Student Leadership Institute Workshop

On January 27, 2009 at 6-8 p.m. in DePaul’s Lincoln Park student center room 314B, the Student Leadership Institute (SLI) hosted an interactive workshop entitled, “Strategic Planning and Personal Goal Setting.” The guest speaker was Sandesh Bilgi, who is a former Assistant Director in Student Affairs at DePaul University. Bilgi has worked with professional athletes and companies to help with teambuilding and motivation.

The workshop was similar to the last SLI event that I covered. The audience was composed of DePaul Students looking for useful information. The students are also looking to complete two hours of a workshop, after a certain amount of workshop hours have been completed these students can obtain their leadership certificate which looks great on job and internship applications. Bilgi used a slideshow to supplement his workshop. Bilgi had students focus on setting realistic goals that can be reached and also talked about procrastinating which was a popular topic among students.

The SLI are hosting there next interactive workshop entitled, “Global perspectives on Leadership” on Wednesday, February 4th from 5:30-8:30 p.m. in the Loop Campus’s DePaul Center room 11013.

DePaul Students for Entrepreneurs

This is a photo of Casey Clark. Casey is a General Manager for a business called College Pro. The DePaul Students for Entrepreneurs hosted a presentation for Casey to tell students interested in being Entrepreneurs how College Pro could help them in developing necessary skills needed to become a successful entrepreneur. Becca Berkenstadt is the president of DePaul Students for Entrepreneurs. She organized the event and was in attendance while Casey gave his presentation.

Upon arrival I was welcomed immediately and I told both Casey and Becca why I was attending their event and they were more than happy to let me listen, snap a few photos, and participate in the presentation. The presentation Casey gave was extremely interactive. Rather than just listen to someone talk Casey involved all those in attendance and actually asked everyone what their name, year, major, and interest in entrepreneurship was before the presentation started. College Pro is a painting company that offers vital experience in marketing, business management, and in basic entrepreneurial skills. The DePaul Students for Entrepreneurs group can be contacted through email at s4edepaul@yahoo.com and College Pro has an internet site at collegepro.com.

Global Aid---(Multimedia Assignment # 1)

This is a photo of Ranald Sylla, a DePaul Student who was participating in an event put together by the DePaul Humanities Centers on Friday, January 23^rd. The event was held to raise awareness for human rights in response to recent tragedies such as the Gaza and Israel conflict. The event was held in the Student Center Atrium at 12:00-3:00p.m.

Ranald was using her booth to ask students and staff members to donate any school items that they may have in order to help fund and provide for schools in Africa. While I was at the booth she instructed me to sign a mailing list that would provide me with all of the donation locations and days that these locations would be taking donations. When I receive this information I will make an update to this Blog with the correct info.

This is a photo of Samantha Kaminski and Andrew Olsen. Samantha and Andrew are both students at DePaul and their booth had two main focuses. They wanted to both raise awareness and discussion on the current fighting in Gaza, and they had a petition that would be sent to Senator Hillary Clinton in order to shut down the S.O.A. The S.O.A. which stands for School of America’s, which is a group that trains Latin American military officers through the United States Army. The S.O.A. has been protested by many civil rights activists and Samantha and Andrew are only two of them

This is a photo of Frannie Boehnlein (left) and Daviree Velazquez (right) who is the president of UNICEF’s Chicago Chapter. Frannie and Daviree were representing UNICEF’s first and only Chicago chapter. UNICEF stands for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, which helps bring aid to children who are in need across the world.

Daviree showed me one of their flyers that was advertising their upcoming event at DePaul. The event is on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 from 6:00-7:00 in Munroe Hall Rooms 114 & 115. This events purpose is to introduce UNICEF to other DePaul students and staff and to show how it can benefit DePaul and the world. The upcoming event has a Facebook group and the URL for the event is http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=38970611877 . If you have any questions they can be reached at unicef.depaul@gmail.com or Deviree Velazquez can be contacted at dvelazq1@students.depaul.edu .

Barack Obama Inauguration Poetry

On Tuesday January 20, 2009 the DePaul Humanities Center hosted a poetry reading in commemoration of President Barack Obama’s inauguration. The poetry reading was held in room 314 in DePaul’s Student Center.

