Midnight Breakfast New Article 4

 

Midnight Breakfast

Last evening the University provided the students a midnight breakfast for finals week. It seems to be well planned better each year they provide this breakfast. It is a great way for students and facility members to relieve stress and take our minds off finals. They have students entertaining people, music playing, and everyone coming together to have a fun event. I decide to attend this breakfast also to ease my mind and take a relaxing study break.

Start of Breakfast:

The breakfast is called “midnight breakfast” yet it starts at 10 p.m. and goes onto 12 p.m. you walk in and instantly have a chance to win a television. They were giving away a Sony 32” inch television and a Samsung 40” flat screen television as well. They always had a trivia question game at the breakfast, which you would reach into an envelop and grab a letter. Whichever letter you had picked out you had to answer that trivia question, if you got the question right you would get a piece of candy.

I had gotten to the cafeteria right about 10:30 and I had to sit at the fairest table at the back against the wall. Someone would leave and another group of people would sit at your table.

Food Provided:

They had about 6 or so lines with food, it was all the same but it really helped speed the process up. They served French toast, sausage patties, tater tots, and scrambled eggs. I had gotten all of everything, I enjoyed the fact that the professors and facility members were working and serving students. It gave us students the opportunity to speak with our professors and facility members would have helped us out during the semester.

They had entertainment through out the night, Ernie the eagle was there for the breakfast walking around taking pictures with multiple people and having fun giving everyone high fives.

As you can see there are a lot of people, most I have seen in the café at once in all my years here. I liked that so many different groups and organizations through out the University attended the event. At the right of this photo is a group of students standing up, that is where all the students would dance at together to the truffle shuffle and multiple other dance songs. It was fun to see kids around campus who maybe you would not see or picture dancing.

I had a chance to talk to an old professor of mine, Dr. Dipp. He had said, “Well I’ll tell you what this is the best turn out in recent years for the midnight breakfast, must be because I am helping out.” I had got a chuckle out of his humor. I believe that this event will only get bigger and have more students attending it as the years go on. It is a great opportunity to relieve some stress and not think about finals week.

I had the chance to go to the dinner with my friends on my wrestling team, as I said before you had a chance to win two televisions. But you had to be wearing a piece of clothing with Clarion on it to enter to win. It was nice having the staff interact with us once we walked it, it made it entertaining and then the students dancing caught my eye.

 

 

These two files are videos captured from the midnight breakfast. You are able to see the students dancing and enjoying their food with their friends. I have always enjoyed attending this breakfast, ever since my freshman year of 2012 until this years, I could say they have only gotten better and better.

Information:

Of you are ever curious about the midnight breakfast you can find more information about it on the Clarion University website. By doing that you can search www.clarion.edu and from there you can search anything you want throughout the university. From there you are able to use the search bar and pretty much narrow down whatever you want to search about or involved with the campus and University.

Between the games, chances to win prizes, food, and great dancing this year’s midnight breakfast was a success. I was happy to have the opportunity to attend it for a fourth straight year. It is always heartwarming to be a part of something when the University is giving back for the students.

Clarion University Relay for Life

Relay for Life

Last weekend, Friday and Saturday April 16 and 17^th Relay for Life was held at the Clarion University Rec center. This event started at 8 a.m. on Friday and went through 8 a.m. on Saturday. This event was to benefit and raise awareness of cancer. There were multiple groups and organizations involved with helping at this event, I had the opportunity to speak with Professor Staub and teammate, student senate member, and frat member of Sigma Fi Espilon Jimmy Miller about Relay for Life. If interested in learning more about the Relay for life itself you can find more at: http://relay.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=relay&gclid=CPXG-JCsqswCFQ9ZhgodCE4MAQ.

Clarion University’s ‘Colleges Against Cancer’ is partnering with the American Cancer Society to host this year’s Relay for Life event beginning at 8 a.m. on Friday, April 15 and running through 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 16 in the Student Rec Center.

 

 

Relay for Life was full of entertainment, Ken Staub mentioned, “there was pizza through the night and donuts were brought in the mornings. They also had a DJ playing music through the event. “ This is a heart felt event, “many people attending and helping out have been impacted by cancer one way or another”

This is a picture of the Relay for Life Community, they helped organize and set everything up so that it was possible for Clarion University to make this event successful.

 

Impact on People

 

Staub, a two time cancer survivor stated how touching it was to be a part of it. “Having everyone unite as one to raise over 35,000$ was touching to see. It showed how such a great diverse group of people can come together to accomplished something more special.” They had had multiple themes while walking around the track. They had the soccer team who helped out a great deal and while they were walking they dressed up as different movie characters.

