#1:
I’ve been a one trick pony most of my life when reffering to activities outside the classroom, which is why I thought attending the Student Involvement Fair would be a good experience for me. Two clubs caught my attention right away, each of which I’m going to look into a bit more. I know I’ll always have my good friends on the hockey team, but I’d also love to meet some new people in the fishing club and EMT club.
About two years ago, I had a handful of teammates who were really into fishing back home; mostly Midwest kids. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it. Joining the fishing club would give me a chance to expand my fishing knowledge. We would go saltwater fishing, fly fishing, fishing out on boats, and I’d be catching fish I’ve never caught before. Along with that, it would be a great way to get away from school and hockey and just relieve some stress, think about nothing but catching fish.
Both my aunts are EMT’s and never stop telling me about how much they love it, which is a big reason why I’m very interested in the EMT club. The best part about it is that it requires zero EMT experience, and I’d be able to work my way to the top by earning my EMT certificate. This club sounds a little bit more time consuming than the fishing club, and it may interfere with hockey, but also sounds much more rewarding. On the job, shifts would be twelve hours, from 7-7, and as a newcomer I’d be getting a great hands-on experience by shadowing someone who really knows what they’re doing. In the end, if I do well enough, I can also earn a scholarship to get my EMT certificate. Joining this club will really help me expand my horizon, and give me a look into a point of view I’ve never actually witnessed, just heard about.
#2:
This out of class activity was the women’s hockey team playing at home against Southern Maine. They have played a couple of home games before, but this was the first one that I attended. I’ve been meaning to catch the women’s games for a few reasons. First, for the bonds between the men’s and women’s teams. This was something that was very strong at my high school, and one that I know is prevalent across numerous schools. Both teams spend the majority of their time at the rink, so when our paths cross, it would be nice to know and have connections with one another.
I think this was the perfect first game for me to go to for many reasons. First, the game was “chuck a duck” night, a classic spin off of “chuck a puck” that is used by many other high school, college and minor professional teams for promotion. This is when fans throw fake hockey pucks (little rubber duckies in this case) between periods, and the one closest to center ice wins a prize. Not only was this a fun way to get fans in the seat, but it was promoted by two of my teammates for their sports and recreation management class. For the same reason I previously mentioned, they chose to promote the women’s hockey game to build a stronger connection between the two teams. This was a fun activity that everyone on my team went to and participated in, and one of my teammates won the prize of a UNE pub gift card.
The other reason that this was the perfect game to go to was because of the amount of fans that Southern Maine brought. It’s never fun to have more away fans than home fans, so my teammates and I made sure to show up and bring the energy. The girls are usually always at our games, and we wanted to reciprocate that support. They ended up winning the close 2-1 game, it was very enjoyable to attend, and I see myself going to more games in the future.
#3:
This out of class activity was going to the women’s soccer team conference semifinal game against Curry College. My teammates and I have been to some of the women’s games earlier in the season, as we are friends with many of them and because our residence hall, Champlain Hall, is so close to the soccer field. This game was a little different though. In the playoffs, the level of play intensifies and the home crowd on your side is one of the biggest competitive advantages you can have. Being on the hockey team, we all value the importance of the home crowd, as it has propelled us to many wins this season, and countless ones in years prior. We made it a point to show up and be loud, but also respectful, at this game, especially because Curry is one of our biggest rivals in hockey. But most importantly, we know that members of the women’s team come to our games, and we often see them when we go out on the weekends. So we wanted to show that we support them as much as they support us.
I’ll be honest in saying I’m not the biggest fan of watching soccer. I went to watch a few games in high school, and I watch the occasional game every 4 years during the World Cup. However, this game was nothing short of exciting. The atmosphere was fun, the game was back and forth, and I honestly had a lot of fun watching. The home crowd helped the team to a thrilling victory, and I was honestly disappointed to hear that the championship game wasn’t at home. I’m looking forward to going to games in the upcoming years.
#4:
This out of class activity I attended was trivia night, located on the first floor of the commons. As the end of the semester crept closer, my life and the lives of my fellow freshmen teammates felt like an endless cycle: class, hockey, homework, repeat. We knew these “dog days” would come, but living them was a different story. On a shockingly quiet Tuesday night, my roommates and I decided to check out trivia night. This was a very spontaneous decision, as we sat extremely bored in our rooms. I was excited for this. Recently in our seminar, my peers read their freshman year first semester stories, and many of them mentioned “Big Bingo Night”. It made me regret not attending, and I thought this would be a bit of a lateral, a similar experience.
