Veni, vidi, vici!

I refer to the Siena College's Mock Trial team success at the Syracuse University Regional Mock Trial Competition. Don't think I'm trying to take all the credit with my choice of title, I'm simply not sure what the plural form of the latin perfect tense is. As I was saying, I have the pleasure of reporting that Siena's Mock Trial team, of which I am a member, advanced to the National round of competition. The team itself has only been around for seven years at Siena, and this is now our third time making the Nationals (twice in the last three years). While Mock Trial is taught as a class at many undergraduate institutions it is purely extracurricular here at Siena. We are able to be competitive against other teams due to the excellent 'coaching' of Siena's Jurist in Residence and Siena alum Sonya Von Bortel. It would not work without the dedication of our coaches and the dedication of each member of the team. So, much of my week has been focused on refining my material for the team for the next round of competition. The next round will be held in White Plains, New York, which, with all due deference to my cohorts from Westchester County, is a far cry from Tucson, Arizona (where we ventured two years ago to compete on the National level). Nonetheless, the competition is bound to be formidable. In any case, as the Little League Baseball pledge goes: "I will play fair and strive to win, but win or lose, I shall always do my best." I've found that that phrase is applicable to almost every situation in life, but I digress.

In any case, take care.
Mike DiSiena

Table-talk

One of the best parts of Siena is the great community you build with your fellow classmates. Over the course of the weekend, I attended multiple social events and everywhere I went, I felt like I always had a ton of friends to catch up with. It is almost like having a huge family, so you're never without a friend.

Just today, I spoke on a panel for the Presidential Scholars weekend. My audience was prospective Siena students and their parents. I spoke about doing my independent study about poverty in Honduras. Afterwards, my roomate Bianca asked me if I wanted to go down to the Women's Center for an event. They had beads made by Ugandan women and we all made bracelets. I left a little early because I wanted to go back and cook dinner for myself. I was starving.

Mid-way through me cooking dinner, Bianca came home with Paul, a friend who had gone to the Women's Center event with us. They had gotten subs at the wrap-shop and were eating dinner at the table while I was cooking. Then Aly stopped by, she is a former Siena student who is currently in optometry school. She was on campus for the weekend, so she stopped by to say hi for a few minutes.

After cooking, I joined Bianca and Paul at the table and at my dinner. I realize this sounds really silly and simple, eating dinner with friends, but it was a very reassuring feeling that I had. Your friends at Siena really do become family after four years. Its great to have a friend randomly stop by your townhouse and sit down for dinner every once in a while. When I leave Siena, I'm certainly going to miss all my friends and how close we all were.

ps, Happy Valentines Day!

Until Next Time,
Indira

Happiness in a Jar

So Nutella, anyone?
If you have not yet discovered the amazing chocolate/hazelnut creamy goodness of this spread... then you are seriously missing out. I'd have to say it's up there in my Top 5 secrets for getting through college. No joke. When I'm really stressed out or have a lot of work to do (as is the case currently... why else would I be blogging at 11:30 on a Saturday night??), Nutella makes it all better. I'm currently enjoying its decadent goodness with some pretzel rods. The sugar keeps me going, the use of it as a reward keeps me motivated, and its delicious-ness keeps me happy.
A friend of mine introduced me to this tasty product my freshman year, and I don't know how I ever got along without it. Nutella has been a loyal friend. Indira and I were actually just talking about whether a contest to win a lifetime supply of Nutella exists somewhere in the world... if anyone knows about one, then let us know!
So anyway... I highly recommend it. It'll be the best decision you and your stomach ever made :-)

Well I'm off to edit some of my thesis, and perhaps finish of this jar of happiness.
Until next time!

~B

The Torch Has Been Passed

This evening the 2009 Summer Legal Fellows (of which I am one) presented their experiences to the incoming batch of potential Fellows. For those of you who haven't the foggiest notion of what I'm referring to, let me explain. During the summer after their junior year, select students are given the opportunity to study on-site at a number of law schools, generally located throughout the Northeast. At each respective school or clinic, students undertake research-intensive work pertaining to a particular area of law. For long-time followers of this blog, you may remember that I spent my fellowship at the Feerick Center for Social Justice, based in the upper fringe of Midtown Manhattan. I consider my experience there to be among the most valuable and fruitful that I have had during my years at Siena. If any of you folks out there have even a remote interest in law, I would strongly recommend the Summer Legal Fellows Program.

On a somewhat related note,I'll be venturing Syracuse University this week along with my fellow Mock Trial teammates. Mock Trial is fairly new at Siena; I believe this is the seventh year we've 'fielded' a team. (Perhaps 'courted' the better term?) In any case, my membership on the team for all my years here started rather serendipitously, if you will. I come from a rather small high school, and opportunities such as Mock Trial were unheard of. Fast forward to my first few weeks at Siena and I find an email notifying the student body of Mock Trial 'tryouts,' and supplying directions as to how the tryout would be run. I figured I had nothing to lose, tried out for the team, and have been a member ever since. I am convinced I made the cut that year due to my Bermanesque voice.Subsequent to freshman year though, I'd like to think my knowledge and ability became a factor in my role on the team. In any case, over a semester of work comes to its culmination at Syracuse University this weekend!

