Ahhh…Christmas break. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it!  (Sadly, it’s over.) After finishing my senior thesis (at last, thank God!) during my first week, I moved in to my new apartment. This is my first experience of living on my own away from home! (Although, home is really only 20 minutes away.) I started moving in my stuff on the weekend after finals. On the Monday before Christmas, I spent my first night here. I really like it! It’s close to campus, and I’m good friends with my roommate, who I’ve known since my first year at McK.

On the 10th and 11th, I performed in my church’s Glory of Christmas production. I actually worried it’d be a flop, since not many people were involved this year. But, it was great! Radio host/speaker Debra Peppers was great as usual. The Belleville West drum line performed, and some girls from an academy did an Irish tap dance. The horse, sheep, and camel were cool as always. One of my sisters and I played Victorian ladies and angels. My other sisters and my youngest brother got to be toy soldiers (who, I must say, were so darn cute!) On Sunday, over 1400 people came! It was good to hear how visitors were blessed by it.

Grades came in, and I was thrilled. I’ve made the Dean’s List again! But I wish more professors would post grades on Blackboard. I really want to know how I did on my final assignments. I did well in my classes overall, but I want to see my grades broken down for each part.

Christmas Eve and Day were wonderful–for the most part. I was sick that week. I felt really bad on the 24th and Friday morning. Who wants to feel crummy on their most favorite holiday? On Thursday night I went to my grandparents’. I felt blah, but eating Grandma’s dinner and cookies made up for that! And hanging out with my cousins cheered me up! We always have something crazy to talk about.

I felt miserable Christmas morning, but it turned out to be a great day. I was thrilled with what my family got me. (My youngest siblings crack me up. They like to wrap up their own or someone else’s stuff and give it away as gifts!) And it snowed! How awesome is that? Later, my mom’s side of the family came over. A total of 40 at my house–and that wasn’t everyone! We ate, talked, played games, and ate some more. We didn’t exchange gifts because it’s hard times for everyone. I missed our wrapping paper wars where we roll the paper into balls and throw them at each other. I love being with my cousins. They’re so crazy, and my second cousins are just adorable. Good times.

In contrast, hardly anyone in my family showed up to the New Year’s gathering at my uncle’s. But that’s ok, it was still fun, and there was plenty of food.

I can hardly believe it’s 2010! I graduate in May! It’s both really exciting and really scary. I want to wish good luck with classes/student teaching to all the graduating seniors! It’s our last semester; let’s make the most of it!

Wow! At last, another semester has come to an end. Another week of final exams and papers has finished…well, almost. I still have one assignment left: polishing my senior thesis. It’s twenty-some pages long, including endnotes and bibliography. I still need to organize and revise the last several pages of text. Of course, after I edit it, I’ll have to fix the numbers of my notes and endnotes page–that won’t be pretty. But I’m nearly done, and it’s a glorious feeling!

Looking back, this certainly was a crazy, eventful fall semester. As far as people’s health goes, it was awful. Everyone and his brother was sick this semester. Not just once, but multiple times, too. There was also the MAP grant panic.  Not having that money would have financially hurt over a hundred-and-thirty thousand students all across Illinois. Thank God, the funding for the program will return in the spring, but who knows about the following years? Finally, a number of my friends have told me this has probably been their hardest semester for school. I think I agree–not that my work load was any heavier than last semester (which felt like the hardest one for me)–but it was difficult, from start to finish. In the past, I rarely turned in assignments late, but this semester I finished several things late, which I’m not proud about. It seems like no one could get a break. Everyone was incredibly busy. A few friends of mine, I saw only a few times the entire semester. Some I didn’t see at all.

But it hasn’t been all that bad. I’ve learned quite a bit this fall and have enjoyed myself, too. I had the great opportunity this semester to work in the Communications and Marketing office. In October, I attended the MAP Rally in Springfield (which was stressful but turned out to be a good experience and a very effective event). We sang some awesome pieces in choir this fall–and I’m ecstatic about the spring! I participated in a Halloween tour or “ghost walk” on campus, which was fun. Perhaps best of all, I’ve made a lot of friends–students, as well as faculty and staff.

Now, if I can just finish my thesis, I can begin Christmas break at last! I’m thrilled for a vacation: finally, a time to relax, no papers to struggle over, no tests to study for late at night. On the other hand, I do need to find an internship for the spring. And I need to search for grad schools and programs, since I’m really not sure where I want to go or what I want to do after graduation next year.

Well, just one more semester to go….

On Saturday, November 7th, a group of McKendree students and staff participated in a Veterans’ Day service project by aiding two local military families. I had the pleasure of not only particpating in this service project but also in organizing it and getting to know Air Force members Stephanie Boley and Kimberly Derr.

The McKendree veterans committee usually coordinates projects to help military families, but this fall the military service project was alloted to me for my internship. I had to come up with a project and organize it. Eventually, I decided that we could aid one or two local military families in which a spouse is deployed by helping them with any necessary yard and house work. I went to Rev. Tim Harrison with my idea. He liked it and offered to help me. We decided to collaborate on this project and have the Veterans’ Day service feature the military families we’d help and explain what happened during the project.

