Elmira's Honored History

The end of my week involved a lot of recollecting. As the purple scaffolding indicates, there is a lot of renovation occurring on our campus to our beloved Cowles Hall. This building is honored with history, as Cowles Hall is the original Elmira College. It is the site that alumni cherish, as it was their dorm or classroom. I could not be more excited to enter the building for the first time when all of the construction is completed to better understand the roots of our college.

As a part of the renovations, the treasured octagon that topped the building was removed. When this occurred, campus was buzzing with the news. Everyone was shocked and felt like the heart of the college was damaged. Even though we knew that it just needed some surgery and would return, it just wasn’t the same.

Yesterday marked a significant milestone in the remodel, the final purple beams were ready to be installed to complete the new and improved octagon. A ceremony was held where members of the college community were invited to sign the final beams and watch as they were lifted in the air and secured in place. Everyone came out to make their mark, adding a touch of our legacy to the college. It felt good to see the final piece of the octagon put into place and to know that we were a part of it. Cowles Hall is naked no more : )

Watching the ceremony made me excited to come back to campus as an alumnus. Tonight I had the chance to connect with alumni as a member of the Student Alumni Council. It was a lot of fun to hear their tales of campus life and Cowles Hall at the Binghamton New York Area Alumni Event. I was pleasantly surprised to see some familiar faces from Reunion 2011! It is nice to see how others have taken what they learned at EC and put it into good use in their careers.

Sunny Days Sweepin' Across All EC

September is full of traditions, new and old, here at EC. This surprise long weekend started off with a group of us going to see the Lion King in 3D! I’m sure the other moviegoers appreciated our recitation and singing along with the entire movie. It’s interesting that we still know every word, and the voices, for this childhood favorite but do not have the vocabulary we need memorized for our classes down pat : )

The next morning we were up bright and early for Octagon Fair! There were a lot of different takes on this nautical theme and many pirates and sailors dressed up around campus. For Hillel, we brought the Dead Sea to EC with some mineral mud for people to try. At the Active Minds table, we had Swedish Fish for sale and a Name that Nautical Phobia game. Sadly, the 2013’s ran out of luck and were thrown into EC Jail. It was nice to have Alumni and future EC students on campus as Saturday was the first Open House of the Fall.

Sunday brought on the first and last night of singing as today was Mountain Day! This was the first ever Mountain Day on a Monday. It was a very unexpected surprise to wake up to those congratulatory papers slipped under the door. The day was great with many games, raft races, picnic lunch, a memorial service for alumni who have passed away, iris planting and more. It will be hard to face reality and classes again tomorrow….

Endings and Beginnings

And the start of a new year at EC has begun! It doesn’t seem like the summer is over yet. This summer, I stayed on campus to work in Admissions and with Orientation. It was nice to make friends with a lot of different people and hang out without the craziness of clubs and a lot of homework. While it was a little weird to have the whole campus to about 120 of us, EC was still busy with tours, classes, and Summer Registrations. Once August came around, it was fun to welcome the Glorious Class of 2015 with all of the freshman, transfer students, and international students. It was weird at first to have so many people back on campus but it’s nice to have our EC family back and growing.

This week was the first week of classes here on campus. While I’m busy with five classes, I like my schedule a lot. The material in my classes seems to relate with Health Psychology and Complementary Health Therapies. I’m enjoying taking classes outside of my major to mix things up.

While excitement over new classes, new rooms, and new friendships is filling campus, today a somber atmosphere prevailed in honor of 9/11. Today at noon, our campus and community came together for a ceremony hosted by our Student Association. ROTC, College Republicans, College Democrats, A1 & the Sauce, The Chiclettes, and Hillel all joined forces to lead the ceremony with readings, singing, speeches, and more. The bells on campus rang 10 times in honor of each year that has passed since this national tragedy. Especially in light of the catastrophic flooding in my hometown, it was nice to be reminded of the strong sense of community that rose out of 9/11. Everyone is pulling together to rebuild their lives just as they did then.

