Monday, October 25, 2010

Dig Pink, Guinness World Record, and a Halloween Bash too!

We’ve kicked off one of our busiest weeks of the year. 10 days ago, we kicked off our 2010 Dig Pink campaign in the fight against breast cancer. After just 2 bake sales and some t-shirts sales, we’re up to more than $1,200 raised. With another bake sale tomorrow, more t-shirt sales, and the big event on Wednesday night, we hope to double that.

Here is a breakdown of what my life will be like the rest of the week. Hopefully you can join me for a handful of these events:

Tuesday, October 26th – In addition to a KAPS meeting (student events staff) and other Dig Pink & Halloween Bash preparations, we have a Dig Pink Bake Sale going on from 10:30 – 12:30 in the Linn Hall Lobby. We’ll have plenty of tasty treats including Cupcakes & Popcorn. Stop by for a cheap snack and help a great cause while you are at it. Need a t-shirt, button, or bracelet? We’ve got those too.

Wednesday, October 27th – I’ve got a meeting in the morning before diving head first into our Dig Pink events that day. First, Sammy the Eagle will be walking around on Eagle Pride Day. Typically this is the event held about once a month that you want Sammy to catch you wearing your Kirkwood Blue. This day however, you’ll want to wear pink. Sammy the Eagle will be walking around campus throughout the day and if he catches you wearing pink, you’ll get some free goodies!

Then at 6:30pm, the big event begins down in Johnson Hall. It’s really three events rolled into one big night. It’s Sophomore Night for our Volleyball Team. This is the final home match for our sophomore girls who have given so much to our volleyball program over the past two years. They are currently ranked 17th nationally and battle Division 1 rival, Indian Hills.
It’s also our final chance at raising money for the Side-Out Foundation. Kirkwood is one of more than 900 college and high school teams participating across the nation with all proceeds benefiting breast cancer research. Half of the door sales (what you pay to get in) along with several other donation opportunities (cookies with pink frosting, yummy! – 50/50 raffle) will go towards this great cause. It will be combined with the money already raised through the Student Life office.

The final note about Wednesday evening is our Guinness World Record Attempt. Since Bubble Gum is already pink, we thought a world record with gum would be a great way to promote the other Dig Pink activities going on. We will attempt to set the Guinness World Record for the “Most people blowing a chewing gum bubble simultaneously.” We would like to thank Hershey’s (they own BubbleYum) for donating 1,440 pieces of Bubble Yum to us for our attempt. We need at least 250 participants to set the record, but will need many more than that attempt as each participant will need to blow and hold their bubble for at least 30 seconds.

Hopefully we’ll see YOU at Dig Pink this Wednesday at 6:30pm in Johnson Hall. Admission is just $7 for adults, $3 for students/children, and FREE for anyone with an EagleCard.

Thursday, October 28th – 7:00am I have a Kirkwood Futures Initiative meeting that will last until shortly before 11:00am. Then it’s a Student Senate meeting before moving on to the next big event, the Halloween Bash!

If you were at (or heard about) the Glow Party, this will be a similar event. We’ll swap out the blacklights and glow sticks for more Halloween Décor, but the fun will be the same. Did you miss the Glow Party? Here is what we are talking about… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZXSH0YGf50.

The Halloween Bash comes complete with a Dance, DJ, and a Costume Contest for all who want to participate. It starts at 8:00pm and will be held on the 2nd floor of Iowa Hall. Bring your friends, the event is FREE!

Friday, October 29th – Shortly after Thursday night ends, Friday morning will begin. Friday’s around here are known for our TGIF (To Get Information Fast) campus visit days. We’ll welcome more than 100 high school students and their parents to campus and tell them about everything Kirkwood has to offer. From our wide selection of majors, quality education, and low tuition rates – we’ll show them why Kirkwood is one of the top college choices for high school students in the state (and beyond!).

Well – enough about my week, what about yours? Pull out your calendars and mark some of these events down. Believe us, you don’t want to miss everything going on this week!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Wow the semester has gone fast! Get ready for a World Record!

Since it’s been far too long since I’ve blogged, I thought a quick update wouldn’t take that much of my time. So the first week came and went, but with some great moments along the way. We finally had our first ever Welcome Week with none of our events cancelled due to rain! We continued the fun with our first ever on-campus Outdoor Movie night with more than 350 in attendance and stepped it up the following night with more than 500 students for Hypnotist Brian Imbus.

The second week was an extension of nice weather and more success – We had two strikes against us for our Kernels baseball game after both previous attempts were rained out. This time we finally got a hit on a beautiful night to start the month of September. More cookouts, outdoor movies and the Brandon Styles Show kept the fun going through mid-September. To end the month is was a handful of annual events (Volleyball Tailgate, Alcohol Awareness Day, Pie-Eating Contest, Club Day), a few more Movie Nights, and a very successful Blood Drive.

October began with more than 1,200 visitors to campus for Kirkwood’s 4th annual Family Day. Though the weather was cold and windy, the rain stayed away and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The second attempt at Eagle Spirit Day was a lot of fun with an energy packed hour of food, giveaways, cheerleaders, the dance team, and the introduction of the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Kirkwood. Diamon Beckford (Women’s Basketball team) was the three point shooting champion on the day while Richie Thompson took home the top dunking honors in the Dunk Contest.

Now we’re getting our 2010 Dig Pink campaign underway with a handful of Bake Sales and other fundraisers which all lead up to our Guinness World Record Attempt on October 27th. Practice your bubble blowing skills with Bubble Gum – we’re going to need them. We invite all of you to join us for DIG PINK. Breast cancer awareness, Sophomore Night for the Volleyball Team, and your chance to help set a World Record! Wednesday, October 27th. 6:30pm, Johnson Hall.

Time now to get back to the planning. Up next is finalizing our Food Drive, organizing our United Way campaign, and planning our first ever Halloween Bash!

I hope to see you at a Student Life event soon.