Best Athletics Ever!!

Best Year____ Ever!!

Andrew Lemoine, a rising sophomore, wrote an awesome blog series highlighting why he loves Tulane. Stay tuned to hear more from Andrew!

            So freshman year is in the books, and boy was it one I will never forget. As a local kid from Louisiana I didn’t know what to expect by staying in state for college, but it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. New Orleans is one of the most unique places in the world. I think that this statement pretty much sums up my experience at Tulane this past year. Unique!

Best Athletics Ever!!

Ok, so...Maybe not. Tulane might not have the best athletics programs, but that doesn’t mean New Orleans Sports aren’t fun! Tulane plays our football games downtown in the Mercedes Benz Superdome, which is a blast! I mean, come on. Its the Dome!!!! Basketball and Baseball both play on campus, in Devlin Fieldhouse and Turchin Stadium respectively. Although we aren’t the most winningest program in the country, Tulane home games are so much fun to go too. Everyone loves to cheer on the Green Wave!!

Home Openers for Basketball, Baseball, and Football! Bottom: the opposing team has just scored

                       

            One of my favorite Tulane games to date, has to be a basketball game over Christmas Break. Tulane was visiting the University of Alabama in basketball, and I was visiting Tuscaloosa. Well due to my friend’s connections at Alabama, I got to go watch Tulane play the Crimson Tide!! Now of course we have a decent basketball program, but I was not expecting to beat an SEC powerhouse!! The game started off scraggly with Bama taking the early lead, and holding the lead for most of the game. This brought out many jars and sneers from the Bama fans sitting nearby. But, when the buzzer sounded, Tulane won with a come from behind win to beat Bama 53-50!! What an experience. From being nagged by Bama fans the entire game for wearing my Tulane shirt, to walking out of that game with the W, I truly had so much fun!! This game will forever stay in my mind as one of my favorite games ever.

    

My photobomb of the ESPN Announcers during the game!!; Victory is Sweet!!; Our seats at the game.

                       

            As far as my personal involvement in Tulane Athletics, I am a rider on Tulane’s Cycling Team. I was a runner and triathlete throughout high school, so it was kinda cool to put all of my focus on one discipline for a while. Joining the cycling team was one of my best decisions here at Tulane. The people on the team are so amazing, and I get to travel across the country competing against other colleges in one of my favorite sports! Our road racing season is in the spring, and we race against many colleges from throughout Texas, Oklahoma (where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain), Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana! Earlier this month, we proudly won our 3rd consecutive SCCCC Division II Conference Championship! I can’t even begin to say how much of an amazing experience it was to ride for Tulane this year. I got to meet so many new friends I wouldn’t have otherwise, and I got to travel around the South. Its definitely an experience I would never give back, and it’s one I can’t wait for next year!

            Aside from Tulane sports, New Orleans also has the New Orleans Saints, and the New Orleans Hornets! (Now Pelicans). I was lucky enough to go to games for both teams this year! In November, I went with 2 friends to watch the Saints Play the Atlanta Falcons. We get to Superdome, climb a ton of ramps, only to realize, we still hadn’t reached our gate. We kept climbing, to finally find our seats, on the very. top. row. of the Superdome. How much did we care? None! We had a blast. The Saints ended up beating the Falcons, ending their chance for an undefeated season! As for the Hornets game, one day my neighbor on my floor walks in with an email for the first 50 or so students to sign up get free tickets to a Hornets game! Well we all jumped on that, and got to see the Hornets play the Milwaukee Bucks. Of course, the first thing we thought was, hmm, I wonder how good/bad our tickets would be. We get to the New Orleans Arena, to discover that all of were getting to sit in Press Box seats, get free food, take pictures with the Honey Bees, AND, to put a cherry on top of the evening, get to be the tunnel for the players as they leave the locker room!! I felt like a kid in a candy store, and all of this came from just checking our Tulane email. 

