Classes have started! I’m busy doing a lot of interviews right now and it’s such a blessing to be able to meet so many students. We’re 2 weeks away from the first day of calling. I am very excited for this semester. We’ve put up the 2nd comic about Phonathon across campus. Check it out below:
Coming soon: Pictures of the call center 
This is one of the posters used to educate and recruit students on campus. I love this poster! A new one will be posted around campus on Monday. Stay tuned.
I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all students. It’s a blessing to have each of you here on campus!
I am so excited to see the campus alive again! There have been a lot of changes made across campus this summer. I was able to experience one of the changes yesterday - Lunch at the Union. They have a BRAND NEW menu which features smoothies, gourmet salads, cheesesteaks etc. I highly reccomend that you have a meal at the Union. You won’t regret it!
I am preparing myself for the fall Phonathon. Recruitment is going well. Initial posters have been put up across campus so be on the look out for them. A mass email will be sent out to the campus soon. I am eager to see my returning callers and hire new ones as well.
I feel an energy and excitement in the air. Good times are ahead
I love summer times. I’ve enjoyed the weather, vacation trips and times of relaxation. As much as I’m excited for students to return, I’ll miss the summer. I’ve been enjoying myself so much so that I was silent all summer on this blog. My apologies.
So you’re probably wondering what I’ve been up to all summer. I have had the privilege to meet with alumni this summer. I’ve found every visit to be energizing. I look forward to doing more of them in the coming months. I’ve also spent time preparing for Phonathon. God truly blessed the program this past fiscal year - we raised over $355,000 in gifts and pledges, an increase of 94 percent over the previous year! In fact, this past year was the best year Phonathon has ever performed yet. I thank God for his faithfulness and for surrounding me with wonderful co-workers and student callers.
I’m excited for this upcoming year! Recruiting has begun for the fall so if you’re interested or if you know of someone, please fill out the application and send it back to me as soon as possible.
Stay tuned for more posts.
It’s been a pleasure having Bethany blog about her experience this spring. She, along with all of the other callers, will be missed this summer! I must say that I am still very excited for all that the summer has to offer. I will keep you updated about my summer adventures however in the mean time take a couple of minutes to check this ecard out:
I know I’ve blogged about one of the songs on this CD before but I think that this CD is worth mentioning again. Go ahead, check it out for yourself. Click on the above banner and enjoy listening.
P.S. - #14 is amazing! “Let now our hearts burn with a flame…”
Packing feels terribly surreal. Actually, I’m still in denial and my section of the room remains untouched. My roommate, however, decided to pack a majority of her things last night. I informed her that I have no intention of leaving, so she’s welcome to put everything back.
At the moment, I’m a little bit exhausted. Between preparing for finals and finding any spare moment to hang out with friends before leaving, I ended up with two hours of sleep the other night. Let it be known that I certainly don’t recommend it.
I’m definitely excited for summer, despite the loss of my beloved room. I plan to work as a camp counselor for the majority of the time, and I’m really looking forward to it. Ten weeks of hiking, swimming, running, climbing, jumping, singing, spending time with hundreds of new people, and of course, bonfire-ing sounds like a fantastic way to ease the pain of leaving campus for three months!
I am a passionate supporter of diversity among answering machines. Stating the obvious fact that it adds a little extra spice to my job, I always find joy in listening to the efforts of the particularly creative prospects. One favorite includes the Fake-Out message.
The call goes something like this:
“Hello?”
“Hi! My name is Bethany and I’m…”
“I’m sorry that we’re not available to take your call, please leave a message.”
These answering machines leave me feeling foolish, if not rather amused. During the course of the evening, I talk to numerous prospects, though the majority of the calls result in answering machine messages.I was surprised to learn this last fall as a new caller, listening repeatedly to friendly messages that begin with anything from “Hi”, to “Greetings!”, “Hullo”, and “Yes! You’ve reached [insert name of enthusiastic supporter of the Student Impact Fund].” Several times each shift, I encounter the Way Too Fast messages. These, typically involving a computerized voice or that of an especially straightforward prospect, force me to scramble frantically for the hang up button to escape leaving an accidental non-message.I now have every intention of inspecting my own answering machine message when I return home in two weeks. With such enormous possibilities for a fun experience, I would hate to deny anyone the pleasure of leaving a message at my house.
As fellow students began to register for housing, I picked up on the rather disconcerting discussion of whether or not to make the adjustment. Moving from Witmer to Grantham, or from Naugle to Mountain View for that matter, entails a dramatic shift in life perspective of which I found myself previously unaware.
