Back In Action: Hello Oneonta and a Preview of Recruitment Week!

You may be wondering why I am up so late. In the Aiello/Kavarnos house, we have experienced many wonderful changes. On Christmas Eve, my baby brother Luke was born. He's adorable, however lately he hasn't been dealing well with jaundice. Jaundice is a condition where your liver isn't functioning properly and your skin has a yellowish tint. It was to be expected because my other brothers and I all had jaundice when we were infants but Luke hasn't been taking to it well. He was hospitalized for two days and then released before New Year's. However, we went to take him for a check-up and the doctor was concerned because his skin still was tinted yellow and we had to go to the hospital for a blood test and his levels were somewhat high, but not drastic enough for him to be hospitalized again. Yesterday afternoon, we had his blood tested and it looks as if everything is going to be alright. And of course, with a newborn brings crying and wake ups throughout the night and the house never seems to settle haha. So I'm up and I realized: hey, I haven't updated this in a while!

Some people ask me, how do I see myself in my baby brothers' lives? My parents are divorced, and they got remarried to other people. From my parents' marriage I have two brothers, Raymond (19) and Michael (15). From my dad and stepmom, I have two brothers, Daniel (4) and Mark (19 months). And finally from my mom and my stepdad, I have two brothers, Ethan (21 months) and of course, Luke. Yep, I'm the oldest. And yes, I have always wanted a sister....but it looks like that will never happen. And I also hate the word "half-brother." Regardless of the parentage- they are my brothers and I will always be there for them. Sometimes the age difference gets tough on me, I am missing so much of their lives and I do get homesick for them. But my parents are great about putting pictures online and putting videos on YouTube. But I have to accept that I have to live my life for me. One day, they'll understand why it had to be this way.

So yeah- has anyone seen the weather that we're in for once classes start? I know that I am not looking forward to walking in Arctic-type wind. I'm glad that the snowstorm happened yesterday instead of the window when everyone arrives back to campus.

But with a new semester comes Recruitment Week! For those who are confused, Rush and Recruitment are the same thing, however the Inter-Greek Council prefers using the word "recruitment" because "rush" has negative connotations. From now until the end of this post, I will navigate through Oneonta Greek Life.

First things first, one may wonder what is the difference between recognized Greek Life and unrecognized Greek Life. I know I have written about this before, but I feel that it's important to bring it up again, especially to those unfamiliar with Oneonta Greek Life. At SUNY Oneonta, there are 6 recognized sororities with 1 seeking recognition and 3 recognized fraternities. These orgs are:

Sororities
-Sigma Gamma Phi aka Arethusa
-Pi Delta Chi aka PiChi
-Sigma Sigma Sigma aka TriSig
-Phi Sigma Sigma aka PhiSig
-Sigma Delta Tau aka SDT or SigDelt
-Mu Sigma Upsilon aka MSU
-Chi Upsilon Sigma aka Cus is seeking recognition from the college

Fraternities
-Chi Phi
-Phi Kappa Psi aka PhiPsi
-Phi Beta Sigma

The big, and obvious difference between Recognized and Unrecognized is that some orgs are recognized by the college and some are not. To me, I believe that Recognized Greek Life has so much to offer to Oneonta students. First thing is first: One must have a 2.5 GPA or above to participate in Recongized Recruitment. Starting in Fall 2009, all members of Recognized Greek Life must have a 2.5 GPA or above. If a brother or a sister does not have the required GPA, they will be inactive through the school and will not be able to participate fully with their org so they can focus on their schoolwork. Because of these strict scholastic guidelines, I really believe that Recognized Greek Life has students' scholastic interests at heart. Also, if you have above a 3.2 GPA, you will be invited to join the Order of Omega Greek National Honor Society.

