A sample text widget
Etiam pulvinar consectetur dolor sed malesuada. Ut convallis
euismod dolor nec pretium. Nunc ut tristique massa.
Nam sodales mi vitae dolor ullamcorper et vulputate enim accumsan.
Morbi orci magna, tincidunt vitae molestie nec, molestie at mi. Nulla nulla lorem,
suscipit in posuere in, interdum non magna.
|
 This year, tutors at the Writing Center have pen pals in Rwanda! We wrote letters in November and mailed them out in early December. Due to the long international mailing process, we just received the responses to these letters.
Our supervisor at the Writing Center established a connection with a school in Rwanda and thought it would be a fun activity for the Writing Center tutors to write stories and letters to the kids. We all enthusiastically agreed and we were paired up with students.
I am writing to a 10-year-old girl who loves singing, dancing, and learning English. In my first letter, I wrote her a story using all of her passions. In the response letter, she told me about her favorite animal (giraffe) and color (blue). In addition, she wrote me a summary about a story she read in class.
It was so much fun to receive that letter — she replied to the questions I asked her and asked me questions as well. I answered these in my most recent letter and wrote another story. In this story, I inserted pictures that I took while abroad to illustrate my tale about a girl and her trip around a city.
We are sending our newest letters in today and we will hopefully get one more response by the end of this semester!
Image source: globalresearch.ca
On Sunday, I had the honor of being inducted into Phi Beta Kappa along with more than 30 other McDaniel students. Phi Beta Kappa is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the world and it recognizes excellence in the liberal arts. McDaniel is one of only eight colleges in Maryland to have a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
As you can imagine, Phi Beta Kappa is rather selective. However, the selection criteria is somewhat elusive and mysterious, but what I do know is this: the chapter looks at students who are in the top of their class. They look at these students’ transcripts to see if they have taken a “real” math course in college (not statistics, not logic, and not a remedial math course) and a foreign language (unfortunately, ASL doesn’t count). A more in-depth description of selection criteria can be found here.
Nevertheless, since I had taken calc II and intermediate German while at McDaniel, I knew that if I continued to work hard and take classes in a variety of disciplines, I would have a shot at being selected for Phi Beta Kappa. I was not disappointed. Back in February, I received a letter in my campus mailbox letting me know that I had gotten in!
Sunday’s induction ceremony was lovely. There weren’t a lot of weird rituals we had to go through (no candle lighting or anything like that) and the speakers were interesting. Our chapter inducts an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa each year. This year’s honorary inductee was a judge who had graduated from McDaniel in the ’70s. He gave a speech about how important his liberal arts education has been to him, and he even sang bits of Avenue Q’s “What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?”.
After the ceremony, inductees and their guests were treated to a catered dinner in our dining hall where we got to eat a delicious meal and dessert with McDaniel professors who are also Phi Beta Kappa members.
Being inducted into Phi Beta Kappa is a tremendous achievement, and I’m thrilled that it’s something I’ve been able to accomplish!
Three hour long night classes can get tedious even for the best of us. My international law and organization teacher is very aware that three hours of ILaw on a Monday night can be long, so the other night she brought in a very special visitor.
Kopi is her five month old labradoodle puppy and one of the most adorable dogs I’ve ever met. He’s hypoallergenic, meaning that no one’s allergies would act up. He was probably the most enthusiastic guest I’ve ever seen in a class, and he definitely livened the night up.
 My friend holding Kopi. For the first part of class, he was very excited and went around greeting everybody personality by sniffing their hands. He called out everyone who had recently eaten, and paid special attention to someone who had eaten a chicken sandwich from the Pub before class. After he’d sussed us all out, he played Robin Hood and took a pencil from one person’s backpack and gave it to someone on the other side of class. He was confused when we all chuckled at him.
Kopi spent the majority of class sitting at the front of class, napping, and following our teacher around as she wrote on the chalk board, but I’m sure his name appeared in the notes of anyone who wasn’t thinking about what they were writing. Dogs are great at relieving humans’ stress and he definitely livened the mood of the class.
How was his existence relevant? Well, in case you were wondering, while the European Union does have a legal personality, Kopi does not; however, he and his species are definitely important to various trade and immigration laws!
Coming from San Francisco, I’m used to going to three or four concerts a year with major bands playing. Since coming to McDaniel, I’ve only been to one major concert–Pearl Jam, in freshman year–but thankfully, my need for live music is still sated.
 Ivo Kaltchev On Friday evening, the music department had its annual guest artist recital, featuring pianist Ivo Kaltchev. He played free of charge to the public in McDaniel Lounge, with a set of about 90 minutes consisting of music by four composers. I don’t have an ear for quality like some of my music major friends do, but I was absolutely blown away by his talent. He played almost the whole time with his eyes closed and looked perfectly serene even as he played tumultuous songs that rose and fell. I loved the selection of music he chose, as it had some really calm and peaceful songs as well as others that showcased his talent with dramatic lines. My favourite section was four preludes by Debussy that, while being distinct and separate, all merged together. You can read all about him on our website here. The music department also often has live events from student ensembles and performers, especially closer to the ends of semesters, and they’re always top notch.
Then, on Saturday, fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilion hosted Phoenix Fest in Old Gill Gymnasium. Tickets were $5 in the presale and all proceeds benefited the Children’s Miracle Network. I have a few friends in SAE who have been working really hard in preparation for the event, which featured bands from the local area as well as bands comprised of McDaniel students. They had eighteen groups in the end and the event went almost nine hours. I’m really hoping it becomes an annual event, as the environment was unlike anything I’d seen at McDaniel before.
My favourite music on the Hill, however, is my friends jamming. I have several very talented friends, and when they can organize themselves together, they sound really incredible. I’m always blown away when they’re playing, whether it’s when they’ve organized and are playing as a band or when one has picked up a guitar and is playing in the background.
On Thursday evening, I went to the Rice Gallery to see the Honors Art Exhibit. It was great to see all of the talent that we have here on campus. My friend Amanda is an Art and Mathematics major, so she merged the two in her art. She explained to me how her art reflected different mathematics problems.
 Amanda and her art! There were tons of different art styles. Mangie Moreno wrote on her body and displayed it for everyone to see which was awesome! Most of the writing on her body was about the troubles of the world and her personal philosophy. Her art made me think.
There were also a couple of comic book inspired pieces as well which were unique and surprising. I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s different ways of expressing themselves in their art. These art shows are so fabulous, and I appreciate having the ability to see awesome free art!
|
|
