Prospective Students, Parents and Guidance Counselors

Schedule an Interview or Visit | Deadlines | Contact Us

What Students Say | Student Blogs  | Perks
Requirements | Co-Curricular Activities | FAQs

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4-27-09

Although cliché “it seems like just yesterday” may be overused a lot, that is how I’m feeling right now. It seems like I just started here at Lock Haven as a freshmen and now I’m studying for final exams before the summer. I remember the first couple days on campus for Honors Orientation like they happened just last week rather than 8 months ago. Next semester I won’t be an incoming freshman to the honors program, but a sophomore FDG leader. Time flew by in high school and seems to fly by even quicker in college.

I am very excited for a break from all the school work that goes along with college level classes, but I will miss all the fun times I had this year. The last weekend here has been a very memorable time. On Saturday, the honors program held its FDG wars. While it was very fun, I don’t want to give too much away. We were out at Hanna Park for about 2 hours and within just those two hours we had a Tug-o-war competition, trivia, balance competition, obstacle course and the infamous fear factor competition. I just want to take a moment to say that I will never be able to look at Pigs feet again (if I even do see Pigs feet ever again). Although I absolutely dreaded eating red beets as a kid, I attempted to step up the plate for the Flamingo team and down 6 or7 in the fear factor competition. Even gagging a little bit on those was no comparison to watching some of the teams down Pigs feet. After the team competitions, we went back to the house for a buffet of food and the last chance to gain some points for FDG wars in the dance competition. Some teams went all out incorporating different dances all in one like the Cows and the Monkeys while several teams including the Monkeys, Jags, and Cows seem to be neck and neck the Monkeys won FDG wars and all its glory. Our Flamingo team came third to last, but we laughed so hard throughout the day that that was all that mattered…and our awesome pink shirts w/ feathery pink flamingos on. I’ll miss my freshmen Flamingo group, but next year it is onto to leading the Scorpions in my 2^nd round of FDG wars.

4-20-09

This past weekend was full of events on Lock Haven’s campus. Each night I was at some venue on campus. On Friday night I went to the dance recital in Sloan theatre to see some of my friends perform.  Last semester I was in Dance Consort and watching from the audience this semester made me miss dancing so much. There was much variety in the type of dances given from graceful ballet routines to more edgy modern dances. Instead of dancing this semester, I decided to join Cantorri choir group. I figured I could dabble in different activities in each of the semesters and find which ones I really enjoyed. It turns out that I love both Dance Consort and Cantorri. After dancing for 11 years in elementary and high school I miss performing in college. Next semester I plan on taking up ballet again for a class and singing in University choir.

            After Friday night, I spent Saturday afternoon helping at the Kids Festival set up in the Rec Center. In the fall I joined the Second mile club which helps kids in the local area who may be having some trouble take a few hours usually on a Sunday to enjoy with other kids in fun activities. While there was usually 10-15 kids at some of the activities, Saturday was a low turnout day. There were only 3 kids that showed up with 4 volunteers. Although there were only a few kids, they kept us busy scurrying around the crowds of people at the festival. Watching them bounce from table to table to see what all activities they had made me wish I had their energy. After two hours at the festival I felt like I needed a 4 hour nap to catch up.

            Though I wish I could’ve taken a nap to recuperate, I had to get ready for the Honors Banquet. I was looking forward to the dinner/dance as it was being catered in the Alumni center. I remember when I was touring LHU I saw the plans of what was to be the Alumni center and finally got to see the inside. The dinner was set up in the ballroom and it was very nice. There were many of the Honors students as well as some of the professors who taught the Honors classes this year. After dinner, the SADs (Student Assistant Directors) presented awards to the Students of the Year as well as Professor of the Year. I stayed for a little bit after dinner for the dance portion and then headed back to the dorms to relax for a little bit.

            Sunday night was the big event for the spring semester at LHU. In previous years, the campus brought in big musical artists like Gym Class Heroes and Vanessa Carlton. This year T-Pain came to Lock Haven along with several other artists. We got there about an hour early and there was already a line forming. The Thomas Field House was packed for the performance and it was hard to even move during the show with people crowding to get a glimpse of T-Pain. After all these events, it’s back to work for one more official week of classes and then exams the following week.

4-13-09

            For the upcoming holiday, the Honors house went all out with an extreme Egg Hunt. On Thursday night, the different honors teams met at the house to begin the Easter egg hunt. Heading to the house, I kept an eye open for any eggs placed around campus but could not spot any. Along with some other team members, we were stumped to find tons of eggs on the lawn of the Honors house. Caroline Sweeny and Chris Brittain explained that there were some twists to the egg hunt. First we had to use various odds and ends in a paper bag to protect a raw egg from breaking in a 20 foot drop from the honor house’s balcony. In the bag of goodies we found a coffee filter, bubble wrap, newspaper, balloon, paper clips, bottle tabs, an envelope and tape. After wrapping the egg in bubble wrap and taping it with the balloon we tested our makeshift cushion. While some groups failed at their first attempt and had cracked eggs, my team, the Flamingos, found our egg perfectly packaged at the bottom of the drop. Next we were set on our scavenger hunt for eggs.

