College Update

Hello, It is nice to see you all again. Things are beginning to get crazy. We have only two or three weeks of school left this year and things are rather hectic/labor-some, but then again, that is to be expected. Finals begin sometime around the sixth of May with the culmination of the semester around the second week of May. You can find exact dates on the webpage. I know most of you at this point have already chosen a school for the following semester, and I wish you all the best in your higher education endeavors. As for me, it is a strange and funny feeling that I am only a few weeks away from completing my first year of college. A quick academic update, I have two large papers due in the next two weeks plus another paper in the works soon. The two large papers are both for a philosophy course. I cannot tell you how much this course has expanded my thinking. If you get a chance, try taking a philosophy course for your own benefit, as well as for academic enrichment. The two papers will be comparing and contrasting ancient worldviews and our own current worldviews and the assumptions that come with them. The other paper is for my Foundations course; it is on tracing the Irish storytelling tradition. Once again, doing things early is a virtue and very helpful when trying to maintain your sanity. Other than that, campus has been pretty quiet. Everyone is starting to buckle down academically, so things have been rather calm and studious lately. On that lovely note, there is an annotated bibliography calling my name. I wish you all the best in your quest for higher education. As always, give me a holler if you need anything. All the best until next time…

Another Day in the Life

Hello all, This past week has been one crazy week. As I said before, generally midterms occur the week before spring break, but sadly two of mine where this past weekend along with two papers. I cannot tell you how much typing I did this weekend. I still have not found out about how I did on those tests, but rest assured, I was as prepared as I could have been. I had another test this past Tuesday that went really well; for that I am thankful. This week has been much less stressful. I had a slightly less labor-intensive week, but the really nice thing is I have not had any more tests. I have been reading quite a lot for two of my classes. By the way, the reading load at college is a bit different from high school, but it is nothing you can’t handle. Anyway, the point is academics are coming along. One more thing though, if you get the chance to work on an assignment early, do it. It always pays off in the end. You never know what crazy assignment you might end up getting at the end of the week. This past weekend was formal for my fraternity. It was awesome to get to see everyone and have some time to relax after writing all of those essays and online tests. This is one of the reasons I say to do things early. Because I did my papers early, I was able to enjoy formal with my friends. Cumberland Falls is such a fantastic place to go for a weekend, by the way. It is in Corbin, Kentucky, which is conveniently located about an hour and forty-five minutes from Georgetown. It has great places for hiking and the falls are incredible. In your time at Georgetown, make sure to take time to go to places like Cumberland Falls and the Red River Gorge. Georgetown is just way too close to many of these beautiful places to let the opportunity to go to them pass. Georgetown College has been very active as a humanitarian agent lately. Dance marathon was this weekend at the REC, and believe me it was fantastic. This was the first year Georgetown participated in Dance Marathon, but if you did not know this fact, you probably would have thought it was in its thirtieth or fortieth year. Dance Marathon is an overnight event in which students stay up and participate in all sorts of activities for around 18 ½ hours. There are live bands; one of which was composed of some of the faculty members. There is also quite a bit of free food for students participating. I would strongly encourage you to get involved next year. The proceeds for Dance Marathon go to the Children’s Miracle Network. Also, Relay for Life is already being advertised on campus. Another of the numerous examples of charity work on campus you can be involved in is the anti-slavery movement. This is a huge movement on campus in which many people have been involved in all year. One more thing before I stop typing, this week I had an overnight on campus with a prospective student. I want to give a shout-out to Don. This is a great way to get to know the campus and students. I can’t tell you how much it helped me in my college decision. If you want to schedule an overnight, just talk to someone in the admissions office and they will hook you up. As always, if you have any questions, please email me at gharned0@georgetowncollege.edu I hope you all have a great week. Good luck in your college decision and in the rest of your high school career. Until next time…