Recognized Organizations also participate heavily in Community Service. At least every week out of the month, a Recognized Greek Organization is helping their community out. My sorority plays bingo at Robynwood Nursing Home every week, Phi Sig held a Kidney Walk, PiChi held a Charity Denim Event, Chi Phi always hosts Blood Drives, Tri Sig does a Rocking for Robbie concert, Phi Beta Sigma hosted a Night Out for the Homeless, MSU hosted a "Wear Blue" event benefiting Ovarian Cancer, SDT supports the Prevent Child Abuse charity, and Phi Psi does Bowl-a-thons benefiting a Philanthropy, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. We always participate in Relay for Life, Habitat for Humanity, and there is an upcoming Greek 5k for Charity! As a former community service chair for my sorority, I can truly say that Comm Service is what I love most about Greek Life and I'm so glad that we place such an emphasis on giving back.

Also, you can always count on putting the fact that you were involved in a recognized fraternity or sorority on your resume. In this economy, it is so important that you have something extra to make you stand out from the crowd, and placing your fraternity or sorority involvement is a great way to do that, especially if you held an executive board position. For example, I don't know how much it mattered on my Phonathon application, but I'm sure putting down that I was the Public Relations Chair for my sorority definately helped my application. If I was in a unrecognized organization, I wouldn't be able to list that because employers trace back to see if the Greek Org was recognized or unrecognized, and usually they will trash applications from applicants who list their involvement in an unrecognized org on a resume. And honestly- your involvement can help you out in the most unexpected ways in the workplace. At Phonathon, occasionally I will find out that an Oneonta alumna used to be in my sorority and I love getting though phone calls and finding out what Sigma Gamma Phi used to be in the past.

Also, Recognized Greek Life participates in great campus programs like LEAD and many programs are LEAD certified, so who knows, you can walk out with LEAD honors when you graduate because you participate in Greek Life! And Greek Week is so much fun, we get to do the Greek Olympics (I got to participate in the Pie Eating Contest and DizzyBat...but we won't go there haha), Greek Talent Show, and we had a great Greek Banquet.

Also- the most important thing is that recognized Greek Life adheres to a 100% no hazing policy. You have full confidence that if anyone reports a hazing case to Angie Eichler pertaining to recognized Greek Life, the matter will be investigated immediately and the group will be charged with a Class D or E felony, and will get stripped of their recognition. I can look you in the eye and tell you that I earned my letters without being hazed physically or mentally. I know what the pain is like, when I was at Hartwick, one of my best friends was hazed and one day she was crying to me because they kept her out at all hours of the night and her grades were slipping and I knew that I was never going to let that happen to me, which is a big reason why I went recognized.

Another question is what's the difference between local and national? Oneonta has two local recognized Greek orgs: my sorority, Sigma Gamma Phi, and Pi Delta Chi. Everyone else is a National Organization which means that they have chapters nationwide and report to a national headquarters. Local orgs don't have a national office and they can either only have one chapter, such as PiChi, or have regional chapters, like Sigma Gamma Phi. We have chapters in SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Fredonia, and SUNY Geneseo. As one who is interested in recruitment, you may ask yourself: do I want to be in a sorority that only has one chapter, a few regional chapters, or many chapters across the country? To me, I don't feel like I missed out on the sorority experience by not being in a national organization. My sorority meets up with our other chapters and even though I LOVE my sisters in Potsdam (I still smile from the memories of our reunion), what really matters is how well you fit in with the chapter you're interested in joining, and in the end, I didn't focus on what was national and what was local, I focused on if I could really see these girls having my back in the end. Also, local orgs tend to have lower dues than nationals.

Which brings me to another point. If you have read this blog, you know that I am very concerned with the economy. It is true that joining a fraternity or sorority costs money. One misunderstanding is that "we pay to have our friends." That is ridiculous. Because fraternities and sororities are selective organizations we are not able to receive money for the SA for our budgets. Because of that, we have to pay dues. My dues go to sister retreat events, recruitment shirts, new member education materials, community service budget, social event budget, recruitement events budget, our savings account, alumni weekend budget, to the Inter Greek Council budget, and so much more. For those worried about not being able to afford a sorority or fraternity: do not worry. I know for my sorority, we have payment plans. There is no shame to have a payment plan, for as long as I've been in the sorority, I've been on a payment plan. I'm pretty sure other fraternities and sororities have that option as well, especially during these times. Talk the matter over with the treasurer of the org you want to join, and they will give you the truth about the dues.

