Archives: Mariah Mosley

Here at CBU, when the beginning of spring semester rolls around, it is time to start the hiring process for student leadership for the upcoming school year. In seeing this great opportunity, I decided I should go for it.

It all starts with applications and references. In the middle of January, applications became available. I applied to be a resident advisor (RA) as well as a FOCUS leader. Other positions such as interns for Spiritual Life, Community Life, and the International Center were also available.

Just after applications came out, informational meetings were held for each position. That next week, it was time to sign up for interviews.

The first form of an interview that I attended was a session called “Group Processing.” This was held for RA applications and it was a night for the Residence Life staff to see how well we work with others in certain situations. To me that process was a bit nerve-wracking. It was hard to truly be yourself in a room full of staff members watching your every move.

Have you ever wondered what CBU residents do when the sun goes down and classes are over? When that time rolls around, the residents emerge and are their most social.

Just like any other college student, studying is always priority. Typically once the late afternoon classes have ended, there is a couple hours of silence, where the vast majority of us are studying and getting things taken care of. On any given week day, it is normally around 7 or 8 o’clock when social hour begins.

Some of the things we do at night on campus range from playing crazy games to simply watching movies with our friends. The majority of the students on campus go to Brisco’s to curve their night-time cravings. Another place that is alive around this time is typically the Rec Center. Students get their normal workouts in, have massive rooftop soccer games, involve themselves in any pick-up basketball game that may be happening, or conquer the rock wall with friends.

As for my living area in The Cottages, our nightlife typically consists of movies on the porch, longboard races, and lots of music. One thing that my group of friends and I often do is ride around campus. We take our longboards and just go! We ride from one corner of the campus to the other, touring the parts of campus we don’t see during the day. Just about every time, we find a place we didn’t even know existed on campus.

The nightlife is the time for us to just simply enjoy life and not worry about much. It is a nice way for us to relieve our stresses of the day and catch up with our peers.

Last semester, my housemates and I had noticed that in freshman living areas certain halls and cottages would go out and have a hall/cottage dinner. They would coordinate a day out of the week along with a time that worked best for everyone, and they would go and eat dinner as a family every week. My housemates and I saw this and thought it would be a great idea in order for us and our sister cottage to bond as a family.

Over Christmas break we finally put the thought into action and got a great response from all the girls. Though the night we planned does not work for everyone each week, is does work for the vast majority of the cottage.

The biggest dinner we had was with 10 girls. Though it wasn’t everyone, I still felt it was pretty successful. The number of girls in attendance has flexed up and down since then but hopefully, soon we can have every single girl attend and we can eat as a family. Having dinner together is a great way for us to bond and grow together as sisters.

My first semester at CBU was filled with success and great memories. I was able to fulfill all my goals as well as other goals I felt I wasn’t going to be able to accomplish until second semester. My main goal was to complete a full semester of college. Other goals I had were in relation to academics and my health in regards to weight and gaining more strength in my knee. I had a personal goal to be able to run at least a mile without using my knee brace and do so by the end of my first academic year. I was ecstatic to see that I accomplished this goal before first semester even ended. Seeing the tremendous progress I have made, it is time for me to kick it up a notch and make my goals a little more challenging.

Though my first semester is something to celebrate, I know I have to move forward and work toward my new goals. There were a couple things that I had struggled with first semester in regards to friends, academics and personal confidence, but I managed to push through and overcome just about everything that I was struggling with.

Regardless of what I was having trouble with first semester, I must move forward and push toward my new goals that I will be setting over the next couple weeks. I know that through determination, patience and prayer, I can be successful and have an even better semester than I did last semester.

And we are back! Spring semester is here at CBU after a well-needed break.

There are often conflicting feelings that occur when students think about returning. We are excited about seeing our favorite friends and professors however, some may feel upset because it is time to get back into busy schedules or find out that some of their friends will not be returning this semester. As for myself all of these feelings are applicable. Regardless, I have to remember that whatever I am feeling or whatever does happen that it is for the best.

Personally, I am excited to start a new semester. This semester I decided to make my schedule as similar to last semester as possible. I figured since I had already created a steady schedule that meets my needs, it would be much easier for me to transition into this semester. The only difference between this semester and the previous one was that I start earlier and have one less class during the week, which allows me more time to do what I must and more time for sleep when needed.

During the break, I realized how close I had grown to my friends at CBU. When I returned to campus, I was overjoyed to reunite with all my friends and my house mates. It makes a difference when you go from seeing these people day after day to not seeing them at all for a month. I can tell from experience that it is not easy to be away from my friends here. I missed them so much! I am glad that I am back to start a new semester and make more memories.

Here’s to another great semester and a new start.

Thanksgiving time around CBU means a break! This break, I feel, was most needed for all of the students. This was the first time off we had received all year and most of us took full advantage of this time. It falls exactly two weeks before finals, allowing us time to relax, sleep in, study leisurely, and overall just enjoy our time away from the classroom. This break was a time of freeing any stress we may have had just before finals hit.