Spring Break

Hello all,
Spring break was last week; now I’m trying to get back in the swing of things. I went home last week and tried to get caught up on homework and other things. It was really nice to see my family, especially since I don’t get to go home that often. I know a good majority of my friends went on spring break mission trips, which is a really neat opportunity at Georgetown. Most of them got back on Thursday night, so they still had the weekend to see their families. My roommate led a trip to New Orleans and my big brother in my fraternity led a trip to Arlington, Texas. I know everyone I have talked to said it was one of the most rewarding experiences they have had, so look into it when you get on campus next year.
Midterms generally happen a few weeks before spring break, but sadly, two of mine are going to be this weekend. I will be in the library for a good amount of time if you want to stop by and say hey. I hope all is going well in the land of high school. I know when I went home for spring break, I was beginning to hear news of where seniors are going and starting their college career. It is really an exciting time.
Beyond the tests, I am figuring out what classes I am going to take next semester. It is a long process, but hopefully things will work out. I think I have finally decided on a major, but like all things at college, change is ever-present.
Just so you know, going home is awesome while you are at college, but during that relaxing time, it will really help you out to do a bit of homework. I know that is a really lame thing of me to say, but I don’t see how I could get it all done this week if I hadn’t worked on homework some this past week. Anyway, I will stop preaching now.
Well, I hope you all are having a good year. Good luck to those of you who are juniors applying to GSP. It is a great experience. Good luck to the seniors with college and scholarship applications. Have a great day! Until next time…

Life

Hello all,
I hope and trust you all are doing well this week. Sorry for the brevity of my earlier postings. Between cheerleading, fraternity events, course work and everything else, my life was kind of hectic for a bit. Things have started to become more normal once more, which is absolutely wonderful. I feel a lot better about life and can now give my studies the time they deserve.
There are a few things you need to know about the spring semester of your freshman year. It is a lot busier than your first semester, so plan accordingly. This is especially true if you decide to be a part of a fraternity or sorority. I know several dozen freshman, myself included, who were forced to learn the cold, hard definition of time management over the last few weeks. It is a ton of fun though.
It seems as if there are a good amount of deadlines during this period as well. The most significant, for those who want to be involved in programs next year, is probably Emerging Leaders. This encompasses housing advisors, FFG parents/grandparents, peer educators, orientation leaders, directions leaders and many more. I would highly encourage anyone to apply for these positions. It is a great opportunity to get involved next year and the application process is a good experience in interviewing and resume writing. Who knows? You might end up working with incoming freshmen.
Another point, which has come to my attention over the last few months, is the helpfulness of a multivitamin while at college. During January, when everything was starting to come off the hinges for a little bit, a lot of people were starting to get sick, including myself. With all the running around and other craziness, combined with the cold weather and lack of sleep, it was a prime time to get sick. I got over that and started to take a multivitamin. This has helped me tremendously, but enough of Grant’s health corner.
The Mid-South Conference tournament was this weekend. Our men’s basketball team did incredibly well. They won the conference in a heated final game yesterday. It was very exciting for Georgetown College.
Something else a few of my friends discovered the other day while walking around Georgetown is the number of things to do downtown. The downtown area is full of good places to eat such as Galvin’s, Fava’s, Subway etc., and if you are looking for coffee Lock and Key is the place to go. Not only is the downtown area a culinary adventure, there are also plenty of unique stores to browse through, such as the antique mall and art gallery. The antique mall is probably one of the most interesting things my friends and I have gone to in our time here and is definitely worth checking out.
Midterms have started again. This means two things: lots of studying and spring break is right around the corner. Spring break is particularly exciting for me because it will be the first time I get to go home this semester. I cannot wait to see all of my family again! It is going to be great. Also, I might have a road trip planned for sometime in the next few weeks, but we will see how that goes. I’ll keep you posted.
I know right now is starting to be crunch time for picking the place where you will be spending the next 4 or more years of your life. I wish you all luck and hope you pick the best place for you. College is great. If you have any questions about anything college related or life related or whatever, don’t hesitate to contact me via e-mail. It is grantcollege10@yahoo.com. Good luck with all your applications and choices.
Well, I have a paper calling my name, so I am going to go. I hope you have a great week and look forward to seeing or hearing from you. Until next time…

"I will now contemplate the Sun."

