As you may, or may not have known, the Phi Beta Lambda Chapter of Walsh University (which I am a member of) recently departed on their trip to the National Leadership Conference held in Washington, D.C. this past Thursday. I am actually blogging directly from our hotel room in D.C., winding down after a busy day of events.

I’ll give you a little overview of what the 10 of us who attended this trip experienced today. We woke up around 9:00 A.M, dressed in our business attire (yes, this was an event with an enforced dress code) and we departed from our hotel (The Hilton) to a nearby Marriot Hotel, where this conference was being held. Our hotel provided a convenient shuttle that brought us directly to the metro station where we had to simply jump on and ride that for a couple stops.

Once at the conference we attended various workshops that were provided to us. There were even exclusive Phi Beta Lambda speakers/workshops that we took advantage of after we registered and checked in. Many of us had planned out our itinerary for the day and were ready to benefit from everything this conference had to offer. I honestly did not know what to expect, but I was quickly impressed with the whole program. Our keynote speaker Anthony Cusack kicked off the program talking about Entrepreneurships and ending with a summary of his own life experiences, while comparing working for someone, and being your own boss.

Our next program was called “Extra Credit: How college students can win the credit card game.” The speaker for this program was Bill Pratt, from Pratt financial group. Pratt gave a quick and informative talk about credit cards and all that we need to know about them that no one seems to be telling us college students, who are credit card company’s main targets.

We went on to another workshop about “writing the best resume ever,” with the Phi Beta Lambda’s Regional vice president as our speaker.  This was an actual interactive workshop as we were asked to form groups based on the colors we were wearing and design our “best resume ever.” This was a great opportunity to network with other fellow Phi Beta Lambda members as well as share insightful thoughts and ideas.

Finally, we topped off the day with a truly motivational speaker Dr. Joe Martin, who spoke about overcoming adversity and becoming successful, by sharing his life experiences with us and sharing his secrets to success. Dr. Martin was so impressive just by the fact that he has committed his entire career to inspiring others. Not having the best life growing up, he overcame so much to not only start his own business at the young age of 22, but at 24 he became the youngest professor ever hired to teach at an accredited university in the state of Florida. His speech alone made this trip truly worthwhile, and we’re not even halfway done with the entire weekend of events. Who knows what tomorrow has in store?

Keep checking in for more updates and many pictures to come!!

Take care,

Chris Burr

Wednesday night brought about much excitement for Walsh University students as they prepared for several hundred children to invade their dorms trick-or-treating, on a mission to fill their plastic pumpkins and pillow cases until they burst!

I know in our room Halloween is taken pretty seriously. My roommates and I wanted to make sure that we would have enough candy to last for the hundreds of kids who would come through. Last year we learned the hard way that having extra candy is always better than running out. As we ran out early and ended up clearing out our cupboards in hopes that the kids would be happy with whatever we had for them–because we weren’t about to make a kid cry on Halloween. SO this meant some ended up with peanut butter crackers, pop-tarts, granola bars–heck we were getting to the point where if there were any more we would have handed out ketchup and mustard. BUT not this year!! We were well prepared!!

With about 6 huge bags of candy we began to generously pass out candy to the children, until we found out that there was a never-endingamount of them–we had to cut back slightly. The kids costumes were awesome, and we found ourselves saying “they didn’t have those kinds of costumes when we were young!” The costumes ranged from a tiny chicken, to Spider-man, all the way to a pimp (yes, I said a pimp). ha ha I mean it is 2008! Nonetheless, the students had just as much fun passing out the candy as the kids had collecting it. You never knew what the kids were going to say next–or how much candy they would take–this always would amaze us. I’m sure we had many happy parents as well, as they simply had to walk through heated dorms on a very chilly night, and many Walsh students helped guide the kids around the dorms. This proved to bevery convenient for parents with many kids to keep an eye on–definitely a win-win!

All in all, Walsh was able to provide a safe and fun way for children of the local area to trick-or-treat and get students involved in making a difference in the community!

I woke up early this morning (earlier than usual because I was meeting some friends for breakfast), got ready, and headed out of my dorm down to the David Center, when to my surprise, it was SNOWING!! Now depending on where you are from in Ohio, this might not have been the biggest surprise. I can think back to many a Halloween night when my mom would have to drive my friends and I around because there was freezing rain, and in some cases too much snow on the ground. Mind you this was back home in Ashtabula County…the capital of the snow belt! Nevertheless, this was an interesting surprise and something I think we will be seeing a lot more of in the upcoming month.

I myself love the change of seasons Ohio has to offer; however, after our Christmas break is over with in January, I’m ready for it to be back up to the 70′s and 80′s again (yea that never happens, but I remain optimistic)!! I always picture the local weather men and women flipping a coin before they do their forecast; as one day it is 75 and sunny, and the next we are scraping ice off our windshields!

