Finals time definitely provides a sense of community for all college students.  We study together, we work together, and most importantly, we complain together. But after two weeks of cramming and crunching, its over and we are rewarded with a month-long Christmas break that is the epitome of lazy.

This is my seventh round of finals and I would like to think that I have gotten pretty good at it.  But that maybe a lie.  Each year I feel as stressed as ever, but the good thing that seven finals week has shown me is that we can ALL make it through and we can ALL pass.  This year I have four papers and three finals within a ten day period, and for the most part, I am dreading every single one of them.  Except for one paper.

For my Global Environmental Justice class, we all had to work on a civic engagement project related to the environment for the entire semester.  We each got to pick what we wanted to work and then present it to the class and write a reflections paper on it.  This may be one of my favorite projects I have done here at SU and was probably the most insightful.  It is also a great example of how SU professors are constantly thinking outside of the box to challenge students and get them involved in their coursework.  For the semester, I chose to work on pit bull rescue projects in both Austin and Georgetown.  At first I did it because I love dogs and I thought volunteering at an animal shelter would make the hours go by fast, but I focused on pit bulls after I realized how many shelter dogs are listed as pit bulls and never adopted.

Every couple of weeks I would go to the Georgetown Animal Shelter and Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter and talk with adoption consultants about the pit bulls in the shelter.  I also went to the Texas-Sized Pittie Parade in Austin in November.  This annual festival brings together pit bull owners and pit bull rescue groups in order to spread awareness about these awesome dogs.  If I did not already have a puppy, chances are very good I would have taken four home.

So as I go through the next couple of weeks slaving over tests and papers, I know that I am excited to write at least one of them!

This past weekend, Southwestern had its annual homecoming celebration.  Even though there is no football game during the course of the weekend (at least not until 2013!), students and alumni still have a blast in a very unique Southwestern way.

Homecoming thrives off of friendly rivalry and competition between the student organizations on campus.  This year, organizations competed for the very first Homecoming Cup by playing Capture the Flag, participating in the annual Homecoming Parade, and by making fools of themselves in SU’s annual talent show, “SING!”  Winners of each competition were given cash prizes and the chance to win the big shiny homecoming cup.

Check out these pictures of events from the weekend!  Tri Delta took home the very first homecoming cup after we placed first at SING!  Over 10 student organizations competed in SING! and it was a huge success.  The theme of this year was “Southwestern on the Silver Screen,” and you better believe that people fully embraced the chance to dance around in their underwear on stage, “Risky Business” style.  Stay tuned for a link to the SING! video of the entire performance.

Although the competition and games that we all play during Homecoming are exciting, the best part is getting to meet up with friends that recently graduated and meet those people that graduated not so recently.  I met a couple of women from the class of 1962 and listened to their stories about SU.  Times have certainly changed since then but they still love the SU campus and all of the students on it.  Students from the class of 1986 tossed back a few beers with seniors in the Alumni Hospitality Tent and even came and danced until 2:00 in the morning with students at the fraternity houses!

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend!  It is very strange to think that this will be the last time I will go through homecoming as a student, but I can’t wait to experience it as an alumna.  At least it will be nice not to have to worry about doing homework after a weekend like this.

President Barcus strolls with students through all of the floats at the Homecoming Parade. Yes, he is creepy, but he is a Southwestern legend.

Tri Delta member Jessica Vittorio sold tickets to SU students and passed out information about eating disorders and resources provided by SU Counseling and Health Services.

Although there maybe 93 student organizations on the Southwestern campus, most share a common goal in trying to make a difference through community service.  Last week, Tri Delta hosted a trunk show and fashion show that raised about $1,800 for the National Eating Disorder Association.  The catch was that all of the models were leaders and members of different on-campus organizations.  Each model strutted their stuff (Zoolander style) in outfits from Rent the Runway, Lily Pulitzer, and Texas Clothier to the applause of over 200 onlookers.  The goal of the fashion show was to raise awareness about the negative way we talk about our bodies and how these kind of comments can lead people to develop eating disorders.  Approximately 10 million people in the United States are suffering from eating disorders and the mortality rate associated with anorexia is 12 times higher than any other cause of death for women aged 15-24.  Check out these pictures and you can see for yourself!  All of the guys and girls walking in the show were the picture of perfection, regardless of their size and shape!

1.  MICROBIOLOGY CAMPUS SAFARI

In the fall of my Junior year, I was enrolled in Dr. Gonzalez’s Microbiology course.  The entire premise of the lab was that we were going to grow up one bacterial colony, feed it, and attempt to keep it alive for the entire semester.  At the end of the course, we had to identify what specific bacteria we were growing based on different chemical tests.  The catch: we had to swab different parts of the Southwestern campus to get our bacterial colonies.  For example, we could swab door handles, computer keyboards, desks, bathroom sinks, fraternity house showers, or anything else we could think of.  One ambitious guy swabbed the inside of a dead armadillo’s mouth and found the bacteria that causes leprosy; another girl swabbed a puddle and found Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax (but not enough to cause any health problems at all!).  The lab definitely makes you think twice about carrying Purel in your backpack…

2.  EDIBLE INSECTS AND BUG BURGERS

In her invertebrate ecology course, professor Romi Burks wanted all of her students to understand how important insects are.  In one example, she said that insects have four times as much nutritional content and proteins than beef.  To drive her point home, Dr. Burks decided that we should all eat different insects and bugs in one of our labs.  At first I thought she was kidding.  I realized she was not when I walked into class one day and she had earthworms in a blender and crickets soaking in chocolate.  Dr. Burks and her mom prepared fried crickets, caramelized crickets, chocolate- covered crickets, mealworm pancakes, and earthworm sliders for each of the students in the class and we were asked to try all of them.  I can proudly say that I sampled each dish and that I may have had a cricket leg stuck between my teeth for the rest of the day.

3.  HEADLESS FROGS AND GHOST MUSCLES

I did a couple of dissections in high school, but they all pale in comparison to the dissections we do each week in Dr. Sheller’s Organ Physiology lab.  Dr. Sheller sacrifices large frogs about five minutes before the start of each class and removes their heads.  Because they have just been sacrificed, all of their muscles are still capable of contracting and moving.  For example, if you tie a piece of dental floss to the sciatic nerve of the frog and pull the floss into a knot, the frog’s legs start to move!  Even if you completely remove the frog’s calf muscle but keep it attached to the sciatic nerve, it still randomly contracts and spasms.  It is both amazing and terrifying that a frog with no head is still capable of moving.

One of the Invertebrate Ecology students prepares chocolate covered crickets for the rest of the class.