I love it when the sun is shining, faces are smiling, and good vibes are all around.

Here are some events/activities that happened recently that fulfilled those requirements:

I explored Creve Coeur Park with these lovely people (Iris, Carlos, Ben, and Bryar who isn't pictured).

Fontbonne Current Students and Alumni got together to volunteer at City Seeds Urban Farm with Gateway Greening.

I got to visit Grant's Farm for the first time with a group of Students and Residence Hall Association.

We even got to feed baby goats at Grant's Farm!

Enjoying a spur of the moment picnic at Oak Knoll Park!

Having some picture-taking fun in Medaille Meadow on campus.

Peace, Love, & Beautiful Weather.

A surprise to me is how friendly everyone is here. I have met some interesting people. My floor mate Alex and I are becoming best friends, we are talking to each other a lot more than at the beginning of the year. I’m normally the shy guy, but the people here are just great to talk to. I’m becoming less shy here. I have a good group of friends here that are so friendly and talkative. Everyone at my last school just wanted class to be over so they could go home, but people here just stay and hang out with me.

There are so many places I like at Fontbonne, but if you ask me my favorite place, I will answer you “the Library is the best one in my life.”

Here are some reasons why I go to the library almost every day.

• Many useful resources.

I like to go to the library very often, to borrow books, DVDs, or just sit down to read magazines and journals. Fontbonne updates the books and DVDs very often, such as I just saw the newest movie “The Avengers” a few weeks ago. It’s so neat, isn’t it?

• Computers

At Fontbonne library, we have so many computers available for students to use. I use the computer very often especially since I had to write many papers or essays at the same time. It’s a very comfortable environment for me.

• Friendly staff

As you can see, all the staff in the library are willing to help students if we have questions. They helped me a lot when writing my research papers.

That’s why I love the library a lot.

Just last week, my friend Shannon and I were both feeling stressed because of our classes and work. To relieve stress, we decided we were going to have a day around campus! We took “naps” in the Meadow (it was more like we just laid there in the sun chatting), we drew with chalk around the parking lot, we went for some bike rides around campus, and we even took a walk to find Concordia fields because we had never been, but we knew many other students went there to play soccer, sand volleyball, and tennis so we wanted to figure out where it was so we could go there too sometime! There are a lot of fun things to do around Fontbonne’s campus when you want to

Well, this is it. There’s just four weeks left of my first year of college! I can hardly believe it. This past week was quite a busy one, with final projects being introduced and other class related things to do. SHESA (Student Human Environmental Sciences Association) is sponsoring Denim Day in a couple of weeks, and I was busy making crafts out of denim we plan on selling for donations on April 26th.

This week I did something that I haven’t done all year long. I stayed on campus Friday night. Normally, I go back home every weekend, but Saturday afternoon I attended a lecture at Washington University, and with high gas prices driving home and back didn’t seem like the right choice. It was extremely odd being in the dorms when I would normally be at home, but change is good.

The lecture I attended Saturday was titled, “Is Fashion Art?” and Valerie Steele spoke. According to my adviser, it was a “don’t miss opportunity”. I am extremely glad I went. Steele does not think fashion is art, but her lecture was very insightful about the relationship between fashion and art.

With summer on its way, Cardinals baseball has begun, and I must say I am very proud of the Redbirds so far! I look forward to going to a game at Busch Stadium in the next few weeks. I just hope no one else gets hurt. This week I watched all the games, but was disappointed the weather was so dreary for Opening Day.

I look forward to my last weeks at Fontbonne until the fall. We’ll see what next week has in store for me!

One thing that is quite nice about Fontbonne is the small campus size. It is impossible to get lost on campus, something that is quite possible at larger schools.

There are so many great people that every student should get to know on campus. It might just be too hard a task to narrow it down to one. So to be fair, I’ll break this topic down, and I’ll choose a person in an educational sense, as well as in the social scene. Therefore, as a general statement, everyone should get to know their own advisor. My advisor has been more than helpful in my studies here, but he is always looking out for things outside the Fontbonne community that would help me too. As a pre-law major, he has given me flyers from a wide variety of things such as law school admissions fairs, interesting cases in the news, and mock jury trials. As far as students on campus go, there are a number of people who are always fun to be around! In my experience at Fontbonne, there are two main groups of people always looking to have a good time — Focus Leaders and FAB (Fontbonne Activities Board). You can never go wrong with these people. Finally, to get back to the original question of “Who is one person that every student should get to know on campus and why?” I choose Cameron Elliot. Not only is he super social and always passing out hugs that bring happiness to your day, he is the Student Government President, a helpful resident hall assistance, a member of the undergraduate academic committee, and on the Fontbonne Board of Trustees. So if you’re looking for a pick-me-up in your day, have an issue with anything Fontbonne related, or even get locked out of your room, Cameron is your man. In a nutshell, everybody should get to know Cameron Elliot, and I’m sure he would be happy to get to know you!!

Midterms. The one word every college student never wants to hear. The big scary test that happens before the exam. Well, they are definitely scaring me. I have two of my midterms on the same day. I had always been lucky enough in high school to never have more than one test on the same day. So, with having said that I am TERRIFIED for my upcoming midterms. However, I know what I have to do. I will be spending my lovely Saturday and Sunday at the library. The first time I went in the library to study was last week. It was amazing! Everything was so quiet; there were no distractions! I highly suggest whenever you have procrastinated or have a big test coming up, spend your time in the library! You won’t believe how much you can get done when you have the beauty of silence!

This week, I was asked to talk about someone on campus who is important to know. Well, I couldn’t physically name just one person. I feel every adult on campus is important to know in some way for some reason. Depending on what your interests are, some people are more important than others. The people that I feel everyone should know are the president (Dr. Golden), their advisor, and the admissions people. I feel like everyone on campus should be close with the president in order to unite the campus with each other. You advisor will be important to you for all 4 years of your college. The will make your schedule, help with problems, and are just a good person to talk to with any problems. The admissions people are the ones who got you here. They gave you your scholarship, they accepted you, and they take care of any transcript issues. It is definitely important to be involved with the admissions people.

Now for the individuals. If you are a sports player, obviously your coach is a good person to get close with, especially if you play all 4 years. Whatever clubs, or extracurricular activities you are involved in play a huge role in who your are so you should get to know the president of the clubs and the other club members also.

This is my 3rd year at Fontbonne and there are so many people on this campus who have been influential and who I feel privileged to have met. Though I could write about influential people here for hours, I will spare some time and just cover a few who stand out to me. I will start out with two obvious ones, Dr. and Mrs. Golden, who lead by example so well and whose mere presence in a room has a “feel.” Then there is Mike Horn. What would this campus be like without that young man? He is such a great person and friend to all and if you have not met him and go to Fontbonne, then I would have to ask where you’ve been and question if you actually go here. There are so many others who have influenced me throughout my time at Fontbonne; however, two that have had the greatest and most positive impact on my life are Michael McKinnlay (better known as Art Mike to some), and Stephanie Wilson. Art Mike is a hilarious, enthusiastic, and sincere person who can make you smile almost anytime you need one. Stephanie has been involved on campus and is President of FAB this year, and is a person who I am very fortunate to have met here at Fontbonne. In addition to these people, several other people have the gift of just being able to make you smile whenever you see them, such as Izzy Lui and Tyler Malek. Thank you to all of these people for making Fontbonne awesome.