Elon University vs Appalachian State

Last Saturday (as I mentioned in last week’s blog), I ventured up to Boone, North Carolina to attend the Elon – Appalachian State with several friends, including my twin sister Caryn who was visiting with me for the weekend. (That is myself and my Admissions colleague Denard Jones in the picture on the left.). Despite 30 degree temperatures, a bitterly cold wind, and a rain/snow/sleet mix, the stands of Appalachian State’s stadium were packed – young, old, students, and alums all attended the game as a piece of the Southern Conference title was on the line. Elon University had a nice contingent of fans as well – including two buses filled with fans and many others who drove up on their own. (That is a picture of my sister and I on the right!)

Despite a valiant effort on the part of the Phoenix, Elon fell short 24-16 against the 2007 NCAA FCS national champions, Appalachian State University. The loss was heartbreaking – our football team played one of its finest games all season against the toughest team in the Southern Conference – you cannot ask much more than that! Even when the clock read “2:00″ left in the 4th quarter, Elon still was working on several drives in a final attempt to reach the end zone just one more time – but to no avail.

As a fan, it was a fantastic game to watch (despite the weather!) If you look at the picture on the left (of my sister and I), you can definitely see water droplets on our hoods! (Note how I am still trying to wear my maroon!) It was cold, damp, and tiring….but it was well worth the trip up to Boone. My hat goes off to Coach Lembo and his team for such a great effort against such a strong competitor! To read the official recap of the game, definitely visit here.

Elon football will wrap up this Saturday against non-conference opponent Liberty University. The outcome of this game may have postseason implications for both Elon and Liberty depending on the outcome of the game. Stay tuned and I will keep you posted….GO PHOENIX!

Homecoming Weekend!

Happy Friday ETA readers!

I know, I know…it has been quite a while since my last post! However, like many of you who read this blog, life has become incredibly busy here at Elon. I am actually going to post back-to-back posts in order to not only talk about Elon’s Homecoming Weekend (November 7-9th), but also to continue with my weekly “From My Inbox” post.

As I mentioned above, Homecoming weekend was last weekend (November 7th – 9th) and it was a fantastic weekend -both in programming as well as temperature. All weekend long, there were a variety of different activities to participate in and it literally began as I stepped out of the front door of the building where my office is located! As I was leaving work on Friday, there was a Spirit Rally around Fonville Fountain that included both football players and cheerleaders -what a great way to start off the weekend! After the Spirit Rally, I went to the Student Governement Association (SGA) alum gathering and met up with both new and old SGA-ers.

Saturday was GAME DAY!!! Elon posted at 33-14 victory over fellow Southern Conference opponent, Western Carolina on what was one of the most gorgeous days of the fall. You can see from the picture on the right that the stands were filled – we had over 10,000 fans for the game! This victory sets the stage for a big football game for the Phoenix this weekend against Appalachian State University Mountaineers. After football was over, the evening belonged to our our men’s soccer team. The team defeated Wofford 3-0 in the first round of the Southern Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament. The soccer team takes on College of Charleston this afternoon (Friday, November 14th) in the Southern Conference semifinals – best wishes go out to Coach Darren Powell and his team!

And finishing up the weekend was the performance of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” by Elon University’s Music Theater Department on Sunday. I went to the matinee showing with several colleagues from the Admissions Office and thoroughly enjoyed the performance! I am not much of a judge when it comes to music theatre productions, but I can tell you that I watched the film version of “Sweeney Todd” on Monday night – and thought Elon’s production was WAY BETTER! Our Sweeney Todd was 100x better than the movie one (sorry Johnny Depp!) and our Mrs. Lovett blew away the one in the film version! Kudos go out to Ms. Catherine McNeela, professor in Performing Arts and the director of “Sweeney Todd”

To better capture the spirit of the entire weekend, I would encourage you to visit :http://www.elon.edu/e-net/Note.aspx?id=933146. Here you can find a slideshow of pictures from Homecoming and see currently enrolled students, alumni, and families enjoying an amazing weekend on campus!

As I mentioned before, the Elon Phoenix football team takes on Appalachian State University tomorrow in a big match-up in the Southern Conference. With a victory tomorrow, the Elon Phoenix will be in a tie for 1st Place in the Southern Conference – although they have a tough opponent to beat! I am actually traveling up to Boone, NC with some friends for the game tomorrow and will share my thoughts next week!

