April 2012 – Page 2 – College Admission at Loyola

Interviewing Journalist Carol Marin

By | April 20, 2012

For my internship this week I was asked to profile the commencement speaker for the SoC graduation, Carol Marin. Marin is a local print and broadcast journalist.

Marin is a political columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times, a political editor at NBC5 and a contributor at WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight.” Yeah, she is pretty legit.

She invited me to NBC studios right off Michigan Ave. for the interview and I got to sit in on a political meeting, met a number of important people,and saw some of the background operations.

The interview went well, and despite being a little nervous, she complimented me on my preparedness! Though my internship has allowed me to meet some really great people around campus, this was my “big story,” and I’m very excited to add it to my portfolio!

I’ll be sure to share the article once it is up on the SoC website.

Dorm Room Crafts

By | April 20, 2012

What better to relieve some stress of the looming finals than some arts and crafts?

My friend Kelly and I found a cool art project on pintrist.com

We bought cheep paintings at Michaels along with sticker letters and white paint. We each chose one of our favorite quotes and wrote it out on the painting with the sticker letters. After that, we painted the whole picture, letters and all, with white paint.

A few coats of paint and a night of drying later, we pealed off the stickers and our quotes were written in the original painting behind the white paint. It is was so much fun and looks awesome on my desk!

Check it out!

"You will never be younger than you are now"

Pursuit of Social Justice

By Lori Greene | April 20, 2012

One of the trademarks of a Loyola education is a focus on social justice. On campus, you’ll find many initiatives where students can get involved, gain some hands-on experience, and make a difference through coursework, research, and student organizations.

I am amazed by the students I’ve met over the course of this year, many of whom plan to enter the Class of 2016. One of the themes in the conversations I’ve had with these incoming students (from all over the U.S. and internationally) is their concern for social justice issues and their involvement via their high school experience. To highlight Loyola’s commitment to social justice, we have a new web portal highlighting Social Justice at Loyola. Check it out today and see how you might want to get involved!

Still Living and Still Learning

By | April 20, 2012

As a freshman, I was a part of the Global Citizenship Living Learning Community (LLC). I joined on a whim, thinking that it would provide an easier way to overcome my shyness and make new friends at college, while giving me an opportunity to take some non-science classes before I jumped into my nursing only courses.

Joining my LLC was one of the best decisions I have ever made. My community helped me get acquainted to college, and it introduced me to some pretty cool people.

As part of the community, we had the opportunity to take a class each semester with just the 30 of us. Our second semester, we took ANTH 271: Globalization and Local Cultures, with Dr. Kathleen Adams. (Fun Fact: Dr. Adams is one of the best 300 professors in the nation, according to Princeton Review!)

Dessert...It was as amazing as it looks!

Dr. Adams really supported our community, and she recently organized a reunion for us to all go out to eat at Uncommon Ground. It was an awesome and delicious get together. We all shared appetizers (sweet potato fries, artichoke dip and flatbread) and I had squash risotto for my main course, with pear brown butter cake for dessert. It was more than delicious.

It was so nice to finally see everyone again, and a good break to think about as I try and survive the last two weeks of the semester.

Oh, and if you have any questions about LLCs, feel free to leave a comment here!

Picture of Pear Brown Butter Cake – Attributed to my fellow Global Citizen, Nicholas Ramirez

The Lincoln Park Zoo

By | April 19, 2012

Ministry at Loyola

By | April 19, 2012

I think a lot of people come with disparate views on how Loyola’s Catholic identity will affect their daily life. As a non-Catholic I have to admit this was a concern when I was looking at schools. But working with someone from Ministry last night reminded me just why I love them so much.

Catholicism at Loyola is like cat content on the internet: it’s there when you want it, but you can go as long as you like without noticing it it too. That’s why I like the Jesuits: they care about service and eduction, not pushing any agenda. Every priest that I have had the pleasure to meet (and I have had the pleasure to meet quite a few through my various work-study jobs) has always had the same attitude.

They are here on a mission of service and education. They are so happy to be there for any student with questions about their faith, and they are always excited, engaging, and gracious whenever I’ve wanted to clear up questions about their faith. But they never judge you for not being Catholic, and if you don’t bring it up then they won’t either. I respect that, a lot.

But if you do happen to work with them, you’ll find that they are some of the nicest people in the world. Not just the priests, but the other people involved in ministry too. I met with Steven Betancourt last night from Sacramental Life, the Director of Liturgical Music. He and I are working together to put on an event in the Madonna Della Strada Chapel. He is always so accommodating and easy to work with. I sometimes worry about how my department’s events will run once I leave with all my specialized knowledge and connections with other departments, but he reassures me that at least concerning the Chapel we will still be OK.

So for you non-Catholics out there thinking about Loyola, don’t worry. I have had a great time here and really enjoy the Catholic presence. But unless you actively search it out, the only reason you’ll know you’re at a Catholic University is that you get extra time off for Easter, they call it Christmas Vacation instead of Winter Break, you have to take 2 religion classes (any religion) and you’ll hear the church bell toll on the hour.

Easter in Rome

By | April 18, 2012

Celebrating Easter in the world capital of Catholicism was definitely something I can check off my bucket list. Loyola had a bunch of tickets to go to St. Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday. It was mass… with the pope!! Luckily, Father Al (one of the priests here at John Felice Rome Center) was generous enough to give me five tickets so that my family was able to experience this as well.

