It’s about that time….

It is the end of the year! Oh my goodness! I can’t believe it!!!! This time next year I will be thinking about graduation. That is crazy! So quick recap of the year! We had an amazing Cornhuskin’ and I get teary eyed thinking that I will be participating in my last Corn We had Ring Week and Ring Dinner! I know am the proud owner of my Meredith College Onyx! There were so many great memories made this year and I hate that it went by so quickly! (Even though at some points it didn’t seem like it was going by fast at all.) This spring we have had countless nights of late night study sessions and sometimes thought that this year was never going to end. We just did STUNT a few weeks ago which was a great break from all of the work that we are loaded down with! I also just watched my Lil’s go to their Fire and Water Dinner, there first tradition at Meredith. That made me reflect a little on the past three years that I have spent at MC….sigh…. I don’t want to be this close to leaving this wonderful place! But enough sappiness, it is time to sign out for a while. Since the school year is ending and I will be headed back home for the summer, this is my last blog for a while. I hope summer is wonderful for all of you and you get to have some fun! The pool will be my best friend on the weekends after long weeks of working summer camp with my awesome campers! So until next time… Have a safe and wonderful summer and of course, THINK MEREDITH

 

Staci Lee

“To Do List” Like a Pro

 

In the past few weeks, tons of work has been piling up. I have been thinking about how to effectively use a “To Do” list. I tend to go for the long list of things that never get checked off because the list is just so long. Here are some ideas that I have been using, well testing, to see which one I like best. And with senior year approaching I think that these might just come in handy!

 

Hope these ideas are useful! I can’t wait to try these out!

Pretty Simple

Work out, work out!

It is that time. Spring, which leads to summer. Now in the summer time I am a summer camp counselor for a group of wonderful children back home. I love it! I have had many summers at this camp and I am kind of sort of freaking out that it may be one of my last summers there due to the fact that this time next year I will be searching for a “big kid” job (as I like to call it). Oh my goodness, that brings me to a side note: I WILL BE GRADUATING NEXT YEAR. STOP… HOLD THE PHONE. I don’t even want to think about it. …. Okay, bringing it back. SO.. with summer right around the corner…. which summer shouldn’t be the excuse to get fit but I do want to able to keep up with my overly active kids this summer. I am going to talk about some options for workouts that came from … none other than Pinterest. In addition to doing all the various workout DVDs that are laying around my apartment, I found some pretty nifty things on Pinterest that I will be trying out (along with some motivation tools that I have hanging around my apartment). 

http://pinterest.com/search/?q=fitness

Above are all tools that I have found useful. You can find tons of great ideas on Pinterest or you can go to the local Target to pick up some DVDs like Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred, TaeBo, or Pilates. There are tons of ways to work out and be healthy without having to go to the gym or spends tons of money. Thankfully, I go to MC which has a pretty awesome Greenway that I can walk on any time I want!

Until next time,

Staci Lee

Spring is here!!

So one of my favorite things is… SPRING. Why? Because I love all of the beautiful colors, the nice weather (for the most part), and of course  it is just beautiful around campus! I am definitely enjoying my views on the way to class! Trees are blossoming, flowers a growing and it just makes me so happy! So I have decided in honor of spring I would post some pictures of some spring things

Just look how beautiful! I don’t know about you… But I am about to go enjoy some of this wonderful weather while it is still light outside!

Until next time!

Staci Lee

 

Introducing Meredith College’s 8th President- Dr. Jo Allen (MC Class of 1980)

Today was an exciting day here on Meredith College’s campus! It was the inauguration of President Allen, a 1980 alumnae of Meredith! The instillation ceremony was held at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium this morning at 10am. What a beautiful day for such a wonderful event. There were honored guests, faculty, staff, alumnae, students, family and friends.There were alumnae from every class since 1934 who attended the event! How amazing!

We are blessed to have such a wonderful President take the reigns of Meredith College.

As Ms. Cheek so beautifully stated during her time speaking, Dr. Allen has “walked the steps and dreamed the dreams of a Meredith student.”

I strongly believe that Meredith has selected a wonderful, strong, and amazing woman for the job. Here are just a few photos from this week and today’s festivities.

President Allen made an appearance at our student event to celebrate her on Monday, March 19th! We were serenading her as she stood on the balcony in front of Johnson Hall with sophomore, Caitlyn Debona and senior and SGA President, Jennifer Lynn Prince.

The theme of the Inauguration week was “Remembering our roots, extending our reach.”

 

Ms. Jewel Balantine Stephens-the oldest living alumna of Meredith College.

PRESIDENT JO ALLEN!

We are so happy to have you at MC!

Photos from Michelle Cox, Class President 2013

Over spring break I had the chance to just relax! It was absolutely amazing. I just hung out with family and friends and enjoyed all my time at home. But, now it is back to the grind of school work. It’s the homestretch! I can’t even believe it, how fast the time is flying. It is already time to start looking at classes for the Fall semester of my SENIOR year. It feels like yesterday I was just starting out here at MC. Oh, how time flies!!

So, with that said, a few tests this week and some projects to work on and I will finally be at the weekend! I can’t believe it’s almost Wednesday!

 

It’s the home stretch!!!

