This past summer I had the opportunity to work at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I worked in their Education department. I was trained to handle armadillos to birds. I also took groups of children around the zoo and taught them things ranging from conservation to what Rhinos eat. So after working there for a week I learned the zoo like the back of my hand. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo was founded in 1882 and is the 7th oldest zoo in the country. The reason why its called “Metroparks” zoo is because its under the same organization that is in charge of the Metroparks throughout the Cleveland area.

Hello, again! I just wanted to quick drop a line and talk about what’s going on recently on campus. Right now, being that it’s about week 4 or 5 of classes and students are working out when they have free time and looking for organizations to join and use their free time wisely, this is about the time that Greek Life Recruitment starts up.

For women, there was recruitment that lasted a little over a week. Women’s recruitment is a lot more formal in terms of signing up, going through specific information nights and attending each Sororities sessions to get more informed on what you’d like to learn more about and hang out with a few more times to get a better feel of the organization. Through the remaining evening activities, you preference which sororities you’d like to get to know better, and at the end of recruitment you will hopefully receive a bid, or offer to join, from one of the sororities you preferenced and inquired more information about.

For men, things are a lot more “informal”. All of the fraternities have different recruitment events: information nights/meet and greets, game nights, cookouts, and other forms of mingling and socializing with men interested in learning more about Greek Life. Unlike women’s recruitment, men can go to as little or as much of the activities that each fraternity puts on - in fact, if a male student only wants to go to one fraternity’s events, they can do so, however, they would then only possibly receive a bid from that fraternity since they didn’t show any interest in the other ones. Like women’s recruitment, at the end of all the events for the week, the fraternities extend bids to the men who they think would be a good fit for their fraternity.

Since I am in a fraternity, this has definitely been a busy but exciting week of events. I’ve gotten to meet and learn a lot more about many different students. It’s also been a lot of fun to participate in some of the fun events we’ve set up for recruitment. It will be nice when we offer bids and find out who will be joining our fraternity, but until then, I’ll just continue to invite guys out to events to learn more about the fraternity, and most importantly, just have fun and meet new people! After all, that’s fun and exciting for anyone, whether you’re interested in Greek Life or not.

Hello again. Yes, I am back. I realize that I just blogged this afternoon but as it turns out, I have laundry drying and I don’t want to fall asleep while I wait… that never ends well. I thought I would tell you a little bit about my experience as an orientation leader since most of the time we blog about the school year and Orientation is during the summer. Orientation is the time that our new students come to B-W to get a real feel for the school, for their new classmates, and for college life in general. It consists of one weekend during the summer where the new students stay overnight and go through informational sessions and fun activities such as a dance, a cookout, some fabulous skits starring the orientation leaders, and last but certainly not least, a haunted tour of B-W; and it also includes Weekend of Welcome, a few days before the first day of classes.

As you might guess, there are upperclass students who serve as Orientation Leaders, which basically means they help out the new students and make the weekend as fun as possible. It was so much fun to be able to bond with my fellow orientation leaders and become like a big family. It was also great to meet all of the new students before school started and really help them feel at home.

It is a really competitive position to get since about 100 students apply for only 12 spots during the summer and about 45 spots during Weekend of Welcome. I was fortunate enough to be chosen for both. It really takes a lot of work to get there though. They look for a diverse group of knowledgeable students with involvement on campus. So, if this position sounds interesting to you, start getting involved here (or where ever you choose to go) right away because it really makes a difference in your college experience and has an impact on future opportunities!

That’s right, I’m a senior this year! It’s been a long time coming, and it certainly came faster than I ever would have thought. Though I’d like to say after a month into the school year I’m living up the perks of being a senior and relaxing, that is definitely not the case! I’m just as busy as ever, and I’ve been getting a LOT of homework! Who’d have thought 300 and 400 level courses would be so demanding?

It certainly is a new year though, with plenty of new opportunities and experiences already underway. I have a new roommate, who’s been a friend of mine here since freshman year. I’m living in a new apartment (on campus of course). I’m also beginning my graduate school search. I’m sure I’ll go into some of that stuff as the semester plays out, but all in all, with classes, organizations, meetings, and planning what I’m going to do AFTER B-W, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to live in the now and soak up the moment. Don’t worry though, when I do have free time I use it wisely

Well, I just wanted to give a quick hello and introduction to where I’m at here in my senior year. I’ll be back soon to post more about what’s going on with me this week in terms of activities and interesting events. See you then!

For those of you who may have read my blog last year, you might remember that I was an R.A. (resident assistant) and held a leadership role in Mid-Night Madness, two things which were very dear to me. I am a senior this year and as my last year crept up on me I decided to take it easy because I knew it would be busier than ever when I start looking for jobs and student teaching. Therefore I decided to resign as an RA after two years of service and retire from Mid-Night Madness. It was very strange at first to come back and not have a role in either of these two areas but I am getting used to it.

Because I am not an RA anymore, I live in an on-campus apartment with a roommate! (As an RA you do not have a roommate). I thought it would drive me crazy to live with someone after having my own room for two years but it turns out I really missed it. My roommate and I met our first year here because we lived on the same floor. We have been friends since then and it’s been great living with her. While I do miss living in the residence halls because of the abundance of people around all the time, it is definitely nice to have a kitchen and a bathroom all to ourselves. I am even learning to cook! (Stories to come in the future, I am sure!) As for involvement, I am still taking part in several organizations, just ones that don’t take up quite as much time. I am the President of our teaching organization on campus and a College 101 Course Assistant or CA. I was an Orientation Leader this summer and during Weekend of Welcome. I am also in several honor societies and I am involved in Dance Marathon (to what degree, I am not sure yet). I love to be involved so I couldn’t give it up altogether but it has been nice to have just a little extra time to myself.

