Stevens Admissions: Sean

Student Leadership Awards Brunch

This past Sunday, I was invited to the annual Student Leadership Awards Brunch present by the Office of Student Life. It was held in the Bissinger Room of the Wesley J. Howe Center. Students, faculty, and staff were present to enjoy brunch and witness the awards presentation. Everyone was dressed up in their business casual attire. The brunch was enjoyable -- we were served french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, tots, ham, parfait, and a few cute desserts.

After enjoying brunch, Dean Nilsen and the student life staff began presenting awards. I was the first to receive the Emerging Leader Award. I did not expect to receive an award, much less be invited to the event. I was quite surprised when I found out. As each person or group went up to receive their award, the Dean said a little tidbit about each individual or group and what they do at Stevens. It was great to hear about and see everyone who brings something of their own to campus.

After being presented one of the Emerging Leader Awards, I feel motivated to continue doing my best here at Stevens. It is an honour to receive such an award. I will keep on doing what I do best as a musician here and as vice president next year for Torch Alliance.

Patbingsoo and Chicken Over Rice

Thursday night, I went to make patbingsoo in Jacobus Lounge at an event hosted by the Korean Student Association (KSA). Patbingsoo is a shaved ice dessert from Korea, which contains sweetened azuki beans and milk. It can be topped with candy, fruit, ice cream, yogurt, rice cakes, syrups, and jellies. This particular dessert is popular during the hot summer season. The weather is finally starting to warm up now that's it's the end of the semester and we're nearing summer, so it was a good dessert to have.

After the KSA event, the Chinese Student Association (CSA) had their family night where students got together to take the PATH train into New York City. We decided to grab some food at the 53rd and 6th Halal Cart, one of the famed carts in the City, well known for it's chicken and gyro over rice plates. We got our halal and enjoyed the wonderful taste. The food was very good and filling. It was a nice outing for a Thursday night, and well worth the trip.  

Saudi Day

Friday afternoon, I attended the Saudi Day event in Babbio Atrium hosted by the Saudi Student Association. There was a lot of Arabic dishes, desserts, and snacks, as well as informative presentations of Saudi Arabia's country and culture. They also emphasized the advancement of Saudi women. In their country, women actually have a high place in education and the work place as opposed to men. Many people have the misconception that women in Saudi Arabia are not treated as well as men when it comes to education and work. When I read about this at the event, I was quite surprised.

The food was delicious too. They served dishes like tabbouleh, lamb, rice, dolmades, dates, and much more. They were all very rich in flavour.

I enjoyed the dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) the most.

They also held activities such as henna tattoos and having your name written in Arabic!

It was a very well run event. I learned a good bit of Arabic culture that afternoon, and I hope to attend more events with the same quality as this one!

Urinetown: The Musical

Last night marked Stevens Dramatic Society's opening night of Urinetown: The Musical! Like last year's spring musical, I am once again playing drumkit and percussion for the pit orchestra. Since last year, I have improved greatly with my playing on drumkit. Taking lessons through my music courses here has helped since I started in my first semester.

Urinetown is a satirical musical, parodying Broadway shows and musicals as a form, as well as alluding to popular musicals like Les Miserables. The plot is based around a water drought and the community is forced to pay in order to use public urinals.

The show itself, although it may sound silly, is actually very well written. The music is enjoyable and fitting too. The Stevens cast puts on an awesome performance as they usually do, after having rehearsed for months beforehand. Opening night brought out a crowd of over 200, and we hope to see more people come out in the following performances tonight, tomorrow afternoon, and tomorrow evening in DeBaun Auditorium.

Being On E-Board

Last week, Torch Alliance held elections for their 2013-2014 E-board. Five positions (President, Vice President, Treasure, Secretary, Event Coordinator) were being ran for by Torch members. This past year I have been working for Torch Alliance as their secretary, which involves me typing minutes for each general body meeting and E-board meeting. I have also been creating fliers and advertising events and meetings for students to be aware about, so I also had some responsibilities of being a social chair/event coordinator. It is just now that they have added the fifth position for the E-board.

I had been nominated for vice president by one of my fellow Torch members, and I ended up being elected for the position. I am very happy to be on the E-board again and I look forward to working with everyone for another successful year. I can say that being on E-board has taught me a lot about how to run an organization and what it means to be a leader. I hope to learn more in the coming year. When I started out as secretary, I was somewhat nervous about taking on the position, but now, I find it pretty easy. It's all about learning the different ways to go about things when you've got responsibilities to take care of. Now that I'm about to take on the position for vice president, I'm going to have more responsibilities involving planning and leading.

Everyone Is Gay

Last Wednesday, Torch Alliance invited Kristen Russo and Dannielle Owens-Reid from Everyone Is Gay to come speak on Stevens campus. Everyone Is Gay started out as an advice website for all to seek help from. Although they emphasize on helping LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) youth, they look to reach out to people of all identities. Through their advice, they also deliver humour to keep things lighthearted. During the event, the two spoke about LGBTQ youth and how an individual should go about supporting those from the LGBTQ community.

