WEEKLY REFLECTION
Spring Semester
Week 1
1.12.18
Wow. Its crazy to believe that we are already back into spring semester! Time really does travel fast! Over the time of winter break, I was able to work a wonderful event. This event was through the UC Blue Ash Vet Tech. program where they had opened thier doors, professors and even students to police K9 dogs for a check up. Each officer would stop at each stop to have their dog get a check up on a certain area in their body. As an ambassador, I was going into the event thinking that I would be sitting at the check in table and checking in officers and their dogs as they walk in, but they were short on vet tech students that day and had asked a few ambassadors to help walk the dogs to each station. I absolutly love dogs so I had no problem doing this.
Throughout the event, I was assisting the vets with getting the dogs on tables and filling out paper work. It was such a neat event to work with the dogs and learn a little more about dogs as well! In the picture is Aurthur. He is a blood hound which is one of my favorite types of dogs. The owner said he might be a bit grouchy but when I was able to meet him, he was the sweetest most loving dog! Thanks for such a wonderful event.
Week 2
1.19.18
I wasn't scheduled to work many events this week, but I was scheduled to work the SOL & Student Ambassador informational session. It was such a joy to tell students all about the great times of being a SOL and ambassador. This program is a life changing experience and I am so excited for the next group of student leaders to go through all the training, friendships, and experiences this program has to offer. I would not be the same today without the people I have met through these leadership experiences. If you have any interest or thought of joining this program. please do! It has so many benefits; too many for me to name them all. I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity and I hope that this program will be as inspiring for others as it was for me! This picture is just one of many examples of the fun things we do together.
Week 3
1.26.18
This week I was able to work one of my favorite events again for the first time this semester UC Smiles! This event brings around 2,000 students throughout the semester all from Cincinnati Public Schools into the UC Blue Ash Dental Hygine clinic to get their teeth cleand and learn more about the importance of our teeth and proper care of our teeth. This week we did something a little different where I helped assist a power point on the importantce of saving money and preparing for college.
The audience we had were high school freshman and I think it is important students their age understand how much college costs and the importance of a college education. Watching the student's faces and reactions really showed me that they didn't know much about college tuition and books. It is vital to them to understand the importance of college and that you have to be serious about college. It is very expensive and needs to be taken seriously.
Week 4
As an event planner, my responisbility is to create at least one event both fall and spring semester to ensure that the student body has a chance to engage with one another and to get involved on our campus. Over the weekend I set some time aside to work on some of the details for my spring semester event. I plan on keeping the same event name and concept but fot this semester, I have something a little extra planned. This semester will be bigger and better than the event planned last semester. I have taken all the feedback and thoughts from my last event and applied them to this event. I am very excited to bring this event back to UC Blue Ash and I can't wait to see the turnout for the event! Something else I enjoyed during this week was working the UC Rad Tech presentation. I have secretly wanted a career in health science and it was really neat to hear all the details and classes required to take as a Rad Tech student.
2.2.18
Week 5
2.9.18
What a busy week! I was scheduled to work 6 events this week but I have learned so much and enjoyed every event I worked this week. The most memorable event I worked this week was Resilience with Eric Broyles. Eric was a graduate from UC Blue Ash College who applied to law school and worked in Washington D.C for the government. He shared his story and gave great advice on his college experience and how he felt that he would never be able to make it through law school.
He talked about his schedule he made for himself where it told him when he needed to go to bed, party, watch TV and eat. He made a great point by saying, "I can tell you how successful you will be based on your morning routine." That's something that really stuck with me from his speech. I always find it is the little things in life that dictate our future.
Week 6
2.16.18
This week was another busy week but it was a really great week. Greg Metz was working on an event to have students that are struggling to find motivation, meet up with a few other students and ambassadors to talk to one another as students and help provide feedback and examples of how to succeed in classes. We have very good conversations and some were very deep as well. I was very fortunate to be in the room to help guide the conversation in the right path. I really do believe that all the students loved the event and had gotten great examples/ideas of how to better prepare for classes, study tips and so much more. The group got along very well and we have a group message that we can all reach out to each other if we are struggling or need any extra help. The event really stuck with me and I love spreading positivity and inspiring others!
Week 7
2.23.18
This week, I was scheduled to work an event called "King Me". The event was a photo shoot inspired by Black History Month. We provided a crown and tiara and took powerful pictures of students at UC Blue Ash. I had brought my camera to ths event in case they needed any extra help and I was able to take pictures of the students. I have always wanted to learn the mechanics of photography and this event really helped. I had a wonderful time taking pictures for this event to help celebrate Black History Month. I learned a lot working this event and enjoyed working with the student body on this event. I brought music to the event which helped bring lots of smiles and dancing to the event. I truly felt this event helped bring an impact of Black History Month!
Week 8
3.2.18
We are officially halfway through the semester! It has been a crazy busy ride from the beginning of the semester to now but man has it been impactful! This week, I was able to work many different events with a different variety of jobs. On Friday this week, I was able to assist Julie on an event where a speaker named Favianna Rodriguez, came to UC Blue Ash to share awareness of the LGBTQ+ community. She shared her own story with us about her family life growing up from a low class latino family from California and shared how tough it was growing up.
She was very inspiring to me and inspiring to others. We talked about very heavy and deep topics that out society tends to struggle with especially in the news recently. It was a lot to talk about but it was very impactful. With it being the mid-semester, I have been a bit busy with papers for my online classes, quizzes and tests too. Something that is pretty exciting for next week, I have a meeting scheduled with my advisor to talk about classes for my 4th year in college and taking about graduation! I can't believe I am a little over a year away from graduating from college. It has been such a great and inspirational ride and I am excited to see whats in store for me!
