AWW GT!

Those memes that show people dancing like crazy people at 8am? Thats my life for the first six weeks of the summer the past two years as an Orientation Mentor. Last year, I thought my love for being an Orientation Mentor could not grow stronger, but at the end of my second season of Orientation, I can say I proved myself wrong. This year I was student mentor for the Pepper Team. This meant I was a flex team, and helped students with advising in different college locations every day. I also held a leadership position this year in Orientation being a Central Stage Director with two other mentors. The three of us worked together in the month leading up to Orientation to write Central Stage and brainstorm what we wanted our vision to look like. Central Stage is a portion of Orientation where we offer students and supporters a fun performance and highlight different resources on campus and bits of campus culture.

Orientation offers me leadership development in so many arenas. I get the opportunity to expand my public speaking skills through giving daily hour-long presentation about academic requirements and speaking in a microphone on stage in front of 600 people every day. I am able to share my experiences as a CMU student and connect with students in order to help answer the questions and calm them with their nervousness of starting a new journey. I am able to connect with the professional staff that work Orientation and learn from them. I love this job, and I love the memories it gives me. I love seeing students make friends in my teams each day, and I love seeing them get excited about what their time at CMU will bring.

Orientation gives me a glow and confidence that few other things do. I have an incredibly strong support system from the other mentors, and I form some of my strongest friendships. Orientation staff is like family. This summer I am continuing to work as mentor for Transfer Orientations, and I will be ending my time at CMU next summer, the same way I started it, with Freshman Orientation, it just looks a little different for me this time around.

Working the Night Shift

This past summer I had a job that at the time I did not know would end up having as large of an impact on me as it did.  The biggest way to show how the large of an impact this job had on me is by simply looking at the fact that it has been a year of me trying to figure out what to say in a blog to do this job the justice it deserves.  I am writing this post to attempt to show how great of a time I had and also how much I grew and obtained new skills.

This past summer I was hired at Drew’s Assisted Living as the full-time third shift RP (RP literally stands for Responsible Person, lol).  As RP it was my job to be in charge of the Resident Aids (RAs) that were working, pass medication, chart on the residents, and also help with the assisting of residents.  On third shift I had only one RA on shift with me at a time, so I had the opportunity to really get to know the coworkers I would work with, and I also really got to be hands on with the residents.  Drew’s has multiple locations, but the location I was working at had up to 20 residents at a time.

I started the job with the mindset that I would probably gain a lot of insight what it would be like to work in a job with primary care, but left with not only that, but also a whole summer’s worth of amazing memories and people skills.  Each and every one of my resident’s taught me something amazing about life.  One of my most memorable residents that holds an extra special place in my heart was someone who lived the type of life I would love to be able to say I lived once I have reached her age.  She grew up very independent and focused on loving her friends and family wholeheartedly.  She was the first resident I was able to assist at Drew’s, and I was on shift the night she passed.  I know that for years to come I will remember the type of love and kindness I got to not only witness but experience from this resident.

Most people think that working third shift would be extremely relaxed and chill because the residents would all be sleeping right? ha wrong.  But of those nights where residents wanted to do anything but sleep I made some of the best memories.  One resident in particular that just really preferred to sleep during the day and I would spend the nights singing and dancing around in the living room, listening to the stories of each others lives, and laughing at the goofy stories she would tell about her husband and kids.  This resident in particular cried my last night when I told her that I was leaving at the end of the summer to go back to school, and I never would have guessed that I would be making such great connections and impacts on a resident.

Another resident that is important to mention is a resident who was extremely misunderstood.  This resident was not very vocal, and they would get extremely scared and violent when a worker would be assisting her.  A lot of workers would get very negative about working with this resident, and try and get other people to help her, but I had a very strong connection with this resident that I never knew how to explain.  I would just try and be the kindest person I could be to let her know that I was just trying to help.  I would let her move as slow as she needed, and I would constantly talk to her.  I also learned that she LOVED music, so if everything else was failing and she was getting violent, I would offer to go sit and listen to music while we worked on getting her dressed.  Anything to bridge the gap between a worker and resident to make it more of a friend helping a friend worked wonders in gaining her trust.