Traveling Domestically

Hello everyone!

Yes, I know it has been awhile – more than one week and I do apologize about that! For the good part of the week since I have been back in the country, Team “Jet Lag” was winning in my battle for a goodnight’s sleep! Nonetheless, I am again on the road traveling – this time within the United States up in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. To keep you updated…

On my first full day back in the U.S., I actually represented Elon University at the a CIS college fair in San Francisco at the French-American School. This was not a fair (from my knowledge) that Elon had done in the past, but it was definitely a wonderful opportunity for Elon! A large number of colleges and universities were represented and these schools came from a variety of states as well as countries. It is definitely a fair that I hope to continue to do in the future, particularly if it coincides with the ending of the CIS Asia tour like it did this year.

The fair also gave me the opportunity to walk around San Francisco, CA – a city that I had never been to before. I, along with some other counselors at the fair, visted Pier 39 where we had dinner and walked around after the fair. I have included some photos of Pier 39 below:

Changing the direction of the famous San Francisco trolleys.

 

The seals on Pier 39: Not a bad life

Me at Pier 39 (You can see Coit Tower and the Transamerica Building in the background.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I returned from San Francisco, I was in the office for a couple of days before I drove up this past weekend to my home state of Massachusetts which is my current location. I will be up here for the next month or so, traveling in the New England area and visiting a good number of high schools. I also have my laptop with me now (hooray for laptops!) and thus my posts will (hopefully) be more numerous.

I (unfortunately) was not around at Elon this past weekend which was not only our Family Weekend (Family Weekend events? – click here) but also another Elon Phoenix football game. The Phoenix took on Samford (the newest member of the Southern Conference) and defeated them, 23-17. Congratulations to Coach Lembo and the team, and I hope that all of the Elon parents enjoyed their weekend at Elon!

Here is to a great week for all of us and stay tuned for more posts…I am receiving a large number of emails with questions from students so I will be addressing those this week! Happy Monday to everyone!

Elephants, Emails, Explorations, & Energy: What A Weekend!

Welcome to Monday everyone!

It is currently 10:29 a.m. here in Singapore (which is my current location) and we just finished a college fair at the Singapore American School. Many of my colleagues are currently presenting a variety of topics for students of SAS (such as How Colleges Evalute Applications and Transitioning to College), but a handful of us have the “day off” from presenting. I think our group is a little bit tired this morning – we arrived in Singapore late last night (11:00 p.m. or so) and we had to be out of the hotel this morning by 6:45 a.m. – but nonetheless, we are excited to be here in Singapore!

The weekend was very relaxing as we had not one, but two days off in Chiang Mai, Thailand- a true weekend of sorts! Saturday and Sunday were filled with opportunities to sleep in (past 6:00 a.m.!), go shopping at the night market, catch up on emails, explore Chiang Mai, and go to an elephant conservation camp. I know I definitely enjoyed the opportunity to rest a bit before this week – because it is going to be a busy last week of the CIS Asia tour. Overall, Chiang Mai is an incredibly interesting place with a good deal to do and see in the city. One of the highlights of the weekend was a 3-hour bike tour around the city with a fellow admissions counselor who had studied abroad at the University of Chiang Mai as an undergraduate. Only 6 of us went, but it was an amazing opportunity to see the University of Chiang Mai, visit an athletic stadium used during the 1998 Asian Games, and see other sites around the city. This was done all the while riding in 3-4 lanes of traffic and dodging cars, buses, mopeds, other bicyclists, and my personal favorite – took tooks. (Took tooks are three-wheeled carts that are like taxis.) It was quite an adventure riding the city, but well worth the sore muscles after 3-hours of biking!

My weekend was also made that much more wonderful because of the following sports results:

• Elon’s football team defeated Presbyterian, 66-12 on Saturday. (www.elonphoenix.com)
• The Red Sox won 2 out of a 3 game series vs Toronto – hooray for only being 1 back from the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East! (www.redsox.com)
• The New England Patriots defeated the New York Jets and are now 2-0 (despite not having Tom Brady)! (www.newenglandpatriots.com)

Thus my weekend has left me energized for an exciting (but last week) in Asia. We have another college fair/workshop this afternoon followed by a counselor dinner then it is off to Taipei, Taiwan tomorrow morning. After Taiwan, Hong Kong is our last destination and then it is back to the United States – crazy how fast this has all gone by! It just reinforces how much I love travel season and the opportunity to meet students who are interested in Elon.

