Category: Hannah Tattersall (page 4 of 5)

Don’t Stop Believin’

You still have plenty of time to vote for the 186 South College Photo Contest here!

While the University of Delaware is usually always a joyful place overall, Saturday, April 13th was a particularly Gleeful night.  Why was this so?  200+ members of the UD community, including this overly excited blogger, were treated to a lecture about diversity from actor/dancer Harry Shum, Jr. of Fox’s renowned hit musical dramedy.

The event was put on by a combination of three RSOs on campus: Haven, Hola, and SCPAB.  Held in the Trabant MPRs, hundreds of fans came out to hear Harry Shum talk about diversity and the role it has played in his life.  Shum was born and raised in Costa Rica to Chinese parents before moving to California later in his life to pursue his career in dancing.  He has been featured in many films, two of my favorites being Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D, and is an active dancer and choreographer for The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (The LXD), a premier dance troupe. However, he is most known for his role as Mike Chang for the last four seasons on Glee.

Considering his character on the first season was almost mute, Shum had no problem cracking the jokes and talking for the entire night.  While interlaying the important issue of diversity in popular culture today, Shum mainly focused on telling how he started in dance, his experiences with acting and dancing roles thus far, and the everyday occurrences at Glee.  Fun fact: he started dancing because of a dare to join the dance team at his high school.  It clearly was a smart dare for him to do, considering it eventually led him to dance on tour with Beyoncé before his stunt on Glee.  Besides dancing, Shum is also a gifted actor.  He even did an interpretation of Robin Williams’ famous Good Morning, Vietnam monologue.

However, Shum did provide some wonderful insights on the overall theme of diversity for the night.  He urged the entire audience to create our own stereotypes instead of contributing to preexisting diverse groups.  He believes that the only way to stop the obvious division among people in our society is to be open for new ways of grouping people together.  This idea is what he believes will propel our generation farther in the future than society is today.

After finishing his talk, Shum surprised the audience with an impromptu dance solo to end the night.  Being a dancer myself, I was hoping he would dance at some point during the night, and he did not disappoint!  I do not know about the rest of the audience, but I certainly was in a sense of awe watching him dance.  To top off the night, he even stayed for a meet and greet after, during which he willingly took pictures and signed autographs, and even listened to a girl sing him a song.

Hannah and fellow UDHP student, Alicia, meet Glee’s Harry Shum.

Personally, it was such a successful night that I hope SCPAB, Hola, and Haven can try and do something like this by bringing in a celebrity to UD for a topical lecture more often. Now that we’ve had Harry Shum come to UD, who would you like to see come to UD for a lecture?

~Hannah Tattersall

 

“Just Keep Swimming”

What Did UDo over Spring Break?

As much as we anxiously awaited Spring Break, it came and went so quickly! Now, we are back to the studying grind as we enter the final stretch of our academic year, which means we are that much closer to summer vacation and for our seniors, graduation! While Spring Break already seems like a distant memory, many of us UDHP students had some amazing experiences and created lifelong memories during our much-needed break from classes.  We are an eclectic bunch of students, so obviously our breaks varied as well. While some chose to spend their time doing volunteer work, others decided to vacation, while still others decided to get some work experience.  Some also may have done what I did and stayed home relaxing and got some use out of their Netflix accounts.  No matter what they did, the UDHP students definitely made their breaks worthwhile!

Instead of just cheering on Elena Delle Donne and the Women’s Basketball team from home, freshman Hailey Fuzak got in on the action by volunteering at The Bob Carpenter Center for the Women’s NCAA Tournament. As part of it, Hailey was a team escort, meaning she got to escort the different teams to their locker rooms, to press conferences and to practices. She says, “I got to see a lot of cool behind the scenes action.  I got to go to a couple of press conferences, and I even got to meet Ray Rice and see Joe Biden!”

The University of Delaware’s Women’s Basketball team defeated West Virginia on Tuesday, March 26th, photo by Hailey Fuzak

While Hailey stayed around campus, freshman Rebecca Jaeger utilized the UDaB program and went on a service trip to Bayboro, North Carolina to assist with Hurricane Irene relief.  Along with her group, Rebecca helped to remove the vacant, damaged houses that were safety hazards to the community through demolishing two houses with water damage and gutting a third.  As she looks back on this experience, Rebecca says, “I chose to go on this trip because I really enjoy community service. We accomplished so much and I had a great time. It was definitely an unforgettable experience!”

