Campus Life - Getting Involved

“College is going to be the BEST time of your life!” How many times have we all heard that? Let’s just say people say that for a reason! One of the best ways to enjoy one’s college experience is to get involved. Through Barrett and other campus organizations, I have had multiple opportunities to participate in the organizations and really plug in to campus life at ASU.

My first big chance to get involved was when I became a CA in 2009 at Barrett. I have a picture here of my CA staff during one of our training sessions. In this picture we are trying to do a pyramid (to no avail). Joining Residential Life as a CA was such a wonderful way to meet other student leaders. It's been two years since working with them and we all still stay in touch and have reunions. It is amazing to see how some of them who already graduated have been so successful in jobs and graduate school and it helps to have older friends who can give me advise in making life decisions.

The most memorable and exciting Barrett program that I attended at ASU was when we took two busloads of Barrett kids to Telluride, Colorado for a Skiing and Snowboarding trip. This trip was unforgettable. Here’s a picture of myself and the group of friends that I hung out with on that trip. We still talk about how that trip was amazing and how we wish we could do it again.

One thing that HAS to be done as an ASU student is to go to a football game. Even though I am not much of a football fan, the ASU games are totally fun because of the traditions that the student body sections has: our student section is wild! Here’s a picture of myself and some other friends before entering the Sun Devil Stadium.

Another one of ASU’s traditions is to hike A mountain, which is just North of the campus and right next to the stadium. This is a picture of my floor the first week of school this year as we hiked A mountain.

Another well-known hike that is near the campus is Camelback. This is a picture of myself and kids from my floor. One of the programs that I put on was to arrange a trip to hike Camelback. It was a hot day—but everyone made it! You can kind of see from this picture how great the view is.

Another program that I planned for my floor was to play broomball. Broomball is essentially hockey without the skates. I happen to have several residents who love hockey so they were the ones that helped me coordinate this event. Talk about a workout. I will never forget the hilarious pictures I have in my head of my residents skidding and falling on their faces all over the ice.

One student organization that I joined last semester was the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH), which is a club that students can apply to be in. This club is all about community service and recognition. Just this last Wednesday, we had a dinner to honor the new induction member. This is a picture of myself and a few of my friends who just got inducted into NRHH. I’m looking forward to doing community service projects with them!

The MOST fun that I have had thus far as a student has been to play intramural soccer every year. Here’s a picture of my team, DANGERZONE. Intramurals are so much fun because you are playing with a group of your friends against other college kids. Our team is all about winning and being spirited so I hope that we can make it to the playoffs this year!

Throughout my four years as a college student I have had the chance to become involved so many different programs and organizations, and because of that meet so many diverse people. Now I can finally see why people say that these are the best years in one’s life!

Getting Involved

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do" ~Edward Everett Hale

As an upper-division admit to Barrett, I haven’t had the opportunity to be fully involved with the program as I would like. I recently applied to be one of the Barrett bloggers hoping to get more involved with all things Barrett. Through this outlet, I am wishing to share my Barrett experiences with other Barrett students and let them know all the wonderful opportunities available to them.

Although I am not in any Barrett-sponsored organizations, I am, however, very involved with the College of Nursing and Health Innovations. I am the secretary for the College Council of Nursing students (CCNS). As such, I am responsible for the agenda, minutes, and other miscellaneous paperwork. As a member of this organization, I have had so many wonderful opportunities to serve the community. Just a few weeks ago, I participated in the Color Run to benefit Cardon Children’s Medical Center. The turn out was spectacular! They were originally expecting around 600 participants and they ended up having over 6000. It was a wonderful way to raise money and it was just all around fun. It was a 5k run/walk and at each marker, you ran through a different color powder. So as you progress through the race, you slowly become more and more colorific! And at the end of the race, in case you weren’t colored enough, everyone throws a packet of color powder into the air, creating the infamous “color cloud.” Believe me, you leave the race looking like a rainbow explosion.

Here’s a picture of Joey and I after the color run.

The Student Nurses Association (SNA) is another student organization I serve on. As a senior class representative, I am responsible for keeping the accelerated senior class informed on all things SNA. SNA gives student nurses the opportunity to reach out to the community and offer support in any way we can. One way we offer help is through raising money for different charities. One such charity is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. If you are unfamiliar with the event, it is a nation wide race to raise money for breast cancer research. As a member of SNA we had the option to either raise money and participate in the race or volunteer to help run the event. I chose to run the race and it was such an amazing opportunity. To see the amount of people in pink supporting one cause was truly awe-inspiring.