I have had many more experiences and residents that touched my heart, but one important and sad thing I want to note is that now, a year late, quite a few of these residents have passed away.  Passing is a very natural part of life, and this experience taught my first hand how to deal with it in a way where I can still be a person of support for others while still processing a loss myself.  I am happy I was able to have an impact and part in these people’s lives and help put a smile on their face towards their last days.

Another thing I would like to note about this job is that I got real life experience in responding to emergencies.  I have had lots of training and classes that taught me cpr, first aid, how to respond to an emergency, etc. but throughout the summer I gained experience in dealing with calling an ambulance due to an injury, providing care to a resident who was having a breakdown due to mental health, providing comfort care to a resident who was actively passing, and many more.  I became extremely comfortable in my ability to respond to an emergency and provide life saving care.

Overall, I loved my job with all of my heart and look very forward to returning to work in the end of the summer.  I had never been so sure of my choice to enter into the health field as I was after my job at Drew’s Assisted Living.  I can’t wait for the more opportunities to impact other’s lives and make connections in the future and to eventually become Dr. Varney.

Which one is the Mentor?

As a member of LAS, during my sophomore year I mentor one of the members of LAS in the freshman cohort.  I had the absolute privilege of having Julie Martin as my mentee.  I have a great relationship with my mentor, Stephanie, and I was worried that my relationship with Julie was not going to be as strong.  I felt like I still relied on Steph a lot, and was nervous that I was not going to be ready for a mentee of my own.  Despite these initial fears,  I did know that I had a lot of love for CMU to share and I was going to be able to care for my mentee and help them with whatever I was able to.

From the start, I started learning more from Julie than I think she even knows.  Even as a freshman entering college,  I have never met a stronger human.  With all of the stress and things that were thrown her way from the very beginning of her college career, Julie showed the ultimate definition of maturity in handling everything.  I have never met a person in my life who can truly take a situation and look at it from every side the way Julie does.  Her strength does not even begin to compare for her heart.  Through getting to know Julie, I have learned that she has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met.  This is what makes Julie such an amazing leader.  She cares about the people around her and making them grow.  She is the definition of authenticity and servant leadership because she is putting everyone around her first, but she does not lose who she is in the process.  When I am around Julie, I want to be a better leader.

One of the ways I have grown in terms of my leadership skills with Julie is my communication skills.  I have learned to ask what she needed. Feedback is a large part of being successful in any capacity, and our mentor-mentee relationship does not end here.  I have asked her what I have done that has helped her and what hasn’t.  This way in the future I will be able to help her in whatever way is best fit.

I know through these next years at CMU Julie and I will continue to have a close relationship, and I know that I will continue to grow and learn from her as I hope she is learning from me as well.

525,600 minutes; how do you measure a year?

To say the past year has been a whirlwind of emotions is to say the least. Through this year I have experienced so much growth in such a short amount of time.  As I look back over my freshman year at Central, it astounds me that 1 year ago I didn’t even know these people, but now they are my best friends.  So, here is a quick recap of the roller-coaster ride that was freshman year. (Cue the song Closer by the Chainsmokers).

When I packed my car the night before move-in day, it still hadn’t hit me yet.  My family had a bonfire with my grandparents and aunts and uncles to say goodbye, but the night was hitting an end and I still didn’t feel the sadness that I should have been feeling about leaving my home, my small little town, and my family.   I was saying my goodbyes and everything was casual, until it was time to say goodbye to my brother.  My brother is 11 years older than me, and even as little kids we were two tripping peas in one far off pod (lol).  He isn’t a super emotional dude, so I figured it would be a hug and an I love you and that would be that.  When we were hugging though he started to tear up and said “it’s just gonna be weird not seeing you everyday”.  It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how different things were going to be.  That was the first time I got sad about leaving home, and I blame him for me not getting on sleep the night before coming to school because I was so sad and scared that I couldn’t calm down enough to sleep.  The next day I should have been very happy to be moving in to start my year at college, but all I knew is that I was sad, and saying goodbye to family made me even more upset.  I tried to hide it, but through the first week I missed my family so much that I had a hard time enjoying myself.

