Spring fever

Hi guys, I don't know about you but spring fever sure has hit the halls of Union Catholic. Today has so much going on! I have a softball game and then right after that is Quarters for Cancer, where you get a scoop of food for 25 cents. - SMAC members run this event. Being a SMAC member I will be serving food tonight. After that will be Mr. UC! I am SO excited to attend this event. A few of my guy friends will be running for this special title so it makes the event even more funny. The contestants are Senior guys who have to go through various pageant events to win the title of Mr. UC 10'. The best part will be the talent section. I am so curious to see what all this guys have thought of. Good luck to all contestants!

Softball has been going great! We are 4-2. We lost 2 games to two great teams who will probably be ranked top in the county. We lost 3-1 to GL. We lost 7-0 to Cranford. Here is the crazy part though, GL beat Cranford 7-2. On paper it says we should have been creamed by GL, but we played our game and did great. Also we had a game Saturday and ended up winning 4-0! In the paper our freshman Pitcher and I made headlines! First time that has ever happened to me and I was so excited to see my name in bold print. I hope the season continues to go great!

College Visits

This is a picture of everyone who went to the Walk from UC. :] The girl on the left in the brown sweatshirt is a co-leader of the club, a very popular one here at UC.

Hey everyone! This is our first week back from Easter vacation. Over break, a lot of my friends went to visit colleges with their parents. I saw five schools: Quinnipiac in Connecticut, Muhlenberg in PA, Lehigh in PA, Villanova in PA, and we drove through St. Joes in PA. At each college, minus St. Joes, I went on a tour and attended an information session. For me, I am looking for a college not in the city, a college with an actual campus, and a college that really feels like home. What I'm looking for most is to find a school that really makes me feel like I belong, just as Union Catholic has done for me for high school. Each of the campuses was beautiful in its own way. Villanova, Lehigh, and St. Joes had really pretty stone buildings. Since I’m planning to go into premed, I looked a lot into the pre-medicine programs. So far, I think Quinnipiac was my ultimate favorite, followed by Muhlenberg. Quinnipiac was the first school I visited and was absolutely stunned. Their technology is so state-of-the-art. In their medical training facilities, they have mock-doctors’ offices, hands on training with real-size Sims, and such pretty dorms. The campus had a main quad, surrounded by the academic buildings, with about 7,600 undergrad and graduate students. For the Pre-med program, you need to apply separately. It’s a hard program, rated number 14 in the country. Muhlenberg was smaller, only about 2,000 undergrads, but I loved it nonetheless. It was on top of a hill overlooking the town by a big park. Their facilities were really nice, and it had a lot of the same qualities that we see here at UC. All the doors were painted red as a Jesuit sign of welcome. I still have five schools to see, and I have a feeling I will find it difficult to pick my favorite when it comes time to register.

Also, last Sunday, our REACH (Raising Educated Awareness for the Cause of HIV/Aids) club gathered a bunch of students to walk in Union called Walk for Children to help children suffereing from HIV and Aids. We all walked 3 miles, and others ran 5 miles. We had fun and it was for a really good cause.

36 days

36 days, until Junior Prom!!!! I am so excited, words cannot even describe my excitement. This is, for most of the Juniors, the first prom of our lives. With only 36 days, the girls are making their hair appointments and find a Tailor for fixing their dresses. I really think that the girls have much more to do than the guys. The guys have tuxedos and that's about it. Girls have to get their nails done, hair, find the perfect dress, and do their make-up. I'm not complaining though, I love getting all dolled up! What girl doesn't?

My dress is hot pink and long; thankfully I talked myself out of getting a short dress. Softball has already messed up my legs! A girl slid head first into my thigh and her helmet left a nice big purple bruise and a few cuts. After I got hurt and the inning ended my team ran up to me and all said, "it's okay, you have a long dress!" haha.

Right now everyone is trying to figure out where to sit for dinner at prom. My best friend and I will not be going to the same pre-prom party but have promised each other we'd sit together for dinner. So we have eight people at our table right now. It's very complicated finding a table to sit at. Everything will go great, I can not wait for prom!

