The Semester of Lasts

As Spring Break approaches, I'm just 5 days away from laying on a beach in 80 degree heat, a nice change to bitter winds we've been experiencing here in Chestnut Hill for the last few days. On the lips of almost every Senior walking this campus, however, is that fearful phrase "this is the last...insert activity here." Ie: "this is the last first day of school," "this is the last time I'll go outside at 5am in nothing but a T-shirt to build a snowman in the mods," or my personal favorite "this is the last time I'll have to send myself a rose on valentines day to make myself feel better," (false). Anyways, as I've been surround by all these supposed last times, I've decided to adopt the why not philosophy so that I get to take advantage of all these lasts!

Most recently I participated in a 35 year old tradition at BC called Middle march. Having not been since my freshman year, when the theme was Saturday Night Live. I was a SNL Spice Girl, and to the left is a picture of my friend dressed up like Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek from Jeopardy. Needless to say I set my eyes on the prize, aka a highly coveted ticket to this dance. Involving quite a complicated process, Middlemarch is the biggest and the best costume party of the year, Halloween ain't got nothin' on this tradition. First you must go at 11pm on the designated day to Conte Forum (our basketball and hockey stadium) to hear the theme announcement, usually hidden in some kind of weird YouTube-esque video made by the O'Connell House managers. This year's theme is BOARD GAMES. On your way out of the stadium you get a special sheet complete with a secret copy-proof seal with the scavenger hunt. Made up of 15-20 questions that go along with the theme (such as what was the newest addition to the game Operation...answer, brain freeze) as well as questions about the managers of the OCH, the mansion/student union on Upper Campus where the dance is held. So then you have a week to complete the scavenger hunt questions, THEN you are entered into a lottery of everyone who got the answers correct, and SHOULD you win, you get to buy tickets, but ONLY if you are quick enough to get one of 300 tickets when 200 students have the option to buy two! Luckily my "why not" philosophy has worked out and this is "the last time I will be going to Middlemarch." I'm super excited, but now comes the complicated process of figuring out a costume: Miss Peacock, a Snake or Ladder, Candyland...the possibilities are endless.

Another fantastic tradition organized by the Senior Week Committee is the 100 DAYS Dance. All Seniors get the chance to buy tickets and celebrate 100 days until Graduation. It was held at the Roxy, a club in the Theatre District in Downtown Boston, and BC rented it out, so it was basically a gigantic Dance Party with the entire Senior class; aka amazing! They bused us there and back on big yellow school buses, so no need to navigate the streets of Boston in high heels. Everyone I talked to absolutely loved it; there is nothing like dancing to bring people together. The only downside is my foot got into a fight with someone else's stiletto and let's just say they won and my foot is mighty bruised.

Although this blog makes it look like all we do at BC is dance, there are lots of other fun traditions that I'll be back to share with you soon. In fact, I'll even post a picture from a new tradition, storming the court after we beat DUKE in Men's Basketball; Tyrese Rice is in the Background!

Greetings from Chestnut Hill

Hello Everyone! My name is Katie Kelley and I'm a senior in the Lynch School of Education, where I am a human development and psychology double major. I'm originally from Oregon, but I grew up in the Netherlands.

As a Human Development major, I'm not going into the field of teaching, but I do intend to work in an educational setting. Many Human Development majors go to work in counseling or human resources jobs. I've really enjoyed my two majors here at BC. Psychology is in the College of Arts & Sciences and gives me a look into the more scientific side of people, whereas Human Development offers the practical application of psychology to the field of Education.

This was a very exciting weekend at BC sports-wise: Notre Dame was here for both Hockey and Football. Last year our Hockey team beat Notre Dame in the National Championship, but sadly this weekend we did not relive that glory. We did beat them in Football last night though, for the 7th time in a row! It was a great game! Before coming to BC, I had never seen a football game before in my life, but now I'm on ESPN.com all the time and I actually watched the draft last year. Matt Ryan, our quarterback last year, is kind of a big deal; he got drafted 3rd! He now plays for the Atlanta Falcons, so I'm actually a bit of a Falcons fan now!

Football at BC is amazing though. Freshman year, at Orientation, you get your Superfan Shirt, which is this obnoxious gold colored shirt, with Boston College, Superfan and a little fighting Eagle on the front. Then each class has their own saying on the back; they're a little cheesy, but great anyways! The seniors this year are "Talons of Fury...Get Ready", juniors are "Eagles Take Action", sophomores are "For Here All Are One" and the Freshmen are "On the Hunt for Excellence." Anyways last night's game was phenomenal; we beat Notre Dame 17-0 and at the end of the game the entire student section, which is just a sea of gold, stayed for like 25 minutes after everyone else was gone, singing along with the marching band. They play some great hits, like "Sweet Caroline", "Build me up Buttercup" and of course "Shipping up to Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys.

Outside of the classroom I'm involved in several different things on campus, which I will discuss over the next couple months in this blog. Right now I am preparing for a retreat called 48 Hours. 48 Hours is a retreat offered to freshmen at the end of first semester and the beginning of second semester that gives you a chance to step away from BC for the weekend, hear stories from Senior Leaders about their transition into college about several different themes like "The Challenge of Academics" and "Friends and Relationships." I went on the retreat my freshman year and it was a great chance to stop for a weekend and get a break from the fast pace of the college campus and really look at the decisions and the experiences I was having and whether or not they were living up to my expectations of college. So I am leading this along with 9 other Seniors next weekend.

I'm super excited and I'll be sure to report back after the retreat and talk about some other exciting BC happenings!