To Commute or Not to Commute, that is the Question

I woke up this morning at 8:30 sore as hell. On top of that I can't even walk correctly because I think I sprained my foot from Tinikling practice last night. Then I started thinking to myself, "I'm so glad I'm not a commuter". I have a lot of friends that commute back and forth to school and their schedules seem so much more hectic then mine. I have a friend who wakes up at 5:30 every morning so she can make it to her 9:30 class on time. I guess it also depends on how far away you live from campus and whether or not you have to go through that looooong tunnel every morning.

Another trend that I have noticed in commuter students is that they are not typically involved with organizations on campus and they hardly attend any events. Many of the students that I have spoken with say that they would love to get involved, however it is at an inconvenience for them. Also, a lot of the commuters work, which is why their schedules are so hectic. I can understand why some students just drive to campus, go to their classes and leave immediately after class. I guess everyone has different life styles but I would hate to be a commuter. Whenever I'm hanging out with my friends that commute the always say, "how do you know so many people on campus?" I think it's easier to meet people living on campus because you constantly see the same people over and over again and after some time you just start saying "hi", then you become acquaintances and before you know you're friends! I've also met many students from joining my organizations; I think student orgs. are one of the best networks to have during your college years. All of these students have one thing in common and that's leadership. It's great to be around young driven and ambitious people, they can help you out in many different ways, whether it's co-sponsoring an event or maybe even helping you with your resume. These people have different life-experiences and valuable information that you may not know, which could help you in the future.

So, when you have kids and it's their turn to go off to college don't limit them by having them stay home. And if you do want them to live at home push them to get involved with school activities.

Can you say Tininkling?

Honored as the Philippine national dance, Tinikling is a favorite in the Visayan islands, especially on the island of Leyte. The dance imitates the movement of the tinikling birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers. Dancers imitate the tinikling bird's legendary grace and speed by skillfully maneuvering between large bamboo poles.

This picture to the right shows what the dancers would wear when they perform for an audience. The pictures below are of the Filipino American Student Association (FASA) practicing for the culture show coming up in April.

The students in FASA started practicing a few weeks ago; the exact date of their culture show is April 18th--please feel free to come out and enjoy phenomenal performances put together by the students themselves!
The FASA group practices at least 3 days a week; and right now they're just working on cultural dances, they haven't even gotten to the scripts yet. As you can tell, this show takes a lot of time, dedication, and man power to put it all together.

To the left, JD (President of FASA) and Emmy (active member) are standing and listening to the music in order to know when to jump over the bamboo sticks. JD is a Senior and has been actively involved with FASA since his Freshman year. Emmy is a Freshman and recently got involved with FASA last semester. They both joined FASA because their culture is very important to them, they also thought it would be a great way to meet new people and get involved at ODU.

Now, this may look easy to you....but I can guarantee that it's NOT! Some people might say, "how hard can jumping in and out of bamboo sticks be?" The dancers just make it look easy, when in reality it's a bit scary. Since the dance is performed barefoot, it is likely to be "clacked" throughout all the practicing. "Clacked" means that your foot gets slammed on with the 2 sticks if you don't watch where your feet are going. Not only can the dancers get but the clackers are prone to being injured also. Usually, if the dancers accidentally step on the bamboo stick while the clackers are clacking, it will somehow slam their hand to ground. So imagine the bamboo stick pinning your hand to ground and pinching the skin of your hand...OUCH!!



Not only is Tinikling a great traditional cultural dance, it's also a great work out for your legs! By the end of each practice everyone's legs-mainly calves-are sore. The dancers must stay on their toes at all times due to the speed of the steps, which really works your calve muscles. As you can see in the picture to the left JD has been working his out.

I know this might seem very hard to imagine in your head, so I recorded the students practicing so you could see for yourself.


The video shows JD and I practicing the dance; towards the end you can see that I mess up and almost get clacked with the bamboo sticks. EEEEK! I hope you all enjoy watching the video!

What are YOU doing with your life?