Senior Jessica Kradjel had a similar experience, as she co-led the UDHP service trip to the Dominican Republic.  With her group, she worked with a non-profit organization called Yspaniola to explore the Dominican Republic and learn about the different issues that affect the country.   “We worked in Yspaniola’s literacy center reading with and tutoring school-aged children and spent time with the young adults in the community,” Jessica states. In a few weeks, the trip participants will be posting about each day of the trip on this blog, so be sure to check back!

While everyone had an amazing Spring Break, it’s time to get back into school mode and push through these last few weeks.  As we do so, let’s remember to listen to Dory from Finding Nemo (and the upcoming 2015 film Finding Dory!) and “Just keep swimming!” We will make it out of this semester alive, no matter how hard it seems!

We want to hear from you! What did you do over Spring Break? Were you like me and stayed at home?  Where did you wish you could go?

~Hannah Tattersall

“Carpe Diem! Seize the Day! Make Your Lives Extraordinary”

What do UDo … to stay involved?

College is a time to experience brand new opportunities.  Besides the academics aspect, there is also the extra-curricular side of the college lifestyle.  In high school, most students are heavily involved in many clubs and activities that they become so familiar with.  However, I have found that when some people get to college, they tend to shy away from staying involved.  This can even be true for Honors Program students, as they get too focused on their heavy class workload. However, staying involved in college is extremely beneficial. We have over 300 RSOs, so there are plenty of different opportunities available for us here at UD for whatever we are interested in!

So, what are some of the different ways you can stay involved on campus? Here are some ways I have found to be popular among Honors students:

1. Student Government – With the ability to be anything from a floor senator for Residence Life to student body president with the Student Government Association and everything in between, Honors kids love to utilize their leadership abilities to help the undergraduate community! Brandon Grabelsky, the building governor for Russell A/B says, “I like that I am able to represent my peers and plan events for them for recreation and service to the community.”

2. Club Sports –From track to crew, a vast number of Honors students like to work hard and play hard. Allie Amatuzzo, a member of the Girls’ Club Volleyball team, says, “Playing a club sport allows me to play the sport I love at a competitive level and meet new people who I have now bonded with and we have become like family.”

UDHP Grad Melissa (’12) shows off the Club Sports board.

3. Greek Life – With a wide variety of social and special interest sororities and fraternities available on campus, many of the students in the Honors Program love to be involved in Greek Life.  A popular choice for Honors students is Phi Sigma Pi, the co-ed honors fraternity.

4. Blue Hen Ambassadors – I may be biased since I am a part of this group, but in my building alone there are more than five BHAs. In my own personal experience, I love being able to show off my love for UD to prospective students and their families, and it makes me love the school even more than I already do!

Clubs and activities open students up to new hobbies and interests, they also open up new friends, while providing a way for students to escape the stresses of schoolwork. So, seize the day and grab some friends to find a club you are interested in! I swear it will be entertaining and you may even find a new interest from it!

What are some of the fun and exciting activities you are involved in? What are some of the reasons why you like to stay involved?

~Hannah Tattersall

“…PHONE HOME”

For the next few posts, I have decided to introduce a new series called, “What do UDo?” where I will finish the question differently for each post about some different things UD Honors students do.  If you have any ideas, feel free to hit up the comment section!

Freshman Breanna Mesa loves to Skype with her family and friends from home!

First up: “What do UDo… to keep in contact with friends from home?”

Being fresh out of high school, I have been trying so hard to stay in contact with my friends who do not go to UD.  However, when you are so busy with school, activities, and doing new and exciting things at college, keeping up with your friends from home can be really hard.  In this digital age it is believed that it is rather easy to keep up to date with others not around.  However, I say there are way too many outlets available where you can contact your friends. If I want to get in touch with my friend, I can text, tweet, Facebook message, or Snapchat; I don’t know which one to use first!  As Drew Barrymore says in the film He’s Just Not That Into You, “Now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting!”