We had to get up early, as all the tourists from all over the world were slowly flooding into the square to see the pope. It was a long line, but we got in and got very good seats right in the middle. The pope and his cardinals led the mass, which was very long (almost three hours!) but very worth it.

It was a normal Easter Sunday mass, but at the end, the pope went up into the Vatican’s window and gave his address. He had to have said “Happy Easter” in at least 20 languages, to cater to everyone in the audience. It was cool to hear him do this, as it was suddenly like a huge rally. Whenever the pope would speak a certain language, the country’s natives would start chanting, cheering and waving flags. The rally like nature was like a Cleveland Brown’s game… minus the continuous losses.

I’m grateful I got the chance to see the pope again (I also went to a papal audience). Even though my family was very jet-lagged, they really enjoyed it, as well. It was great being able to celebrate Easter in a foreign country with not only my family, but also the Pope!

Relay for Life = Circle of Life

By | April 16, 2012

Last Friday, Loyola hosted its annual Relay for Life event from 6 pm on Friday night until 5:30 am on Saturday morning.

I had to work until 11:30 pm, so I didn’t arrive until well after the festivities had started. However, the last 6 or so hours were still amazing!

I might have missed the Survivor Speech (which happened to be given by my friend Jessica), but I still got to experience many of the games and all of the themed laps.

Jessica, right before she gave her speech!

This year the themed laps included: purple, birthday, favorite scene from a movie, best Oscar speech, celebrity impression, tinsel town lap (with aluminum foil), and my favorite, musical song.

For that lap, my APO brothers and I did one of my favorite Disney songs, “Circle of Life,” complete with baby Simba being hoisted into the air by Rafiki. And, being that I’m the size of a small lion cub anyway, guess which lovely lady got the joy of playing the part?

I would definitely say that living out a Disney movie through being lifted by “Rafiki” (none other than Andrew, in the picture above) while “Circle of Life” played in the background was one of the highlights of my entire life.

Not only that, but in Circle of Life, the community of Pride Rock shows support for Simba, just like the community of Loyola showed its support for cancer patients by staying up all night during Relay for Life.

Pictures from Relay for Life – Attributed to Lauren McKenna

Top 5 Covers

By | April 15, 2012

As I sat on the bus en route to St. Louis (otherwise known as home), I scrolled down to my “chill” playlist on my iPod in hopes of catching some sleep. On my “chill” playlist is an abundance of songs, mostly originals with a few of my favorite cover songs mixed in. “Chill” is the inspiration for this post. Please agree or disagree with my choices as my top 5 cover songs. Suggestions are also appreciated as I am always open to hear new songs, rather, new songs done over again.

5. “Wonderwall” by Ryan Adams

I am not a huge Oasis fan and I actually like this version better than the original; A very edgy sound to an already-alternative song.

4. “Hallelujah” by Kate Voegele

I find Ms. Voegele’s voice very angelic, which fits in well with the Leonard Cohen original lyrics. Very soothing and yet potentially heart wrenching.

3. “Twist and Shout” by The Beatles

The fact that I hear this version more than the original by the Isley Brothers gives testament to how good the cover is. There is not a song that takes me back to high school dances quicker than this one.

2. “Crash into Me” by Stevie Nicks

I am fond of Dave Matthews Band and I respect both versions of this song. I think Stevie Nicks carefully covers Dave’s “Crash” with an appropriate amount of respect as well as her own flair; a great overall sound.

1. “Freefallin” by John Mayer

There may be few more talented guitarist on earth than John Mayer. His cover of the classic Tom Petty rock song takes a catchy American tune and turns it into an intimate listening experience. It is amazing how these songs can sound so differently and have the same essence to them.

Like I said, comments and criticisms are welcome, please share your thoughts!

Garanzini And Me

By | April 14, 2012

I’ve always liked our president, the Reverend Michael J. Garanzini, S.J.

The first time that I saw him was when I was crossing the street on Devon and Glenwood. It was a rare and shocking glimpse to see him so far down Devon by himself. I’ll never know what he was doing there. But as we crossed the street towards each other, I knew I wanted to try to make a quick impression. So rather than nervously addressing him, “Hello Fr. President Sir” or something like that, I approached him with my first firmly extended for a fist bump, nodded my head up and said “sup dude?” He smiled a big huge smile, said “HEY!” and bumped my fist. Awesome.

After that I started running audio at events in Mundelein Auditorium. There were a few whirlwind events back to back in the auditorium, so I had the occasion to run into him more than once in a short amount of time. Each time since then I tried to give him that same “sup dude?” and bump his fist if I could. Even if it only ever worked a couple time it was still great each time. What a down to Earth president, right?

The best part of this story happened a few days after the last event. I was walking alone the lakeshore and saw him walking with another Jesuit priest. I did not want to make him break decorum in front of the other priest so I politely smiled, intending to just let him pass. But to my surprise he stopped for a moment when they got close. “This,” he said to the other priest as he took of his glasses and poked me in the shoulder, “is the guy who keeps everything together.”

Then he was gone. I haven’t gotten to see him as much since. But I have half a mind to give him a fist bump when I walk across the stage in May.