Student Life Blog

            The end of November is quickly approaching us and Judson's campus has been very busy lately. It seems everyone is always going somewhere or doing something. Everyone has been getting ready for the holiday season. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and not too long after that are Christmas and New Year's. The needs in the surrounding community are increasing. The stress levels of many are on the rise. Throughout the year Judson always has plenty of service programs going on to help students stay involved in the Marion community but, as the holiday season gets closer the game is stepped up a notch. There are always plenty of ways to get involved and give back to the struggling Marion community.

            On Sunday November 1^st Judson's SGA started their annual canned food drive. The canned food drive will continue until Friday December 4^th. There is a basket placed in the lobby of each of the residence halls for canned food donations. SGA always tries to make the giving to the canned food drive a little more exciting. One way they do this is by turning the event into a small competition between the three residence halls. The residents of Kirtley, Barron, and WMU try to make sure that their basket has the most items by the end of the drive. As even more of an incentive than just bragging rights, SGA puts on a pizza party for the residence hall that collects the most non-perishable items. I encourage everyone to donate what you can. Even if you cannot help with the Judson canned food drive I encourage each of you to donate what you can to your local food pantries instead.

Another way that SGA tries to add some fun to the drive is by hosting Judson's Next Top Model - a spinoff of the popular T.V. show, America's Next Top Model. This year, JNTM took place on Tuesday, November 17^th and the admission fee was either $1 or a can of food. It was a lot of fun and there was a pretty good turn out. There were twelve contestants this year. There were four categories with a winner from each and one overall winner. Christian Lee was Miss W.O.W., Jordan Barlow was Miss Decade, Jessica Darwin was Miss Formal, Meredith Pierce was Miss Rainwear, and Jasmine Baker was Miss Overall; Judson's Next Top Model. Everyone that participated did a great job. Congratulations to each!

            November has brought many great things to me. It has brought me much laughter, presented me with many new friendships, and has brought renewal to many old friendships as well. There have been many ups and downs and twists and turns through the course of the month. It has been eventful to say the least, the very least. One eventful time I want to focus on is the weekend of November 6^th and 7^th. It was great for many reasons. Half of my excitement that weekend was because my roommate from last year that was unable to return came back for a visit and the other half was due to a special tradition.

            It was Hockey weekend here at Judson. Hockey Day happens once a year on the first Saturday of November. When I say hockey here I mean field hockey. Several weeks are spent in preparation for the big day. Almost every day the Senior, Jr./Soph, and Freshman members of the hockey teams scrimmage against each other for practice. Most outsiders would think the two teams are just trying to learn each other's weaknesses to use them against each other during the official hockey game but really the main concern is to beat the alums. Every year the Judson alums dare to come back and try to make the "youngsters" look bad.

            In preparation for Hockey Day each class puts together a song to perform in the dining hall during Friday's lunch, they create and design a giant banner to proudly display in the gym, and they put together a little skit about the Hockey Day fun to perform during the break between the Jr. Frosh/Seniors game and the All-Stars/Alums game on Saturday. The entire weekend is one big competition between the classes (and the alums) to prove who really can claim to be the "Top Dogs". The rivalries always prove to be great entertainment. Another thing that is done in preparation for the Hockey Day festivities is Wishing Well. The seniors get together and discuss their favorite and most memorable memories they have made here at Judson and put together a little play type performance consisting of many skits. It is always amazing. You'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll move you no doubt. I look forward to when our class gets to participate in this great tradition.

            This week on Thursday night (October 17^th) we had a tango band and dancers come perform for us. One of our dance classes, led by Jill Coplen, put together a dance to one of the band's songs and performed as well. The class was made up of seven of our Judson girls and their partners. It was really fun to see what each couple brought to the stage by adding a little of their own flare to the choreographed dance.

            This weekend was Parents' Weekend at MMI, meaning it was a parade weekend. Judson girls are encouraged to participate in MMI's activities like parades so my friends Bethany, Holly Beth, and I walked over for the parade. We always enjoy going to the parades so we encourage our fellow classmates to attend them as well.

            October is a good time to catch most of the sports teams in action. Softball is into their fall season and soccer and volleyball are playing their regular seasons. The next traditions and activities coming up all happen in the last week of October. The 29^th we have Pop-In Night where the Judson "families" dress up and go around to the freshman's rooms trick-or-treating. The 30^th Judson hosts Treats on Bibb Street where we shut down the street in front of the college and the different clubs/organizations set up booths with games, prizes, and candy for the neighborhood kids. This was one of my favorite activities last year!

            We also have something called "the Halloween Run" that takes place at about 5:00 a.m., usually on Halloween, where us Judson girls attack the MMI cadets with water balloons and guns as they run through our campus for morning PT. Sound terribly mean? They expect it so they usually wear costumes and attack us too. It is possibly my favorite Judson/MMI tradition and it is SO worth being up so early! I love it!

            October 3, 2009 was a night to remember; a night that will go down in Judson history - The night of Pageant...

            The Jr./Soph class worked for little over a month in preparation for the night to make sure everything went smoothly. Pageant is a play the Jr./Soph class puts on each year for their big sister class to show their appreciation and love. The theme of Pageant is "Love Conquers All". Pageant has been a tradition here at Judson for many years now and my class and I were super excited to finally be participating in it. Well, excited and scared...

            Every class in the past had told us how much Pageant brought them together and how their year was the best year. We were constantly being told stories of past Pageants; many were horror stories. Everyone I talked to said Pageant had been great for getting to know their classmates better and bringing the class closer as a whole but they definitely would never do it again. We heard about how stressed and sleep deprived everyone was and how there was so much tension and fighting through it all.

            The horror stories made much of our class leery of Pageant but we dove right into it anyways. Ryan Dowling was our director and Amanda Nolander was her assistant. They decided on the musical comedy Into the Woods. It was a great choice and the people cast were perfect for their parts. As our practices began and we started getting everything ready we found ourselves way ahead of schedule. We were getting out of practices early and even decided to schedule a fun night out instead of practice one night which has never happened in Pageant history. Everything was going so smoothly and quickly. Then, not quite a week and a half before Pageant night we found out Bethany Rush (one of our main five) would not be able to do her part due to her back injury. I was asked if I could move from my secondary part as Rapunzel to the main part of Little Red Riding Hood.

            Truthfully, our big sister class was somewhat expecting us to fall on our faces but we made it through with "...the best Pageant in about twenty years!" Everyone was so surprised. We made it through closer and stronger as a class and never really stressed out or had any big fights, either. I have to say that I love Pageant more than I thought I would and I would definitely do it again! It was great!