 

Until next time,

Staci

What to Cook?

So as a junior, we have the option to live in The Oaks (the on campus apartments). I love living there and enjoy the change of setting, personal room, and the full kitchen. Now with that full kitchen, comes the task of figuring out what in the world you’re going to eat. There is an option for a meal plan for the dining hall but I currently do not have one. So that means that I have to cook. Now, cooking on a budget, somewhat healthy food (at least I would like to eat a little healthier since I have the option of what I want to cook each night) is seemingly hard. I started out the year as the next Betty Crocker, Rachel Ray, or whoever you like! But when schedules set in and things became more hectic, I was drawn to the gleaming golden arches (which I currently am avoiding after a nice little lesson in my Nutrition class), Bojangles (deliciousness in a box), and whatever else I could find my way to on Western Blvd. on the way home. So now, here I am making a conscious decision to try to cook more instead of wasting money on fast food and convenience.

Last night, I cooked a wonderful spaghetti dinner with one of my fabulous roommates! It was so yummy and relatively inexpensive. We had spaghetti of course, garlic bread, Caesar salad, and some Italian mashed potatoes. So gooooood, if I do say so myself! So I have picked up a few new recipes that I think are simple enough for lil ‘ol me to figure out (of course I found them on none other that Pinterest)! Here are a few recipes I plan on trying out!

Yummy Garlic Lime Chicken http://randomanderson.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/garlic-lime-chicken/

Lasagna Cups http://www.laurenslatest.com/lasagna-cups/

Those are just two of the recipes I plan on trying out here soon!

I hope everyone had a great Monday!

Until next time,

Staci Lee

NCARH 2012

One of the great things about my time here at Meredith is being able to participate in wonderful events and conferences. Recently, I have been a part of the Junior Women’s Leadership Conference which was an event for high school juniors. There were many sessions that the girls could choose from and I was lucky enough to lead one called True Colors. This was a way to find out leadership styles through colors. I had a blast leading the session with one of my best friends Christina Cole, Meredith College Junior.

Another opportunity that I was able to participate in was the NCARH (North Carolina Association of Residence Halls) Conference held at UNC-Wilmington this past weekend. Not only did I get to attend this event with some of my favorite Meredith girls, we were accompanied by many other colleges and universities around North Carolina! We had a blast learning about different programs that we could potentially incorporate here at MC. There were many different topics covered from leadership and diversity to socials and events! I had such a great time learning new ways to get students on campus involved with the programs and events that we provide here on campus. Here are just a few photos from NCARH.

The lovely MC delegation!

Our beautiful flag that went along with the space theme!

Some lovely ladies that I was able to share my weekend with. (From left to right: Angel, Casey, Liz, Rachel, Kendra, and me in the front!)

Some first time NCARH delegates! (From left to right: Christine, Maitlyn, and Crystal)

Lauren and Megan. Two of our Senior delegates! It was their last time at NCARH

At Meredith there are several different campus organizations that you can be involved with. RHA (Residence Hall Association) is just one of the many! I have been involved with RHA the past two years on campus and luckily have been able to continue that involvement as I moved into the apartments. If you love to have a good time, be a part of a great team of people, and lead on your campus, RHA is a great organization to join. It is for Resident Advisers (RAs) and other members of the Residence Hall community! If you’re looking for a way to be involved on campus, this is a great place to do it! RHA hosts events such as Pancakes at 11 and Meredith and a Movie! Just something to think about  

I hope that if you are considering MC as a college choice that you will look into all the great opportunities that you can be a part of!

Until next time,

Staci Lee

Going Above and Beyond

With everything that there is going in my life, sometimes I find myself getting lost in the midst of things. This is when I have to re-evaluate and get myself together. I find that among all of the work, school, homework that it is a common resource to put a little less effort in. However, that is not the kind of name I want to make for myself. College gets overwhelming, time seems to run short, and everything seems to pile up at once. I am trying something new. As a junior, I have made it through stressful times, long “all-nighters”, procrastination, oh how the list could go on and on but now, I am taking the opportunity to go above and beyond. I am not saying that I particularly enjoy doing so but I have found that it reflects well on me and leaves a lasting impression.

Attending Meredith has helped me realize that the connections you make will someday, you may not know when or how, be beneficial. I am learning that making sure that energy and time is being put in my work will eventually pay off. For example, I have many of the same professors over and over again because I am knee deep in my major. These professors KNOW my work. They KNOW when something hasn’t had much time spent on it. THEY KNOW. It’s kind of creepy when I think about it but in all actuality, it is great! The expectation of greatness is placed. They know my best work and they want to see it repeated on even the most minuscule assignment. Now I am far from perfect and sometimes putting that extra “Umph” into an assignment just doesn’t happen. BUT I will say that when it is there, the grade reflects it. So now, to the best of my ability, I am trying to keep my motto as “going above and beyond” so that I can leave a lasting impression on the people I interact with, not only in school but also in jobs, committees, groups, and so on.

My advice: Don’t get to your junior year and be figuring this out. I sure wish that I had put some more effort into getting things done and procrastinated a little less. I may have avoided a ton of stress. But hey, it’s a lesson learned!

 

Until next time,

 

Staci Lee