Hi! I’m really excited to be back for another year of blogging. To fill in where last year left off, I spent most of the summer here in Berea. I worked two weeks of band and string camps, then I spent the rest of the summer working for my music ed professor, moving the music education department across the street to Dietsch Hall. Almost all my best friends were here for the summer and it was great to get to have time to relax and hang out with them.
School has gotten off to a good start though too. This year my entries will be a little bit different because I am currently student teaching in the Parma City School district, teaching K-6 general music. It’s been a great experience so far. When I came to college I had no idea what general music really was, but during my sophomore year, I really fell in love with it and I’m really enjoying getting to do it every day now.
Since I’m the Conservatory blogger, I’m going to try to make sure I write about plenty of things outside of student teaching and focus on general Con stuff too. The first of which is that last night we had our first Orchestra concert. It was a different type of program than we normally do for our first concert. On the first half was a Bach harpsichord concerto and a contemporary piece by Arvo Part. On the second half we performed Mendelsohn’s Fifth Symphony. Overall I think it went really well and was a promising start to the year. Talk to you again soon

Hello my name is Paul, I am a senior at Baldwin-Wallace and I live in freshmen Residence Hall. The reason I’m living in a Freshmen Residence hall is I am an R.A. or Resident Assistant. In every Residence hall there is a staff of people who are in charge of a building. There is a hall director (who is my boss) and a certain number of R.A.’s depending on the size of the building. I live on a floor with one other R.A. and 58 other guys and my building houses about 130 guys. My job on my floor ranges from roommate mediator to making events for my hall, like movie nights.

For all four years of college I have lived on campus. It by far was one of the best experiences in my life. I have made some of my best friends w/ people who are living on my floor. If you are thinking about living on campus I highly recommend it. In my opinion, when you live on campus you have a totally different college experience. If you live on campus you can get involved very easily and not to mention have maximum sleep time. There are some days I get up 30 minutes before my class - get ready and walk across the Quad (grassy area on North Campus) and it’s a minute walk to my class.

Major: English and Adolescent Young Adult Education

Year in School: Senior

Interests and hobbies: Reading, Shopping, Cooking, Exercising, Scrap Booking, Spending time with friends, family and my dogs.

Clubs and activities: I am currently involved in Teaching Together, College 101 Course Assistant, Orientation Program, Dance Marathon, Omicron Delta Kappa (Leadership Honorary), Kappa Delta Pi (Education Honor Society), Sigma Tau Delta (English Honor Society). In the past I have been a member of Community Outreach programs, Mid-Night Madness and Residence Life.

Why did you choose B-W?: I wanted a small, liberal arts college with a great Education program. Many of my teachers graduated from B-W and highly recommended it. The first time I visited campus all of the students were extremely friendly and made me feel at home. Of course, Baldwin-Wallace is very generous with financial aid which was very appealing to me as well.

Tell us about yourself in 100 words: I am an outgoing person and I love to meet new people. I really enjoy being involved on campus with different organizations and trying new things. My family is very important to me so I like the fact that I live pretty close to home. I have learned a lot about myself the last 3 years and have made friends who I know will be in my life for a long time. I love working with kids (middle and high school), so I hope to pursue a career in the field of education, whether it’s in the classroom or administration.

Major: History w/ political science and psychology minors

Year in School: Senior

Interests and hobbies: I love music, movies, hanging out with friends, photography, traveling, racquetball and random VH1/MTV TV shows.

Clubs and activities: Resident Assistant (with various committees), Budgeting Chair for BW clubs and Organizations, member of Student Senate committee on Finance, Campus Crusade.

Why did you choose B-W?: I chose B-W because I was impressed in the campus and the city of Berea. I liked being close to home but being just far enough away. I liked the size of the school because I didn’t want to be just a student ID number at a state college, and B-W was by far the friendliest campus I visited. If I remember correctly it was the school that offered me the best financial aid (state and private).

Tell us about yourself in 100 words: I grew up in Lorain Ohio but my family moved my sophomore year in high school to North Ridgeville Ohio where I graduated from N. Ridgeville HS. I am the first member of my family to attend college. I enjoy traveling, photography and staying busy during the school year. I love making people laugh and having a good time. I like trying new things and meeting new people.

Major: Music Education

Year in School: Senior

Interests and hobbies: French horn, piano, scrapbooking, reading

Clubs and activities: Ohio Collegiate Music Education Association, Mu Phi Epsilon, New Horizons Band

Why did you choose B-W?: I choose B-W because I wanted a small liberal arts school in the east where I would get a personalized education, an intensive music education program, and the same opportunities as performance majors.

Tell us about yourself in 100 words: I am a senior music education major and horn player from Chandler, Arizona. This fall I am student teaching in a split K-6 general music and 5-12 band placement. I am involved in many Conservatory clubs and ensembles, and although my life is more than hectic, I have loved every minute of my time at B-W. I like mashed potatoes, “stalking” the Cleveland Orchestra, traveling, and spending time with the greatest friends I could have ever asked for. The two qualities I value most are dedication and understanding. College has completely exceeded my expectations and although I can hardly believe it is coming to an end, I look forward to sharing my last year with you.