A William and Mary Semester in 5 Minutes

Hey Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the start of the holiday season. I am so glad that I finally have the chance to post a new blog. I officially finished the fall semester this past Thursday, and I have returned safely to my home in Maryland. The past several months have been extremely hectic, but I am trying my hardest to soak up every minute of my final year at William and Mary. It would be difficult to pack nearly four months of updates into one blog, so I’ll give you an abbreviated version. Here we go…

I started the year with my fourth and final Orientation experience of college. For the past three years, I have volunteered as an Orientation Aide and served as a guide for freshmen halls during their first week on campus. This year, I was lucky enough to spend five days with the new students in Dinwiddie Hall. Shout-out: Din to the what? Widdie! Not only did they have the chance to get to know William and Mary’s campus, but they also attended all sorts of information sessions and social mixers. It was extremely rewarding to use my own experiences to answer their questions and lead them into this newest chapter of their lives. I absolutely loved getting to know each of them, and I think we all had a fantastic time.

After Orientation, the rest of the students returned to campus, and the semester took off at full speed. My time in September was almost entirely devoted to planning the first-ever Tribe Idol singing competition, which was a philanthropic event sponsored by two Greek organizations on campus. We started by choosing 12 students to sing on the night of the show. They each had the chance to sing part of a song a cappella, but only six were chosen by the four judges to advance to the second round. Those lucky six contestants then sang a full song with music, and the audience voted for the winner. The show was a lot of fun, and we found some tremendously talented students on campus. In the end, we raised over $800, which was donated to a local shelter for battered women and children. Eat your heart out, American Idol!

October is usually the craziest month of the fall semester. Students can always look forward to Homecoming, Greek formals, a cappella concerts, fall break, and of course, midterms. With regards to academics, I really enjoyed my classes this semester. I took everything from a French literature course to a business course in the brand-new Miller Hall, which is an experience in itself. I even had the chance to take an Adventure Games course in the Kinesiology Department. We did all sorts of high-ropes course activities, including zip-lining over Lake Matoaka! One of my favorite classes of the semester was a one-week course on the World Trade Organization at the Marshall-Wythe Law School. The course was taught by a professor from Luxembourg, and the class was actually a combination of law students and undergraduate economics majors. Although the material was relatively challenging, I found myself wishing the class lasted for the entire semester.

While November can sometimes serve as a quick break after midterms and papers, it turns out that senior year is not quite as relaxing as you would expect. Why? Two words: job searching. My parents have never failed to remind me that there is actually a reason why they are paying for me to attend William and Mary-the same reason why I have spent endless nights digesting lectures and textbooks. With the help of the Career Center and the hidden-treasure that is the Alumni Mentor Network, I navigated my way through resume submissions and interviews. I am extremely fortunate to be finishing first semester with the knowledge that I will be joining a fantastic company at the end of the school year.

Finally, December came and went in the blink of an eye. I am thrilled to be finished with what once seemed like endless papers and exams. The highlight of my final week was undoubtedly supporting Tribe Football at Villanova last Friday at the FCS semifinal game-William and Mary’s first appearance since 2004. After making the tough decision to miss an annual fraternity event, I hopped aboard a bus full of enthusiastic students and rode for six hours to Philadelphia. While the bus ride certainly was not the best experience of my life, the game was incredibly exciting. Our football team has done an amazing job this season, and this game was no different. Although we lost to Villanova by only 1 point, the entire team should be extremely proud of themselves for putting up a tough fight.

As I mentioned, I am now at my home in Maryland for the next month. I am very excited to finally relax, and I will be sure to keep you updated throughout the holiday season as I prepare to run a marathon in January.

Have a wonderful month. Happy Holidays!

Ryan