this is why i do what i do

Over the past few years I have built many relationships with students, faculty and staff alike on this adventure we call higher education.  One memory stands out for me in my first year working at Rollins as a GA  in Fraternity and Sorority Life.  If you know anything about recruitment you know that it can be the most stressful and rewarding time of year for an advisor.  My first recruitment I was asked to walk a student back to her dorm that was having a hard time with the bid she received as she knew it was not the place that she would call home for the next four years.  Olivia declined her bid knowing she would not be able to go through recruitment again for a full calendar year.  My supervisor asked me to walk her back and calm her nerves as she was visibly upset.  I was worried about Olivia because recruitment is one of the most stressful times for a potential new member.  I kept an eye on her and gave her my number so she could reach me at any time over the weekend if she was feeling too upset about her decision and the outcome of recruitment.

Over the next year I saw Olivia around campus engaging in various activities and getting involved in other student organizations.  The next spring when she was eligible to go through recruitment she did and she joined our local sorority NCM.  This time she had found her home and began going through the education process and getting involved in all that NCM had to offer.  Towards the end of my second year as a GA the NCM chapter decided it was time to go national and merge with a national organization to gain the countless benefits that these organizations can provide to collegiate and alumni women.  As their search for a national organization began Olivia was at the forefront of turning NCM into the best organization they could be.  


My first year out of graduate school NCM began bringing national organizations on campus to present to Panhellenic and decide what would be the best fit for the campus.  Lucky for me Delta Zeta was in the top three and they blew our women away in their excellent presentation with their attention to details and how they could fit the NCM values in with our own. Olivia had been pushing for DZ since they came on the table as an option and I worked with her to share my knowledge of the organization as I am also a member.  I watched as Olivia took the lead and ultimately became the president of the new Delta Zeta chapter.  

Over those four years I watched Olivia grow into an amazing and strong young woman and I am proud of who she has become. Just yesterday I was talking to Olivia about graduate school.  She wants to go into higher ed and become a fraternity and sorority advisor just like I had 4 years ago.  She has already been accepted at USC and is waiting to hear back from a few other schools.  I had the pleasure today to send a few referrals out on Olivia's behalf  in search of an assistantship for her.  I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to reach out to my colleagues to help her and I can't wait to see where she goes next.  


I might not always love my day-to-day activities up here in good 'ole South Dakota but THIS is why I do it.  I joined this professional to make a difference in the lives of college students.  While I can't take all the credit on who Olivia has become, I can sleep at night knowing I helped her along this path. 
 

The Vacation

So let me start by apologizing for my long absence.  I have not gotten used to this whole blogging thing... 

Last Friday I had the wonderful pleasure of returning home for a mini vacation with my parents and new beau, Britton.  It was his first time meeting my family and we got to do that in style with a trip to Key West.  We arrived into MCO late that night and were early to bed to prepare for our weekend of "drunken debauchery" starting the next day.  As a side note, mom has been calling it a weekend of drunken debauchery since the idea first came about in December over the holidays.  I will admit as Britton has to my friends, i think i only finished 4 drinks the whole weekend...

Back to the trip, early Saturday morning Britton and I had plans to meet up with my bestie Amit and his gf at my fav Jewish deli, Bagel King.  Now, bagels are something I have really grown to miss as Vermillion's only selection consists of those crap bagels in the bread aisle of Wal-Mart...  So needless to say, I was pumped about some real bagels and cream cheese! I made sure to pack in the activities to ensure that Britt got to meet all of my closest buds while he was around so breakfast was planned for 7:30 am that morning.

After breakfast another bestie, Juli stopped by to say hi and then we were off to the airport again to catch that plane to the beautiful island of Key West.Our arrival in Key West was definitely an adventure, taking a van to the car rental place where we began our vacation waiting in the hot sun for an hour for a car.  Apparently the place was not prepared for the customers that were arriving on the 12:30 flight from Orlando.

Once we were in our rental we headed straight for Publix to grab some provisions including my favorite lunch treat, a publix sub! With vanilla ice cream and pina colada mix we headed to the hotel only to find that our room was not ready.  It was 2 pm by now and check in was 3 so we decided to wait by the pool for what felt like FOREVER!  Dad checked in numerous times for a status update but we were stuck with the stray cats and spring breakers for another hour.

Once the room was finally ready we began the island vacation we had been hoping for set with beautiful sunsets, delicious meals and fun in the sun. Highlights include:

A sunset cruise on the catamaran with the Fury, tour inclucded free booze and gorgeous views! 

A glorious meal on the secluded Little Palm Island, inhabitants on the island included little key deer!

The Hemingway house where we found some of the famous 6 toed cats!

A beautiful tour around the island, complete with stops at the Southernmost point, Submarine hiding spot during WW2, a dolphin playground and lots of time playing around in the Gulf and Atlantic Ocean!

And we can never forget about the reason we were there, the "drunken debauchery!"  We had to hit up the local hot spots such as Hogs Breath Saloon and Sloppy Joe's (although we did avoid Fat Tuesday's since it was actually Fat Tuesday when we went out drinkin')!

There were, of course, many, many more sites we saw and restaurants we went to but if I were to show pics of all of it you'd be reading for days.  

All in all, we had a wonderful time, and (thankfully) Britton impressed the parents.  We've been invited back down in July for a fourth of July vacation in Anna Maria Island.  I am already counting the days!