Here’s a picture of some of the SNA team after completing the race

Being apart of these organizations has truly changed my outlook on life. Being able to have an impact on someones life is an amazing feeling. I hope to further this feeling by getting more involved with Barrett in the coming semesters.

No I in Team

Getting involved is very important in college. This is the easiest and most fun way to make friends and gain leadership experience (which always looks nice). Freshman year I joined BLAST'D, a community service group for Downtown Barrett students. I then did a radio show for ASU's radio station, the Blaze. Then, I found the Downtown Devil, a group of students running a community newspaper online for Downtown Phoenix.

Through Barrett and the Downtown Devil I made so many friends and gained so many experiences and memories. I learned more about myself and became involved in shaping the Downtown area as well as ASU.

Here is a pic of some of the Downtown Editors, I'm the one on the far left. My dedication got me a leadership position! I learned so much from fellow editors that made me a better writer. They supported and encouraged me and now I will be in New Orelans for the summer interning because of the things I learned with my involvement in DD.

At the Downtown Devil we are more than colleagues, we are a family and friends.

This year I also took a position as a peer mentor for Barrett. I mentor a group of Barrett students, helping them adjust to college and transition into adulthood. I love being a peer mentor because it's nice to be able to provide advice for my mentees and watch them learn and grow. There are six peer mentors and we are all close friends. For that matter, I'm close friends with my mentees, we love spending time together!

Here is a pic of us peer mentors at our Barrett/Cronkite Halloween Party. We were the seven "new age" dwarfs. I'm the one in the red, GRUMPY/SASSY.

Getting involved doesn't have to be a hassle. I have found ways to get involved and have fun. It's all about joining groups that interest you and being outgoing. Joining groups gives you thinkgs to do and helps you enjoy college even more!

My Barrett Journey

(My freshman B-Town group...we were so tiny! :) )

Welcome back, Barrett Downtown students! We’ve all survived the first month of an early semester, so it’s all smooth sailing from here.

I’m Caroline Porter, a senior in the combined Bachelor/Master’s program in the Cronkite School and Barrett. It’s hard to believe that in December, I’ll finally be walking across that stage and receiving my diploma and what some of us downtown like to call our “Barrett bling.”

As I start my final two semesters at ASU, I find it interesting to reflect on what brought me to Barrett, and the Downtown campus in particular. During my senior year in high school, I learned about Barrett from my high school adviser, who said it would give me the “Ivy league education” that girls at my high school wanted (I went to Xavier, for any Phoenix locals...talk about competition!!). While my friends ran around in a frenzy applying to as many schools as possible, I focused my energies on putting together an amazing application for Barrett--I had my favorite teachers write my letters of recommendation, had my essay edited at least twice, and reviewed every part of the application over and over until I finally gave in and submitted it!

I initially thought of applying to as many schools as humanly possible, but when I heard about Barrett and looked at all it could offer me, I set my sights on the amazing combination of Barrett, ASU, and Cronkite. Not only did Barrett offer me the BA/MMC program, but in ASU Downtown and Cronkite, I was getting brand new, state of the art buildings and even getting the chance to live in a dorm room that no one else had been in before me!

(Showing my school spirit during Homecoming 2009)

I realize I was luckier than most of my friends in that I knew what I wanted to major in right away, but I initially had no idea where I wanted to go. I worried that staying Phoenix would mean being stuck living at home and missing out on opportunities for travel and experiencing a new place. Little did I know that living in Downtown Phoenix would provide more opportunities than I ever expected for culture, travel, arts, sports, and exploration of a new place. Barrett Downtown continues to grow in conjunction with Downtown Phoenix and we’ve gone from about 15 students in “B-Town,” our residential college, during my freshman year to about 80 students in “B-Town” this year and nearly 300 total Barrett Downtown students. We’ve moved from a small office to a larger suite with room for our adviser, student meetings, and the Human Event professors. More than that, we’ve expanded our community to include Barrett students at all campuses, some of the most vulnerable and needy in the downtown area, and a new group of freshmen and transfer students every year.

(Dustin Volz, Caroline Austerman, and me...we host a lot of fun events at Barrett Downtown, including a Black and White-themed Mocktail Mixer!)

I feel so lucky to have been a part of this wonderful, welcoming, ever-expanding community at Barrett Downtown. As Lead Honors Devil, I’m looking forward to welcoming yet another group of incoming freshmen this fall, and to making our new ASU/Barrett and transfer students feel welcome this spring. I hope everyone has a successful semester and a great 2012!