On-Campus/Off-Campus Event

On-Campus Event

My on-campus event sort of just fell into my lap. One of my friends is a member of Student Foundation and the group wanted each member to bring one friend to the Faculty Talkback (not 100% on this name). As I needed an on-campus event that I normally wouldn’t attend, it seemed as if we would both be fulfilling our requirements (the table of deserts didn’t hurt either). This was a cool event in which students get a chance to talk to a faculty member about topics of concern. The topics are set before hand and then all those in attendance, including the members of the Foundation, rotate through the six different tables.

My favorite topic table was the Honor Code table. During the previous table switches, my group had only consisted of another student, a Foundation member, a professor and me. Once we arrived at the Honor Code table, however, our group received the addition of President Schrum, the visiting president of the American University in London and the president of the Student Judiciary. Not to mention the fact that Dr. Leese was leading the table. So, my slightly different-than-most take on the Honor Code was definitely a conversation starter at that table. I can still remember the look on President Schrum’s face when I said that I didn’t think the Honor Code accomplished anything that the threat of getting caught cheating or plagiarizing didn’t already accomplish. Dr. Leese knows me pretty well, so he didn’t seem too surprised when I expressed my concern with the Honor Code, but it seemed that everyone else at the table, say for my original tablemates, was attempting to get me to admit to cheating so that they could place the reason my indifference on some concrete example.

This event was something I hadn’t ever heard of, but I will definitely continue to attend in the future. I am pretty sure that they happen every semester, but you can ask a Student Foundation member to find out for sure (you probably know at least five members and don’t even know it).

Off-Campus Event

Have you ever walked into a building and been expecting to see one thing only to have your expectations turned upside down? This happened to me recently as I ventured off campus to play bingo at Creekside Charity Bingo in Round Rock. I was accompanied on this eye-opening experience by my fellow cohort members Cait and Megan. Just so you know, if you think this sounds like a way to relax and have some fun, this is not your slow, elementary-school bingo.

We walked into the building, after taking several wrong turns and having to call the business’ phone number in order to find it, and went to the counter to purchase some tickets. I remember playing bingo with when I was younger, but the game cards here each contained 12 different BINGO games. We sat down late and the first game was already in progress. A lady sitting near took pity on us and helped catch us up during the game. She assisted us in the rest of the games as well, as we required frequent explanations. She did all of this while she was playing three cards of 12 BINGO games! I was having trouble keeping up with just my one card.

All the players are required to use ink-blotters to cover up numbers that have been called. Some people had several bottles of ink and we even saw some who carried around tote bags with spots around the outside for 20 ink-blotters. It was intense. The numbers were being called blazingly-fast and if one looked down to say, answer a text, it would put them behind. The closest any of us came to winning was in the second to last game in which Cait only needed O63 to win and the next ball called was O64. Win or lose, it was a fun experience. The people in the building were not people that I would normally have spoken to, but they were nice, willing to help and liked to chat.