Best School Ever!!

Best Year____ Ever!!

Andrew Lemoine, a rising sophomore, wrote an awesome blog series highlighting why he loves Tulane. Stay tuned to hear more from Andrew!

            So freshman year is in the books, and boy was it one I will never forget. As a local kid from Louisiana I didn’t know what to expect by staying in state for college, but it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. New Orleans is one of the most unique places in the world. I think that this statement pretty much sums up my experience at Tulane this past year. Unique!

Best School Ever!!

         So I was one of those kids that showed up to Tulane my Junior year ready to tour. I had no idea to expect and no idea what to look for. I had heard so much about the school and how awesome it was, but of course awesome to one person isn’t the same to another. And when I got to campus, “the wave” hit me!(see what I did there?) I immediately fell in love with Tulane. From that day on, I did not want to go anywhere else. Of course I had to apply to other places to make my parents happy, but it didn’t matter. I knew I wanted to go to Tulane; it is the best school ever!

            Tulane had everything I wanted, plus more! First off, campus is gorgeous. I walk out of my dorm in the mornings and just think, “Dang...this is why I came here.” It’s just that pretty.

I took this picture during my first ever trip to campus

  

Of course there are other things too: you know, academics, your education, “important” stuff like that. I am a neuroscience major, so I was really attracted to the research opportunities available for students. Every time I turned around I met some kid who did this is one lab and their friend did that in a different one. Throughout this year, I really just felt that students wanted to be here, they wanted to be involved in their studies, and they wanted to learn.

            And of course, just like New Orleans, Tulane is unique! There are so many random quirks that make Tulane what it is! I know this is kind of obvious, but it doesn’t snow in New Orleans...Ever. So how did Tulane fix that? Snow day!! Tulane brought in trucks that sprayed snow all over the LBC Quad. During homecoming week, my friends and I walk out of our dorms one night find a carnival on the quad. And not just small little booths with some games and a bouncy house. This was a full blown-ferris wheel and tons of rides-Carnival. And of course, I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked about the Mardi Gras tree. As per tradition, on the way back parades, students throw some of there beads up in a big tree on the academic quad.

            

            I know these are just little things, but thats what makes something what it is. There are so many countless experiences that all combine to make Tulane such an amazing place. I always say the problem is not finding something to go do, it’s trying to pick from all the things available. I could sit with you and talk till may face turned blue, and still have more to say about Tulane.

From left to right: Making masks in my dorm; my friend, Jesse, and the 16oz pancake in City Diner; students cover the LBC quad for Crawfest!; everyone hanging out in our dorm lounge for the Superbowl watch party.

Best City Ever!!

Best Year____ Ever!!

Andrew Lemoine, a rising sophomore, wrote an awesome blog series highlighting why he loves Tulane. Stay tuned to hear more from Andrew!

            So freshman year is in the books, and boy was it one I will never forget. As a local kid from Louisiana I didn’t know what to expect by staying in state for college, but it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. New Orleans is one of the most unique places in the world. I think that this statement pretty much sums up my experience at Tulane this past year. Unique!

Best City Ever!!

            New Orleans is, without a doubt, one of the best cities in the world. From the culture, music, history, food, to the people, Nola did NOT disappoint. I think the best part of the experience was getting the opportunity to be in New Orleans as a resident, not a tourist. Of course, I had been to New Orleans more times than I could ever count, but there was just something different about it now that I was living here. I was able to take in the city like I never had before. For example, my T.I.D.E.S. class last fall was “A Running Conversation.”  My class met once a week and ran through the many neighborhoods and districts of New Orleans. From Uptown and the Garden District, to the levee and the lakeshore, this was one of the coolest things about learning the city. Something as simple as running turned into amazing history and cultural lessons about NOLA.   