Tim picked the first family: Staff Sergeants Stephanie and Chad Boley. By accident on my part(and I’m glad it turned out this way), the other family we would help was that of Stephanie’s co-worker Tech Sgt. Kimberly Derr, with her husband Tech Sgt. Joe and their daughter Emily. Both women are expecting, which is exciting. Chad Boley is currently deployed, and Joe Derr will be deploying soon.

On Saturday the 7th, a handful of us went to the Boley home, while a few of us went to the Derr home. Between both houses, we did everything from raking leaves, painting walls, mowing lawns, mopping, and vacuuming. At the Derrs’, I mowed (enjoying the gorgeous weather!), swept, and mopped. Boy, was I exhausted afterward.

I got to know Kimberly as I worked inside. She told me what military life has been like for her.  She talked about living in places like Japan, and it was interesting to hear her experiences. I learned that she, like myself, enjoys scrapbooking, so it was cool to have that connection and to see her albums.  Her daughter Emily is adorable. Instead of hiding or ignoring us, she quickly opened up, eagerly wanting to be friends.  Joe is friendly, too.  He’s also really artistic. He painted the nursery while we were there, and it looked awesome.  He painted hills and clouds on the walls and stenciled an airplane.

Krysti and I later went to the Boley home, and I got to meet Stephanie. She’s very friendly and easy to talk to. I also got to meet her Boston Terrier, who’s really cute! It was interesting to hear Stephanie talk about her life in the military and what it’s been like to have a spouse also in the military, with the difficulties of hardly seeing each other.

The Veterans’ Day service on the following Wednesday turned out better than I’d expected. I had the pleasure of introducing Stephanie and Kimberly and of listening to them as they related their military experiences. I presented gift baskets with baby items to both at the end. It was wonderful to see how thrilled and surprised they were. Afterward, I talked with them and Emily. I must admit I felt a little sad to say goodbye. But both women promised to send photos of the babies when they arrive. This was a great experience; I’m glad and grateful to have had the opportunity to do this project and to meet Stephanie and the Derrs.

Last Thursday, October 15th, thousands of students, faculty, and staff from colleges all over Illinois converged at Springfield to support the reinstatement of MAP grant funding. McKendree sent some its own to the capital to urge legislators to find a way to keep the program in the state budget.

Roughly 137,000 Illinois students were denied their MAP grants for the spring semester when the state legislature decided several months ago to cut funding for the program from the budget. Funding was only provided for the fall. The majority of MAP recipients come from low-income families. Also, over 200,ooo students total had applied for MAP this year. Many of those who applied did not receive the award because they applied late. Thus, this means that over 200,000 Illinois students are in need of financial aid in order to attend college. These are not only traditional, 18-22 year-old students but adults as well who are going back to school because they’ve lost their jobs. Some people seem to think that it’s a waste of state money. What they don’t realize is that it’s important for the economy and the future of Illinois for students to pursue a college degree and to acquire the skills they need to find good jobs to support themselves and their families.

So, on Thursday morning, four buses left McKendree to attend the rally and to meet with legislators. When we disembarked, tons of young people and adults thronged the streets. Everyone headed to the rally on Edwards and Second. A huge tent had been set up, and hundreds of people crowded inside and around it. Everyone was cheering. Though it was next to impossible to find anyone, it was remarkable and encouraging to see so many people willing to come out here and brave the cold, to see them all unified in support of MAP.

Later, we headed for the capitol. (I’d never been there before, so I did gawk a lot at the gorgeous architecture and interior design. Really awesome!) Everyone was supposed to break into groups to see their legislators. I was group leader for Eddie Lee Jackson. Although it was rather chaotic inside the building, several of us did find each other to meet Jackson and Thomas Holbrook. We took the underground tunnel to Stratton and found their offices. The secretaries for both representatives told us that they were in session. We were disappointed–until we heard that approval to fund MAP had already passed the House! We were elated!

Legislation was finally signed by Pat Quinn a few days later. Our voices were heard! We had made a stand for our education and won! Now, we must hope that our legislators will continue to put financial aid programs in the budget. If they cut MAP or any other college funding again, we’ll be there in Springfield to make a stand!

What a relief!!! I finished my 1st draft for senior thesis! So far, it’s 12-pages long. It’s roughly halfway done. Of course, I’m sure psych majors consider twelve pages to be a breeze. 

When I learned in my 1st year that I’d have to write a senior thesis, I was intimidated. Well, writing essays intimidated me anyway…writing a gigantic research paper downright frightened me. I dreaded senior year. Of course, essays don’t bother me as much anymore. And honestly, I enjoy my thesis topic. The research has been incredibly interesting, even though it’s been tedious at times.

I began research over the summer. Boy, am I glad I started early! The last 5 or 6 weeks have been utterly chaotic. Finding time to research and write is difficult while juggling homework, work study, internship, membership in three organizations, and volunteer work. But I’d read so many books and took so many notes months ago, that actually writing the paper wasn’t bad.