That when my roomies come in.  S/O to my roommates (+Logan Palm) for putting up with my crazy weird self.  First semester I was all over the place.  I tried to hide it from my fam, but I was not my happiest self.  Thinking back on it I was my own worst enemy.  I loved high school, and coming into college I instantly expected every single friendship and experience to be better high school.  I was constantly comparing things, and I was never fully letting myself enjoy my self.  It was through this time that I made some of my best friends.  Logan Palm (LJP) became my best friend in such a short amount of time.  He helped me when I was sad and was considering maybe Central was the reason I wasn’t happy. But Central wasn’t the problem, it was me.  I learned quickly that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way, and I met my other best friend Kristina Slifco.  Kristina and me quickly became best pals, and it is crazy to me to think that I ever lived my life without her.   Kristina and Logan are the reason that I found my way to be my happiest self at CMU.

As rough as first semester was, I can honestly say that second semester has been the best half a year of my life.  This semester has allowed me to find my comfort here at CMU and learn what I need to do to make my self successful and happy.  This semester brought me the best friends I could have, and I think that has made all the difference.  Kristina and I continued to stay as close as ever (we are literally connected at the hip) (marathon hangouts).  On the real though, this semester I became best pals with Lucas Gustafson, and no person has brought me more chuckles than that kid. Lucas and Kristina are two people that I have the time of my life with even when we are doing nothing.   The three of us are never short on laughs, and when one of us leaves for even 24 hours we instantly all miss each other (we’re annoying I know).

As happy as I am now to be at CMU, I still think a lot about how much I struggled first semester.  I think the hardest part was thinking that no one else felt that way.  After talking to people who were older than me I quickly learned that it is a normal thing.  I think knowing that I felt that way is what makes me so thankful for CMU now.  I know that Central is my home and I could not imagine myself being any happier anywhere else.

You are probably reading this thinking “what the heck, what about her roommates?!?!?!”, but I was just saving that for last.  I got lucky enough to have roomies that were just as goofy as I am.  My roommate Molly is one of my best friends.  I am going to miss her like crazy next year while she is at the Disney College Program.

Some of best mems at CMU:

• Walking all the way to Kroger then to downtown then back to Barnes in the middle of night with Krisp
• Car jam sessions with Lucas and Kristina
• Acquiring the nicknames: Trash, Shleigh, Ash Varn, Trash Varn
• Pulling my first all nighter (feat. Lucas)
• Random dance parties w roomies

I am looking forward to next year and making more memories with the people I love at the school that I love. Fire Up Chips.

 

 

My Mentor kicks Buck(holz)

My LAS mentor is Stephanie (Her last name is Buckholz if you didn’t understand the pun).  But not only is she my mentor, she is one of my best friends.

Coming into college I was extremely intimidated by LAS.  I wasn’t really sure what it was, or what being a part of it entailed.  Steph helped smooth everything out, and helped me realize how to get all my crap together in the midst of coming to college.  I feel like this is something most mentees can say about their mentor, but not many can say that they feel like their mentor is their other half.  Steph literally always knows how to make me smile or laugh with one look.  We truly understand each other so well, and we are so able to be open with each other.  The two of us share a lot of passions, such as the environment, women’s rights, and more, so we never are in a lack of intellectual conversation.  We both are completely fascinated by science, and have had countless conversations about how in awe we are of the way the human body works.  She is someone who I connect with so well on these deeper levels, but I cannot overlook how much our quirky goofy personalities go together.

I learned a lot about what type of mentor I want to be through my relationship with Steph.  Steph and I got to be so close because we would make plans to have mentor/mentee dates to get dinner around once a week.  These dinner plans quickly turned into something I looked forward to, and they are always the bright light of my week.  By always having the plans to see each other, it became so much easier for us to connect and get comfortable with each other.  Next year, when I am a mentor I plan on doing the same sort of thing with my mentee.  I want to be friends with my mentee, not just be their mentor.

