Fall 2010 Week 7

Week 7

It’s the halfway point readers!

            Just think seven weeks ago we were all just arriving on campus and now we’re already half way done. I don’t know about you, but this semester is flying by if you ask me. With midterms finally finished (for the most part) and the mass confusion from LipSync over and done with we come to Family Weekend. Every freshman here on campus gets homesick at one point or another but they’re not always able to get home on the weekends like some people are, and this is why we have Family Weekend. This past weekend families came to visit campus and get a glance into life here at UConn. When I was a freshman my family had never really been to the campus other than to drop off my belongings and I to campus. They had never spent more than an hour or two on campus and it was usually spent cramped in my dorm room preaching to me about “being careful who I went out with” simply put my mother had a really warped perception of what exactly college life was. Family weekend is the perfect way for parents and other family members to see that their hard earned money isn’t being wasted.

            Family Weekend could really be called Family Week, because all week the UConn gives campus tours to families and shows them what the campus is like while classes are in session. My family had never seen the campus “alive” before, they had only visited during move-in days but never during class sessions. When my parents saw that students go to class and we don’t party 7 days a week she felt much better.

            Once the weekend begins though is when Family Weekend hits full stride. On Saturday the day begins with an event called Cultural Explosion, where all the different cultural groups on campus like Steel Pan Drum Club, The Irish American Cultural Society, B.A.I.L.E, UConn Taiko, Husky Bhangra and various others give a demonstration of their respective talents. Also there is an annual comedy show that provides some comic relief for the day and gives parents a look at one of the way that we relax and let loose here on campus. UConn is not just Spring Weekend and what you may see on the news, it is so much more than that, and Family Weekend gives our families a look into that.           

            Don’t think that this weekend is all games though; there are plenty of resources that you can and should take advantage of here during the weekend as well. After the more recreational events there is a huge family BBQ and get together where families can meet one another to give and receive advice, and upperclassmen are around to give families some insight as to how they deal with all the issues that come with being a college student. From there, the offices within the Wilbur Cross building all present workshops to help UConn families better familiarize themselves with the different aspects of what I like to call “UConn: Behind the Scenes.” All the offices that families need to be familiar with in order for their students to be successful give presentations and hold Q&A sessions. For example, the Bursar’s offices will show you how to go online to pay or check your fee bill and the Office of Financial Aid can show you how to fill out a FAFSA form and accept or deny your rewards. These workshops are key and I suggest that if you know any incoming freshman or anyone who may not be familiar with how these systems work that you direct them to these workshops.

            The point of this blog is to address the problems that we have here on campus from a student’s perspective and give you a possible solution to them, as a junior I’ve been here for a while so believe me when I say that attending these workshops and taking advantage of what Family Weekend has to offer is something we all need to do. As minority students here at UConn we need to take advantage of the resources provided to us and Family Weekend can prove to be an invaluable one. The Cultural Explosion event is one that helps us keep in touch with our culture from back home, through dance and music and it also gives us a better sense of belonging here on campus. Say as a freshman, salsa dancing has always been big in your family and is more like a part of you than a hobby. Cultural Explosion not only exposes you to B.A.I.L.E where we salsa dance very week but it can give a way to stay connected to your home and family life. Also it shows your family, who may be a little skeptical of you attending such a huge university, that even though you may be a part of the minority here that you do have other people here to connect with. My family personally loves the fact that I dance here on campus and been able to form such close bonds with people here on campus and the first time they saw me with my UConn family was at Family Weekend.

            Also given our lacking numbers here on campus I know that we may not know who to ask or feel comfortable asking someone for assistance. With the workshops they offer here on campus you can come get better acquainted with the services and offices here on campus. My freshman year, Family Weekend, helped not only me but my family adjust to my newfound college experience.    

Fall 2010 Week 6

Week 6

How’s it going readers?

            Are your midterms finally wrapping up or is the second round of them just beginning? Thankfully with my schedule my midterm workload hasn’t been too heavy but I will admit midterms still takes a toll on me just like everyone else. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re hit with between 4 and 6 exams (7 if you’re a glutton for punishment) all in a matter of two weeks. Or maybe it’s the fact that we have almost no transition time between general class time and exam time. Some universities have “reading days” where they have 2 and 7 days where they don’t have to attend class all they have to do is study for exams then the next week their exams begin. What do you think? Personally I welcome the idea of having a week or so to prepare for exams, and transition for “lecture mode” to “study mode,” but some people may not feel the same. For some people not having class means not having to do work and the temptation of partying during the week instead of studying may be too much for someone who doesn’t have the motivation of a class in the morning. Whatever your opinion may be I think it’s easy to see that midterms take quite the toll on all of us.

            Now that I’ve gotten my weekly rant out of the way let me fill you in on a recent dinner I attended.

            Now we as Latinos cross all majors and professions, it’s just that our presence isn’t always as easily noticed within our respective fields. Within education especially we have difference in the number of minority students attending our schools and the number of minority faculty members teaching in our schools. As a minority student pursuing a career in education this hits especially close to home, and the function I recently attended entitled “Diversity in Education” addressed this issue directly.

            As I arrived at the event I met various minority students pursuing the Neag School of Education, other students that are currently in the School of Education, faculty members here at UConn and even professionals currently in the field. However there was one person here who seemed to be a bit out of place, a man named Miguel, dressed in a “Puerto Rico” sweatshirt, baggy jeans and basketball sneakers who, when asked about his professional background, simply said he worked in a school in Meriden and just came for the food. As the night went on and we took our seats, I tried to figure out why this gentleman was here. He didn’t look like a professional and from what he told us (the people sitting at my table) he didn’t have that much background in education.