The questions started off very easy. One of them went along the lines of “What is the card game named after the Spanish word ‘one’?”. Honestly, you need no knowledge of card games or even Spanish to know this answer. We enjoyed these questions while we could because we actually knew the answers. After each one, we chuckled, and thought how easy this was going to be, wondering how any team could get on these questions wrong. As the night progressed, the questions became evidently more difficult. We sat there in confusion, and our laughs now came out of concern because we no longer knew any of the answers. Regardless of the outcome (we did in fact not win), we had a great time getting out of the room and getting out of our never ending daily cycle. I can’t confidently say how many more trivia nights we’ll attend, as they’re every Tuesday night, but I really did enjoy my first experience.
#5:
This beyond class activity was going to gingerbread house making on the first floor of the commons. This is an activity that took place during finals week, so it was another great way to get the mind distracted from school in a fun way. To be honest, my friends and I really had no idea that this was going on, but we stumbled across it on our way to the dining hall. We talked about it at dinner, and came to the conclusion to attend. I wasn’t stressed at the time as I had already completed all of my final projects, and decided to go because I didn’t think I had anything better to do. My expectations weren’t very high, and mostly just tagged along with my friends.
Making gingerbread houses exceeded my expectations tremendously. They had fun music playing and we got to talk to some students we don’t usually talk to. It was a great way to get to know some people that aren’t on our team or that we don’t have any classes with. Most importantly, it made me reminisce about my childhood experiences with gingerbread houses. It was something I always did as a child, mostly with my grandparents. I’m an only child, so I didn’t have siblings to make them with and never a competition that I know some families do. My grandparents and I would collectively make one house just to snack on it in days to come. These were great memories that always left us with smiles on our faces.
As a 21 year old, it was nice to feel like a kid again. Everytime I blink I feel like another year goes by in my life, but at this activity, I found myself living in the moment. It made me realize that I should do this more often, because it was something I really enjoyed that I didn’t think I would. I’m very happy my friends and I stumbled across this activity put on by members of our community.
#6:
This activity was going to the men’s basketball home opener against Southern Maine University. Similarly to the women’s game I attended and from what I noticed when we played Southern Maine, they always travel well, meaning they bring a good amount of fans when they play us because they are so close. As one of my teammates and I were walking out of the rink from practice, we noticed there was a basketball game about to start, and heard our passing peers saying it was the home opener. I encouraged my friend to go, I knew how electric the atmosphere was at our home opener, and wanted to support the basketball team, Seth especially because he was a part of the first year seminar experience, and help their atmosphere feel like ours felt.
I love watching college basketball, and I was excited for my first experience. The game started off slow, as the first basket didn’t come until 7 minutes into the game. However, once the game got going the pace and level of play picked up fast. The team fought hard, but lost by 4 in a tightly contested game all the way through. Despite the loss, I could tell the team enjoyed the energy that the home fans brought, and I was happy to be a part of that.
I also realized that there are people on the team that I always see around campus, who I had no idea was on the team. I like supporting my peers, especially the athletes because of how much I love sports. I can see myself going to many more games in the future, and hopefully witness an exciting playoff run for them.
#7:
This beyond class activity was going to live fiddle music in the first floor commons atrium. I’ve never played an instrument in my life before, despite watching many of my friends give it a go. However, next semester I signed up for a class next semester called “Introduction to music”, where you learn how to play the ukulele. During the first semester, I watched 2 of my teammates navigate their way through the same class, and I could tell how much fun they had.
When I first saw the poster for this activity, for some reason “fiddle” processed in my head as another word for ”ukulele”. It was not long before I realized that a fiddle was basically a violin. Like I said, I lack common knowledge when it comes to instruments. Despite this, I decided to stay because I really had nothing else to do, and ended up enjoying the musicians go to work on their fiddles, it was actually some good music.
I came into this experience expecting to shred the instrument that I will soon learn much about, but ended up hearing an instrument I’ve never really heard before. This was my only beyond class activity I attended by myself, getting away from my comfort zone. Even though it’s not what I was expecting, I’m glad I went and broadened my horizons.