Also- joining a recognized, greek org will not take over your life. I am busier as the training director of WONY than I am with my sorority. Not because we don't have a ton of events, it's just that my office hours and Phonathon tend to conflict with a lot of them. If you can't make an event because of work, another club, or homework, your potential sisters will understand. In fact, I'm so busy with WONY that I had to step down as a Greek Peer Advocate for this semester. You can choose how involved you want to be.

Finally, before I post the schedule of recruitment events- if you are interested in recruitment, come into it with an open mind and an open heart. Don't worry about not fitting into the typical sorority stereotype...trust me, I am FAR from that and people have a hard time believing that I'm a sorority sister because I don't fit the stereotype. Have fun, and most importantly, find the girls (or guys) that you can really see having your back. Honestly- I don't regret it. I can't imagine what life would be like without being in a sorority. Because without it, I wouldn't have met my some of my best friends. On my radio show, my co-host Chris O'Dea is my sorority sister. Sometimes our sorority advisor, Christine Edwards, phones in during our show and it's always hilarious when she does. (shameless plug: Listen to Indie, Sex, and Rock n Roll on Mondays from 1opm to Midnight on WONY 90.9FM or listen to us via webcast on http://organizations.oneonta.edu/WONY/) I would encourage going to Meet the Greeks, but if you feel rushed timewise during it, I don't blame you. I will tell you right now that I'm more of a one on one person and I hate talking in a noisy Hunt Ballroom. Personally, I enjoy going to Sorority Round Robins and Philanthropy Night because I feel that I can really get a chance to talk to the girls in a quiet room. I really hope to meet you, if you've been reading this blog, and prepare for a fun week =D

IGC Recruitment Events:
Wednesday, Jan. 14th: Meet the Greeks, Hunt Ballroom, 4PM
Saturday, Jan 17th: Sorority Round Robins, Hunt Union, 2PM (my favorite event!)
Monday, Jan 19th: Fraternity Poker, Hunt Union, 8PM (just in case guys read this blog)
Tuesday, Jan 20th: Philanthropy Night, Hunt Union, 8PM (my other favorite event!)
Wednesday, Jan 21st: Sorority Preference Night and Fraternity Informationals, Hunt Union, 8PM (this is invitation only)
Friday, Jan 23rd: BID DAY!!!!! (the BEST day you will ever have!) Hunt Union, around 4PM


keep it real!

Breast Cancer Research Table in Mills!

Phi Psi and Sigma Gamma Phi will be tabling on the first floor of Mills and will be collecting donations to support Breast Cancer research on Wednesday and Thursday from 11-3. No matter if it's a penny or a dollar, we will appreciate any amount that you can donate!

One thing I have noticed in my three and a half years of college is that there is always a kid who texts during class, no matter where you go. I have to admit, I am not married to my cell phone in any way, shape or form, but what I can never understand is why people feel the need to text during class? It is so rude. You are basically insulting your professor's intelligence if you text in class. Would you dare text message a person in front of your boss? Would you do that in grad school? I don't think so. Is the world going to stop if you put your phone away for 50 minutes and focus on the class?

haha sorry about the rant, but I had to get that off of my chest.

I'll Never Let Go Jack: Voter Registration, Bingo, and Open House

Tonight's title was inspired by how many times this weekend that I've flipped on the TV only to see that Titanic was playing. I remember seeing it in the 5th grade and I wanted to fall asleep so bad. I didn't care about the love story, maybe it's because I was too young to fully comprehend what Jack meant to Rose and all that jazz, I just wanted to see the boat sink, as weird as that sounds. And one thing I always wondered about the movie is that when Jack and Rose are in the water after the boat sinks, why couldn't they manuever themselves to both lay on the door...or maybe switch places from time to time? All I truly know is that I still can't listen to "My Heart Will Go On" because it was overplayed so much.

