Baylor Homecoming- The Bonfire

This past school’s year’s homecoming extravaganza/bonfire was so much fun! It was an awesome way to kick off the homecoming festivities and to be able to lead cheers for the entire crowd filled with students and alumni. There’s usually stuff to do for people of all ages. The band is always a must when it comes to these kinds of pep rallies and it makes me so proud to have such a collegiate group of students perform for such mass audiences.

My favorite part during the performances is the Songleaders’ routine. Our dance team has definitely improved every year and is practically at its peak this year. This year, because I’m a Yell Leader, I got to see them practice it for months, which was incredible because I never realized how hard those girls work. The song they dance to is usually a mix of about 4 or 5 songs, and their routine is full of pom and hip hop moves.  Our coach this year, Rachel Levetzow, is actually relatively new and was a dancer for a majority of her life, so she’s really changed the program around these past couple of years.

But because homecoming is really all about the football game, we have our coaches and players give a speech. Robert Griffin III, our quarterback, and Art Briles, our coach, both gave a pep talk which really got the crowd riled up. Knowing that the team as a whole had faith they could win was just even more motivation to cheer my heart out at that game. The bonfire is definitely my favorite part and I’m so excited to experience it as a Yell Leader for the last two years I’m here!

Here's a video of the 2009 performance!

Baylor Homecoming- The Parade

Annually at Baylor homecoming, student organizations and groups from the Waco community participate in making floats for the annual homecoming parade. This event takes months to prepare for and ends up being highly competitive, especially between sororities and fraternities.

A committee selected by the Baylor Chamber of Commerce contains both faculty and students who judge the floats the morning of the parade. This year, my fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, designed and created a float with the “Wizard of Oz” theme, which was a pretty popular theme in the parade. I loved working on the float because each of us in the fraternity and the sorority that we completed the project with had so many creative ideas.

On top of being able to create a float, I got to cheer in the parade. The hard part: getting up at 6 in the morning to be there at 7. The early wake-up was well worth it because I loved walking through downtown and Baylor campus to be seen by so many people in my uniform. There was so much to this parade that I got to be a part of and it only excites me even more for next year. Let’s just hope we win first place next year!


Here's our very own Songleader, Meg Robinson, the 2010 Homecoming Queen!

Stompfest

Stompfest is an event put on by Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and Baylor's Student Productions. Teams sponsored by organizations from around campus are partnered with a member of a National Panhellenic Council (NPHC) organization. Although my fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, doesn't participate, I have a lot of friends in different sororities/fraternities of the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils that form teams to compete. I didn't get a chance to go to the competition last year, but I do know from prior knowledge that Stompfest usually occurs on one night only.

This year, it's all going to be done a little differently. On the weekend of April 8th/9th, the preliminaries will be held on Friday the 8th, which precede the finals on the 9th. So in short, if you're a person who likes to go to Sing and see all of the acts, then the first night would definitely be for you. But if you're a person who likes to see only the winners or the more legitimate acts like Pigskin, then you may want to hold off on going till Saturday. My friend, who's a member of Alpha Chi Omega, will be doing it for her second year this spring.

Katie Lowe was a dancer in high school at Cinco Ranch. The Katy, TX sophomore has danced for a good majority of her life and is ecstatic about this year's competition. "I kind of got suckered into it, but now I'm ready to show what AXO is all about." Katie is this year's Sing chair for Alpha Chi and loves helping out with Student Productions.

But, even with the new changes, Stompfest sounds like a great time. I definitely plan on going this year to the Friday show, just in case my friends don't make it to the finals!

Working at Cheddar's

I just finished training at Cheddar's Casual Cafe in Waco, and it's been great so far! As one of the most popular restaurants in town with some of the best affordable American food, Cheddar's provides awesome service. The training process was really thorough and they made sure I know the menu like the back of my hand. I had always wanted to work at a restaurant (for the tip money) so applying to and training at Cheddar's was a great process. Now, I've been waiting on tables during Spring Break and I love it already.

But, like almost any other job, it is tough work. Waiting on tables at Cheddar's isn't just greeting customers and bringing them their food. Any true server knows it requires multi-tasking and prioritizing your tasks and making sure you are satisfying the customer. And then there's always the sidework like refilling the ice, stacking the glasses, replenishing the dressings and delivering clean dishes to the food line. So, while it looks like your waiter has disappeared, they're most likely in the back doing the work that he or she gets paid $2.13 an hour to do.

As far as the food itself goes, I've always loved dining in at Cheddar's. It's nice to have a place in Waco that has guaranteed delicious comfort food, which is hard to mess up anyway. Of course, I would never serve food that I don't personally enjoy. All in all, Cheddar's is a great place to go out to eat at, but let's just hope I don't get fat while I work there. Good thing lent is starting tomorrow!

Looking back on Co-Ed

It's sad to see a long year of being a Baylor Yell Leader come to an end with the Texas basketball game on March 5th. My first year on the squad, I really got to experience a true Baylor tradition by cheering on Baylor athletics in both basketball and football games. From the morning workouts to the chill but productive practices to the bowl-bound football season to the exciting basketball season (for both men and women), it was definitely a first year on the squad to remember.

Going into tryouts last April, I could hardly stunt and had to stick to shoulder-stands for the majority of the season. This year, I can catch hands (catch girl's feet with my hands) with at least 8 out of 10 girls on the squad, so this was definitely a year of improvements for me. But of course, my success was not my own doing. Each of the girls on the team has contributed to my overall success and I am forever grateful to them. I remember back in January of 2010, I went to the gym with Chris Davis a former yell leader and Jerra Richardson, a current 2nd year sophomore on the squad, a freshman at the time like myself. That first day I realized that I had my work cut out for me, but I was determined and had support from everyone on the team. It's amazing to see myself now as a more mature college student with a lot more experience than last year.

As a member of the squad, I have learned so much about teamwork, Baylor Spirit, and myself, so hopefully I will continue to do so if and when I make the team again next year. This has been an awesome year for Baylor athletics and it'll only get better with time. I only hope to be apart of the same tradition next year!