SATs and Les Miserables

As all juniors get ready for college, one of the major steps is taking the SATs. I took them for the first time two weeks ago. The test took about five hours, including multiple choice and an essay. To prepare for the test, I’m taking the prep course at school. It’s helping a lot, practicing questions and working on test-taking techniques. The next times for the rest of the year for us to take the test are in May and June, giving us more time to prepare. When I met with my guidance counselor, she told me what scores the colleges are looking for, giving me a goal.

This Saturday was the last forensics meet of the year. My regular partner was sick, so I debated with someone who might be my partner next year. Everyone did really well at this meet, and we were told who would be competing at Nationals in Omaha. This year, we have seven people competing. Good luck to everyone!

In case you readers haven’t heard, the Union Catholic Performing Arts Company is performing Les Miserables as their spring musical. I saw the show on Friday night, and it was fantastic! The actors have done a great job; it is clear how much practice was put into the show. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you should! It’s playing next weekend on Friday at 7pm and closing night on Saturday at 7pm. You will be very impressed!

Freshman Year, a Year for Memories.

When I logged onto the blogger website to make another post today, I saw that this would be our 100 post. I can't believe that we have gotten to 100 posts, I remember making my first post freshman year.

With that being said I got to interact a little more with the freshman this Wednesday at our annual Big Brother/ Big Sister breakfast. All the freshman were in high spirits when they sat down with their homerooms. First the Peer Coordinators (UC students who run the Big Brother/ Big Sister program) passed out a survey asking the freshman a little bit about their Big Brother or Big Sister. Next, breakfast was served and that is when the upperclassmen sat down with their homeroom and asked the freshman about how their year has been going and if they had any questions. To finish the morning off, we played human bingo. It's a bingo board but instead of numbers there are questions such as "Who couldn't open their locker on the first day of school." Or "Who has made honor roll the last two marking periods." With these questions the freshman would find someone in their grade and put down that persons name. My freshman year we played this and I actually won! I got a long sleeve UC shirt that I still wear to this day. It's a great memory that I will never forget.

That's what is so great with freshman year, it's all a memory that will never leave your mind.

Spring'10 and National Language Honors Society

Hey everyone! It is becoming clearer that spring is almost here. If I checked correctly the other day, it was 50 degrees outside. With this spring weather upon us comes the spring sports season. Baseball, softball, track and lacrosse all have their tryouts and first practices this weekend. Sadly, golf cannot begin until all of the snow is gone. I was talking to my coach the other morning in homeroom and there are a bunch of new kids trying out for the team – he says we are expecting something good! Good luck to everyone and their tryouts. :]

Also, last night was a great achievement for some of the juniors. Last night about 40 or so juniors were inducted into the National Language Honors Society. Earlier in the year, the upperclassmen were inducted into the National Honors Society, and now there is a language one as well. To be inducted, you need to have met specific standards throughout 5 semesters. Almost every student in my Spanish class was inducted, which was a great achievement. During the ceremony, two seniors from that specific language class introduced the students. The students then demonstrated, in some form, their language abilities. The French students recited a very famous French poem; the Italian students sang a famous Italian song; the Spanish students sang a song made famous by Celia Cruz called Rie y Llora. My class had a lot of fun memorizing the lyrics, practicing the song, and performing it for our parents and friends. Congratulations to all who were inducted.

UCTV

Hi guys. One of my favorite classes here at UC, would be my UCTV class. It really isn't the class itself, but the homeroom. Each morning I report the morning announcements. I get in front of the camera and when the camera is turned on, every television in UC can see me reporting the announcements. We have a green screen behind the desk where I sit, and sometimes the background will be changed and I could end up sitting in front of the Eiffel tower. But this isn't as easy as it may look. Sometimes I still, to this day, get nervous ~ I hate messing up! The more I report the announcements the more I really love what I am doing. I took this class to see if reporting was really what I wanted to do in life; I think it is. In college, I look forward to majoring in public relations, communications, or broadcast Journalism. This summer I am trying to find time to take a college class for communications. It's great to get a head start. I hope to be on ABC news one day (: