Judson College :: Choir, FAITH, Ensemble

One year ago…

I loaded up my car and the family Suburban before loading up with my family to come to Judson.  I was experiencing so many different feelings at that time – uncertainty, excitement, curiosity, and a bit of the frazzled feeling you get when you are running behind schedule . . .

On the way, my Mom went through the list of everything I could possibly need for school, and we had a chance to talk during the 2-hour drive.  Before I knew it, I was unloaded, unpacked, and ready to start a new year.  Welcome week flew by, as well as the nerves.  I made friends that have stuck with me through thick and thin, and created a year full of memories I will not soon forget.

That was a year ago.

(Fast forward to Thursday, August 12, 2010)

I finished loading everything I could possible cram in my car to take with me to school.  I remember thinking that things are a little different than they were last year.  My feelings transformed from uncertainty to a mixture of excitement and “summer’s over” syndrome.  I knew my schedule over the next few months would be the craziest one yet, but I was also excited about getting started.  After arriving at Judson, I attended my first L.A.M.P. training session, and filled my weekend with L.A.M.P. training activities, unpacking, organizing, and of course, the FAITH retreat.  From the first time I heard FAITH perform during scholarship day, I have wanted to be a member of our school’s small ensemble.  I am incredibly excited about the opportunities this will bring, from singing to sharing about my love for God and this school!  (I will be sharing more about FAITH later, so watch for a blog coming soon!) 

This year will definitely be a busy one for me, and in my future blogs, you will find out why!  Stay tuned for weekly updates! :)

For now, I will leave you with a verse my Big Sister Bethany Rush gave me to start the school year, and one that I hope to weave into my life more than ever this year.

“Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually.”

- 1 Chronicles 16:11

Dear Judson: Here I come [again]!

I find it extremely hard to believe that in one week, I will be finished with my first year of college.  The past 2 semesters have been filled with tears, stress, laughter, and countless memories.  Some things I will experience again next year, such as Rose Sunday, the MMI picnic, and Marion Matters.  Others will be experienced, but in different positions - for instance, instead of asking someone to be my big sister, I will be waiting for a freshman to pick me, and instead of watching the jr/sophs perform in pageant, I will be a jr/soph on stage or behind the scenes helping my class put this 2 hour production together.  Other things are memories once experienced while I am at Judson ... I remember not knowing how I would fit in or how I would do being away from home so much while I was getting ready to come here.  Today, I can look back on my past year and see so many areas where I have grown stronger.  I know this is only the beginning, but my time at Judson was worth everything I had to do to get here, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!  While I can certainly say that I will enjoy a summer without assignments, I will definitely miss the fellowship I have had with my Judson sisters.  If you have ever heard anyone involved with Judson talk about the sisterhood here, they are not kidding when they say it's like a family.  I am so glad I found Judson, and I know I have gotten so much more than an education by attending this school.

While I cannot share all my freshman memories with you in this blog, I encourage you to come to Judson and make your own.  Judson College is a very special school, and I have come to see it as my home away from home, a place where I fit in, and people are willing to pull together, whether to participate in a tradition, help in the community, or pass a difficult test.  If you are looking at coming here, I can tell you from experience that what you see is not what you get - it's better.

"Sisterhood is powerful."  - Robin Morgan

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."                                                                                                    2 Corinthians 13:14

Hello Blog Readers!

As the year draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to reflect on some of the things I've learned the past school year J

1.  Ramen is your friend.

2.  There are times when sleep is more important than makeup

3.  The "golden hour" before a test is a wonderful thing :)

4.  Singing is a great stress reliever (join choir!)

5.  Jones Soda is hard to find, but once you find it, it's pretty good stuff.

6.  When you ask for change to be returned to you in a certain way (for example, 3 dimes instead of a quarter and nickel), be prepared for some extremely confused looks.  Even after you explain this is because you need to give a vending machine exact change, the amused looks will continue.

7.  "A friend loves at all times, and a [sister] helps in times of trouble." - Proverbs 17:17

8.  Keeping procrastination to a minimum greatly helps a person's stress level, but then again, that's easier said than done.

9.  Judson's trees are perfect to study under on a breezy day.

10.  Riding down the hill to the soccer field/Arena on a scooter is probably not the smartest idea, but it sure is fun :)

11.  Rain boots are the best on a rainy day with a full day of classes.

12.  When taking medicine, be sure to note the difference between "teaspoons" and "tablespoons." It is more than possible to overdose on cough syrup when directions are misread, but it makes for some funny entertainment when you learn the person will be okay. (As proven by my wonderful roommate on choir tour)

13.  (From Choir Tour)  Problem: 36 girls on a roadside Subway restaurant in need of a restroom. Solution:  use men's bathroom. 

14.  When playing Bingo with a teacher's overused phrases, be sure the teacher does not  see what you are doing.

15.  You don't have to be related to someone to be their sister.

While most of these were silly, they're all things I have experienced over this past year.  I hope you enjoyed reading these, and I'm looking forward to more experiences to add to my "lessons learned."

Until next time!

Choir Tour continued... 

"If your presence doesn't make an impact, your absence won't make a difference."

Our first of three performances today was at Southwest Guilford High School.  We were all a little nervous walking in the school for the beginning of the performance part of the tour.  It did not take long for the butterflies to disappear though, and it was over before we knew it.  We also had a chance to hear their choir and honor's choir, which was pretty neat.  :)  While we were waiting on our next session at that school, we passed the time by singing Step Sing songs.  It was a lot of fun to sing just because we wanted to.  At one point, the director of the school was watching us, and Dr. Ransom told us later the director had been so surprised that we were just singing because we wanted to...and were actually enjoying ourselves!  We had a great time. 

After our second session, we headed to our last session at Penn-Griffin High School.  This was a fairly new school, and we were able to hear their girls' choir before performing for them.  One of the songs they sang was a song our FAITH group was featuring on our tour!  It was interesting to hear another choir sing a piece we knew well.

We pulled out of Penn-Griffin High School around 3:15 p.m. to make the 8-hour trip to Maryland.  As another group decision, the choir decided to bring back an idea from previous choir tours.  During the tour, each person is given an envelope with index cards and a list of everyone on the bus.  Each person on the bus writes every other person an encouraging note at some point during the trip.  The "mail" is handed out each day.  This is just our way of passing along an encouraging word to our fellow choir members. During our bus ride, I wrote little notes to a few of the people on the bus to be passed out at "mail time."  At one point in the trip, I started making motions to a song playing on my iPod, and my roommate Heather caught on to what I was doing and decided to video me.  We ended up making videos of motions to our favorite songs...of course, our ear buds were in, so the video has no audio to it.

Story of the Day:

We pulled into Subway for dinner, and much to our despair, there were only 2 restrooms one male and one female.  The line filled up quickly, and eventually, some of the girls noticed no one was around that would need a men's restroom, and nobody using it was a real shame.  While one of the girls was in there, a guy comes in from out of nowhere.  We told him the girls had taken over, and he actually got in line to wait on all of us!  We were amused, but we told him we were only joking.  It was quite funny to see the expression on my friend's face when she walked out to see a guy waiting his turn.

More interesting stories and memories to be made soon!