Jimmy Miller who was also involved with Relay for Life was apart of the Sigma Fi Espilon frat and student senate. Jimmy was explaining some things that he did with the two groups he is apart of, although Sigma Fi Espilon was not as involved as the student senate they contributed a lot.

“Each of us who were apart of the student senate had a required attendance, every who was apart of the student senate filled up water bottles with change and turned them in for donations towards Relay for Life.”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8E3P_qEh8s this video link is showing some events taking place during the event. They are having an extreme musical chairs contest in which one participant from each organization there had to run from one end of the gym floor to the other while gathering materials from their friends of what they needed.

 

Outside looking In

Having conquered cancer twice is something much tougher than anyone could imagine, Ken Staub is a professor at Clarion University and a Community member. Clarion County had 16 teams and 109 participants in this years Relay for Life raising about 17,000$. http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLCY16EC?pg=entry&fr_id=74695. Staub had given the “Fight Back” speech this year during Relay for Life.

“I wanted it to be uplifting, I wanted to let everyone know to wake up everyday and be the best that they can be” Staub said. If Mr. Staub can wake up everyday with such a positive outlook on everything when he was fighting such a demoralizing fight as cancer than we can wake up and conquer everyday struggles.

“This years Relay for Life was the most attended and we have had the most fundraising this year than we have had in years” Staub continued to talk about the event and how much money was raised. Everyone stepped up to help with this event.

Fun Fact:

Something I had found interesting when talking to Ken Staub was that the amount of money Clarion University raised was more than the University of Georgia per student.

University of Georgia attendance is 35,000 students and raised 115,000$.

Clarion University attendance is about 6,000 students and we raised over 35,000$. If we were to break this down by the numbers Clarion University had raised about 2 more dollars per student then University of Georgia.

“If you break down the numbers Clarion University raised as much, if not more money per student at our Relay for Life than the University of Georgia did.” Staub continued to speak about the money raised, he stressed how amazing it was to raise that much. Although 35,000$ doesn’t seem like much compared to 115,000$ but we had an amazing event and raised more than we had before this year.

 

This picture is everyone involved with the event, they lit candles to honor family members and other loved ones who had passed away from cancer.

If you are interested in reading up on more about Clarion University’s Relay for Life you can go to the Clarion University website where they have multiple stories and information on Relay for Life. http://www.clarion.edu/news/2016/april/relay-for-life-event-surpasses-goal-still-needs-your-help.html

They have a benefit run as well for Relay for Life. It is called the 5k for 5 caused Run-Walk. http://www.clarion.edu/student-life/clubs-organizations-and-activities/leadership-and-community-service/come-together-clarion/5k-for-5-causes.html. This had taken place just last Saturday, April 23. The community comes together and all the money raised for this 5k goes towards the Relay for Life foundation and towards cancer research to help find a cure.

If you are interested in seeing more Clarion University has a CU weekly and week 12 was covering Relay for Life. If you watch the episode of CU weekly it explains what Relay for Life is and what their purpose is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZGu5o76JLw. This video is 8 minutes long but I had taken a lot away from it.

I thought that it would be interesting to have a clip of someone from Clarion University who has been impact by cancer one way or another. This is Tifffany Yeggs of Clarion University who talks about Relay for life and how her mom is so strong and some reasons why she looks up to her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzLUhP-y9N8

 

Other than raising awareness for cancer this event had helped a lot of people come together who might not have previously to Relay for Life. Multiple people who were in attendance to this event have dealt with similar things in wise of losing someone they love, whether it is a parent, family member, or friend. Talking with Ken Staub I have learned a lot about the process of cancer, even once you have beaten it. And all of the love behind such an event as Relay for Life.

Gambling cons – In class blog

Last week there was a quest speaker in which I attended in the STC, which is my Universities Science Center.  The speaker talked about gambling and let me tell ya, I believe and agree with everything he had said.

I went to Rivers casino about a month ago, which was my first time in a casino. They time flies, you have no service and you ALWAYS spend more money than you want.

Althouch when you hear about gambling you think casino. Although gambling is done everywhere now a days. Draft kings, just gambling with cards, slots and so much more. The speaker really hot hard and made me realize how seriously addicting gambling can be and how it can affect your life tragically.

A Day in Paradise

A small community by the name of Beaver County is where I was born an raised. Although I have been living up at Clarion for the past 2 years so when I go home I seem to always go visit my paradise or some may say happy place.