Hello all,
I hope all is well in your world. College is going well. I am starting to get used to some of my classes, which is always nice. My Foundations 112 and Philosophy 201 are quite involved, as far as reading goes, but they are very interesting and rewarding. I really enjoy all of my classes this semester. I am involved in a lot of different programs at this point, which I enjoy. I keep very busy with cheerleading and fraternity stuff as well as school work, but being busy is part of the fun at college.
I got back from Georgia the other day. Cheerleading gave me the opportunity to attend the qualifying competition for nationals which was held at Shorter College this year. It was a really fun trip, and I got to see my parents that weekend as well, which was awesome. I also was able to catch up on a lot of reading on the six hour drive down and the six hour drive back.
Over the last few weeks, I have discovered the joy of inter-mural sports. This is a great way to get to know people and have a lot of fun while you are at it. I played water polo for the first time the other day. I can’t tell you how tiring it is, but I am eager to try my hand at it again. I want to encourage you to get involved in different activities on campus. It is truly rewarding. However, I would caution you to watch just how involved you get. It is ok to be engaged, but if you get overly involved, college can get pretty ridiculous. Priorities and time management are a huge part of college.
I hope your senior year is going well. Keep up with high school stuff. Senior-itus is a plague, I am telling you. It hit me like a freight train my senior year of high school. Have a great week.

Hello!

Hello All,

I am currently walking once again in the winter wonderland that is Georgetown College. I cannot tell you how much precipitation, in the form of snow, this campus gets each year. This last week has been very hectic and stressful for lots of reasons beyond academics, but somehow everything usually gets done.

I have officially joined a fraternity. All of my brothers are great. It is awesome to be a part of something like this. Now that Rush is over, one would think things would slow down around here. On the contrary, this last week has been my busiest yet. This seems to be the general consensus all around campus. Cheerleading has been incredibly busy as we have competition in a week.

On a brighter note, all of my classes are going well as of now. I have a presentation and a test next week along with a couple of papers, but it should all work out. In the next few hours I am going to try and bust out some of the homework I have for this week. We will see how all of that goes.

As I type, the snow is falling faster and faster. It is just one solid sheet of white outside my window. We have not had a snow day yet, but today could definitely be the day. I hope all of your second semesters are going well. Remember to take these last few months seriously; you won’t regret it.

Sorry for the brevity of my blog this week. My life has been consumed by cheerleading practice, fraternity stuff and school work. I hope you all have a great week. I am off to finish up some more homework. Until next time…

Welcome Back!

Hello Everyone!

I hope that all of you had a very restful Christmas break. Mine was much needed and very fun. I was definitely ready to be back at Georgetown. Cherish the time you have with your family while at home, though. I am just now finishing up my first week of the second semester of my college experience. It has been quite a wild ride so far. This week marks the beginning of new classes, new schedules, new students, rush/recruitment week and much, much more.

I am going through rush as we speak, so I will let you know how that goes. Just to fill you in on how rush/recruitment is done, I will try to give you a quick overview. Rush week happens during the first two weeks back on campus of the spring semester and recruitment is just the first week of class during the same semester. Recruitment for women involves several nights of going to each of the houses and learning about the different sororities. The journey for women ends on Chapel Day, (today by the way) where women get to run out the chapel doors into the arms of their sisters. Everyone dresses crazily and is very excited about the day. Men’s rush is still going on now. Men’s rush is composed of informal parties during the first week that everyone is invited to and the second week is composed of formal parties. The formal parties are invitation only. Men’s rush concludes on bid day which is this Friday, I believe. I will let you know how it goes after it is finished.

My classes are going well this semester. I have History of Philosophy 1, Interpersonal Communications, Foundations 112: Irish Myth, Legend and Folklore, Introduction to Computing and English Literature Survey 2. I have a tendency to think my world is going to involve about as many papers or more as last semester, so I will definitely keep busy. I am really excited about what my academic future holds even though I am not quite sure what to do with my major.

Along with my academics, I am also on the Freshman Leadership Team. This is a group of freshman students who do lots of different things on campus like fundraising, programs, worship services and much more. I highly encourage all of you to be involved. You apply for FLT around November of your first semester, so be looking out for that. Also the leadership applications for things such as resident advisor, Freshman Family Group parent, orientation leader, peer educator and many other campus leadership opportunities are available during this semester for the following year. I would highly encourage you to be involved in as much as you can.

That was just a quick update on my life now that I am back at GC. It really is great to be back and see everyone. I hope your senior year is going well. Remember to turn in your FAFSA! I will type to you later. Have a great week!