So you may have wondered how the Voter Registration Drive went, and I am so proud of my sorority and Chi Phi. I am not sure of the total numbers, but what I can tell you is that we registered over 70 people to vote on Tuesday.

On Thursday, we played Bingo with the Nursing Home again. I was with 2 of my sisters, Chris and Tori. It was cool because one of the residents, Millie, just came out of the hospital and she was there to play this week! She is one of our regulars and has been playing with us since we started playing Bingo in 2006. We talked about voting, and I learned that one of the ladies, Bertha, won't be able to vote because she's a Michigan resident, and she is unable to get an absentee ballot because the Otsego County Board of Elections is in Cooperstown and she has no way to get there to fill out the forms. I feel so bad for her but I told her that I'd vote for Obama for her (not that I wasn't going to vote for him already.)

You may wonder if I jumped on the Obama bandwagon, and that is the furthest thing from the truth. I remember flipping through AOL News in 2004 and one of the headlines was "Who Is Barack Obama" and it was talking about this speech in the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In 2007, I got to take a Race and Politics class, and we were required to read Barack's book Dreams of My Father. When I read the book, I was taken back because he is a conversational narrarator and he was unafraid to reveal the controversial parts of his life, for example, when he experimented with cocaine. In January 2008, I received the chance to be enrolled in the Presidential Campaigns class and one of the requirements of the class was to go to the New Hampshire Primary. I got to see Barack speak in Concord, NH and Nashua, NH, and I got to volunteer at the Concord Obama Headquarters. There are no words on what it feels like to be in that audience when Barack is speaking. Also- Barack and I see eye to eye on the issues and I cannot find myself to agree with John McCain. Some people say, "don't just vote on one issue." But when it comes to a presidential candidate firmly stating that he supports overturning Roe v. Wade, I'm sorry, I cannot let someone be in office who will not let women have the right to choose. Personally, I could never see myself going through with an abortion unless I faced extrodinary circumstances, but I believe that women should have the right to choose. And don't get me started on Sarah Palin. Regardless if you agree with me or not, (trust me, I'm a political science major, I've heard it all) it is important to educate yourself. Don't go for the candidate that looks good on paper, ask yourself..."what is life going to be like if this candidate comes through with his campaign promises?" Oh and just to clarify, I'm not just voting on the issue of abortion, it's just an issue I really care about and it was easy to use as an example.

Saturday was Open House and I had so much fun doing it. I got to give out tours and meet a lot of prospective students. As a transfer, Oneonta means so much to me that I feel like I have to give back to it in some way. However, I don't regret spending my first two years at Hartwick, it makes me appreciate Oneonta so much more, and also- I would have never met my Hartwick friends. So many people ask me "so, do you talk to your friends from Hartwick?" And I just look at them and say "I wouldn't turn my back on the people who had my back for 2 years." Sometimes I wish I wasn't involved in so much so I could see them more. I got to hang out with my Hartwick friends on Saturday and it just made me miss them so much. I know it seems weird that I'm complaining about not seeing people who literally live right across the street, but because I'm involved so much in my schoolwork, sorority, and WONY (I'm the training director of the radio station) and my job at Phonathon...I barely have time to see my own roommates.

My big sister in the sorority is leaving for Denver tomorrow. She got to visit me this weekend. For those who don't know what big sister or big brother means, when you are a new member you are given to a member of your fraternity or sorority who will guide you through the new member process. You are their little, they are your big. I'm so proud of my big because she isn't going out to Denver for nothing, she is participating in Americorps, which is like the Peace Corps, but in America. She will be there until July, and she will be helping out with various community service projects throughout the country. For more information about Americorps, go to http://www.americorps.org/ I would love to do Americorps or Teach for America, but unfortunately, I don't think I can. Because of my double major, I am graduating a semester late, and I will be taking 6 months off of school until law school (hopefully) begins. I will be 23 in 2010, and if I did Americorps or Teach for America (which takes 2 years to complete, you can find more information at http://www.teachforamerica.org/) , I would be 24 once I got out of Americorps and then I would be (hopefully) entering law school as a 24-25 year old, which means that I would (hopefully) graduate law school when I'm 28-29 because I hope to go to Penn State for their dual JD/Masters in Educational Theory and Policy and that program takes 4 years to complete. Having my first real job at 29 years old doesn't appeal to me. Actually, seeing my life planned out like that scares me a little bit. If these 4 years flew by, I don't even want to know what I'll think when I'm 29.

