My Little Sisters

So this year I’ve gotten the opportunity to be a big sister through both the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Newcomb Institute and its been a very rewarding experience. My two littles are named Asha and Meg and they are both amazingly smart and talented girls. They really make an effort to hang out with me and I call them and check up on them every couple of days. One of them is working at the desk in her dorm, a very low key job, and is interested in joining my sorority. The other is already pledging for the business fraternity. They are two examples of girls who have made the best out of the opportunities that they have had so far and I’d like to think that they can look to me as an example of someone who also got involved early freshmen year and now is doing well managing all her activities.

(Here is Meg trying on some crazy glasses at Funky Monkey on Magazine Street!)

The best thing about having little sisters is being able to show them all the interesting places to go in New Orleans and on campus. I did have a Newcomb Big but I rarely saw her my freshman year- only when I went out. She answered all my questions on the actual day of the ceremony but never called me to eat or go with her someplace after that. I make it an effort to call my littles when its a new place from which I think they can benefit. For example, we’ve gone to Magazine Street, Target, out for dinner, and tomorrow we’re going to Barnes and Noble. Most of these are things I need to do anyways but having them around always makes it so much more fun!

So incoming freshmen make sure you remember to sign up for a Big Brother or Sister. You’re going to make some awesome friendships in the process!

(Here are Sangita, Sona, Me, Meg, and Asha out at Reginelli’s on Magazine Street)

The Life of a Leader

Sigh . . the life of a leader is certainly a tiring one!!! So here was my day today:

I got up at 9 in the morning for Cell Biology, to which I was only two minutes late. I then had lunch with a friend and worked on RA stuff for about an hour. Immediately following that I had a one on one with my supervisor (RA), and then office hours at the OMA Office since I’m an Office of Multicultural Affairs Ambassador and we are all required to do one hour a week. And then I had class, then service learning for that class, and then rushed to check in for duty, which I am on tonight.

And then I hosted a meeting at 9, went on rounds with my duty-buddy (basically checked my area to make sure everything was safe and secure) and then rushed to the gym before it closed. I managed to set up my laptop in my lounge to get some studying done . . . and then my friend called.

So now its 12:34 am and I have an 8 am class which I’m determined to attend even if it kills me.

And then I’m going to the medical school for my research job, then I have sorority stuff in the evening.

The life of a leader has me running from place to place . . . and loving every second of it!

Take advantage of your opportunities at Tulane, guys! It’s so worth it!

Habitat for Humanity

So long time no blogging . . . I know! Being an RA is more rewarding and also more difficult than I ever imagined. The not-so-fun part of it is hunting residents down for signatures and paperwork and when you have 55 residents, its more than an arduous task. The fun part is programming, getting to know them, and discovering for yourself what an awesome group you have. Last weekend my residents and I participated in Outreach Tulane at the Habitat for Humanities site. Even though we hadn’t had our first floor meeting, just talking to my residents got 12 of them to show up at 7:30 in the morning and I was so proud of them!

(Here we are working hard!)

(Here is Brian, one of my all star residents! I made him stop to take this picture, he wasn’t just standing around chilling. As you can see, it was extremely hot outside and he was working up a sweat!)

(This is Lauren, another awesome resident. She was in charge of moving siding to the houses on which other students were putting up siding. )

(Here are Laine, Erin, and Richard- they were working on the interior of some houses. This is during our lunch break- I went and found them and made them pose so I could post these pictures on my blog!)

(Here are Tim and Kyle, two of my most enthusiastic residents. They actually got farther in siding their house than any other team and they were very proud of that fact- that’s their house behind them.)

(Finally, here are some of the RAs siding a house as well- the residents aren’t the only ones who get to have fun with Habitat!)

So far, its been a blast being the Leadership Village RA. My residents are enthusiastic and cooperative- we’re planning another service day sometime soon. One of our residents is actually a Habitat staffer, and she helped coordinate this for us during Outreach. We’re planning on programming with freshmen too to include them in all the cool stuff we’re doing this year. With every idea that my residents (all upperclassmen) suggest, I’m reminded of how many interesting things there are to do in New Orleans and on the Tulane campus. We already have ideas for a Halloween service program for local neighborhood children, a barbeque with freshmen dorms, a program to show freshmen how to decorate their rooms to look unique with a reasonable budget, pancake breakfasts, and more. All of these ideas are ones that have been done or resources that are yet untapped here at Tulane.

Only at Tulane . . . .