Having such a close relationship with Stephanie has made having her as a Mentor so much easier.  I am eternally grateful for her love and friendship, and I cannot wait to get closer over the years.

 

The Muggle World of Emma Watson

Emma Watson is seen as a beautiful and graceful actress who starred in one of the best film series of all time.  However, she is one of my biggest role models for many more reasons than that.  Here are a few:

1. She pours her life into her passions.                                                                               Emma took the opportunity after finishing Harry Potter to go to college to get an Education because it was something she was passionate about.  She started a campaign about feminism because it is something she was passionate about.  She devotes her life to charities because it is something she is passionate about.  Emma Watson lives her life through what she feels is important to her in the world.
2. She stands up for what she believes in.                                                                                         Emma Watson saw a change she wanted to make, so she launched a campaign to raise awareness for women’s rights around the world.  At such a young age she has made a large impact by making her voice heard and helping others all over the world.  She also has worked with the United Nations to help make her voice heard.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
3. She inspires others.                                                                                                              
   Through her He for She campaign she has   inspired others to learn and educate themselves about the inequalities around the world today.  Through her speaking her mind and standing up for what she believes in, she has inspired (such as me) to do the same.  She inspires by proving that standing up for what you believe in and being passionate is something we should all strive to do.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
4. She preaches and practices self-love.  Emma Watson prides herself on being her own person an loving that is different.  In fact, she wants everyone else to love themselves too.  She focuses her opinion on herself based solely on her own view of herself and not on what others may think.  She lives by the motto that she isn’t giving others or society the control to determine what she thinks of herself. This is a goal that I want to one day achieve and I think it is one of the most admirable traits of Emma Watson.

So, how does this make her an exemplary leader?  Well if it doesn’t go without saying,  Emma Watson has had a positive impact on tons of people, and continues to everyday.  Through her action she is creating more leaders to help make their own voices heard. Since she is an advocate for individuality she is inspiring others who do not necessarily have the same views as her, but is still wanting everyone to let their voice be heard.

How does she impact my life?  One day I hope to have inspired someone as much as Emma Watson as inspired me.  One of her passions, feminism, is something that I feel very passionate about as well, and through her actions and words I have learned a lot about what feminism is and how it can be interpreted to others.  She is a refreshing in terms of feminist role models in the country who are not necessarily political leaders.  The United States has many political leaders who are feminists, and lots of celebrities who claim to be.  However, Emma Watson is celebrity feminist who is practicing what she preaches and making a difference.  She isn’t saying she is a feminist for fame, she is doing it because she is passionate.

Another passion of Emma Watson’s is self-love.  This is something I have become extremely passionate about within the past year and moving to CMU.  I think a large part of being happy, having a healthy lifestyle, and helping others is having a healthy relationship with yourself.  Emma Watson gives great inspiration to others to allow them to love themselves.

I hope to continue my life and develop the leadership qualities that Emma Watson has.  She is a great role model for men, women, and young children.  I hope one day I can become a great role model too.  I can do this by improving on the qualities listed above.

Just because Emma Watson is amazing, here are some more of my fav quotes by her:

A thank you letter to the people who have changed my life for better

There are a lot of people in my life who have helped me become who I am today.  However, these last three months have brought new people into my life that have helped me adjust to the change of moving to college and opened my eyes to new things and experiences.  So, to the following people, Thank you so much for making me love Central.

Molly Gadola,

Many people have horror stories of their freshmen year of college roommates, but I lucked out a ton when I got Molly.  Molly is someone who is kind at heart and always makes me smile no matter what is going on in my day.

Susie Brilley,

Another one of my roomies, Susie is someone who is just easy to talk to.  Whether you want to ramble about nothing or discuss the meaning of life, she is the go-to gal.

 

Kristina Slifco,

MY SOUL SISTA! When I first met Kristina I did not know that she would later become my best friend.  She makes me laugh all the time, but also can have deep convos and contemplate the world with me. Also, you should watch this girl eat ice…it is hilarious.