            The program began with the presentation of the Hearst Scholarship, an award directed towards students pursuing teaching as a profession with the support of diversity initiatives in mind. From there, Noemi Maldonado took the podium and introduced our keynote speaker, the gentleman in the Puerto Rico sweatshirt, who rose from his seat and took the podium, taking the room by surprise in the process. The gentleman who we thought didn’t belong there had more reason to be there than any of us. His name was Miguel Cardona, currently the principal of Hanover Elementary School in South Meriden, CT, and a member of the board of directors dedicated to closing the achievement gap in Connecticut.

            Mr. Cardona came to the dinner that night with one objective in mind, to challenge us to face our stereotypes. He showed us that we would be helpless in breaking the stereotypes against ourselves until we look and see what stereotypes we have ourselves. Everyone stereotyping him as not being a principal and well-respected member within the education community simply based on the way he was dressed was the first one we had to face. In order to help minority students succeed we needed to recognize that we all held predispositions and that we needed to be able to look past them in order to be effective teachers.  In addition to looking past our differences as future and current educators, he encouraged us to embrace them as well. Our differences are what make us unique and add a dimension to our teaching and image as a teacher that can help us further connect with our students. Not only did the night help me realize what I needed to do to be successful in my profession but it helped me feel more confident about succeeding as a minority in my profession.

            Every minority student goes through a period of doubt at one time or another where they question whether or not they’ll be able to be successful as a minority in a world dominated by the majority. Let me tell you this, any feelings I may have had like this have completely dissipated from my mind and I have this night to thank for it. 

¡Por fin! (Finally!) LipSync 2010 Results

As promised folks here's the results for LipSync 2010 competition:

In the Fee-Funded/ Cultural Center Category

1st place: Rainbow Center
2nd place: African American Cultural Center
3rd place: Asian American Cultural Center

In the Non-Fee Funded Category:

1st place: Celtic American Cultural Society
2nd place: Alpha Beta Epsilon & Phi Sigma Pi
3rd place: Global House

And last but certainly not least...

In the Greek Category

1st place: Zeta Beta Tau, Alpha Epsilon Phi & Phi Sigma Rho 

2nd place: Kappa Alpha Theta & Alpha Epsilon Pi 

3rd place: Kappa Kappa Gamma & Kappa Sigma

Once again let me just say that every performance was great! I think I speak for the entire university when I say that I was impressed with every organization. The costumes, story lines, lip-syncing, and props, were all on point and I cannot wait till next year! 

Fall 2010 Week 5

Week 5

            It’s a windy Thursday afternoon. As students file into Gampel Pavilion, the chants from various cultural centers echo out over the massive crowds. The SUBOG officials announce homecoming court and congratulatory yells spill from the crowd in the forms of “I voted for him!” or “She deserved to win!” Everyone waits in anticipation as the MC takes center stage. After a few brief announcements and the customary “UCONN – HUSKIES” chant, the crowd goes silent and the tension builds as the MC asks, “Are you ready for the first performance?” The crowd goes wild knowing that one of the biggest events of the year is about to begin.

            This was the scene Thursday as LipSync began. After weeks of practicing, planning, the culmination of all the hard work the university has put into this event comes to fruition. The various cultural centers, Greek organizations and other student run organizations have put in hundreds of hours and it all culminates in a series of 8-minute mini-musicals, which behind the Homecoming parade, is probably the most anticipated Homecoming event in all of the Storrs community.

            Now Lipsync isn’t just a simple dance competition there’s actually a lot more that goes into it. The judging criteria for Lipsync is based on multiple categories, including the dancing, the lip-syncing, how well the story line was carried out and how easy it was to follow, the creativity of the performance and the use of props. With this in mind the various organizations around campus look to exemplify these attributes through their performance and make it the most memorable of the night. Between my experiences and speaking with alumni and faculty members who have attended both current and past LipSync events I can say that this year’s line up proved not only to be the longest topping off at about 17 performances but also the most suspenseful. With the high quality of performances this year there was no clear-cut winner in any category, and that added to the adrenaline rush.

            Now onto the actual performances, this was by far the most entertaining LipSync that I have attended in my 3 years here at UConn. There were 18 performances and I can honestly say every organization brought something new to the stage. Whether it was acrobatics, props, or simply the intensity of the performers every show had the crowd out of their seats. As a performer with the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center I’ve always tended to pay the most attention to the cultural center performances however, this year, every organization commanded attention. No matter what organization you represented that night you couldn’t help but be impressed with everyone.                

               As I said earlier, all the performances were amped up 150% from past years, but even beyond the dancing new thrills were brought to the stage. For example the Asian American Cultural Center shed new light on their performance of Finding Nemo by actually using handheld lights during their dance. Also the Rainbow Center’s costumes were great. You really got a sense that you were in the actual film Snow White. Also one thing I found particularly entertaining about the Greek organizations performances was the props and way they chose to incorporate their respective films along with the Homecoming game. My personal favorite out of all the performances however would have to be the rendition of Aladdin, It’s always been my favorite Disney movie.

            Overall, I think LipSync 2010 was the best one so far. The music selections not only got the crowd excited, but took us back to our childhood in some cases with the great Disney soundtracks. The organizations brought a level of intensity that rivaled professional performances, and you could tell that everyone was passionate about bringing who they are to the stage. I think this Lipsync more than anything else got people excited for LipSync 2011, and now none of us can wait to see what next year holds in-store. 

           

            Be on the look out for a follow-up post where I’ll give a category by-category breakdown of the winners of the night.