My family owns about 5 acres and I know it doesn’t seem like much but that is my escape. On our property we have a pond, I will take my dog down to the pond and let him run around while I enjoy a cigar while fishing.

It doesn’t seem like much of a paradise but ever since I was a child and would need to get my head cleared and away I would find myself at my pond. Needless to say whenever I go home during our breaks at school I try to make my way down to my pond. It’s just a relaxing environment where I can collect my thoughts and enjoy what life has for us.

Blog 5

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to coach my Keystone wrestlers at their Area V championships. They were held Saturday the 19th in Tippin gymnasium. This tournament was very critical for the wrestlers.

The top 2 finishers in each weight class qualify for the Junior Olympics state tournament held in Eire PA. This allowed me to take part in something big fir these kids and I was extremely proud of the way everyone wrestled. I had 2 wrestlers win their weight class and advance onto the state tournament in Erie.

If interested it will begin Friday, April 1st and 2nd. Weigh ins are Thursday evening, wrestling starts on Friday morning.

Spring Break Blues

During this past spring break I has wrist surgery. So I was mostly just laying around back in Pittsburgh on my couch with the puppies.

Thursday was fun, I went to Pittsburgh and went to Rivers casino. Got addicted to slots, and was up 200$. But didn’t cash out and lost it all. Learned to cash out when your up.

Road to Recovery

March 4th I had surgery to repair my left wrist. While wrestling I had landed lop-sided on my wrist which caused me to tear my Triangular Fibro cartilage Complex (TFCC). TFCC is a cartilage structure located on the small finger side of the wrist that, cushions and supports the small carpal bones in the wrist.

With this injury it causes you to lose strength  in your grip and can affect your range of motion.The TFCC tear is similar to tearing your meniscus in your knee.

From here on out I just have to keep it elevated as much as possible and have it in a sling. At about the third  or forth week in I can start therapy. I’m looking at a 4 month recovery time until I can be wrestling and lifting at 100 percent.

 

Confidence Booster at the Right Time

Having the Eastern Wrestling League Championships coming up Saturday March 5th, the Clarion Wrestling team is starting to tamper down with the work outs. There is a high percentage that the team will be sending multiple individuals through to NCAA Division 1 nationals in NYC.

Coming off a big home win against nationally ranked Pitt last week everyone seems to be heading in the right directions at the right time. If interested in following along with the team as they enter their post season you can find live updates on Redzone media and search for EWL’s coverage.

Cornell West

 

In this event, which was help on Thursday February 4, of last week it’s main message was that Black lives matter. This goes beyond extrajudicial killings of black people by police and vigilantes. It goes beyond the narrow nationalism that can be prevalent within Black communities. Black Lives matter affirms the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, Black-undocumented folks and more.

I think that by attending this event it has opened my eyes to more. I did not realize it was that in depth and I think I can speak for everyone who attended this event that we all took something positive away from this event. During this event, Dr. Cornell West spoke about the public intellectuals and the progression of politics. He has said a lot of thinks that made me wonder and really stuck out to me. Something that was interesting was the 5 panelists. 1 student, 1 grad student, 1 former professor, 1 current professor, and Dr. West. I did not realize that it was that in depth with the member of that panel.

As Dr. West continued to speak he said a quote that has really stood out to me. It was that, “You have to be willing to take a risk to better the world.” (Dr. West) I think this hit hard for many people in attendance of this event. After Dr. West had made that statement there was a student who had stood up in front of the panelists and the crowd of students and preached that we should not wait until Black History month to talk about black lives mattering. “We have to be uncomfortable to solve the problem.” (Student in audience)

Day of a Coach

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend and coach Keystone wrestling at Clarion Area High School. I had a total of 11 wrestling completing in the tournament on Saturday, February 6.

They had the tournament divided into two divisions, 9 and under wrestled from 9am. – 12:30 pm. The 9 through 15 age group had wrestled from 1 – 5 pm. I had an amazing experience coaching these kids, they all wrestled really tough throughout the day. I had multiple wrestlers place in the tournament. I had one wrestler take 1st place, three took 2nd, two took 3rd, and we had one 4th and 5th place finish.

As the season continues to come we are approaching the end of the 2016 season. We are hoping to continue to improve day by day. Everyone is making strides at the right time of the year with the post season right around the corner. We have Junior Olympics (JO’s) coming up March 8.

If interested in following along with Keystone wrestling you can join their Facebook page, “Keystone Wrestling Club” where they have updates on practices and future scheduled matches and events.