chantel

Work Work Work...Play time

Despite the fact that I have several papers and exams, I’m still having fun. When I mention that I handed in a 16 page paper on Monday, many of you will feel bad for me. I can’t even feel bad for myself because the paper ended up being 16 pages by choice. The assignment was for MCC and it was a 10-15 page research paper. I decided to do my paper on bell hooks comparing two of her works with the central theme of black women and feminism. This assignment definitely helped me to grow as a writer .

Moving on to my extracurricular activities…The dance team is just fierce. On March 31, Simmons’ Finest performed at Wentworth for Culture Shock ‘06. This was our first performance with all five dance groups performing. The performances were absolutely amazing. Tashanna and I were speechless by the end of the night. The only thing that we could say was that our stress and hard work as president and vice president have finally paid off.

Last weekend I participated in the MOST Program, and I am happy to report that my mentee will be joining me here at Simmons in September. To all of the other MOST Program participants congratulations on your acceptance and I hope that you choose Simmons.

Too Much Work

This is a rough time for me. It seems as though all of my papers are due right now. I am, however, excited to report that the hip-hop team of Simmon’s Finest: The Essence of Rhythm has new performance opportunities coming up every week. RMEMBER any Simmons’ women that are interested in the team should look out for our interest meeting in the beginning of the fall semester (feel free to contact me via e-mail at my simmons account). FACEBOOK ME!!!

First Hip Hop Team Performance

Despite the fact that I’m almost a week late, I must inform you of Simmons’ Finest: The Essence of Rhythm’s hip hop dance group’s first performance. If you haven’t read my last few post I am the co-founder and VP of the team along side Tashanna Williams who is the President. On Friday, February 24, 2006 at 8:00 pm myself and the ladies of Simmons’ Finest went on stage at Quadside to perform during BSO and PRSSA’s second annual Hip Hop Poetry Jam. After being idle in my dance performance for nearly two years, I had been looking forward to this moment. As a team we had been working hard inside and outside of practice to make sure that this would be an amazing first performance. I am extremely proud to report that it was indeed a wonderful performance. What went on during that two minutes and forty seconds was the epitome of hip hop in the form of dance. To each and every member of the Hip Hop Team Ali, Sara, Yasmin, President Williams, and Kristen I thank you and congratulate you on a job well done. You ladies have done my moves justice (LOL). To BSO and PRSSA I thank you as well for allowing us to have our first performance at your event. To current Simmons Women and perspective Simmons Women I encourage you to become involved in the dance team. If you would like to be a dancer, auditions will be held in the fall. If you would like to become a part of the executive board without being a dancer, attend our information in the fall.

Besides November (my birthday month), February is my favorite month. Why, you ask?….Because it is Black History Month. I had no idea how big Black History month was within the Simmons Community. There are events planned with guest speakers nearly every day this month. It is amazing to see the diversity on campus and the strength of our Black Student Organization. I am proud to be an African American woman, and I am doubly proud to be part of a community that has embraced Black History Month to this magnitude.

Welcome Back

You won’t believe how anxious I was to get back to school. The residence campus wasn’t reopening until the 15th. I decided that I couldn’t take anymore NYC, so I was on the 3:30 am bus to get back here asap. Now that classes have started I do feel like a need another vacation, but I am enjoying every moment of my day. The dance team is in the process of becoming and organization. The hip-hop group is nearly half way done with our first routine for our first show on Feb 24 (I think). This is the life for me. I really had no idea how I would go four years without dancing. I have to give the credit to Tashanna W. (President) for getting it started, allowing me to help out with the administrative tasks, and for making me VP. THANK YOU TASHANNA AND CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE DANCE TEAM MEMBERS!!!!!!!!

Christmas Break

After being home for a week I was ready to come back to school. I am not weird I’m just addicted to the freedom and independence of being away at college. Part of the reason why I didn’t enjoy my break as much as I should have was because I couldn’t sleep until all of my grades were posted. I just needed to know whether or not all my hard work and PAPERS paid off. I am happy to say that they did. After checking SOAR every hour for three weeks, I was more than relieved to see that I exceed my goal of having a 3.5 gpa. Whoever said that you can party and do well is a liar. Ladies and gentlemen time management is all it takes.

Aside from me not enjoying the majority of my break, I did sneak in a little bit of enjoyment. For the first time since August, I was able to go back and help my little cheerleaders work on their competition routine for this season. I don’t think that there is anything in this world that brings me as much joy as working with them. I mean why not, the children are our future (forgive me).

Finals Week

Wow! I know that it’s been a long time…..forgive I’ve been busy. Well…I guess I’ll start from finals week (12/12/05). Remember before when I said that I hate going home, well I was looking forward to it after finals. My last exam was over at 12:00pm on the 15th. I hadn’t packed yet because I was studying until the next morning; so I wasn’t prepared to leave, although my mother thought otherwise. After I finished my exam let’s say around 11:15ish I called my mother to see if I could come home the next day (since I wasn’t ready and I was exhausted). I don’t have to tell you that she was not trying to hear that, because the next day was supposed to be a snow storm. Here it is 12:00pm and I have to pack run errands and be at south station by 3:00pm. I could’ve won a marathon the way I was sprinting back and forth between campuses. Oh yeah, and I packed up a month’s worth of clothes and shoes in less than 30mins. Yes I know I’m very talented. I MADE MY BUS!!!

