LEAP lovin'

Open Up the Sky!

LEAP - March 2010

As I mentioned in my last post, I was on team for LEAP this past weekend. It was great to get back into the SMC community through LEAP, which is something that truly defined my experience at St. Mike's. I gave the mission talk on the weekend, which is the last talk on Sunday and acts as a closing of the weekend and an encouragement for the future. I was very pleased with how my talk went and how it was received. My fellow blogger, Christine, was a candidate on the weekend and wrote a wonderful blog about it - check it out!!

One really great thing about the weekend is that it is very filled with song - and on Sunday, everyone gets a copy of the "LEAP CD," which includes all of the songs used on the weekend. Our theme song was called "Open Up the Sky" by FFH and my own song that I chose for my talk was called "Free to be Me" by Francesca Battistelli. I have been listening to the CD a lot since coming back from the weekend...it's a wonderful reminder of this great experience!

I'm back at work this week, but I was able to head up to a meeting in Montpelier, VT yesterday, which was great. After the meeting was over I was able to browse through town a little (and find a yarn shop of course!) before making my way back to Middlebury. I really enjoy the part of my job that allows me to visit different colleges througout the state for meetings - it's a great way to see my home state and learn about the diverse institutions in it!

Life Update

Hey Blog Readers!

I'm back! I've had a busy few weeks with another MiddAction Fair (the one for spring semester!) to plan - and I am happy to report that it went off without a hitch last Tuesday. Over 100 students passed through the fair where 22 community partners and 17 student organizations were presenting volunteer opportunities. It was so much easier to plan the fair this time around because I at least had some idea of what I was doing...because I'd done it before and because I now know so many students, community partners and key people on campus! Here's a photo of the event...

In SMC news, I was chosen to give the Mission Talk on March LEAP! If you remember back to my time at SMC, LEAP was a retreat that I was pretty involved in, starting during my junior year and continuing through my senior year. I served on team twice, once as a support team member and once as the Support Rector. Another option for LEAP team is to give a talk on the weekend, and I felt really called to give a talk on this particular LEAP. The Mission Talk is about what happened in your life after you made your first LEAP, so I am happy to be telling my story as a recent graduate with some definite struggles but also with definite successes! The weekend is from March 5th - 7th and I can't wait! My younger sister, Emily, is also serving on talk team as the prayer person. Yay!

After an unfortunately short hockey career (as a former figure skater, the Middlebury staff team, Staff Infection, thought that I might be an asset to them. I was absolutely horrible, and officially retired after one game due to the fact that Staff Infection didn't make the playoffs. Perhaps I will come out of retirement, but not in the foreseeable future), I decided to start dancing again and am SO happy. I am taking a jazz class on Thursday afternoons here at Middlebury and am loving every minute of it!

Another revived obsession of mine is fiber art...aka knitting and self-taught crocheting. I'll update next time with pictures of my projects! I am having so much fun with it!

Hope that you are well - as always, comments are welcome...you are out there, right?! :-)

Happy 2010!

I hope that you have had a wonderful start to the new year - I'm still having trouble remembering to write -10 at the end of the date, so I think it's still appropriate to do my yearly "year-in-review post!"

2009 was an absolutely HUGE year for me - so many wonderful experiences and really big life changes.

January marked the beginning of my last semester at SMC, the beginning of my dream internship at EatingWell Media Group in Charlotte, VT and my venture into vegetarianism. March brought one of the best weeks of my life - my long-awaited International Extended Service trip to the Dominican Republic as well as my 22nd birthday. April brought two job offers (one for the summer and the other for a year beginning in August) and my last P-Day. May was a huge month and brought college graduation, an amazing trip to Florida with my best friend from home, Kristin (and my first visit to Disney!) and the start of my life as an ALUM of Saint Michael's College.

The summer months brought me to Post Mills, VT where I spend my final "real" summer working at a camp, and then August brought me to Philadelphia for orientation to my first "real" job. September brought a move to Middlebury, VT and the beginning of a great year as an AmeriCorps*VISTA member. The end of the year was filled with responsibilities of my new job, including leading an alternative break trip, planning two community-wide days of service and organizing a service fair. December brought out second annual post-Christmas girls weekend, this year in Boston and including an incredible show - Mama Mia!

In 2009 I learned to crochet, began to love down dog in yoga, started dating a great guy named Nick, became obsessed with the TV show glee and was blessed by lots of time with family and friends.