My T.I.D.E.S. class on a Friday morning run through Storyland near City Park

My professor grew up in New Orleans, so getting to hear his personal stories and experiences growing up just added to it. Seeing and hearing about how so much of the city has changed since then really put things into perspective. I truly just loved being immersed in so much history and culture.

            One thing that makes Louisiana different than any other state is the fact that Louisiana knows how to celebrate. And one way people from the south love to celebrate is festivals, festivals, and more festivals. Louisiana has more festivals than there are days of the year. Many say that in Louisiana, if you can eat it, see it, or smell it, there is probably a festival for it. I mean there’s Mardi Gras of course, but there are so many more! Po-boy Fest, Freret Street Festival, Strawberry Festival, there is a Tennessee Williams Festival, French Quarter Festival, and on and on. Then of course there are some student favorites: Voodoo Fest, Jazz Fest, and Tulane’s very own Crawfest. Getting to spend and entire year trying these new things and learning new cultures even added to the experience. I don’t even think it would be physically possible to type out how much of an impact the city of New Orleans has on you each and every day. The city IS part of Tulane and such an integral part of your life. It’s just something you have to experience. There really is no way to describe it.

The NOLA Experience: 5 days of your Freshman year that you DON'T want to miss!

Guest blogger: Ali Bloomston

Sometimes I wonder where I would be now if it were not for the NOLA Experience Orientation program. Would I have still met the people I consider my best friends? Would I be as involved on campus as I am now? Would I have felt as adjusted to Tulane and New Orleans? All I know is that participating in something as incredible as the NOLA Experience has completely shaped my undergraduate career at Tulane.

How can 5 days be so impactful? While NOLA is an orientation program, it is nothing like June orientation where the focus of the program is to properly acclimate students to beginning college and different services offered by Tulane. NOLA Experience is about acclimating students to the city of New Orleans, and fostering a passion for the city that is as important to the Tulane experience as what is learned in the classroom.

Through the NOLA Experience, rising freshman are assigned to "tracks" based on their interests. Each "track" presents a unique lens in which to view aspects of life in New Orleans. Tracks range from perspectives such as food, sports, music, community service, and nature--just to name a few. My freshman year I participated in a track called "Let the Good Times Rock and Roll" which focused on music in the Big Easy.

As a participant, I ate at some of the most incredible restaurants around the city, heard a plethora of locally renowned musicians, and toured famous music venues. While some of the activities during NOLA Experience are track specific, others are with all of the tracks combined. My favorite "All NOLA" activity was Cajun Dinner and Dancing at Michaul's Restaurant, where we loaded up on red beans and rice and bread pudding and danced the night away to Zydeco music. Something else that I really love about that NOLA Experience is that each track has a community service day, which I think is a wonderful reminder that as Tulane students it is important to constantly give back to the city that gives us so much.

Probably my favorite aspect of the NOLA Experience is the people you meet. I can honestly say that more than half of my closest friends at Tulane I met during NOLA. A major perk of participating in this program a few days before school starts was that NOLA participants had such an advantage over students who move in for Welcome Week--we already had a strong support base and a feel for Tulane and the city. The bond that I formed with the other participants on my tracks still continues years later. Two of the girls on my track are my sorority sisters. I am about to room with a girl on my track for the second year in a row. Three guys in my track joined the same fraternity together. Two guys on my track joined the frisbee team together. Another two guys on my track become leaders in an organization called Roots of Music, which they found out about through our track programming. Two participants on my track dated for an entire year. Outside of my track, three other NOLA participants became my best friends at Tulane. NOLA Experience participants became student government senators, campus tour guides, student newspaper journalists, campus programming representatives, community service organization leaders, and 16 of us even became NOLA Experience Coordinators.

