Henrietta Lacks Convocation

Today I attended a convocation about our Readings in Common book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." This convocation was required by IS class, and took place during the IS class time slot. The first speaker at this assembly was a Wartburg College alumnus (I couldn't remember her name, something like Dr. Bacchus), whom now has her Doctorate in gynecological oncology, and is employed at the Mayo Clinic is Rochester, Minnesota. She presented a PowerPoint on Henrietta Lacks and her cervical cancer, in which she often compared to a normal cell. She went into great depth on the experiences she has had with HeLa cells throughout her studies. After she was finished with her PowerPoint, we were introduced to a panel of Wartburg faculty, whom also have different insights on the HeLa cell controversy. The members of the panel were Dr. Keith McClung, Dr. Jennifer McBride, and I can not remember the last members name. Dr. McClung is a professor of Biology at Wartburg and has used HeLa cells many times in his research. Dr. McBride holds the chair of Ethics on the Wartburg College Board of Regents. The last member of the panel was the previous Ethics chair holder in the Wartburg College Board of Regents (I believe, she didn't talk loud enough). This convocation was quite interesting, and I learned many things about Henrietta Lacks, HeLa cells, and cancer in general.

Fall Break

Fall break is a time that I was looking forward to for quite some time. I could not wait to see my family back home. Also, I was not required to work at my job at home so my entire break was free! As soon as I got home I went out to eat with my brother, Mike, and my cousin, Colin. Luckily, since I was the "visitor" we ate at my favorite restaurant, HuHot. After HuHot I decided to buy a new Xbox 360 game, so I bought Grand Theft Auto 5. The remainder of my break consisted of sleeping, eating, and Xbox 360. On Saturday I became bored and decided to plan a family game night at my aunt's house. My fall break ended on a great note, as my crazy (but awesome) family had an out of control board game night, and I loved every minute of it!

Study Abroad

On October 23rd for IS class I attended two meetings on study abroad and service trips. These meetings that I enjoyed the most was the study abroad meeting. This meeting briefly showed the process a student would take if they wanted to study abroad. The meeting also showed a cost breakdown, and scholarship options for studying abroad. There are two types of studying that a student can do. They can go abroad for an entire semester or just go abroad for May term. Prior to this meeting, I was interested in studying abroad during May term in my four years at Wartburg. This meeting just reinforced my interest, and made it even stronger. Since this meeting was quite short, due to time restraints, I learned many things but still have several questions. If I were to study abroad this May term, (May term of my freshman year) I would either study in Senegal or New Zealand, because I have always wanted to travel to these places.

My First Outfly Experience!

Outfly started off as a disappointment, because I was extremely tired this morning and was woken by Outfly screamers. Then I remembered that I had to work from 8am-10am, so breakfast was not an option. After work, I met some friends in their room and went with them to enjoy the blow-up obstacle course, bouncy house and the gladiator arena (I made up that name). Sadly, these blow-up items were able to entertain us for a of couple hours. After we were tired of jumping, we decided to go The W and go swimming until 7:30. From 7:30- 10pm was designated homework time, since my homework load has been weighing me down recently. Throughout the entire day, we were looking towards searching for the student-body President, Zach Sommers. The goal was to use the four clues that were announced throughout the day, to find Zach after 10pm in his tricky hiding place. One of the clues was directly related to Special Events dining employees, which happens to be the area where I am employed! With this edge, the next 2 clues lead me to believe that Zach was hiding in the Eisenach Room, which is a room near the Hagemann Castle Room that few people know about. Working in Special Events the creepy ballrooms are my specialty! As soon as the clock struck 10, we raced (without the 4th clue) to the Eisenach Room, where we found two girls investigating from the doorway, but they found nothing in this tiny room. I was still convinced that Zach was in that room, so when the two girls were out of sight I ran into the room and began searching with my friend Carly. We first searched the cupboards and found nothing. Carly next checked under the table that was in the room, and screamed! Zach Sommers was under the only table in the small Eisenach Room, and we found him! The reward for finding him was a $100 gift card to Wal-Mart. Despite the slow start to my first Outfly experience, it ended was excitement and happiness! Outfly was a success.

The Wait for Outfly

The wait for Wartburg's notorious holiday, Outfly, has been a terrible experience. Everyday I have to make the tough decision of whether or not to do all of my homework. The reason for this is because if Outfly is the next day, my homework will not be due! Unfortunately, no one but the student-body president, Zach Sommers, knows what day Outfly is scheduled for (sometimes I don't even think he knows). I have given up on trying to decide what day Outfly will land on, and have decided to do my homework everyday regardless. My upper-classmen friends have tried convincing me that Outfly is non-existent and is just a joke that they play on freshman. Luckily, I can see through their lies and am not quite as unintelligent as they believe! Anyway, whatever day Outfly lands on (hopefully tomorrow) I will be a very happy camper, but will probably spend most of Outfly doing homework (Seriously though, if Outfly is not tomorrow I will probably drop out! :) ). A day off classes will be great no matter how I spend it!

The Walking Dead

The premiere of the 4th season of the TV show The Walking Dead aired tonight, and I had been awaiting this premiere for months! The thrill and storyline along, make this show my favorite. Although I was extremely excited to watch it today, it was a bittersweet experience. At home, I would go to my cousin's house every Sunday night to watch The Walking Dead with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. This is the first time that I watched it while not being at their house, and it made me miss home. Good thing fall break is in a week or so! On a happier note, the episode was great and I can't wait for next Sunday!

First College Homecoming

My first college homecoming has come and passed in the blink of an eye. I was able to attend Kastle Kapers, and the homecoming pep assembly. I was unable to attend the Renaissance Fair and the remaining homecoming festivities, due to my work schedule. I really do enjoy my on-campus job, working in special events, but whenever there is a large-scale event, such as homecoming, I am required to work. If my co-workers and my bosses were not so easy going and awesome, I probably would be much more upset. Luckily, I attended the majority of the homecoming events that I had planned to, so my first college homecoming went as planned. Now that homecoming is over, fall break is next on my calendar!

The Color Run

On Saturday, October 19, I plan to attend The Color Run hosted by Clarksville High School. I have previously attended a color run in Kansas City, Missouri, and had a blast! I went on a road trip to Kansas City with a group of  friends to participate in this event. The Color Run is a  is a 5K, but no rewards are given for who finishes first. Therefore, the run allows a variety of people to be involved, including kids, adults, people in wheelchairs, and so forth. Color zones are located at every mile point during the race, where the runners get sprayed and splattered with the colors blue, orange, purple, and red. The goals of The Color Run consist of promoting healthiness, happiness, individuality, and giving back. Participating in The Color Run gives me a great feeling of satisfaction, and I'm looking forward to doing it again in a couple weeks!

Sand Volleyball Intermural

Tonight marked the first night of sand volleyball intermural games. I have been patiently awaiting for this to start. I had a tough time being productive today because I was so excited for tonight. The games started at 7, so when I arrived 3 out of the 4 teams were there (including us), so we were the team that was granted a BYE. I was excited because our record is already 1-0 without even playing a game, but I was also upset because I was so excited to play my first game. Instead of leaving, our team just stayed for awhile playing 3 vs. 3 with each other. We did okay, but it was probably good that we didn't have a game because our skills were sub-par. Now I have to hold my excitement in until Thursday at 7 for our first actual game. I can't wait!