Logan James Palm (LJP),

When I first came to Central, I got pretty homesick at first.  Logan is a large part of the reason I started loving Central.  He also is one of the most talented people I ever met. If you are curious about this kid, you can catch him working at Disney World!

Lucas Gustafson,

Lucas and I became friends because I laugh at every single one of his jokes.  He is hilarious and always makes me smile no matter how bad of a day I am having.  He is probably the most clever person I have ever met.

Stephanie Buckholz,

Steph is my mentor in LAS, but she also is one of my best friends.  She is someone who loves the world we live in so much and is so driven to make it better.  She inspires me to be a better person.

Lauren Comstock,

Lauren is one of the sweetest people I know.  She has a kind heart and is one of the least judgmental people I know.  Te Amo Lauren

To all of these people,

Thank you so much for being a positive part of my life.

Get Connected, FOR FREE

As a part of LAS we got the opportunity to go to the Connections Conference at Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, MI.  Though LAS goes to the conference, it is open to anyone on Central’s campus that would like to go.  When we got there the first night, we were introduced to the groups we would be working with over the course of the next two days and then were given free time to go to the waterpark!  The next day, we woke up early and got right to business on learning new information about leadership.  We were allowed to pick four different speakers we wanted to go to throughout Saturday.  I chose “Branching Out: Netflix and No Chill”, “Leadership Through the Eyes of Disney”, “Growing your roots”, and “Friendship in Leadership.”

“Branching Out: Netflix and No Chill” was one of my favorites out of the sessions.  It focused on disconnecting from social media and our technology in order to connect with others.  We ended by doing an activity where we colored leaves based on  how much we time we think we spend doing a certain activity.  There were six different branches and the leaves pertained to whatever theme branch they were on.  The six different branches were physical, spiritual, psychological, emotional, intellectual, and social.  I loved this activity because it help me realize that sometimes I need to focus on my own health both mentally and physically a little more.  This session focused a lot on not only connecting with others but connecting with yourself as well in order to keep yourself healthy.

“Leadership Through the Eyes of Disney” was really fun because I am a big Disney fan.  We first began with naming our five favorite Disney characters and then choosing which one we thought we identified with the most.  I chose Anna from Frozen because she is goofy and has a very optimistic look on the world.  I feel like her personality matches mine pretty well.  After that we picked our top 10 values that were eventually narrowed down to our number 1 value.  Mine was Family because I am extremely close with my family, and I believe that the value of family includes friendship, love, and trust.  After picking our value they had us think of the values of Disney character and see if the Disney character we chose would have the same value.  I was so shocked that I had never made the connection before that the thing me and Anna have most in common would be our most important value.  I liked the session a lot because something I hold very important in my life is my values, so I love whenever I get the opportunity to talk or think about them and what they mean to me.

“Growing your roots” is a session that dealt a lot with what you look for in a mentor, and what you need to be a successful mentor yourself.  I chose this one because I know in a year I will be a mentor to my LAS mentee, and I want to be able to be the best mentor I can be for them!  We spent a lot of time discussing who our role models are. I have a lot of very prevalent mentors in my life, so we discussed why they are our role models and what traits and things they do that help us in order for us to be able to understand what may work when we are mentors to others.

“Friendship in Leadership” was my other favorite out of the sessions.  The session used Harry Potter to help teach us about healthy relationships and leadership.  I love Harry Potter, so I knew I would enjoy this session when I picked it.  We learned what is known as “Comfort in, Dump Out”.  This basically shows us how to deal with tough situations and how they may be affecting us and others around us who are also dealing with the same situation.  The picture below shows how you should deal with the situations.  You should spend time comforting the people who are more inward on the circle, but you should only vent or explain your feelings of being hurt to people who are more outward of you on the circle.  We then did role playing with the Harry Potter characters where we were each assigned a character from the Goblet of Fire and were told to interact with each right after *SPOILER ALERT* Cedric is killed by Lord Voldemort! I was Cho Chang, so I could vent about how upset I was to everyone except for Amos(Cedric’s dad) and Harry.  However, the only two people who could vent to me were Amos and Harry.  This is more difficult in real life because it is harder to identify who is truly closer to a situation.  The “Comfort in, Dump out” ideology is a very useful method with having healthy relationships and learning how to be a source of comfort for others.