            Campus was a crazy scene as 5 teams darted across campus following the different hints. Our first hint led us to the library to find an egg behind several books then we were off to Raub for the next clue. We felt like a pinball bouncing from building to building in search of the next clue. We cross paths with other teams several times as we sprinted from each spot. As we got out last clue we headed up to the dike to find a box of eggs under a bench. After we grabbed a couple eggs we headed back to the Honors house to see what was next in the chain of events. In arriving, we were told that we would have to guide one of our members through a path while they were blindfolded. We helped guide our teammate Chris through the weaving path and thought we were finally done with the egg hunt, but then found out a final twist. Caroline announced that any team that wanted to get a 2 extra points could take their eggs from the egg drop and eat the raw egg. Some of us were willing to pass up the 2 points to avoid eating the raw egg, but Chris stepped up for the team. Within minutes Chris took the raw egg and chugged it down in one gulp. After all this, I felt like I needed a nap. It was definitely a workout running from building to building in the egg hunt but it was a great event for the Honors program. It was definitely not what I was expecting after years of Easter egg hunts, but made it a memorable activity and we had lots of fun.

4-5-09

Another week of work is underway. Tomorrow will definitely feel like a case of the Mondays as I prepare for 2 quizzes and a test. Although the beginning of the week will be hectic, there is some relief as I have finished part 1 of an augmentation project for Anatomy. Because I transferred in 2 AP English credits I was exempt from taking the Honors English courses here @ LHU. Although it was a perk to not have to take English in college, it was a catch 22 because now I am behind 2 honors courses as compared to the other honors freshmen.

            Since the Registrar’s office scheduled my classes first semester I was left with only one honors course – Philosophy, but this semester I was able to pick up an extra honors course – Psychology. Even though I am now only 1 class behind everyone else, I decided to augment my anatomy class. Augmentations are a great help to students who can’t fit any honors classes into their schedules and with a schedule like mine involving 3 science classes, labs, and other classes it’s a Godsend. In order to augment or get honors credit for a non-honors class, I talked with Dr. Dixon my anatomy professor and we came up with the topic of Alzheimer’s disease to research. Although I planned to start the paper early in the semester I only got around to doing the bulk of my research in March and finished the paper portion last week.  Along with a paper, Dr. Dixon also wanted me to create a poster in which to present at Scholarship day in mid April.

            Scholarship day here @ LHU is a day off from classes and also a day for students who have been working on any research or projects to present them to other students and faculty. So instead of walking around listening to a variety of presentations given by students, I will be presenting my research on Alzheimer’s disease as the second part of my augmentation project. After that I will hopefully be able to get 3 more honors credits and then look to augment a couple more classes in the future.

3-30-09

This past weekend the Honors Program joined 39 other teams to support Relay for Life. Each FDG group from the Honors house was asked to participate and as the Flamingos, my team hosted a raffle drawing for a Wal-mart gift card. Other groups raised money through activities like "Dress a Banana" or doing types of service to people in the community in return for a donation.  The relay went from 7pm Friday night to 7 am Saturday morning. After colorguard practice I headed down to the REC center where the relay was being held and arrived to find tons of people walking around the track and different tables set up by the different groups. The honors program was set up in one of the racquetball courts. There were lots of different groups hanging out together. At 10 pm most people looked to be pretty awake and full of energy.

            There were some pretty interesting events to keep us awake. They had a dance contest, themed laps like 80s lap and underwear lap, guys dressing up as girls for best dressed contest, and musical chairs. I attempted musical chairs, but lost with 4 chairs left. To keep our energy up, we passed a volleyball back and forth for awhile and shot some hoops. While some groups caught some shut eye on air mattresses, most of the honors group stayed up for most of the night. There were a few like Chris Dubbs who fell asleep under a bed pad for a couple hours and a few who pulled up some wooden floor and took a nap. I must admit I did doze on the racquetball court floor for a half hour in the wee hours of the morning. By 4 am the crowd had died down a lot and most people were just counting down the time 'til the clock struck 7.

            Along with the Honors program, I also signed up to help the Health Science club at the relay and walked several laps for that group. Although we were told the relay would go from 7-7, it was a relief to find out that after the awards ceremony at 6:15 we would be able to head out and for most of us that meant climbing back up the hill and crawl into bed for most of Saturday. Overall, it was a fun night with many of the people in Honors. It may take a week to make up for the lack of sleep, but it was worth it for the American Cancer Society. And now, it's back to work after I take another nap.

3-22-09

What makes the Honors Program so fun are the little surprises that come along when you least expect them. This past week was predicted to be another hectic week of tests, quizzes, homework, and meetings. All this work was broken up by the various Honors activities that went on in the week. The week began with our Freshmen Discussion Group meeting (FDG is usually what we refer to it as since it’s usually a mouthful to say the whole thing). Our leaders Kate and Athanasia planned for a relaxing activity as we sat in the honors house and watched Mamma Mia. Although I’ve seen that movie at least 5 times, musicals in my opinion will never get old. Some of group members hadn’t seen the movie and were in for a treat watching Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Street add another job on their résumés as singers in this musical. After the meeting, ABBA songs kept running through my mind randomly throughout the week.

