Dan's December 2003 Journal
Dan's January 2004 Journal
Dan's February 2004 Journal
Dan's March 2004 Journal
Dan's April 2004 Journal
Dan's May 2004 Journal
Dan's June 2004 Journal
9-6-04 A Summer Away From Home
Hello Again Mouseketeers!
Well, Well, Well…Summer really just flew on by. I cannot believe that the fall semester has already started. Well my last entry had to deal with the Orientation staff primarily so I will finish off with that and tell you about an exciting trip that I took to Los Angeles paid for by Canisius College (Yippee!)
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The entire 2004 Orientation Staff in front of the
Montante Cultural Center. |
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Overall, I’d say that the Orientation Staff experience was a good one. Although it was a pain while I was doing it, the benefits definitely override the negatives. First of all, you get to meet great people that work with you and now when you see them on campus, you just scream out their name and they know exactly who it is. By the end of the summer, I felt like the entire Orientation Staff were my own brothers and sisters. It was by far one of the best summers that I have ever had and I will never forget it.
Secondly, the relationships that I was able to make with the freshmen were unbelievable. When I was going through the Orientation sessions, I thought to myself, how am I going to remember all of these names of people that I’ve met? But as the school year has started, I’m remembering a lot of faces and names.
So all of you prospects are asking yourself…what exactly is orientation like? Well,
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Here I am pondering my summer experience
-- and the meaning of life, of course! |
there are a bunch of presentations and some tests but the real fun of Orientation comes later on at night after dinner. After dinner, the parents leave and the freshmen are left with us. From there we put on our version of the Orientation Olympics. Some of the games include: Egg and Shoe relay, Volleyball with a huge beach ball, water balloon toss, etc. All of the freshmen are split up into groups and they stay with these groups throughout the entire night.
After the Olympics, we go straight to Karaoke! This was my favorite since I love to sing. All of the freshmen get together with their group and pick a song that they’re going to sing together to try and win our competition which totals up points for both the Olympics and Karaoke. Some of the stuff that these kids came up with was hilarious. Then afterwards they do solo acts to try to win a cash prize to the bookstore.
I’d say that the best part of O-Staff was during our final big session in July. After the Olympic games our leader, Demario, ran over to the water balloons and started letting them loose. Once this started, the whole O-staff was involved. However, it quickly went from water balloons to water bottles. Needless to say, everybody on staff was soaked by the end of this. Definitely a good time!
Now onto something very special that I was able to participate in over the summer. Every year, all the Jesuit colleges from across the country get together for a leadership conference and they send their respected leaders from various clubs and organizations. Well I happened to be one of them and I was flown out to Los Angeles from July 28th to August 1st. The people that I met there were absolutely amazing. It made me feel like I was on a TV show with the greatest minds of tomorrow. So many ideas were being shared and different ways to help one become a better leader was being discussed. Not only were there workshops and such, but we also went to Santa Monica, 3rd Street Promenade, Venice Beach, and Universal Studios. It was a great time and the weather was beautiful. Low 80’s everyday but it felt cool because there was barely any humidity and the sun was always out. Sometimes being involved in campus activities and clubs really does pay off!
Now back to present day…First week of classes has now finished and I don’t believe that I have ever had a busier week in my life. I picked up a budget job in the Office of Campus Programming and Leadership Development for 10 hours a week, I have two night classes on Monday and Wednesday and I also squeeze in two soccer practices on Tuesday and Thursday because I coach 10-13 year olds for the Cheektowaga Soccer Club.
Although I am a very busy man these days, I honestly would not have it any other way. Canisius is shaping me into a leader that I want to be. It’s true that Canisius is where leaders are made. I know so many bright people here that I know are going to be successful once they leave college. Hopefully I will be among them. All of you will definitely be hearing from me soon as I continue my journals for another year (Yay!). I can hear your excitement already haha. Everybody have a great day, week, month, etc. and I will be back for another episode of Dan’s Beautiful Mind next month!
Your favorite sophomore!
Dan Puccio
CSA Vice President
C/O 2007
Email Me: Pucciod@canisius.edu I’m in the need of some responses, I still have yet to get one from you hopeful prospects!