Here are a FEW pics of Freshman Foothold for those who want em.

Well, I've been busy- as if you didn't know that by now. But here are a few things that I have been working on:

http://universe.byu.edu/node/11028
This is a video I did for International Fair.

http://byudailyuniverse.com/blog/?p=6010
This is a photo blog that I shot of Y Trail.

There are more things but you can look for them on universe.byu.edu.

And here are the photos:

Because the people demand it...

I'm a busy guy, so I apologize for the lateness of this update and leaving you all hanging. I have two jobs, for those who don't know, and they have been keeping me very occupied. Oh, and 15 credit hours. So you can understand why these posts aren't as frequent as we'd like. Anywho, I recently received an e-mail inquiring about my recent escapade with the Freshman Foothold retreat. So for all of those who wish to know, here are a few points:


A few questions to consider might be:
-How exactly are you involved in Freshman Foothold? (Or how did you get involved?)
I got involved in Freshman Foothold originally as a freshman when I was invited by the MSS office to go on the retreat. I had such a great time and learned such useful things that I have always remembered that experience throughout my university career. Because of these fond memories, when I received an e-mail calling for volunteers and mentors for this years FF Retreat, I was only too happy to sign up. Apparently there were a lot of others who answered the e-mail to be a mentor, but I was lucky enough to be chosen and was glad for the chance. Something interesting is that I was the oldest mentor and the only one married. I don't know why, but it was interesting. As a mentor I drove a group of Freshman up to Springhaven in Hobble Creek Canyon in a BYU van and directed my group of 12 freshman during the course of the overnight trip. I also organized our dance number which was, well, pretty awesome.
-What are the main purposes of the Freshman Retreat? Do you think these purposes were accomplished?
The main purpose for Freshman Retreat is to aide students in making the transition from high school to university life, and to really let them understand that the MSS office is there for them whenever they need as a counsel and support. Also, to have a TON of fun. I am not sure if the students had as good a time as I did, but I suspect that they did have a great experience and I'm sure that the goals of the MSS office were met and exceeded with this activity.
-How do you think the program helps new freshman adjust from high school to college?
I think the most important thing for any student who has recently left home of the first time is to learn how to wisely manage time and relationships. There were workshops about those topics and inspired devotionals that I know helped me become better educated about important facets of university life.
-What kinds of other activities are planned for Freshman Foothold throughout the year?
I am not sure what other activities are planned, but I am sure they will all be both fun and educational and I hope I can get involved in them in someway as well.


So there you go. In addition to these good times, I made some new friends, played some Phase 10 and got into a battle royale (a good kind) with Melba the coordinator in charge.
The activity was great fun, a shout out to my group: Heaven, Mika, Rachael, Michelle, Giselle (yeah, there were hard to keep straight name-wise), Sheldon, Phoebe, Maria, Jenae, Miriam, and Brenda. They are a good bunch. We called ourselves the Kool-aides and our cheer was high on the awesome scale. I do love Kool-Aide. We were almost the ‘Slurpies’, but even my dedicated freshman wouldn’t go for that.

There will be more things posted later.

Impressionable freshman need YOU!

Well folks, I have been selected from amongst thousands of candidates to be a Freshman Foothold mentor. What is this you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Freshman foothold is a program that is sponsored and organized by Multicultural Student Services at BYU. This entails an overnight event in which around 150 multicultural freshman are taken to Spring Haven lodge up Hobble Creek Canyon for an overnight activity with devotionals, workshops, dances, and presentations. I was selected to be a mentor of 12ish wonderfully optimistic/naive Freshman for this activity which will take place next week. I am told that I was selected primarily for my awesomeness, which is substantial.
Now, for those of you who know me (I'm looking at you politicchic), you are probably cringing internally and questioning whether or not the Freshman Foothold selection committee is composed of sadists, psychos, pirates, and ruffians. Probably. But that doesn't change the fact that I, and therefore you, are in a position to impact/scar the next generation of BYU tadpoles.

I am planning on printing up a list of REAL HELPFUL advice for each of my little buddies (there will be girls and boys). I am going to be putting advice that will really help them during their time at BYU.

This is what I would like from you: One thing that you wish that you'd have known about when you were a Freshman that you didn't learn until later.
We're looking for the best tips, tricks, ideas, and philosophies- NOT the standard 'get involved', or 'do the readings before class' type of advice. That's common sense and I am sure they will get that from other sources. I need your combined wisdom to make their experience as worthwhile as possible. The focus of the workshops is relationships- between a student and roommate, professor, opposite sex, and other students.

Extra credit: I am also going to make a mock 'Worse Case Scenario' cards to hand out to the kids in my group. They are supposed to be funny/realistic. It will have a scenario written on the front of the card, for example:
You come home late one night to your apartment (around 1 AM) and find your roommate engaging in 'petting' with their significant other. WHAT DO YOU DO?

Then on the other side will be something like this:
A) Yell at your roommate and throw a chair at them.
B) Apologize and offer to be lookout for them and run interference with other roommates.
C) Curl up into the fetal position and cry until they go away.
D) Throw a bucket of ice water on them.


Anyway, something along those lines. If you have a scenario idea, email me. They are supposed to be silly, so no worries there, and The idea isn't to give them an acceptable solution, they can think of that on their own, but to get them to think about things in a humorous way. Thanks if you help, and if you don't.... well. Fine, be that way.