Another fun time this week involved beach volleyball and the swampy marshes behind the court for the activity group “Physical Fitness and Relaxation.” Wednesday marked one of the few days that actually felt like spring was around the corner and everyone wanted to soak up some rays while they were still out. The group decided on volleyball out on the sand court behind the Rec Center. At first we thought we wouldn’t be able to play because there was already a group waiting for the court, but to our surprise the other group asked if we wanted to play a match against them. While many of our group had experience in a variety of sports, we’ll just sum up our match in saying that you probably won’t see us at the Olympics anytime soon. It seemed to be the trend to hit the volleyball outside of the sand onto the grass or accidentally hit it backwards into the marshy ditch. My friend Devon came to the rescue every time and retrieved the ball from the swamp which she described in one word – “disgusting.”

In addition to that activity group, I doubled up on activities this week since I was 2 hours behind on the required activity hours. Friday I went to “F3 – Food, Fashion Fitness.” After going to F3, I might have found a new favorite activity group. Not only was it great to go to a relaxing activity on Friday afternoon, but last Friday was also the first day of spring. The best thing to do to celebrate the beginning of spring is to indulge in a tasty treat complimentary of Rita’s Italian ice and that’s exactly what F3 did. We all piled in people’s cars and headed to get our FREE Italian ice. This past week was busy as predicted, but still enjoyable with movies, games, and treats.

3-15-09

This week’s blog will be a little different since we were off on Spring Break. The start of break did not have the usual springtime weather as one would imagine. Monday morning I woke up to the sight of 4 or 5 inches of snow on the roads and school cancellations in the neighboring school districts. Seeing the snow and cancellations made me miss high school as Lock Haven has only had one 2 hr. delay this school year. During break there wasn’t too much down time as I worked every day in a physical therapy office. While it would’ve been nice to sleep in, the pay check will certainly help. Although I sat in an office working for most of the day, I had the evenings for myself.

            In the fine town of Lebanon, there isn’t much to do so we usually have to make our own fun like we do sometimes in Lock Haven. Hanging out and watching movies were the best parts of break. Over any break I think the most exciting thing is to meet up with old friends from high school and talk about the random happenings at our different colleges and just spending time together. This past break was no different. At the beginning of break, some of my friends that were home went to see the movie “Taken” and then just hung out in the lobby of the theatre for awhile talking. It doesn’t matter where we are, my friends and I can still stand or sit and talk for long periods of time catching up on what we’ve missed out on in each others’ lives. I think that’s the key thing I miss about high school – seeing those friends that I had spent 5 days a week together for years; in some cases, I had spent almost 12 years together.

            Throughout the week, my nights pretty much consisted of meeting up with friends before some headed back to college and others just arriving for their spring breaks. While I got to see many of my friends, the week passed so quickly. Saturday night was the climax of break as I went to a friend’s house to watch the movie “Death at a Funeral” and snack on delicious junk food. We were all thinking the same thing when each of us showed up with a snack – chips. Nothing beats munching on chips, watching a flick, and laughing about anything and everything. Overall it was a great break because I got to see my family and friends and didn’t have any tests/quizzes to worry about for a week. But now it’s back to school work ‘til the next big break – SUMMER!

3-18-09

Along with activities like color guard and choir, some Honors activities have been keeping me busy. As I posted in my first blog, I am also on the Honors Admissions team or as we refer to it the “A-Team.” This smaller group of the Honors Program meets once a week and works on all the mailings that go out to the students about applying to LHU Honors or any news regarding the program. Another aspect of the A-team is giving Open Houses on Saturdays. Recently we had our first Spring Open House and it seemed to go pretty well. I helped out with the afternoon session which included free lunch at Bentley Dining hall and then interviews at the Honors House. Interacting with prospective Honors students is always interesting when you’re asking them questions or talking while they are digging into their plates of food.  I tend to feel like one of those waitresses or waiters that come up to ask you how your food was after you just piled in a big fork full of food.  But food is always a good ice breaker in interacting with the people: asking how they like Bentley cuisine and seeing if they have any questions about the Honors Program.

After we talked with the families during lunch, we announced that we would be giving interviews at the Honors House for any students that wanted to get this requirement out of the way in their application process. Some of the students’ faces were priceless as the blood drained from their faces with fear about what the interview would entail. From one who went through it last year, the interview is not painful or as intimidating as it may seem. It really is just a time for the Honors team to get to know the students on an individual basis for a brief time in order to enhance their application into the program. The highlight of this particular open house was hearing that one of the students was from a town near my hometown. Whenever I hear the familiar names of towns near me like Lancaster, Reading, or Harrisburg I get so excited and feel a sense of home. The world got even smaller after talking with the student’s family a little more and found out that her parents worked with my dad. It was certainly a small world at that moment. With that, it is always fun to see who all you will meet at Open Houses.