Well enough about the weather…instead let me tell you about what made my ordinary Tuesday…well, Extraordinary!!

After my classes were done today at 1:00 p.m. I had the opportunity to help out at a local Catholic High School: St Thomas Aquinas High School. A group of us went together and ended up talking to about 70 high school senior students about our experiences of transitioning from high school to college. We each had an opportunity to answer the students individual questions and were asked 3 main questions by our facilitator, Miguel Chavez, to start out the Q and A. Many caught on, and ended up asking some really thought provoking questions!

I felt as if everyone did an exceptional job, especially since we had no clue what we were doing prior to showing up at the school. I think being put “on-the-spot” helped our group of speakers to offer much more insightful words of wisdom, because we had to say exactly what came to mind. I felt as if I could speak so easily on the subject of Transitioning to College, as I have transitioned so much since my freshmen year–and so much of this had to do with the retreats I attended prior to college at my high school (Saint John’s and Paul – Ashtabula, OH) and throughout my freshmen, sophomore, and junior year here at Walsh. By simply volunteering for this retreat put on by our Campus Ministry, I felt as if I (and all of our volunteers) had instantly made such a difference in so many students lives. Hopefully our words impacted their lives enough to make a difference when they are faced with the many tough decisions that may arise in college.  

Looking forward to see what the rest of this week has in store! You can be sure that I’ll keep you posted if anything exciting happens! Keep checking in!

Until next time, take care!

Chris Burr

I must say that it all came down to Wednesday night here at Walsh University as I (and many, many others) anticipated the Brother Charlie Bowl-A-Thon! It had been so long since the last time I bowled that just the thought of it made my week! Luckily I had some great friends (and team mates) who signed me up early to save my spot, as the lanes quickly filled. So much so, that I think Park Center lanes basically closed themselves off to the public and devoted their entire facility to Walsh!

The place began to fill up quickly as students arrived and checked in at the door. Damir Jozic and Stephanie Sielski, as well as the entire Res Life Staff, obviously had put a lot of hard work and dedication into planning this event, and it showed immediately!! Everyone rushed to get their shoes, food and drink, and bowling balls before the games began! I was talked into buying about 20 raffle tickets, in which I wasn’t really clear about what I might win, all I knew was that it was for a good cause so I didn’t feel guilty in buying an arms-length of each. I met up with my good friends (and team mates) Damir, McKenzi, Meaghan, Logan, and Allan. As the night continued to get better and better, my bowling skills (or lack thereof) seemed to decline rapidly. But that didn’t bother myself or our team for that matter. Our motto was to “Just have fun!” since we were well aware that this was for a great cause!! Let’s just say I didn’t have my A game, but I cleared 100 each game

Towards the end of the night they began to announce the raffle ticket winners. I, of course, had some pretty good odds (considering the several arms-lenghths of tickets I bought), but I still had my doubts. To my surprise, I won a movie basket, with a ton of candy, and popcorn! This topped off my night, as I went home with some great friends, tons of memories, and an awesome feeling that I had supported a great cause–all while having some fun bowling!! What more could I have asked for?

 OK, so maybe some Taco Bell…?

With Monday just aroundthe corner I thought that I would give you a quick recap of this weekend at Walsh. Friday night there was the Dance Marathon which was sponsored by the Circle K. Then, Saturday morning, the many dedicated Walsh Football fans (me included) gathered at Fawcett Stadium to kick-off one of the biggest rival games of the season against Malone. I could hardly find a parking spot as I reached the stadium and was led by my nose and stomach to the tail gate section at the entrance where they were serving up lots of food and drinks. Of course, I had to have a cheeseburger, which helped me to become more mentally prepared for this game. After catching up with the Cavalier Crazies and getting my spirit towel and beads, I headed to the student section to cheer on the team. It was perfect football weather, I would say about 60 degrees or so, sunny, and not too windy at all. In no time the stands were packed!!

Throughout the game I helped the SOS (Serving our service men and women) club collect donations in between quarters and at halftime for future SOS projects. SOS is a club at Walsh that involves students preparing care packages to send over to our troops. This is a great opportunity to support a service man or woman you may know, or perhaps make someones holiday a whole lot better because of the thoughtful gifts sent over to them. A couple of us split up across the Walsh and Malone side wearing neon green t-shirts and holding our donation cups. The fundraiser was a great success!! Walsh and Malone’s fans alike, were so generous and we managed to raise nearly $600 in the short span of time that we collected (between 1st and 2nd quarter, and at halftime). It was great seeing that even though our schools may be diehard sports rivals, we all have the same values in mind, and both support each other in all that we do–that says a lot!