Here's to an even better 2010; best wishes to you and your family!

Happy Winter Solstice!

Ah, my little neglected blog. I could make up all sorts of excuses about how busy I've been, how much I've been running (actually, not that much since the students went home and the college gym closed...), how I've been learning to crochet, how I've gone to several holiday parties and how I started dating someone...but the end result is the same: I haven't written in a very long time.

Either way, here I am, still alive and well! December has flown as usual, and I am happy to be almost at the beginning of a nice holiday vacation from work. Middlebury closes completely from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day, so I'll be heading home for the holidays on Tuesday. Lots of candy making and holiday festivities will ensue and I am super excited! I'll also be traveling to Boston to see Mama Mia! YEAH!!

I can't believe 2009 is coming to a close - it's been quite a year, that's for sure. I'll write again with my year-in-review post before coming back to work in 2010!

Here's a picture from this summer that I just got to brighten up the shortest day of the year - we RAN that camp!

My two closest friends from camp, Emily and Amy, the two right above me. As Amy put it, I look insane in this photo...oh well! It brings back memories of a time that was much warmer and slightly sunnier...

Have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year - see you in 2010!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Here are a few pictures of our annual Thanksgiving celebration:

The annual Pratt Family Christmas picture!

My family with my grandparents

As always, we had my whole family over to my house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Even though the food and company is the same every year, as we all grow up, things definitely feel different. Instead of laughing as my grandpa fell asleep, I found myself sleeping on the floor while watching Elf with the non-football crowd. Instead of talking about elementary school with my cousins, we chatted about college. Instead of rattling off a list of classes to my aunts and uncles, I was telling them about my job.

My life has changed drastically since last year, and I am really thankful for all of the opportunities and challenges. Best wishes for a happy, healthy holiday season!

rooooomies!

My SMC roommates are some of the best people alive. I spent three years living with them in either a suite or townhouse, and we became more like family than just roommates.

Thankfully, all of my roommates are still in the Burlington area, which is amazing. Last Sunday we met up for breakfast at our personal favorite spot, IHOP. You might remember that my roommate Mandi and my adopted roommate Stew, got married right before we graduated, so we got caught up on married life with the two of them. My two other roommates, Gil and Kendra, are still roommates in an apartment in Essex, which I'm jealous about, and it was also great to catch up with the two of them. On a sad note, one of Mandi and Stew's rats, Charlie, and Gil's rat, Algernon, both passed away since we graduated, which was unfortunate. I'm not much of a rat person and I never got anywhere near Charlie or Algy (despite being chased a few times...), but I still feel bad.

I can't believe that its been six months since we graduated...but when we get back together its like we haven't been apart for a day. Kendra had drawn this picture of our family a while back, and it still makes me laugh every time I see it.

As you know, I'm extremely close with my best friend from high school, Kristin, but the relationships that I have with my roommates from St. Mike's are different - not that one is better than the other, but spending such an intense period of time with your college roommates 24 hours a day really creates incredible bonds with those people. I am so lucky to have them!

November?!

Indeed, it's November. I'm having a hard time believing this to be true, mostly because I am not experiencing a school semester like I have for the past 16 years. Even though I work with students everyday and hear all about their semesters, it's very different not experiencing it for myself. November has seemingly crept up on me - I was watching some TV last night and the number of Christmas commercials was a little startling!

Work continues to go well; I am currently working on planning a first-year service trip for students during J-Term (also known as "winter term" or the month-long term at Middlebury between first and second semester. Instead of having several weeks off at Christmas, Middlebury students have the holidays off, but come right back after New Years for a month-long term where they take one class and are able to take other fun workshops, go skiing and enjoy a slightly more relaxed pace. They then have a week off at the very beginning of February and return for second semester then), which has taken up quite a bit of time. I've been searching for potential sites for out students to go to, which has been surprisingly hard.

The recession has definitely negatively impacted the service world - staff cuts and pay decreases make it more difficult for organizations to accept volunteers, which seems counter intuitive. Because the trip will be over a weekend, most organizations would have to make special arrangements to have staffing at their site, and most of them simply don't have the energy or funding to do this additional work during this economic climate. I did make some great progress today and found a few organizations that have worthy projects for these students to spend their weekend with.

I'm also in the midst of planning the Martin Luther King Day of Service, advising student organizations, planning Thanksgiving Basket donations to the local food shelf and getting ready for "Giving Trees," the annual holiday gift donation project. I'm keeping busy for sure!