DRUGS

SEX

and

ALCOHOL

Is that what comes to mind when you think of college? I hope not, because that's NOT what comes to my mind.This picture basically sums up college life in a nut shell, NOT! This picture shows the common misconception of what students assume college is only about.

I was talking with my best friend the other day and we were speaking about college life and what students do in their spare time. It seems to me that some students are the "ultimate party animals," which means that they go out to parties every weekend, sometimes multiple days out of the week or even everyday! I'm not bashing on the students who would put themselves in this category, but I must question it. How do students have that much time and energy to go out everyday or weekend? I mean...what is so exciting about getting wasted every night?
Then, we have the girls who go out clubbing consecutive times out of the week; Again...what is so great about it!? I mean...don't get me wrong, I like to go out and have fun every once in a while but I wouldn't be able to do it every weekend. It just seems like these students aren't doing anything with their lives. There is more to college than partying and clubbing 24/7.

Yes, it's normal for people to go through stages in their life when they want to slack off and have fun. But at some point in time they have to step back, think and say to themselves, "wait, what am I doing with my life?" Many students come to college with an undecided major, and that's okay for about the first 2 years. However, if they have yet to decide by their third year then something has got to change.

A good way to figure out what you want to major in is getting involved with student organizations and attending events. This might even help you find your passion in life; take me for example. I met my friend Janille in my pre-calc class last year and she introduced me to the organization I now am in--APASU. If I had never met Janille or got involved with APASU, I wouldn't be passionate about the work I do in the APIA (Asian Pacific Islander American) community. This all ties back to my career goals, ambitions and aspirations. Getting involved with APASU is one of the best decisions I made in my life; it opened up so many doors and opportunities for me. I feel like this is my calling in life and I will continue to follow this path for as long as it allows me to.

I am lucky to say that I have found my passion. So go out and find yours, it'll be worth it in the end.

Work hard and Play hard, that's my motto.

Interviews

So, I interviewed 3 people and asked them about student organizations. In the whole gist of it, they all agreed with me.

I asked 1 person that is fairly involved on campus, 1 person that is not involved on campus, and another person who is just starting to get involved. Each of them agreed that the best way to get a college experience is by joining a student organization. Many students tend start getting involved around their sophomore year. The reason why they wanted to join a student org. is because they got bored and wanted to become a leader on campus.

I asked them how they heard/hear about upcoming events and the one thing they all said, "Facebook." Facebook is a great way of advertising and promoting since it is so popular nowadays. 2 other ways of knowing about events are the posters that are put up in the Webb Center, and simply by word of mouth.

This stuff seems to be getting repetitive so I'm just going to end it with a small note of advice.

You don't want to look back on your college years and wonder why you didn't do anything productive with your life. You also don't want to look back with any regrets, it won't to meet new people. If anything, it'll help you and give you connections.

The True Meaning of Success

"Alright fellas, we're going to start the bidding at $5, do I hear $5 anyone?"

The date auction started out with a BANG! The first female to go up for bid was auctioned off for $130. I can officially say that I am 100% satisfied with the turnout of our Charity Date Auction. The title of the event was "21 Flavors for just 1 night," and booooy was it an unforgettable night. We had a great crowd; I'd have to say it was just the right mix.

This event took a lot of time and communication, but I think it was executed very well. I am very thankful that we co-sponsored the event with 3 other great organizations. They were proactive and constantly stayed on top of everything. Now I truly know what it takes to make a successful event happen.

See, a lot of people who only attend events don't know how much work and preparation go into them. So I feel that it is my job to expose these great, hardworking leaders. In the end, everything seemed to just fall into place, but it wasn't magic that did it. It was the amazing students of these organizations that pulled everything together.

I just want to give a BIG thanks to:

La Unidad Latina, Lamba Upsilon Lamda Fraternity, Inc.
Success Without Limitations and
WODU

Without these 3 organizations the Charity Date Auction would not have been a success. THANK YOU ALL!!!!