Upon arrival I grabbed a huge amount of the free food that was offered to everyone. I was then greeted by a student at the entrance and I was handed a book of poems entitled, A writers’ Congress: Chicago Poets on Barack Obama’s Inauguration. This book of poems was the material used throughout the reading. Most of the poets that were within this poetry collection were at the reading themselves and recited their own poems for those in attendance. The poems spoke of hope, change, adversity, and optimism which were all ideals used throughout the Obama campaign. There was also a camera man in the middle of the room representing CAN TV which would be broadcasting the poetry reading.

I had watched the inauguration earlier in the day and I can say that the people who were at the poetry reading were deeply inspired by the achievements of President Obama. Everyone had a smile on their faces from ear to ear as if they themselves had just been inaugurated. It was easy to see that Obama was more than just the first African-American President to those in attendance by rather someone that would lead us out of difficult times.

With so many horrible things are happening in the world today it was refreshing to be in a room with people who were filled with optimism. If anyone would like to hear the reading in its entirety it can be found at http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/program_amp.aspx.

The Office and 30 Rock

Today, January 15^th, there will be an event in the DePaul Student Center starting at 8:00 p.m. At this event DePaul students have organized a viewing of the TV shows, The Office and 30 Rock on NBC. Personally The Office is one of my favorite shows so this event is right up my alley and anything with Tracey Morgan or Steve Carell is sure to make anyone laugh. There will be free food and a raffle plus it is in the Student Center so if you don’t like the free food they offer you can always grab something from the cafeteria.

This event gives students especially freshman and transfer students the chance to get to know some fellow students by helping them network with others within the university. Free food, free entertainment, and a raffle should be enough to get the student bodies attention. So, if you have become depressed due to the fact that it gets dark at 4 in the afternoon and it is colder than Alaska, walk over to the warm and comfortable DePaul Student Center and get to know some other DePaul students while you have a good time laughing.

DePaul Geographical Society

On Saturday January 10th in the Schmitt Academic Center room 154, I attended an event that was organized by the DePaul Geographical Society. The event was called, “Poetry, Politics and Possibilities- A Scottish Journey.” The key note speaker was Dr. Euan Hague who was himself born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. The event was organized to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns which is on January 25th.

Dr.Euan Hague discussed political, economical, and social aspects of Scottish life. A main talking point for Dr. Hague was the relationship that Scotland has with England and their struggles to become independent and to ultimately become a completely separate from the UK. Along with these points Dr. Hague talked about the various Scottish traditions that families have kept alive through the ears such as Tartanry which is the wearing of the plaid Kilts. Dr.Hague also showed the various ways that figures in Scottish history have affected literature. For example, the novel, “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was based on Edinburgh’s city councilor Deacon William Brodie of the 1780’s, who led a split personality and robbed and killed at night. Even the myth of the Loch Ness Monster was jokingly discussed during the presentation.

This event definitely peaked my interest in Scottish history to say the least. The DePaul Geographical Society is having an upcoming event that is opened to the public on Saturday, February 7, 2009, at 1:30 p.m. in the Schmitt Academic Center room 154. The event is entitled, “Land and Identity—Struggle for Power on the Zimbabwean Plateau.” The DePaul Geographical Society can be reached by phone at (773)-325-7871 for further information.

Student Leadership Institute (SLI)

On Monday January 12th 2009 in room 314B of DePaul’s Student Center the Student Leadership Institute (SLI) held an interactive workshop on successfully requesting letters of recommendation. The speaker throughout the workshop was Vicki P. Klopsch, Assistant Director of Alumni Sharing Knowledge. There was an informative slide show that was covered by Vicki as well as interactive exercises that helped those in attendance get to know one another.

The main focus of the workshop was to learn some tips and tricks on how to successfully get a letter of recommendation. This should be of great knowledge to students who are looking for a job and need that extra edge or a student who is looking to attain an internship. After leaving the workshop I had felt more than educated on how to properly get a letter of recommendation. So for all those who who find this subject interesting you can email the Student Leadership Institute at sli@depaul.edu or call (773) 325-4658.