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"Stress Relief, Squirrels and Mentors"
November 7, 2006
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| Jaci and Hilary excited to carve! |
Hi!
It’s been a little over a month since I’ve updated. I think I’ve
finally fallen into the routine of going to class, reading the
seemingly millions of pages assigned and having fun all at the same
time. But even after falling into a routine, stress still comes
along. Lately I’ve been listening to a few of my friends complaining
about going crazy from all the work and stress. Sometimes I feel
like it’s too much, but then I sit back, make a list and see what I
need to do first and so on. College work requires planning. Although
sometimes I want to throw my hands in the air and just say, “I give
up!” You have to be proactive and find some stress relievers. So
this time I’ve decided to talk about some fun things that have been
going on.
Halloween was last week, and my friends’ peer mentor decided to have
a get-together. We all dressed up. It was a lot of fun. Yours truly
was a lumberjack. My outfit was a bit incomplete. I didn’t have an
axe to finish my look. Before we got dressed up, we decided it would
be fun to carve pumpkins. They turned out really well. It had been a
long time since I carved one. I quickly realized why I hadn’t done
it in so long. Carving pumpkins is a very messy project, and it
attracts squirrels.
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| Halloween and all dressed up. |
On a side note the squirrels here are quite bizarre. They get
really close to you; almost like the pigeons in New York City. In
Michigan, they run away. Florida squirrels, or at least Rollins
squirrels, are fearless. They stare at you kind of like a
challenge—who will walk away first? I know in my case, the squirrel
always wins. They make me nervous.
But back to my main point… I’ve also become a peer mentor at a local
elementary school named Ferncreek. Ferncreek teaches many children
from some of the poorer areas of Orlando. Some of the students there
need someone to listen to them or someone who can help them build
confidence. My mentee’s name is Raymond, and he is in the first
grade. On the first day of mentoring, I was so nervous. It was
nerve-wracking, but exciting at the same time, to know my
interactions with Raymond could have a profound affect on him. Not
to mention I was afraid he wouldn’t like me. But all turned out
well. During our first meeting, Raymond read me some books, and we
talked about his favorite cartoons. The next visits got better, and
I was very pleased to hear that he was asking for me at the
beginning of the week. I love working with children, and mentoring
is a lot of fun.
All of campus is busy talking about the new course catalogue. I know
I was more than thrilled to take it out of my mail box. I know this
is nerdy, but I read it cover–to-cover the second I had a chance
that day. I love deciding what courses I want to take. There are so
many choices in all the academic areas. You can take a course in
Buddhist ethics, teaching special needs children, on Hitler and Nazi
Germany or a course writing about 80s movies.
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| Michele and mentee Raymond |
One of the interesting choices are for intersession courses. You
can decide to come back a week early from Christmas break and take a
class for the week. There is one class that will study homelessness
in America and for a night will stay in a homeless shelter. Or maybe
if you have some extra money you could study different teaching
styles, take a cruise to the Caribbean and spend time in schools in
St. Marten and St. Croix. Even though those and many other classes
sound interesting, I want to join the Rollins Relief group and go to
Louisiana to help with disaster relief. I heard about the project
last year from my now-fellow-journalist Steve Miller. Last year I
thought his program was a great innovation and when I got the chance
to join, I jumped at the opportunity to be involved.
Well, I think that’s all for now. Next time I want to talk about
becoming a tour guide and my favorite activities in the Alfond
Sports Center (a.k.a. the gym).
E-mail me with any questions. I would love to hear from the people
that read this!
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| More about Michele...
Michele learned to speak up and get involved when she moved
from a small private school to a large public high school in
Michigan. She plans to join All-Campus Events, participate
in community service and work for
The Sandspur,
Rollins' student newspaper.
Michele said, "I know now not to hide in the shadows and
wait for someone to notice me. I want to let prospective
students know there is a place for them at Rollins no matter
what they like to do."
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