The event was informative and amusing. Many students showed up in Kidde 228, as well as a few faculty members. For me, I was given the responsibility of being the contact person for the speakers that night, making sure they got to campus and they had everything they needed. It was a great job for me to take on and it opened my eyes to what it really took to organizing an event like this. I enjoyed helping out the speakers and listening to what they had to say during their presentation. Being part of the LGBTQ community, I like hearing what others have to say about our issues and what we may face, and how to deal with it. It was especially enjoyable since they kept it humourous throughout the night.

Mark Twain and American Humour

For one of my humanities classes this semester, I have been taking a course on Mark Twain and American humour led by Professor Rubenfeld. In this course, we focus on Mark Twain's works and how they are considered to be American. We also analyze how the humour applies to America both in Twain's time and in our present day. So far, we have read Roughing It, Life On the Mississippi, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Currently, we are reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and our last book will be A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

As for Huck Finn, I did read the book back in my junior year of high school and I enjoyed it. Now that I'm reading it again, I am catching some details and symbolism in the story that I didn't catch back then. It also helps that Professor Rubenfeld gives some of Twain's life history as we read and discuss the book in class. Analyzing the story along with Twain's life give a greater insight as to what Twain was meaning to get across in his work. It poses questions and ideas that I didn't think of before in high school.

The course number for this class is HLI-352, if anyone is interested in taking a class based on Mark Twain. I am highly enjoying the course, and I feel like I'm getting a lot out of it. I definitely recommend this class to students who like American literature and Mark Twain.

Say What?! Karaoke

Last night in Pierce Dining Lounge, I went to go check out the karaoke event being hosted by WCPR, Stevens' radio station. I walked in, took a seat with some friends, and enjoyed the music that fellow students sang to. There was even a judging panel of faculty members giving scores and comments to everyone who participated. Food and drink were served as well, in addition to the entertainment. Students sang songs of their choice from Karafun.com, the karaoke library that WCPR uses at all their karaoke events. Songs of all genres and eras were sang. There were laughs all around!

The sign up sheet for going up was being passed around, and one of my fellow music tech majors convinced me to get up there, so I decided, "Why not?" I went ahead and sang "Starlight" by Muse, and it was pretty fun to just get up and sing in front of everyone for fun. Being a musician and performer, getting any chance to just do something music in front of people is great. I didn't get such a bad score either. I ended up in the top four for the final round of karaoke, where they brought out the "Wheel of Death". The "Wheel of Death" had a variety of songs in each slot. Songs ranging from "Memory" - Cats to "My Heart Will Go On" - Celine Dion to "I Just Had Sex" - Lonely Island. My fellow contestants sang Cats, Lonely Island, and "I'm So Pretty". I ended up singing "Crazy Train" by Black Sabbath, which I didn't really know the lyrics too, other than the chorus which I nailed. Got a pretty good score though, and ended up in second place, which isn't too bad at all! I even won a $75 Visa giftcard, which made the night totally worth it.

International Dumpling Night

Last night, I helped out CSA at International Dumpling Night, where CSA, FAST, MASA, IUA, and KSA get together to showcase different dumplings from their respective cultures.

A variety of dumplings were served, as you can see from the pamphlet above. Unfortunately, I couldn't get picture of the dumplings themselves, for I was busy serving students and handing out pamphlets. I did manage to get some dumplings near the end, and they were great! The event allowed students to experience the different tastes of each culture and showed the variety of dumplings that were possible.

Near the end there was also a dumpling eating contest, which a few students participated in for prizes such as a dumpling cooking book and a $50 Amazon gift card. The event was fun and delicious for all.

Breakfast

As you all may know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It fuels our bodies first thing in the morning and prepares us to perform for the rest of the day. This is especially important for us college students who have to go to class for any amount of time.

Every morning, I go to Pierce Dining Hall to grab something to eat. They are open from 7AM-12 midnight, so it's very easy to walk in at any time that you are hungry. It's very convenient if you ask me. For breakfast, they serve eggs, bacon, sausage, yogurt, oatmeal, fresh fruit, cereals, and toast. They even have an omelette station and grill!

Usually, I order a ham, onion, and tomato omelette with egg whites and cheese. The Pierce dining staff takes your order and cooks it for you. They're very kind and welcoming, ready to cater to your needs. In addition to my omelette, I also have a cup of oatmeal and some fresh fruit.

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, and Pierce does it well.

Hamentashen

Stevens Hillel hosted an event last night in Hayden Lounge for students to make their own hamentashen, in honor of the Jewish holiday, Purim, which commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from the Persian empire. Hamentash is a Jewish pastry in the shape of a triangle with a filling in the center. Different fillings include fruit (cherries, strawberries, apricots, apples), chocolate, caramel, or cheese.

Hamentash is named after the Purim villain, Hamen. The pastry is supposed to symbolize the defeated enemy of the Jewish people.

Last night, we made our hamentashen with cookie dough along with different fruit jams and hazelnut spreads. In order to make the hamentashen, you roll the dough into a ball, and then flatten it into a circle. After that, you take your filling and place it in the center of the dough. After placing your chosen filling, you fold the dough into three corners, creating a triangle.

The hamentashen was sweet and delicious!