Take Care,
Mike DiSiena

"When you break the big laws, you do not get freedom; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws."~G.K. Chesterton

Time Flys By When Your Having Fun!

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry it has been a little while. I am in such disbelief that I have been back here at Siena for almost an entire month! Crazy how time goes by so fast when you have classes, work, clubs, sports, and other activities every day. I have just been so happy being back here with my friends. Tonight I had an Intramurals Basketball game it was a lot of fun despite the fact we lost. We def. should have won too but were all a tid bit out of shape so running up and down the court drained all our energy real quick. Personally I did decent put up some points and made some good assits.

Now unfortunatly I have to get a move on with my homework.I have to study for a Finite Math test tomm. It shouldn't be too hard at all, it's more reviewing. But it is so hard to move on to Math when I am having so much fun doing my Photography h.w. My photo class is one of my favorite classes here. I feel like eqch week I gain a different perspective on the world around me. I also learn how to make better use of my camera and all the functions it has. Last week I was working on a shape and form project and this week it is texture. For texture I used all our bath towels and my roomates star fish.

Im having a hard time uploading my photos so check me out on Flickr!
www.flickr.com/photos/livy-b

Mr. Siena 2010!

This past Saturday was our annual Mr. Siena show. It's a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. This year there were 8 male contestants and they competed in a pageant. They were judged on Habitat wear, talent, and formal wear.

I have to say, I look forward to Mr. Siena every year. There are always some really funny talents and its great seeing all the guys you know compete with one another for the title. The first Mr. Siena of 2007 actually made an appearance as well, Pat Farley. He lives in the area and is always making appearances at different events.

Here's a picture of all the contestants plus the MCs Fr. Dennis and Brian.


Alex Mazza, a sophomore ended up winning. Although I think all the boys did such a great job. It was definitely a show to remember!

Until next time,
Indira

Been a while...

Hey everyone...it’s been a while since we've been in touch. My apologies, school has been super crazy and vacation was full of traveling to see family and friends. A lot has happened since I have returned to Siena. School work has been the main focus of my attention, between the four lectures and four labs, however this semester has been a little more unique. Since the beginning of the term, one of my classes has been introduced to a neat program. I'm not supposed to say too much about it since the program is just being developed, but our physics class is using a new software called "Matlab". Within Matlab we are able to set up a number of different applications. Force vectors, electric fields of particles, positions of particles during their encounters with particles, etc....I know this may sound kind of geeky, but it’s a really nice way of visualizing the problems we solve in class after crunching the numbers. I am a hand’s on learner so it’s a good conceptual tool to see our answers, through the support of mathematics. The program is still being tested, meaning there are still some bugs in the system that our class can inform the designers about, but overall it’s a pretty solid tool for the class to learn from. I think it is really neat that we get to be the guinea pigs for something like this. We use other computer software like Logger Pro, excel and such for chemistry, but it’s cool to be able to say you were the first to work on it....Well, anyways, that’s all I got for you today, hope you all are enjoying the weekend. I am going to do the same.

Take care....Josh Baillargeon

Double Helix

In case you were wondering...
That's me with Dr. James Watson, the man who was part of the dynamic duo (Watson and Crick) that discovered the structure of DNA and kicked off one of the biggest revolutions in the world of science: genetics! And yes, he's a Nobel Prize Winner, the author of many famous scientific articles and books, and the founder of the Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which is where I was interviewing for a Ph.D. program this past weekend. During this 4-day interview process, in which I interviewed with 15 faculty members (who were incredible scientists!), I got an opportunity to speak with Dr. Watson himself. And it was a great honor. It was my first ever interview for a Ph.D. program so I was definitely nervous, but it actually turned out very well. I learned a lot about the program there, and I hope that I helped them to learn a lot about me and who I am as a student and a scientist.
When I first learned about DNA in grade school, that's when I decided I wanted to be a scientist (a geneticist to be exact)... a goal that was sparked by the man I shook hands with last Saturday.
I hope that one day I can spark that same curiosity and desire to learn in others. I guess we'll have to see...

~Bianca

Time flies!

Hey Everybody!

How's everyone doing a month into the new year? I'm sure you all just got your applications for college in (if you hadn't already done so)... so, now... all you can do is... wait. (The worst part of the entire experience if you ask me... that's why I applied early and only applied to two schools. I'm rather impatient.)

Life here at Siena has been non-stop. I'm taking 5 business classes this semester so it's very important that I stay on top of my work and don't procrastinate. I'm actually very proud of myself; This week, I have completed all my work that was due next week. I'm usually never this far ahead of the game, but tomorrow I'm going to see Lewis Black at Palace Theatre and Friday I'm going home for the weekend, so in order to be able to enjoy everything I had to put the petal to the metal and get everything done. You always know it's time to go home when your Dad calls you 4 times a day and at the end of each phone call he says "So, you're definitely coming home this weekend, right?". Not going to lie though... I miss my parents too :-)

But, I must get back to the world of classes, meetings, activities, and fun. Before I go, I would like to pay tribute to my favorite author. Jerome David Salinger died last week at the age of 91. He is one of the greatest American authors of all time, and has greatly influenced many lives. His death is a great loss to literature, and he will forever be idolized.

"An artists only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone elses"

- J.D Salinger