Week 9
3.9.18
Spring Break is here! But with this being the week before spring break means multiple midterms due. This week has consisted of many long nights of studying to make sure I was prepared for my midterms. Also through out the week, I worked a variety of events. I had a scheduled meeting with the Strategic Planning Committee. As a student representative, I am in charge of speaking for on behalf of he student body at UC Blue Ash. One of the challenges we are facing now with the committee is with a new president of UC, there are new values and ideas that may or may not match with our original ideas. We talked about meeting in the middle with the presidents ideas and our ideas to ensure that our values hold a high standard for our students. An event that had impacted me was the high school career visit. We had over 150 students come to UC Blue Ash to learn about our majors and our college. Many of the students enjoyed the campus and were very excited to apply. It was so nice to hear of all the students wanting to come to UC Blue Ash to earn their higher level of education.
Week 10
Well spring break has come and gone. It was very nice to enjoy a week of no classes. I did, however, work durning spring break but I was on the same schedule all week which was very nice. Since there were no ambassador events this week, I am going to do something a little different this week. For my spring break, I decided that I would work full time to earn a little extra money for my summer vacations. I knew that many of my friends were going on vacation and having fun while I was working but I managed to have one of the best weeks of my life staying here in Cincinnati. I made it a point in my schedule that I would meet up with my friends who stayed in town and do something different. I went all over downtown Cincinnati and got to experience so many wonderful memories in my home town. As the weekend came and St. Patricks Day on Saturday, I had some of my friends over to watch March Madness (which was a disaster) and play games all night. This week was such an unforgettable week and I am beyond thankful for anyone who help make that week the best.
3.16.18
Week 11
3.23.18
This week, we had a wonderful guest speaker come to UC Blue Ash to share her story about how she came to local politics in the city of Cincinnati. Tamaya Dennard was elected a councilwoman of Cincinnati in 2016. She first started working for Duke Energy and loved it there. She was a 1st generation college student graduating from the University of Cincinnati. She grew up in a very low-income household with just her mother taking care of her. After graduating from UC and landing a job at Duke Energy, she was making good money. Tamaya mentioned that she loved her job at Duke Energy but she felt that she could do better in her life by helping out the community. She then decided that she would quit her job at Duke Energy so that she can run for city council in Cincinnati.
She made a huge decision leaving a reliable wage so that she could make a difference in her town. As a gay black woman, she did something very empowering. She made it on city council by campaigning very hard every day.
I was very inspired by her story. She really put it into perspective that anything is possible if your mind is there. The odds were against her but she was still able to succeed by not giving up.
I
Week 12
3.30.18
As an event planner, this semester, my group and I decided on collaborating with another group for a large event at the end of the semester called the "Spring Fling"! I am very excited to take on this role and plan a large event like this for our student body! This event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 11th from 12-2pm on the campus green. My job as apart of the planning committee was to bring the entertainment! For this event, I am bringing a DJ, giant Jenga, cotton candy and a wrecking ball inflatable! Also, there will be a volleyball tournament going on! This is a great opportunity for our student body to get involved in our clubs as well. During this event, We will have some of our clubs have booths to talk about what their clubs do on our campus. We will also be providing free pizza and popcorn as well! Don't miss this event!
As far as classes are going, we are hitting the last two weeks of the semester! It has gone by very quickly. I have a few large assignments due by the end of next week but after that, I am finished with the semester! I am very excited to be starting my Senior year at UC!
Week 13
4.6.18
UC Blue Ash hosted their first ever coffeehouse talent show this week! I had such a wonderful time hosting the event and introducing all the great and talented performers we had. Every performance was so unique and inspirational in their own way. The best thing about this talent show was there was no judging. There was no winner. No loser. Just a bunch of students and faculty getting together to share their art. I have been so inspired by all the performers to get up in front of their peers and share their talent. It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of people and share your talent. If I had a talent that I could share with my peers, I would be scared to death to stand in front of everyone. That something that really stands out to me is someone's courage. That's what this night was all about to me. The art was great and hearing people's stories was wonderful but to see how much courage our community has was nearly life-changing. Thanks for such a wonderful event. I was very happy I was able to be a part of this event and experience all the talent our community has!
Week 14
This week was a very eventful week. I had lot of different events going on this week not only with the ambassador position but with my classes as well. The big event that really impacted me was the SPRING FLING. After working with my team of planning this event, we were able to see how popular the event was and it was so great to see the student body get involved with others and have fun on our campus. I was able to bounce around to different jobs while working the event and I had so much fun. It was so neat to have students come up and say how much fun they are having and knowing that my team and I were able to plan all these fun events.
4.13.18
I really gained a lot of experience from planning this event. I was in charge of the entertainment section of the Spring Fling which involved getting the D.J. for the event, renting the inflatable, cotton candy machine and the Giant Jenga. It was very cool to understand what all goes into planning an large event like this.
Week 15
4.20.18
We have reached the LAST WEEK OF CLASSES FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR. I am very excited to have an end to a very successful school year. I have learned so many new things not just in my classes but through my experience as a Student Ambassador. Throughout the school year, I worked with this wonderful team and a variety of events and always had a great time while being productive. Each one of these ambassadors has touched my life in a way that I would never think be possible. I have only known each of these ambassadors for a little over a year now and I consider them some of my greatest friends. I have never been so inspired, loved, and welcomed by so many people. This ambassador position has brought me great friendships that will last a lifetime, skills that I will utilize in my professional career and my personal life. I have been so blessed and thankful for all the experiences that UC Blue Ash has given me and I am beyond excited to have another year in the Student Life office as an Ambassador Intern!