Exploring the concept further, it appears as though the general consensus views the transition as quite monumental. I made the mistake of pointing out the modest size of Messiah’s campus during lunch one day. After facing the wide-eyed stares of several friends, I made a quick change of subject, and then dove into my beloved macaroni and cheese for refuge. (As a side note, yesterday they set up a cookie table in Lottie. Dinner finished on a particularly blissful note as the extension of Dessert Ave. provided fresh, warm chocolate cookies with chocolate chips on one end of the table, several large bowls of candy and icing in the middle, and delightfully warm sugar cookies to balance out the other end.
We now move back to my housing situation. With all of this in mind, I sat down at my computer to register for housing, not without a little concern. Slightly panicked, I made a quick review of the housing options and signed up for Mountain View. I instantly questioned my decision, however, realizing the improbability of rooming near a large group of my friends. It was at that moment I made the decision. Quickly texting my roommate, we agreed to find a room in Grantham. So I did.
And here I sit: mildly concerned, mildly hopeful, mildly mild. Hopefully I don’t regret this.
From the way that I see it, there is one enormous downside to spring: school work and gorgeous weather were never meant to coexist. When the sun finally bursts forth in its fullest glory and the air feels fresh and the flowers smell deliciously sweet, it requires every bit of my resolve to remain firmly seated at my desk. I made several sincere attempts to study outside in the past, each time resulting in either a glorious nap or stimulating conversation with another Witmer resident that in no way assisted with my work.
On another note, rather large groups of prospective students swarmed the campus for an Open House today. I fondly remember my first visit to the college in October 2005 (wow. I can’t believe it’s been so long already!!!). In fact, I distinctly remember what I wore and my first impressions of the lovely campus. I also recall the kind advice of an upperclassman who warned me to avoid living in Witmer if at all possible. Fortunately, I didn’t follow her advice, and I have grown to adore living in the furthest dorm on campus. My roommate and I feel slightly stunned by the idea that we only have 3 weeks left… my freshman year has flown by so quickly!
The concept of home is a funny thing to a college student. I honestly felt rather unprepared for the moment that I sat down in my living room in Grove City and thought, “I wish I was home.” Apparently, living in one house for 12 years is not enough to solidify its position as such. Only a few short months at college left me slightly bewildered regarding my loyalties, and even now, I find it better to move back and forth from place to place without overanalyzing it.
Yet, for whatever reason, I still feel terribly disoriented each time that I transition from home to school and back. I realize that I’m not alone in this, as nearly all of my friends fervently agree any time that the subject is mentioned. When home is home, and school is home, this relatively simple aspect of life feels overcomplicated. Needless to say, my lovely Easter break threw me off track for most of the week, and only now am I beginning to make sense of things again.
A particularly insightful Facebook group titled, “40+ Things College Admissions forgot to tell you about college”, notes many other unexpected aspects of college life. (As a small disclaimer: I don’t agree with every suggestion listed… but I found a few points to be alarmingly on target. Also, please ignore the horrific tense changes; there was a lot of cutting and pasting involved.
-You will begin to nap again.
-Going to the mailbox was never an ego booster/breaker before.
-Your bookstore bill will almost equal tuition.
-Squirt guns = stress relief.
-E-mail becomes your second language.
-College students throw paper airplanes too.
-You will never rent more movies in your life.
-No one is too old for video games.
-Care packages are right up there with birthdays.
-You are no longer thankful that fire alarms are here to protect you. (Personal experience taught me not to put off a 2 page paper until an hour before the deadline… just in case an extensive fire drill should occur 15 minutes into your work.)
-Disney movies are more than just classics.
-Asleep by 2:30 AM is an early night.
Never lose your ID card: without it you are a non-person and do not exist
-Cereal makes a meal any time of the day.
-New additions to food groups: Jolt, Cola, Ramen, and Pizza
-Duct tape heals all wounds.
Changing your major is ok. It’s sort of like an early mid-life crisis.
-Most food from the dining halls taste better in sandwich form.
-YouTube and Facebook are valid excuses for not doing homework.
-Get TV Shows on DVD, an hour of Scrubs or Lost between classes can really help.
-Winter break is both too long and too short.
Keys have never been so important, yet you seem to lose them even more.
-Showers become less important, sleep becomes more important.
-Jeans may be worn as many times as the wearer desires.
-The only time to dress up is when all your jeans are dirty.
-You’ll eat anything if it’s free.
-No matter how hard you try . . . You are never alone.