While it may be hard, it is not impossible. Freshmen living in Russell B1 have found the ideas below useful to keep in touch with their friends while at college:

1. “Skype dates. Set a definite time, like Sundays at 4.” By doing this, you can get into a routine of talking for longer periods of time.  You can keep up with what is going on in your friends’ lives and keep them up to date on what is going on with you too in a more in-depth way

2.“Group chats can help keep everyone updated instantly.”  With the iPhones, the group chat feature is extremely helpful in keeping in touch with your entire friend group. It also helps for you not to have to repeat what is going on for each friend!

3. “When you’re walking to or from class, just call your friends and talk for a little bit.” Any little form of communication helps, even if it is only for a few minutes.  Just by saying “Hi! Hope your day is going well!” it will let your friend know you are thinking of them.

4. “Plan visits to other colleges or plan visits for your friends to come to Delaware.” Having your friends come and see you and your everyday life at college will be fun and exciting. I know I loved when one of my best friends came to visit me last semester and can’t wait to visit her soon. It can be fun to see how different Delaware is from other schools!

While keeping in touch with friends can be hard, I found that if you just try your best to keep in touch in minimal ways, even just through Snapchat or social media like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, you will continue to be involved in their lives and keep the relationship stronger than ever!

Now it’s your turn: What have you found to be the most useful way to keep in touch with your friends from home? Have you visited any of your friends at other colleges? How does UD compare?

~Hannah Tattersall

“There’s No Place Like [Russell]!”

Congratulations to Dhara and Heather T for coming up with the movie my last post title was from (Casablanca)! Any guesses for the origin of this week’s title?

While my time in the Honors Program has been rather short, I have already been able to see the perks of being a part of this community.  There are so many advantages of being in the Honors Program, one of which is the fact we get to live in the Russell Complex with all of the Honors students during our freshman year.  While the first two weeks were unbearably hot because of the lack of air conditioning, I absolutely love living in Russell.  As I begin to look into housing for next year, I can’t help but revisit the reasons why I am so happy I was able to be in the Honors Program and the many perks of living in Russell for my first year at UD. Here are what I consider the most important perks:

Hannah’s Russell floor hanging out in the halls during the Fall Semester

1. East Campus is the best – I may be biased since I have only lived on East Campus, but I find that this part of campus is the most convenient.  Not only is East Campus where many freshmen live, but it also has Perkins Student Center, is only a short walk away from Trabant, is in close proximity to the Green, and the facilities are the best on campus.  It has the best dining hall, beach volleyball courts, a huge turf, and a gym with the Harry Mart right next door for those not-so-healthy snacks you crave after working out.

2. Dr. Munson’s Study Breaks – Anyone in the Honors Program can vouch for me with this reason.  Every Wednesday Dr. Munson, a chemistry professor, comes into a Russell lounge to feed us all snacks (mainly Gummy Bears) as we break from our homework. It is so welcoming and frankly, absolutely adorable, if I do say so myself.  Once the clock strikes 9:00 P.M on Wednesday, I almost always find myself on my way to Dr. Munson’s Study Break because a) I don’t feel guilty not studying because a professor is there encouraging us to take a break and b) I’ve developed a love for Gummy Bears.

3. The Small Community Feel – One of the reasons I chose the University of Delaware was for the closeness the Honors Program has. It makes the University of Delaware, which has over 16,000 undergraduates, seem immensely smaller than it actually is.  The Class of 2016 has roughly 3,800 students.  Out of this, about 445 students are in the Honors Program and living in Russell with me.  While this number is still over four times bigger than my high school graduating class, I still feel like I know and recognize a large amount of students because we live so close to each other. I see many of the same people a lot of the time, through the lounges, dining hall, Perkins, etc.  I’m not positive about the other residence halls, but I know in Russell there are always people around in the hallways before quiet hours are enacted (and sometimes after).  My favorite memories so far have been when essentially my entire floor just hangs out in the hallway talking for hours.  It really helps form strong relationships with the people you live with.

What did you like best about living in Russell? What are some of your favorite Russell memories?

~Hannah Tattersall

 

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