Yul Kwon: Sexiest Man Alive

On February 2, 2009 the Asian Pacific American Student Union (APASU) held an event called "War of the Races: Survivor." Students were in for a treat with Yul Kwon as the guest speaker.

Yul Kwon's speech was more of a conversation with the audience. He stated at the beginning of the event to "feel free to ask any questions." Kwon had great words of wisdom; it was fascinating to hear about his experience on Survivor. Not only did he speak about his life-changing experience, but he also spoke about his career and had great advice for the students in the audience.

I felt that Yul's advice was heart-warming because it came from his own personal experiences and being that he is Korean-American I could relate to him. He spoke about growing up in the U.S. being accustomed to his Korean culture and how he realized that he needed to change in order to climb the corporate ladder. I was amazed at how open Yul was to the crowd, he didn't hesitate to answer any questions. He is one of the most down-to-earth people I have ever met. I was expecting a typical Asian guy; very straight-edge, business oriented and unaffectionate, but he proved me wrong.

Yul is the COMPLETE opposite of the typical Asian-American male, which is why he is a great role model for young teens. It is clear that in our society today we don't have many Asian-American role models in the media. Although our culture is diversifying, we are still faced with stereotypes and common misconceptions, which is why they need to be broken. Yul's main focus is to break stereotypes in the media and to break through the "glass ceiling" in the corporate world; two things I am strongly passionate about. He is one of the people that give me motivation and keep me inspired. One day in the near future, I hope to be a life-changing leader and role model for kids and teens in the Asian-American community.

This ties back to my whole purpose of this blog, I want people to see how much of an impact student organizations can have on your life. Yul spoke about the different clubs and orgs. that he was involved with when he was in school and look at him now! Life's about networking and personal relationships with peers and colleagues, so go out and venture!

The Ultimate College Experience

Choosing a Club or Fraternity/Sorority.

This blog has a few similar points to mine, except it focuses more on Fraternities and Sororities. I completely agree with xlicious when she says "Be open minded and try new things. It might make the difference between having an average college experience vs. having some of the best years of your life!"

Your college years are supposed to be the best years of your life, however it depends on how you use your time. At this point and time many college students just want to party, get wasted and have a good time. But there's so much more to college than partying every weekend.

Take your college experience a step further, join an organization and attend as many events as possible.

"The House"

CLUES

1.) You can see, hear, and feel the construction from here

2.) It's the third in a row

3.) You have to cross an animal and sound to get there

4.) The name has a cultural feel to it

5.) The name sake has made history

Could you guess what the location is??

It's the Hugo A. Owens African-American Cultural Center, also known as, "The House".

"The House" is one of the many cultural centers at ODU. I wouldn't be surprised if many students walk past the center everyday without noticing it. On the outside it looks like a regualar, small, cozy house. However, the inside is filled with never-ending history. It's just like the saying, "never judge a book by its cover".


The Hugo A. Owens African-American Cultural Center was founded in 1991 and is named after Dr. Hugo A. Owens. In 1970 Dr. Owens was the first African-American to be elected on the Chesapeake City Counsil. He served eight years as Vice Mayor out of the ten that he was on the counsil. Owens' formal training in education served as a source of motivation to get rid of discriminatory policies that denied quality education to a segment of the population.

The purpose of "The House" is to serve the cultural, intellectual, psychological, and sociological needs of both the Black and non-Black community at Old Dominion University. In addition to providing a diversity of programs and services, the Cultural Center acknowledges the intellectual and social heterogeneity among Black students, seeks to foster interest in Black culture as a major force in a pluralistic society, and maintains on-going cooperative relationships with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the community. To learn more about the center please visit http://studentservices.odu.edu/aacc.

It's historic places like this that make up a campus' history. I feel that students should step out of their comfort zones and explore places that they've never been to before. It wouldn't hurt, in fact I think experiencing new things can only help you grow as a person and expand your knowledge about different things. And why should you limit yourself when there are so many interesting things to learn and with endless possibilites?


Never Limit Yourself