The game continued on and was very close throughout, until the last couple of minutes when it took a turn for the worse and Malone ended up scoring to win the game. It was a devastating loss–but a very close game. We played hard and had a lot of great plays, so definitely nothing to be down on ourselves about.

Come Sunday morning many students from Walsh participated in the Breast Cancer Awareness Walk at the McKinley Monument Park in Canton where there were nearly 5000 participants!! Way to go participants!!What a great opportunity to help this truly important cause, especially during Breast Cancer Awareness month!

Overall, Walsh managed to show its true colors this weekend, from the football field to the Breast Cancer Walk; many students were able to represent the school by the actions they actually took part in, instead of by what they said or thought about doing–WAY TO GO WALSH!!

Hello everyone and welcome!! Well I would like to start off by apologizing for the delay for my  post, as I see everyone else beat me to the site, BUT I have a good excuse!! I was in New York City from Monday-Wednesday (October 13-15), taking part in the Business and Communications Club Trip!!  

Throughout the whole trip, the Entrepreneurship Experience students (EE) who also joined us,  were encouraged to interview street vendors and business owners to ask them questions that may help them learn more about the “steps of success” that they will need to take when starting a business of their own someday…

What an amazing time we all had!! From the moment the plane landed at the Laguardia airport and we stepped into the constant hustle and bustle of New York we were immediately on a mission to accomplish as much as we possibly could in the 3 days that we were in the Big Apple!

We got off to an early start, landing at about 8:00 AM. With the whole day ahead of us we picked up our luggage and ran to get a taxi to take us to our hotel–Hotel Pennsylvania! This was a new experience for many who had never been in a big city, and we quickly realized that NYC cab drivers could care less if there passengers arrive in one piece, just as long as they get a good tip! After regrouping at the hotel we set off for the financial district. We could not have picked a better time to go to NYC with all that was going on over these last few days.

First off, it was Columbus Day (Monday) so there were many additional street vendors and events taking place for this Holiday. Many business’ were closed but there was still a great deal that remained open. We were able to walk down Wall Street and got a group picture in front of the federal building (will be posted soon). We literally witnessed history being broken!! We watched NASDAQ soar before closing for the day, as many clapped and the spirit of the city seemed to improve almost instantly. We continued on exploring as much as we could, as we became more familiar with our surroundings.

That night we went up to explore Times Square and ate dinner at the ESPN Sports Zone, where we cheered on the Cleveland Browns as they played the NY Giants, in spite of many crude looks shot our way. We quickly discovered that a simple burger and drink for one person in NY, could cost as much as a dinner for two or three elsewhere. We continued exploring the city that night, keeping in mind that Tuesday was another busy day ahead of us.

Tuesday brought so much excitement, especially for myself and my friends Stephanie and Kate. We decided we would wake up earlier and make our way down to NBC studios for the filming of the Today Show. We arrived and to our surprise we were able to walk right up to the studio window and see ourselves on live TV! If that wasn’t enough, we look over and see Al Roker walking our way, we shake his hand and were able to grab a picture with him. If things couldn’t get any better the rest of the news reporters walk out past us and we were able to shake Meredith Vieira’s hand as well! We were so excited to get back to tell the others about what had just happened.

The day continued to get more and more interesting. A tour of the Federal Reserve Building allowed us all to go down into the gold vault where over $700 Billion is secured!! Later on after lunch, we attended a tour of the Manhattan Cooperative Day and Night School, where the president of the school, John Mancuso, spoke to us about the importance of this school and the steps he had to take in life to succeed. The day continued on as many hit China Town, Little Italy, and Central Park.

Our last day arrived and we kicked it off with an exciting tour of Bloomberg Financial. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Bloomberg they are a company that provides business and financial professionals all the tools and data they will need, all in a “one-stop shop” platform. This tour was guided by interns, and I think it was fair to say that after the tour was complete, everyone could see themselves working in some department of this company. The atmosphere was like no other–with emphasis on work enjoyment, and employee satisfaction!

Before we knew it we had to pack up, and grab one more authentic NYC meal (I had a tasty Gyro!) before heading to the airport. As we all collected as a group everyone traded stories about the experience they had, what they learned, and what they accomplished in their free time (Yankees Stadium, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Rockefeller Plaza, just to name a few) . It was amazing to see just how much we all crammed into each and every minute of the day, and how educational each experience had been for us. 

The trip was a great success and all the hard work and planning that went into it definitely payed off!!  We could not have done it without our dedicated staff who went on the trip with us. I would like to thank our advisor Dr. Tavallali and his wife Lisa, Janet Howard, as well as her graduate assistant for EE Beth Starrett, for making this trip truly memorable and worthwhile!

Well I hope you all enjoyed the recap of our trip, and will check back often for more updates from all of us bloggers about whats going on. Thank you for your time!

There will be many pictures posted  from the trip very soon!!

Have a great day!