In addition to making lasting friendships with their peers, participants in the NOLA Experience also develop a powerful relationship with their Orientation Coordinators (OCs), upperclassmen who went through the NOLA Experience that are assigned to a specific track and organize programming and act as a mentor throughout and beyond NOLA. My NOLA OCs were two of the coolest people ever and made sure we knew all the ins-and-outs of Tulane. They constantly checked up on us throughout our freshman year and organized reunions so we could all get together and catch up. As a participant I knew how much having an upperclassmen mentor benefitted me, but it wasn't until I became an OC myself that I realized I got as much out of the relationship as participants did. My sophomore year I was the OC for a track called "Changemakers," a track that focused on social entrepreneurship in New Orleans, and I was surprised that even as an OC I became such good friends with so many of my participants. There is something about the NOLA Experience, as cheesy as it sounds, that truly brings people together.

This upcoming year I am an OC for the track "Street, Stage, and Screen" which is all about performing arts in New Orleans. I am so lucky to be able to be involved in the NOLA Experience for a third time! As a campus tour guide, I always tell my tour groups how much the NOLA Experience has jumpstarted  my Tulane career and how important it is for committed Tulane students to consider participating. So if you are looking to make amazing friends before school even starts and learn about the incredible city you will spend the next 4 years of your life in, NOLA Experience is the program for you.

Social Innovation: Changing the Way We Think About Change

Guest blogger: Max Seidman

 Just a semester ago Tulane’s Center for Engaged Learning and Teaching (CELT) created the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship minor, devoted to finding creative, innovative solutions to social problems. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 7 years, you’d know that New Orleans plenty to go around: public education, crime rates, etc. When I heard about this minor, I instantly set up an appointment with Rebecca Otten over at CELT to discuss the minor. I loved this opportunity so much that I declared my SISE minor that day. Visit the site below to see the curriculum for this rapidly growing program:

http://tulane.edu/socialentrepreneurship/sise-classes.cfm

I’m taking the intro to Social Innovation course, SISE 2010, right now. In one word, the class is Inspiring. Now let’s use a few more words.

 First of all, my professor is Dr. Richard Aubry, 23-year Director of Rubicon Programs, an organization devoted to providing people with jobs who are mentally disabled, homeless, or economically disadvantaged. Dr. Aubry’s extensive knowledge and integrative teaching style makes the class very interesting. He focuses the class on analyzing different social enterprises. For example, we first studied a company called Fair Trade USA, which seeks to empower family farmers around the world, while enriching the lives of those struggling in poverty. Who knew there was so much to learn about trading coffee and bananas? Other organization’s we’ve studied include Common Ground Collective, Kickstart, and my favorite social venture of ALL TIME: Playworks.

Playworks is a national nonprofit organization that transforms schools by providing play and physical activity at recess and throughout the school day. For the service learning component of this class, the professor presents several social enterprises, and the students choose which of the  many companies they would like to work with. Some kids chose Propeller, some chose The Green Project, I chose Playworks. I work with the Playworks branch at Akili Elementary School where I play with kids at recess once or twice a week. Boring, right? Here’s the best part. I got to meet the founder of Playworks, Jill Vialet, when she came to our class to give one of our many guest lectures. In fact, when Jill came, I had the chance to ask her for some advice about a program I created here on campus called Play & Learn. Play & Learn organizes and hosts events at the Boys & Girls club where a diversity of Tulane organizations—The Ultimate Frisbee Team, The Fencing Club, The Hip-Hop Team, etc.—teach the kids something about their talent. As it says in the name, Play & Learn’s goal is to get the kids playing and learning at the same time!

If you couldn’t tell by this last paragraph, I have a passion for child development and working with kids; but for this class, it doesn’t matter what you are interested in. SISE allows you to engage in service related to your specific passion, regardless of what that passion may be.

The diversity of students’ majors in my class is astounding: psychology, business, English, architecture, biology, environmental studies, etc. The only required interest for this class is that you want to make a difference in the world.

If you want to know more about my experience with the Social Innovation minor, feel free to shoot me an email at mseidman@tulane.edu or contact Rebecca Otten, the Social Innovation program coordinator at rotten@tulane.edu