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!

Values and Leadership

This semester I have started a new program at USD titled Leadership U and we have had anywhere from 30-50 students show up to the workshops in the last two weeks (making this new program a HUGE success).  This week we talked specifically about personal values and how they relate to leadership.  It got me thinking about what I value most in life.  I have done a values evaluation before and for the most part I can always remember my top 3 but the others on my list change based on life's changes.  In the worksheet there are a list of 45 values and you are asked to put them into one of 5 categories, always value, often value, sometimes value, seldom value and never value.  I found 6 values that have the most meaning in my life and they are:

• Family
• Love
• Friendship
• Inner Harmony
• Helping Others
• Balance

While these are all the things I value most in life they are things that I often struggle to recognize in the mundane, day to day.  So I am starting a new routine to help me think more about these values on a daily basis.  Each day of the week I will devote my energy to one of my values and find ways to carry out it's purpose.  Today I chose to start at the top with family.  So for any family out there, look out, you might be getting periodic calls, texts and notes throughout the day so that you know how much you mean to me! 

I hope that by making this change in my life I can begin to find some peace in this move that has been a constant struggle for me.  By focusing every day on a core value I hope that I will be able to live each day to the fullest and find the joy in all that I do!

If anyone would like a copy of the article on personal values please let me know and I will send it to you in an email!

Hope you have a great day! Ciao! 

Heat WAVE!

Since I have been doing this whole blog thing the temperatures here in Verm have been plummeting.  In fact, just last week we were experiencing wind chill in the -20 to -30 range!  Completely unbearable, to say the least.  The roads have been covered in ice and the snow is piled high in the parking lots all over town.  However, late last week, a heat wave rolled in.  As soon as it happened students all over campus were whipping out their shorts and t-shirts and yesterday I even saw a few pairs of open toe footwear!  Now I realize, even I have felt warm in this beautiful weather, but still not warm enough for my favorite pair of rainbows.  I called my mom last Friday and said "you know I've been in the north too long when I say 30 degree temperatures is warm!" And the amazing thing is, the temps didn't stop rising today's high is 47 and tomorrow's is 55!

With the sun beaming down on this small town the ice is melting and the snow is disappearing at a rapid pace.  Where the roads have been lined for weeks with piles of snow, now all you see is dead grass and puddles.  Yesterday I was even brave enough to go without a coat after lunch to bask in the glorious warmth!  I never thought this Florida girl would be so excited to see temperatures in the 40s.  Just last year I had to pull out my winter coat when the temperatures got that LOW!

I wish I could say that these warm temperatures would last forever but, sadly, by this weekend we should be getting more snow and cool temperatures once again.  This spring time tease can't last forever so I suppose I will keep my winter wear handy.  This weekend I will have the pleasure of heading up to the Twin Cities with the beau's family and I am sure the winter coat will be a must pack item.  I will spend the next few says enjoying the beauty as I knew it couldn't last forever.

ta ta for now!

Our Trip to Lincoln

This weekend I had the pleasure to see more sites in the Midwest.  Britton and I headed South to Lincoln, NE to spend some time with his sister and brother in law.  On our drive down we went to my favorite sushi place in Omaha and stuffed our faced before the final leg of the trip. Sushi was good and I was happy!

As we drove into Lincoln I expected it to be a boring college town with little activity and only college things to do.  Boy was I surprised!  Lincoln was a pretty thriving metropolis with a nice downtown and great surrounding neighborhoods.  It was much larger than I expected and had a thriving young population of 20 somethings.  Britton's sister Ciana lives in an adorable neighborhood with some great surrounding restaurants and shops.  

Saturday night we headed into downtown for a bite to eat at a local pizza joint.  The place felt like that awesome neighborhood bar with graffiti art covering the walls and a great selection of import beer.  The food was delicious and the company was rockin!  We headed front he bar to a quaint bar located at the back of an old theater.  The specialty menu included creative martinis and mixed drinks.  Being located at the back of an old theater you could see the underbelly of the structure of the theater.  It had a great atmosphere and classy clientele. 

The four of us spent Saturday eating great food and playing their new Kinect.  It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend and we can't wait for Ciana and Jeff to come and visit us next!

Now that we are back home safe and sound Britton has headed in for surgery and the snow has begun to fall again! Back to the real world!

snow, snow, snow

So I woke up Sunday morning and it was snowing. This isn't my first encounter with the snow but this was the most beautiful.  The last real snow we had was during a blizzard which made it impossible to see and everything was being blown about.  Sunday's snow, however, was peaceful. 

