driving and the cost of gas, it can actually end up being pretty cheap and easy to get down and back.

What I’m really getting at is that nothing should stop you in college from having an awesome Spring Break. Save up your money and go south, you won’t regret it. Nothing beats 80 degree, sunny weather after a winter on the hill, and it follows a similar principle to pizza: there’s good pizza and bad pizza, but even bad pizza is still good. Unless warm weather isn’t your thing, in which case I hear Killington still has plenty of snow, in fact I think they just got a fresh powdering with this last system that moved through. Anyway, there’s some food for thought.

Stories from the Hill

Author Archives: Robert