I learned a lot about not only how to connect better with my cohort, but also to be able to connect to other organizations on campus.  The things that I learned are things I can use in everyday life, especially the “comfort in, dump out” theory.  I feel as if I am more able to be conscious of others feelings in a situation with that theory in mind.  Overall, the Connections Conference was a blast, and I hope next year I can go back as a facilitator to help others enjoy the experience and learn as much as I did.

Choosing Civility

In our leadership class for LAS, our cohort was split into 6 groups that all read a different book and then presented how their book applied to leadership to the class.  My group was assigned the book Choosing Civility.  This book focused on the 25 rules of how to be civil.  The three rules that I had the responsibility of presenting about were “Refrain from Idle Complaining”, “Accept and Give Constructive Criticism”, and “Don’t Shift Responsibility and Blame.”

The first rule, “Refrain from Idle Complaining”, is the rule that I decided was the one that I needed to improve on the most in my life.  As leaders, we have a large influence on the people’s lives around us.  Everyone’s attitudes are contagious, so why not do our best to make everyone around us happier?  The main point of this is that we spend so much of our daily lives focusing on the little things go wrong…”the line was so long today at the store”,”ugh I don’t want to go to class”, “It is so cold outside today.”  These little negative things may not seem like a big deal at the time, but these complaints add up and create a negative atmosphere around us.  Instead, try to focus on the positives in life and you will make not only yourself, but also everyone around you happier.

“Control the controllables”

The second rule, “Accept and Give Constructive Criticism”, is a life lesson that I think is very valuable.  My volleyball coach in high school focused heavily on this during our practices.  Instead of saying what we shouldn’t do( ex. “Don’t miss this next serve”), she had us verbally say out loud to each other what we WILL do(ex. “I will make my next serve”).  This constructive criticism that we gave ourselves and others allowed us to improve because we focused on improving what we were doing in a positive way.

The last rule, “Don’t Shift Responsibility and Blame”, applies a lot to my core value of integrity.  By not shifting responsibility and blame, you are being accountable for you actions.  In leadership and in life, it is important to admit that you have made mistakes.  This allows you to grow and learn from your mistakes rather than run form them.

The book also mentions the steps to take in order to implement these rules into your life.  It says to focus on one rule at a time, and day by day increase how much you practice the rule in your life.  For example, if you wanted to focus on the rule “Refrain from Idle Complaints” you would focus everyday on slowly saying less complaints and instead making positive remarks.  This is the rule that I plan on focusing on first.  I know that there are a lot of days when I spend way too much time complaining.  Part of this is because I like to talk a lot, and when I don’t have much to say, I fill the empty space with little complaints, such as “I’m tired” or “I don’t want to do this.”  This is a really bad habit of mine but I think if I can cut it out, I will be allowing myself to be much more positive and spread positivity to others.

My group decided to implement these rules by passing out nice cards to people on campus that say nice things and motivate people to do their best!  Overall, I think this project allowed me to see how much little things we do can affect others.  It has made me more conscious of my day to day actions.

My First Step to Becoming the President

Part of our protocol for LAS is taking Introduction to Debate together as a cohort.  We learn the different ways of argumentation and are then asked to debate about topics that assigned to us with groups that we are assigned at the beginning of the semester.  At first I wasn’t too excited about this class because I didn’t know what to expect because I had never formally debated before.  However, I ended up enjoying the debating aspect of the class.

The first two debates we were not allowed to pick our topics.  My group was assigned the topics “All welfare recipients should be drug tested” and “All schools should be single sex schools.”  However, the last debate we were allowed to choose our debate topic.  My group chose the topic “Religion should be taught in schools.”  The last debate was my favorite because I thought it was the most interesting.

This class really helped develop my leadership because it allowed me to learn how to have a productive conversation about an issue even when I disagree with others.  I think this is an important skill to have as not only a leader, but as a person.  I also loved this class because the majority of the class would all go get lunch together afterwards, so it gave us a really great chance to bond!