Best wishes to you all (especially my fellow Elon colleagues who are traveling counselors- the majority of whom are out on the road as well) and have a wonderful start to your week.

Next Stop: Taipei, Taiwan

Laboring on Labor Day

Happy Monday to everyone!

It is officially ‘Labor Day’ here in the U.S. where most people in this country traditionally have the day off – but not at Elon! We are still open for business (which is a good thing because I have a number of different things that I need to take care of before I leave for Asia!) However, before I talk more about that, I will provide you with a recap of the weekend events here at Elon.

Friday was Move-In Day (as you can tell from my last post) which meant that Saturday was the official welcome to the university for our new students. New Student Convocation is a wonderful ceremony where new students and their parents are welcomed by people such as Dr. Lambert, the President of the Student Government, a parent of a currently enrolled student, and many more. Most importantly, it marks the start of a student’s experience at this university and this is demonstrated by a ‘gift’ that Elon gives each student. To symbolize the start of a new chapter of their life, Elon gives each student an acorn at New Student Convocation. This is one of Elon University’s traditions and there is a similar tradition when a student graduates from Elon University. I will leave that to you to figure out what the ‘gift’ is when a student graduates…(think acorn and growth!)

Saturday was also the home opener for the Elon University football team! Saturday’s weather was probably not the most ideal weather for a football game (sticky & humid with temperatures in the high 80s), the Phoenix were able to start the game right on time – despite a heavy downpour only an hour before game time! Here are some pictures from the game:

Rhodes Stadium before kick-off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Phoenix!

The crowd for the game was over 10,000!

Getting ready for a play…

But despite the Phoenix effort, the Richmond Spiders prevailed over us, 28-10. However, it was a good evening with friends and most importantly, it was great to see such a strong turnout for the team! To read more about this game, as well as our other athletic teams, visit the Elon Phoenix website.

And that brings us to today (Monday) which means that my countdown to my travels in Asia is at 1 day! Well – maybe two…I will be in Los Angeles for a one-day orientation. I am definitely looking forward to traveling, especially because I have never been to Asia before. I also figured out how to post blogs using my cell phone and it is my plan to continue to update this blog as often as I can. I will not be able to post any pictures (unfortunately) so I will just bombard you with those when I return later in the month of September. And since I am leaving tomorrow, it means that I have 1,001 things to take care of before I leave – and thus I bid you farewell until I am either out in CA or in Asia!

Next stop: Los Angeles, CA

The Countdown Has Started…

… 0 days until International Student Orientation begins.
… 2 days until Freshman Move-In Day.
… 3 days until the Elon Phoenix take on the Richmond Spiders in football.
… 6 days until I leave for Los Angeles for Orientation for the 2008 CIS Asia tour!

It is August 27th and the 2008 – 2009 school year is about to get started. As I mentioned above, many of the incoming international students began their International Student Orientation. (Elon offers our international students the opportunity to move-in to their dorms earlier than the rest of the freshman class.) Despite torrential downpours and tornado warnings, our new students had the opportunity to meet each other and also get situated on Elon’s campus. It was great to see them (finally) on campus! By Friday, we are anticipating on having our 34 international students here and settled onto our campus.

Friday will be the busy day of this week – almost 1,300 freshman students will be moving onto campus. Minivans and cars will be unloaded by our Orientation Leaders and carried up multiple flights of stairs. Roommates will finally meet each other after months of ‘Facebooking’. Rooms will be arranged (and then re-arranged a week later). Books will be purchased, Phoenix Cards will be made, banking accounts will be set-up, and orientation groups will meet – all on Friday! It is an exciting time around Elon, and I think we are all just hoping that this rain that we are having (remnants of Tropical Storm Fay?) will be gone. Check the Elon weather to see how Friday looks (and think dry thoughts!)

As part of this weekend’s festivities, Elon will also be playing its first football game of the 2008 season against the University of Richmond Spiders – check back for an update on the game.

And finally, I will be heading out on my first international trip in less than a week! I will be a part of the 2008 CIS Asia tour and between September 3rd and September 20th, I will be visiting the following cities:

*Tokyo * Seoul * Beijing * Shanghai * Bangkok *

*Chiang Mai * Singapore * Taipei * Hong Kong*

So there is lots to do, but I am excited to visit these places for the very first time!