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"The Beach in January (and other neat perks to attending Rollins)"

February 7, 2005

Alas, it has again been quite long since my last update. For that, I apologize (again), although I’m starting to think that my apologies will not be holding all that much weight in the future. Let me begin by thanking all of you for your excellent emails and questions…it’s always great to hear from you—keep the emails coming!

Let’s flashback to the last entry…so much has transpired since my last update. I had just returned back to Winter Park from the cold of Cleveland. I was preparing to embark on Rollins’ short one-week two-credit term known as Intersession. Luckily, lots of people were back on campus, so everything seemed quite alive and vibrant around campus. Unluckily, many Rollins departments had failed to recognize this and had some seriously limited hours for the week. It was nearly impossible to get a meal, even in Beans (our loving name for the main “Skillman Dining Room”) and getting a workout was impossible after three in the afternoon. My intersession class, however, was more than worth the minor campus inconveniences.

As part of my commitment as a Cornell Scholar, I was enrolled in a unique intersession class with my fellow eight Cornell Scholars and with the Dean of the Faculty Dr. Roger Casey. Our class topic was extremely broad, it was to be a class on “leadership”, so we really didn’t have an amazingly clear idea of what to expect in our short week. The class blew my expectations away and was an amazing time of bonding with my classmates and teacher.

We studied leadership through different case studies and hands-on experiences. We spent three days on campus and two days off campus. During our days on campus, we would spend our mornings discussing different leadership theories. Then, after lunch, we would return to watch movies filled with examples of different sorts of leadership and leaders. Throughout the week, we watched Crimson Tide, Apollo 13, and Dead Poets’ Society. The off-campus experiences were definitely the highlight of the week. We traveled out to Merritt Island National Wildlife Park on Wednesday morning. Merritt Island, right on the Atlantic Ocean, was a great place to observe ecological “natural” leadership (yes, there is such a thing) in action. Dean Casey was very experienced with Merritt Island and knew all of the hot spots for wildlife activity. I’m sure that I observed at least a thousand birds throughout the course of the day. We also took a trip down Merritt Island’s version of “Alligator Alley” and came close to some of the biggest gators I’ve ever seen. After a full morning, we picnicked on the beach in the shadow of our next day’s destination: Kennedy Space Center.

I’ll admit it: I’m a nerd and have an annual pass to the Center. However, I can’t say that I have ever visited a tourist attraction with the intention of observing leadership examples. The night before, we had a great time of fellowship and preparation for the day by watching Apollo 13 (how appropriate). Thus, we were definitely prepared for the next day. We saw the shuttles, launch pads, and IMAX movies and were actually able to relate these experiences to their respective necessary leadership styles.

Taking an Intersession class is definitely something that I will do again. In general, it’s a quick way to earn a couple of credits without having to overly worry about getting an amazing grade (Intersession classes are not graded).

Following Intersession, we all had several days off to prepare for the start of Spring Semester. Classes began on Wednesday, January 18 . This semester, I’m taking seven different classes for a total of 22 credit hours. It sounds a lot worse than it really is—not that I’m speaking from a whole lot of experience, but I think it can be done. In a future entry, I’ll talk about some of the more interesting classes (not that they all aren’t interesting, but I’m sure you aren’t extremely excited to learn about my history class—or are you?). Although, as a teaser, I’ll tell you that my class sizes range from 8 to 22 people. Also, don’t think that 22 credit hours is a typical schedule; I just saw too many classes that I really wanted to take (it has some parallels to my purchases in a Circuit City store). Most of my friends are taking 16 hours or so (four classes).

In my next entry, I’ll tell you all a bit about more my schedule this semester. There are some really exciting things in store for you—I promise!  I’ll also talk a little about my experiences with fraternity rush a couple of weeks ago (did I pledge a fraternity? did I get in?) and my community service endeavors.

Until then, stay healthy my friends. I hear that it is flu season. Send me an email if you are home sick (not to be confused with “homesick” – in that case, call your mom).
 

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