The hardest part was narrowing my topic and organizing my paper. I had so much information, and my topic could go in many directions. It’s taken me months to decide what my thesis will examine in detail. The other hard part was citing and endnotes. A pain in the neck! I finally finished my draft and emailed it on Oct. 3 a half hour after my deadline. How I rejoiced when I got it done!!

SO, here’s what I’ve learned so far. 1. Find a topic you love! 2. Start research early. It’s worth it! (If you can, do what I did–use a previous paper in your thesis. I had a similar topic in an earlier paper.) 3. Don’t procrastinate! 4. Be organized. Keep your notes together and easily accessible. 5. Take good notes: don’t write every detail you read. I spent too much time reading and writing everything. And be careful not to plagiarize; paraphrase carefully. 6. Keep a dictionary and a thesaurus nearby.

On Saturday the 12th, McKendree hosted Military Appreciation Day. As part of my internship, I got to help out with this event. Krysti Connelly had told me well in advance that I’d be helping with the raffle. As Saturday drew closer, we had to arrange the raffle prizes and work on other details. I didn’t think there was much to do about the prizes. It couldn’t take long to arrange tickets and McKendree apparel into baskets, right?

Wrong. Not like I’d expected, but I did have some fun in the process. Krysti and I had to decide how many baskets to give away and how many gifts per basket. We had to choose which prizes should go together, then consider each basket’s value. They needed to be divided fairly as well as eye-catching and appealing. We also had to get more prizes. Oy! Finally, on Friday afternoon I made the prizes look nice by putting them in bags and wrapping purple ribbons around them. It felt like Christmas! Well…sort of.

Saturday morning arrived, and I headed to the Hett. There the reception would be held for active duty military, veterans, and their families prior to the football game. Krysti, Beth Juehne from Financial Aid, and her daughter Rosie were already at the table we’d be working. First, we set everything up. We arranged military brochures, basket prizes, and other stuff on our table.  Next we filled small bags with buttered popcorn, which made our mouths water because it smelled so good.  Krysti set out a tray with mini-cupcakes that were frosted to resemble the American flag.  They looked really cool . . . and really yummy! Red, white, and blue garland put a nice final touch to our table.

So, I handed out game tickets and brochures to those who wanted to learn about taking classes at McKendree. I told guests about the raffle and lovely prizes. (I kinda felt like I was on a game show; it was fun!) Also, I gave out popcorn, cupcakes, flags, stickers for children, and info on events at the Hett. It went well, and I enjoyed working with Krysti, Beth, and Rosie.

Suddenly, Krysti told me to come with her to the football field. She handed me a digital camera. Uh-oh!  It’d been a while since I’ve used a digital, and I was really afraid I’d break it.  And I’m not that great with taking pictures. I hesitantly went to the sidelines. First, I got a shot of former Marine Ed Niermann presenting the game ball. Then I took pictures of the band, color guard, and dance team during the pre-game tribute to the armed forces. It was really cool to see each branch of the military represented and the huge American flag spread out behind. With the sun so bright and the flags stirring in the breeze, it was awesome to see. At half-time,  I returned to the field to take more photos. It was great watching the band, color guard, and dance team up close. I ended up having a lot of fun being a photographer for the day!

The game that afternoon was pretty exciting. I sat next to Krysti on the bleachers, and together we cheered the Bearcats. I remember jumping up and down, shouting as loudly as I could. Sadly, I had to leave when Marion scored at the end of the 3rd quarter. Of course, McK still beat them. A victory was definitely an awesome way to end Military Appreciation Day at McKendree!

Senior year is here at last! I can hardly believe that I’m actually starting my final year at McKendree University. It definitely came a lot faster than I thought it would. Before I know it, midterms will be here, then finals… Nevertheless, my goal for my final year is to give it my best effort and to enjoy it as much as I can.

The first two weeks of the fall semester have passed. Already I’ve had to do a lot of reading, writing, and researching, but I’ve also enjoyed myself immensely. Some class periods have been interesting, others quite entertaining. I’m glad to be back at my work study job, working for the secretary in Carnegie, and I’m excited about my internship this semester with the Office of Communication and Marketing.

After I had been told that I’d be posting blogs as a part of my internship, I thought I wouldn’t have much to say–much less something that would be worth reading by my peers. Now, however, I realize I have so much I want to say. I’ve also come to realize that each student’s experience is unique. I’ve enjoyed my experience at McKendree, and I’m happy–proud even– of how I’ve spent my time here. 

If you are a first-year or transfer student at McKendree, make your experience here into something you will be proud of, create memories you will cherish after graduation. There are various organizations on campus, so find one (or several) that interests you. Get involved in athletics, band, or choir. Go to campus activities. See a performance at the Hett. Get to know your classmates and professors.

The school year has just begun. It’s still the beginning of the fall semester. So, make the most of the time you have here at McKendree. What you get out of it is what you put into it.