Goodbye, UPB

My very last UPB banquet is in an hour and 18 minutes.
Where has the time gone?

In anticipation, my memory takes me back to the 2009 banquet, the first one I went to. I was struggling in my heels just trying to walk from Mitchell Hall to Atwood Memorial Center, and Zach met me halfway. I still have the dress I wore that day. I didn't take any pictures, I hardly knew anyone. I remember being excited to spend time with Zach. I think I was still trying to win him over at that point.

This photo is from the 2010 banquet. I think we look so young! I remember having such a fun time and finally feeling like I fit in somewhere at SCSU. UPB turned out to be such a good thing for me. I've grown and learned so much from it.

Here's my friend Tara (and roommate right now) and I from last year's banquet. Another great banquet! I was reassured that I was in the right place, and I was incredibly excited to be the National Events coordinator for the following year. Finally, a position that aligned with my passions!

I cannot predict how this year's banquet is going to go. It's been an incredibly different year with department reorganization, budget cuts, and personality clashes. Though I had a somewhat hellish year juggling and understanding everything, I think this will still be incredibly emotional for me. Most of my friends are involved with UPB, most of my time has been spent in the UPB office, and all of the mentors I look up to have something to do with UPB.

My time with UPB has officially come to an end (besides the work I have yet to do for it this week). I have to learn to move on from it, and take my hard earned lessons with me.

Thanks to everyone who supported me; I cannot mean that more sincerely. Hugs and thanks just aren't enough for how grateful I am.

The end result:

isn't actually an end result. As you might know, I applied to grad school. In the beginning of February, I received the letter I had been waiting anxiously for since January 14. I cried when I read the words "unfortunately" and "regret;" however after a more cautious read, it turns out I'm on a waiting list for the program.

I turned to the Internet and asked what this could mean. Some say my chances are very high, some say it depends on the school, most say to wait on getting any word until at least after most universities host their preview/interview days because that is when candidates are most likely to chose which school they want to attend.

The excitement and strong desire I have to attend this school and program weighs so heavy on my chest: I can't believe I have to wait even longer!  At least I can say I don't know where the month of February went and I'm hoping the rest of the time I have to wait goes just as fast.

But now, the back up job search.
Where to even begin?
One of the graduate assistants in the University Program Board office helped me find a lot of resources. Man, we have THE BEST graduate assistants in our department this year. They're all so kind, intelligent, and willing to go out of their way to help you! By now, it has added up to multiple hours that Anthony has sat down with me and showed me where to find jobs I'm qualified for. Him and Nathaniel (the graduate assistant for student organizations) have both shown me websites to find the best programs in Student Affairs and where they are. I feel so incredibly grateful that I've met them and they've been so willing to help me. After I received the waiting list news, I felt so hopeless, and now I'm not!

My spring break will consist of filling out a multitude of job applications. For everywhere. I'd like to set a goal of about 5 applications a day. If I don't have something lined up in my field or in something related to my field by the end of April, then all of May will be spent looking for jobs that don't require a bachelor's degree, but will at least afford to keep Zach and I out of debt/trouble when we move out there.

Life in general has been better lately.
The two biggest events of my year as National Events coordinator with UPB are officially over and I couldn't be more happy/proud. Cornel West came on January 28 and Sherman Alexie was just this past Wednesday on February 22. Both were very trying experiences, but also incredible learning experiences when it comes to LARGE event planning, and much collaboration.

Sherman Alexie, the author of SCSU's common reading program text, had 900 attendees! Cornel West had 1200, if I didn't mention that already. I am blown away at the success of the National Events this year! As stressed as I've been, it has been so worth it finally being in a position that I'm passionate about. I know I'm going to look back on this year as a difficult one, but also an incredible one. I'm really going to go out with a bang. 

My internship with Element Mental Health Services is going well too. So far I've contacted hundreds of schools and area organizations in the search for support and advertising of the LGBTQA friendly prom we are planning for the St. Cloud area. Someday I'll make a much longer post about it. For now, this post has already been too scattered. I must get ready for a meeting with my supervisors. Adieu! 

The Story of Stuff

Pride is not a feeling I feel very often, but last night, when my (University Program Board National Events) committee and I implemented an incredible, intellectual event we've been planning for months, I couldn't help but show my pride in the biggest grin stretched across my face.

Before you continue reading this post, please take 20 minutes of your time and go to www.storyofstuff.org and watch, at least, The Story of Stuff.  Annie Leonard is the director of the Story of Stuff project, and the featured speaker for the documentary you just watched. As you can read on the website, she traveled the world for 20 years researching STUFF: where it comes from, how its made, how we use it, and finally, where it goes when we dispose of it.

Before I saw this documentary, I had my eyes were opened wide when I was living in Chile and I realized how less wasteful Chileans were in comparison to United Statesians.  In common chilean homes, their garbage containers weren't as big as ours, and there weren't as many. My host mom would take her re-usable bags and cart down to the market to buy fresh fruit a couple of times a week. They never bought anything unless they NEEDED it. My host mom made a lot of clothes and crafts. It sure was a different world there...

Anyway, I had to watch the Story of Stuff documentary in my Human Relations 102 course in 2010.  Ever since then, I've more often considered the "reduce, reuse, recycle" methodology. First, see if it can be reduced. Do you really need it? Don't buy it. Do you really need 3 servings of this food? Save it for someone who actually needs it. Second, reuse everything that you can. And this means avoiding disposable items. Its hard though, when industries purposefully TRY to make things disposable, especially so that you buy a new one or latest model every few months. Finally, recycle. When you've used something to its last thread of life, search for a way to recycle it before throwing it in the trash, where it will end up in a landfill.

The National Events committee that I facilitate invited Annie Leonard to SCSU to screen her documentary and speak about her travels and knowledge on sustainability and being environmentally conscious. I wish I could have somehow recorded the entire event, because I wish I could somehow share it with all of you. Annie is an incredible and skilled speaker and it was such a high honor to have her on our campus. Over 350 students came to this event, and my committee and I couldn't have been happier with how smoothly it went.  Several students and faculty stayed when she was done, even after the Q&A, in order to speak with her.

Possibly the most incredible part of her speech was that through her messages about the world going to shit, people needing to be more active in sustainability, and how bad things are looking for the near future, she remained and continues to remain so entirely HOPEFULL.  Her smile and excitement never faltered, on and off stage. She is truly someone I look up to and will never forget. Its hard to believe I got to meet her and spend alone time with her, discussing college, students, and green initiatives.

Interesting fact...
About 3 minutes into the event, so 3 minutes in to the documentary, a woman stormed out of the auditorium. WHen I asked her what was wrong, she muttered between clenched teeth somethign along the lines of "This is why there is so much hate.... *grumble grumble* ... and *** occupy wall street *grumble grumble." I think the part she walked out on was probably where the documentary talks about the wasted money poured into the US military... I'm not really sure what her problem was... but it excited me that I helped facilitate an event on campus that sparked controversy.

I wish I was more eloquent with my words; though, no matter how I post about the event, I'll never feel like it will sufficiently represent how life-changing and amazing this event/speaker was for me.

In all,
I found a reason to take pride in my position with UPB and future aspirations. I got the chance to meet someone I look up to, aspire to be, and respect. I successfully implemented an event that I'm going to be proud of for the rest of my life.

A few committee members, my adviser, Zach, and Annie Leonard, after the event. She is the biggest sweetheart!