September 21, 2008

Happy fall! My favorite season of the year would probably be fall because it’s when the leaves start to change colors, combines are out in full force harvesting corn and beans, and the weather starts to cool off. Unfortunately, here in Florida the seasons don’t really change and there is no corn to be harvested. Thankfully, my mom realizes how much I miss the seasons so she sent me a bunch of fake leaves to make my dorm room feel like fall! In case you didn’t already know, I’m from the Midwest—Illinois—and my hometown is surrounded by cornfields for miles. I am so glad to be in Florida come winter time because I don’t have to walk across campus in below zero weather with snow blowing in my face.

Silver Wings has gotten off to a good start this semester. After the Activities Fair, we had several nights of fun so potential members could get to know members and ask any questions they might have. We went cosmic bowling and I enjoyed bowling, even though I’m not very good at it. On Saturday and Sunday, four Silver Wings members participated in the Second Annual Great Eagle Hunt sponsored by the Embry-Riddle Resident Student Association. The Great Eagle Hunt was a scavenger hunt that took place all over Daytona Beach and lasted for twenty-four hours. There were 208 clues and after figuring out the clue you had to find the item or location and take a picture with half your team in it. I had a lot of fun but towards morning I was pretty worn out. Our team didn’t place in the top three; however, I did get to know the people on my team really well!

For September 11th, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University hosted a remembrance ceremony. I wasn’t able to attend because I had class at the exact same time, but I heard about it from my friends that went. There were replicas of the twin towers raised at the same time that they were hit and the towers were constructed out of plywood boards that clubs had decorated. Each club on campus could pay $25 to decorate a section however they wanted to, which I thought was a really good idea. The best part was all the boards were sold before the decorating even started! I was able to go by the field later on that day after classes and see the two towers standing, so check out my pictures.

The United States Air Force celebrated its birthday on September 18th and to celebrate the Detachment hosted Airpower Day on the following Saturday. Airpower Day is where every flight comes and competes against one another in various competitions. Some of the competitions were a 1.5 mile run, relay races, knowledge questions, Ultimate Frisbee, and tug-of-war. My flight didn’t win but we had fun and got sunburned! Physical training is going well and I think our beach run is coming up soon—I’m looking forward to that!

My classes are going well and this past week I had quite a few tests, so it will be nice to see how well I’m doing. My math class is getting a little more challenging and the last homework assignment took several hours which made me realize I shouldn’t put it off till the night before. My group for Management of Production and Operations class is still waiting for the professor to okay our company for the research project. Hopefully, we will find out this week because I want to get started on it soon. In my Human Resource Management class, my group decided to compare labor laws in the United States to those in China. I think it is a really good idea and I hope to learn a lot, but the research isn’t going too good, so I hope the library will have more information or we might have to pick another topic.

Lastly, I have decided that my classes and Silver Wings weren’t keeping me busy enough so I joined the Relay for Life planning committee. Last year was my first year to participate in Relay for Life and I was a little disappointed that more people didn’t show up for such a good cause. This year I think that will change because everyone on the committee seems super motivated and excited. Also, I decided to be the Luminaria chair and I’m looking forward to getting started. I’ll keep you all updated on what’s happening and our ideas.

Send me an e-mail if you have any questions at all!

Until next time,
Kaleigh