“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”

Hey everybody! This weekend was the weekend of Wilmington College’s fall production, a musical called “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” It was excellent! The actors and actresses did an amazing job, hitting the lines with the right attitudes and the notes with all the right pitches. There was one freshman, Susan, in the small cast. A very cool part of this show was the audience participation. For every show, 4 audience members were called up to join the actors onstage and participate in the Spelling Bee. The volunteers were different every night, requiring lots of improv on the parts of the characters. They also incorporated many current trends into the play. In the sample sentences given to the Spellers, hilarious shots were taken at both Twilight and Miley Cyrus; they were greatly appreciated by the crowd :) Each character was unique and earned many laughs. After the show, students and participants could be seen all around Wilmington celebrating a great show. I can’t wait until the next production in the spring!

A DC Weekend

Wilmington College offers students many ways to get involved, not only on campus, but also out there in the real world, dealing with real issues. An example of this happened over the weekend. Two freshmen took advantage of the opportunity to go to Washington DC and attend the National STAND Conference. STAND is the student led division of GI-Net, an anti-genocide coalition/network. They stayed in a hotel only a few blocks away from the Capitol Building, and attended break-out sessions and workshops teaching everything from the truth and facts about the genocides happening now to how to market awareness events and how to help refugees. They heard a wide range of speakers including John Pendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project, Carl Wilkens, the only American to remain in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, refugees from Sudan and Burma and the Congo, and even Olympic athletes who advocate the cause. On the final day of the conference, they also participated in an anti-genocide march on the Capitol. As well as attending the conference, they were also able to explore DC, seeing the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Building, the White House, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum to name a few. They also had the opportunity to connect with fellow students across the country who were fighting for the same issues. Would you believe it gets better? It does; it was completely free of charge for them! SGA & the campus STAND organization paid for transportation, hotel charges and even meals! And they had a blast! Wilmington College wants their students to exceed; take advantage of all the opportunities they offer!

Crazy Squirrels!

So I’m sure all of you have seen squirrels. Whether they’re the kind that live in your backyard, or the kind you see at the park, you know about squirrels. However, never have you seen a squirrel like our Wilmington squirrels...they’re crazy! Any normal squirrel would run away from all the people on campus, but Wilmington squirrels will run towards you. If you’re on your way to class they’ll come running up the sidewalk until they’re about two feet away, then they’ll charge off in another direction. And there are so many of them! I kid you not, on the way to dinner I once saw 6 squirrels just in one part of lawn beside AP. I also, for the first time in my life, saw a squirrel stuck in a trash can. I was walking to the Underground with a friend when the trash can beside the door started bouncing back and forth all by itself. Needless to say we were stunned. After a moment we saw the squirrel run up and around the edge of the trash can. Apparently we freaked him out too because he stopped to look at us, then jumped down and hid behind the trash can. We laughed almost until we cried. So if you’re ever in need of entertainment-come check our WC squirrels-you won’t be disappointed :)