Britton and I had planned on heading to Sioux City for the day to be with his mom and eat good food so after getting ready we made the trek to his house.  Britton's car can take the snow for sure but my baby was in Sioux City already so i knew at some point i would be taking it back to Verm...  Once we made it to SC i promised my mom I would go out and play in the snow.  We suited up with some old snow gear and went out to brave the cold.  with Britton's mom in tow to take photos we began gallivanting across his lawn making snow angels and having snowball fights.  

We went all out and crossed to the neighbors backyard to do a little sledding down the huge hills in his neighborhood.  I'm not gonna lie about it, i was slightly nervous.  But lucky for me, i had Britton behind me on the sled to navigate.  As we got closer and closer to the end of the hill and the beginning of a fence Britton's feet went out to stop our sled sending snow all over my face and up my nose!  The joys of the sled were soon met by the misery of the hike back up the hill.  Little did i realize that the heading back up the hill would be somewhat torturous.

Now, it's been many, many hours since first waking to see the snow falling in Vermillion.  And the snow didn't let up on our drive to SC or as we played in the snow that afternoon.  It snowed all day long, without so much as a 5 minute reprieve.  My car was already covered in snow out in the drive way.  Britton cleaned off my car that night to help me prepare for my journey back home which i didn't start until almost 10 pm.  Its one thing to drive at night and another thing to drive in the snow. Mix the two for this Florida girl and you have a possible disaster on your hands...


As I got onto the interstate after fishtailing and meandering about the unplowed roads I caught sight of an upturned car, lying in the ditch beside I-29. I thought to myself, "just don't even think about it and you'll be fine!"  While the snow wasn't piled too high on the highway it was quite a task to see the road below my tires.  As I left the city lights of Sioux City and Dakota Dunes behind me, all I saw ahead was darkness.  I stayed calm and tried to follow the dotted white line whenever it came into view.  Few cars were out so i didn't worry too much about other crazy drivers.  I focused on myself, my speed and staying on the "road" or at least staying out of the ditch.


As i came nearer to the Vermillion exit i began to panic that the snow and ice would make it more difficult to get off the highway and up the ramp.  i stayed calm and remembered to take deep breaths. I continued to tell myself that i could do it and i would be home safe and sound within the next half hour.  As i drove up the ramp no problem i knew i was in the clear and would be home safe!  While driving down 50 was even less plowed than the high way, i kept a steady and slow pace and made it safetly into Vermillion.


As i awoke this morning i realized the snow was still falling and the cars were deep under the snow.  Its been an adventure and I can't wait until the snow stops and the sun shines again!  Hopefully that day will come tomorrow.

Its a new day

As i woke up this morning there was one thought in my mind... "man, are you sure I have to be a grown up?" 


This year I took a huge leap and left the wonderful City of Orlando to make it big in the Midwest.  I suppose "make it big" isn't the right phrase, as i have moved cross country to the small town of Vermillion, South Dakota. Hardly the place to "make it big."  But I jumped in head first despite my big bad fears of leaving home and now I've decided to document the adventures.  


Here are a few tips I have learned that might help others with big, life changes before and after the decision is made:

1. Weigh your options when choosing to make a big change, is the job, boy/girl, opportunity great enough to leave all that you love behind
2. Skype often with those that you love so you don't feel quite so far away
3. Bring things with you that you had back home! There is nothing worse than feeling like you have nothing from your past when you step into your future
4. Invite people to visit that are sure to come, its nice to show off what you know about a new place
5. Meet new people but don't smother them! you might need new friends but you won't make any if you want to be with them all the time so you don't feel alone
6. Speaking of alone time, make the most of it and learn new things about yourself. Finally learn how to do that craft you've always wanted to try or learn to cook for one!
7. Put yourself out there. Even if you decide you don't want to stay forever in your new home its nice to have someone to share it with ;)
8. Take lots and lots of pictures. Document the seasons because you've probably never seen anything like it!
9. Travel as much as you can both to get away and see what surrounds you
10. Become a local, eat the food, try out the bars and make friends with the people that have been there forever! They can share the greatest stories!

Throughout the last 6 months these are the things I have learned that have made my time here more enjoyable.  While I hope that this has been a joy to read I realize they won't always be this cheerful. I wonder what is in store for me tomorrow!