Goodbye Term III! Hello Summer : )

The relaxed atmosphere of Term III has been replaced with a bittersweet one. Classes are wrapping up, people moving out for the summer, and the activities for Senior Week have begun. My roommate and I have been putting off packing but now finally need to start seeing as we are leaving tomorrow. Our room looks so bare without all of our calendars, pictures, and notes from friends on our walls. To make the packing and goodbyes a bit more fun, we decided to start watching movies while we pack. Seeing as it’s 85 degrees here, we might have to take a break soon and cool off in the fountain one last time : )

While summer will be busy staying on campus to work and volunteer for Reunion and the Orientation Programs, I am really looking forward to all of that to start! I am excited to meet the Alumni that are returning and hear their tales of EC and even more excited to welcome the incoming class of 2015! Orientation is going to be a lot of fun, not only to be reunited with friends but also to help our newest EC family members adjust to their new home.

It’s hard to think that I am half way through my time here at EC. It feels like yesterday that I was packing up to move here instead of getting ready to move out again. My time here has flown by entirely to quickly! I am so grateful for all of the opportunities and friendships I have made here so far. I am excited to see what the next two years have in store, although I wish time would slow down!

Wonderful Wednesdays!

Term III here on campus is starting to wind down. Today is the last Wednesday of freedom as next week at this time, classes will be ending and moving out for the summer will commence. It has been great having Wednesdays off. I’m going to miss the nice break in the middle of the week. Aside from the sun bathing, fountain swimming, kan jam, and softball games, campus still remains busy with activities. Last week Wednesday was the Poster Research Session where people from the social and behavioral sciences joined forces with the science department to showcase the research completed by students. My group from Experimental Psychology presented our findings from our class last term. We did an experiment on whether colors like blue and pink affect how people perceive faces as either aggressive or sensitive. While we didn’t find that color had an affect on perception, overall people rated male photos as more aggressive and female photos as more sensitive. It was a lot of fun to see the other research findings as a lot of students participate in these experiments.

Today was a beautiful day on campus with the sun shining and temperatures nearing 80 degrees. For those that were not outside or wanted to take a quick break, Tompkins Dorm Council hosted an all day movie marathon. Currently we are watching the Ugly Truth while Valentine’s Day and Letters to Juliet aired earlier. All of the movie junk food was served, including octagon shaped cookies :)

While I will miss the Wednesday fun of Term III, it will be nice to have summer arrive!

The Weekend Zeus Got Loose!

This past weekend was a nice break from classes and work as it was my first May Days celebration! This year’s theme was the Weekend Zeus Got Loose. For the dance on Friday night, togas prevailed which was interesting to try to make a toga and to see what toga creations others came up with, especially the guys. Some girls really went all out and bought fabric to cut and make their togas. Others just used their bed sheets (no worries, I didn't see any dirty, unwashed sheets used). My roommate and I ran out to Hobby Lobby and made some stylish head pieces from fake leaves and flowers. I must say they turned out pretty nice. Zeus would be proud : ) After the dance we ran around campus and took tons of silly pictures. What better time is there to get those memorable photos with Mark Twain!

The next day was the carnival! There were a lot of activities and events like inflatable’s, carnival games like ball toss, prizes, Iron Chef showdown, airbrush tattoos, photo booth, water balloon fight, a D.J., yummy carnival foods like burgers, cotton candy, snow cones, fried dough, and more. I enjoyed being outside and meet up with friends, even though it was a cloudy day. It was a great day, especially since I won a purple crown : )

Thanks to Natasha Wagner'14 & Christian Bruce'14 for their awesome photography skills!

New Season, New Term

Today was a very exciting day as it was the start of the much-anticipated Term III. I have been looking forward to this, as it will be my first one on campus.

The relaxed atmosphere is a nice change of pace as just two weeks of go, the stresses of finals week was everywhere. It was a little hard to get back in the swing of things today, as last week was break. Having the week off was nice to relax and spend the holidays with my friends and family. When my alarm went off this morning though, I was a bit confused but quickly realized that it was time to get ready for class.

My term started out on a fun and challenging note this morning with Creative Advertising. We viewed a variety of different ads and started to break down what is occurring within them. I am excited to learn more about what is behind and advertisement, how to develop an ad campaign, and develop my creative skills further.

After I got out of work, the clouds parted and sun began to shine down on campus. People were out playing frisbee and softball on Carnegie Lawn already while others started on their reading outside. To celebrate the start of a new term, our RA got us some Fun Dip candy and Rita’s Italian Ice.

It is shaping up to be a good term : )