Thanksgiving

Going home for Thanksgiving was not at all how I expected it to be. Other than the fact that I had tons of homework to do, it just didn’t feel the same. Maybe I’m just weird, but I don’t see how people can say that you’ll be homesick your freshmen year. When I was home I was actually campus-sick. I love New York and I love Brooklyn, because I was born and raised there, but I just can’t seem to miss it. I guess I’ve made college too fun, so when I’m not here I’m sad. Don’t be fooled people that’s a good thing, because if you think about it almost nine months out of the year will be spent at college so it should be somewhere you really like. I guess I’ve made a good choice.

I can lie the food was good, I guess I do miss that:(

The Simmons Dance Team

Although many Simmons Women have been talking about starting a dance team, up until now it has not happened. About a month ago Tashanna Williams took the initiative to get a petition goin, and now we have a great diverse dance team of women with the common passion for dance. I helped Tashanna with some of the administrative tasks that were necessary for starting a new “club” on campus. Inaddition, I will be the choreographer for the hip hop division.

On November 15th and 19th, we held auditions. The dance team consists of five different genres of dance at the moment. There are hip hop, modern, jazz, ballet, and tap groups. Hopefully, after a few performances we can get our name out into the public and interest more talented women in our group. It is important for those that are interested, especially perspective students, to realize and acknowledge the fact that the goal of the team is to unify the Simmons Community through the art of dance. Nonetheless, this team will be competitive in a sense that we would like to eventually go out and compete in talent shows and competions within the Boston area. Hopefully the class of 2010 will bring some great women who are interested in either joining a group or being part of our E-board. Will I see you at one of our interest meetings?

My Birthday

Saturday was my 18th Birthday. My mother came to visit me. This was my first time seeing her since I moved in on September 4. Since my sister goes to NEU all of us met up and went to Legals (my favorite restaunt and the only one that I’ve ever been to in Boston).

It was a great night and then I got a surprise. My girls from here surprised me with a little party. It was really funny I came down the hall and was welcomed by a door being slammed in my face with a Happy Birthday sign on it. They bought me a cake, ice cream, chips, and soda. It was a nice girls night and I have to say the best time that I could have had without going out to a party. We even watched my favorite movie Brown Sugar. To my girls and my family I would like to thank you for allowing me to have such a wonderful 18th birthday.

STUDYING

Aside from my partying on the weekends, I basically live in the library. I know most people probably say to themselves “Wow, sounds like she does a lot of partying.” That is not at all the truth. After staying up until usually after 2 a.m. everying night doing homework and studying I need a break. Simmons is a great school for academics and I have had a difficult time my first few weeks here adjusting to the academic challenges. After speaking with several upper-class women I have been able to better manage my time and get a few extra hours of sleep. The Academic Support Center was also very helpful to me, they provide several brochures on time management and how to study. With these resources I have been able to get my hands on more free time while maintaining good grades.

School, Sickness, and Having Fun

Many would not believe that within one week a college student especially a freshman could manage to go to every class, while being sick with a cold, and party on the weekend. I made a pact with myself that if I could manage to go to all of my classes last week even though I was sick I would reward myself by attending a surprise party on Saturday. After stocking up on meds and drinking lots of tea I was well enough to go to every class, therefore, well enough to party with my friends. I must admit, it is hard taking care of yourself when your sick. I am so used to my mother always being there to take care of me, too bad she is four hours away in New York. If she were here I know for a fact that no matter whether I was feeling better or not, I would not have been allowed to get out of the bed unless it was to do homework. I can’t even imagine what her reaction would have been if I told her that we had to walk back from the party in the freezing rain. My friends and I do deserve some credit for having a good time, considering we were nearly frost-bitten when we arrived. Don’t you agree?

The majority of my favorite moments...

The majority of my favorite moments at Simmons are when I am taking a break from my homework and go visit “the girls” in South. During our meetings we laugh and have fun, it’s a way for me to escape the world of responsibility that comes along with being a college student and for this I am thankful.

Last week it occurred ...

Last week it occurred to me that I somehow fell out of my routine of working out. I noticed this after my stress began to accumulate along with my weight, because I had only been to our beautiful fitness center twice in the five weeks I had been here (and I can’t resist Bartol’s delicious cookies). So from then on I decided that I will get to the gym at least twice a week (I hope).

Getting out on the weekends...

Getting out on the weekends and having fun is a very important part of the college experience. After suffering in doors during the first week of classes I was convinced that it was not necessary to remain in my dorm room doing school work at all times. That is when I discovered my number one stress reliever called “partying with friends.” This is a picture of myself and a few of the girls from BSO out and about to have a good time. This was Saturday night and just in case any of you were wondering we met up again on Sunday to party in the library with our homework and studying.