I got to go home the Friday before break began. This first thing I did when I got back in town was go to my step-brother’s house to see his family and spend the day there. That night I finally got to go home. The week of break I spent sleeping in until about 9 almost every morning and it felt great! When at school, I would wake up anywhere from 5-7 every morning, so sleeping in till 9 or 9:30 a.m. was heaven to me.

Now that break had ended, it’s time to get ready for finals. Intense studying has been going on all week long in preparations. During finals week next week, I only have one final since the rest of my finals took place this week. Therefore, it gives me all weekend and a couple days next week to get ready for that intense final that has been haunting my thoughts all week. But I know I’ll do great.

This week will be an intense week for all of CBU. This is the last stretch before winter break, and I am looking forward to having these next four weeks off.

My RA is always trying to come up with ways for us and our sister cottage to bond and have fun together. About a month ago, she came up with the idea to do a mini photo shoot. We all thought it was a great idea. Up until last week, we figured it would be a normal photo shoot with no particular theme. A couple days before the shoot, we decided to turn it into a Christmas shoot and use the pictures for Christmas cards to send to our families.

Now our two cottages are totally different. Our sister cottage is loud and shameless where as my cottage is calm and to ourselves. Separate, each cottage is beautiful in its own way, but put them together, and you just imagine the chaos that goes on. Now take that chaos and just add some scarves a couple Christmas hats and a camera, and that is what our photo shoot looked like.

We took an array of different pictures. We took a big group picture, individual cottage pictures, roommate pictures, RA pictures, and bestie pictures. When it came to the roommate pictures and the RA pictures, one could tell by the different poses what kind of relationship we had with one another.

As for my pictures, my roommate and I took a shot with a fashionista pose. My RA and I took a picture with our hands intertwined as a heart and then another where we were hugging. The last shots I took were with me and my favorite housemate, my curly hair girls and my cottage crew. Each of these pictures perfectly describe each of the relationships I share with each of these girls, and though all of us don’t always agree, we all love each other very much.

I never really realized how blessed I was to know these crazy ladies until the photo shoot. Though they are all crazy, I love them all.

Recently I came down with a serious case of writer’s block. For the past couple of weeks, I have been without words when it comes to homework and writing for Lancer Diaries. Not only has it been happening with school and blogging, but I feel the lack of words have also occurred in my everyday conversation, especially when giving advice and words of wisdom

When someone approaches me about a problem, I feel that I have not been able to fully express everything that I would like to. In order for me to cope with that recent defect, I have learned to have a listening ear instead of an advising tongue. I had been constantly telling people what I will think instead of what they are asking for in regards to advice. I found that listening and taking time to think about how to solve the problem is more effective than giving an immediate answer.

Since I have developing this listening ear, I figured I would transfer this over to the classroom and to my blog as well. To my surprise, it worked very well. Each lecture, I would listen to what the professors had to say and then think about what they said as if it were a problem that needed to be fixed. I would take bits and pieces of the information provided and piece it back together to find the solution, which is ultimately the overall point of the lecture. The same goes for writing for Lancer Diaries. I would find a problem or an event in my week that I feel would be significant to write about, pull it apart, analyze each piece, and put it back together.

Each time I come up with much more than I did with writer’s block. Taking a situation and analyzing it, though it takes longer, is more effective than shooting out an answer at the top of your head. Writer’s block shall never be my enemy again

One thing that I have been looking forward to since the beginning of the year was Midnight Madness. I had been told it is one of the highlights of first semester. It most certainly was!

Midnight Madness consisted of the pre-party and then the Madness itself. The pre-party was a way to get us all hyped up with loud music, dancing and glow sticks! Standing in the crowd, you could see hundreds of glow sticks, in the air, shaking to the beat of the music as the light bounced off of all of our white CBU Crazies shirts.

The pre-party finished and then it was time to start Midnight Madness. Once inside, the bleachers and floor were flooded with Crazies shirts and glow sticks. As the night progressed, more music was played, cheers were chanted, performances were done by the cheer team as well as the Crazies. Then it was time for the real purpose of Midnight Madness, basketball! The players from the women’s and men’s basketball teams were individually introduced. Once out on the court, they held the 3-Point contest and the slam dunk contest. I managed to get a spot on the floor, so I got to see it all!

If Madness ends and your voice isn’t gone and your ears aren’t blown out, you did not do Madness the right way!

FOCUS

What is FOCUS? FOCUS is basically a freshman orientation course or College 101 if you may. FOCUS is required for all incoming first-semester freshman students who are unmarried and under the age of 20. Here students talk about everything from budgeting to relationships to career searching and resumes.

FOCUS is also intended for students to make a trustworthy group of friends. I absolutely love the people in my FOCUS group. They have definitely become some of the people I have grown closer to over the past couple months. I personally feel that I was blessed with the best FOCUS group. We all find a way for everyone to socialize and be comfortable.

One way that we grow closer as a group is by doing small events that consist of playing games, having Bible study, or just enjoying each other’s company. It is these small things that meld us together to create a bond that will last forever. FOCUS, to me, is totally worth sitting through the lectures. As long as I get to see and be with my FOCUS group, I am glad to attend.