These lyrics go out to my Hartwick friends and my big sister...

"I'm falling into memories of you
The things we used to do.
Follow me there
A beautiful somewhere
A place that I can share with you..."
-Yellowcard: One Year, Six Months

I would like to give a shout-out to my sorority, because not counting voter registration or the Open House, we completed 91 hours and 15 minutes of community service this semester. I am so proud of you all!

I'm the king of the world,
Claps

National Hazing Prevention Week, Bingo, Meet the Greeks, and Greek Life Rocks the Vote!

Hey Everyone!

Last week was National Hazing Prevention Week (NHPW). This was my first time participating with the week...yet I still decided to be the NHPW representative for my sorority. That's one of the great things about Greek Life is that even if you are stepping into something that is completely foreign to you, your fellow Greeks will help you along to figure things out. The committee was not made of only Greeks, Oneonta State Athletics also sent their team members as representatives as well. We were also guided by our Greek Advisor, Angie Eichler, the Women's Volleyball Coach, Colleen Cashman, and the director of Judicial Affairs, Mary Logan. It was definately a great chance to get to know and work with people from all over campus.

When the average Joe hears the word "hazing," chances are is that he will associate the word with Greek Life. Hazing occurs in athletics, high school, the military, and other student organizations, so the NHPW committee set out to educate our campus that hazing can occur anywhere, and we should all look out for each other.

Also- I would like to make it clear the Recognized Greek Life at SUNY Oneonta has a No Hazing Policy. If you feel that you are being hazed or if you know of someone in a Recognized Greek Organization who is being hazed, do not hesitate to contact the Office of Campus Life at (607) 436-2410, Option #2.

On Monday, we were encouraged to wear Anti-Hazing T-shirts that I designed with my T-Shirt Committee. It was pretty scary because I didn't want to design something that the whole campus would hate, so my committee and I thought of words that rhymed with "Haze" and we settled on "Be Smart, Don't Get Hazed and Confused." It was a reference to the movie Dazed and Confused, where one of the opening scenes are the high school seniors hazing the underclassmen. Thankfully, the t-shirts turned out awesome and a lot of people liked them. Also on Monday, the Dean of Student Development at Cornell, Tom Marshell, addressed the campus about how horrible it is to be hazed and be part of an organization that does haze. However, he stood up to his organization and completely changed their new member process. It goes to show you that one person CAN make a difference and I commend him for that. I wasn't able to attend the speech because I had work (Yeah Oneonta Phonathon!), but I heard a lot of people were moved by it.

On Tuesday, there was a Greek/Athletic Mixer. On Wednesday, the video clips commitee and I presented a Power Point and discussion session about hazing. One of our goals was to show that hazing doesn't occur only in Greek Life, it occurs in high school, the United States Air Force, and we even showed a clip of high school teachers hazing our students. I commend Morgan from Mu Sigma Upsilon Sorority Incorporated, Jason from Phi Kappa Psi, and Cynthia from Chi Upsilon Sigma for putting together an amazing presentation. On Thursday, each fraternity and sorority had Philanthropy Tables outside the Quad as well. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the event because I had Metaphysics, so I can't give a fair observation about how it went.

However, on Thursday, I got to play bingo with the residents of the Robynwood Nursing Home. I cannot tell you how much I love those ladies. They are really grateful for anyone to hang out with them and I haven't seen them for months and they still remembered my name. I honestly believe that there should be more relations between the nursing home and the college because even though we are still so young, we don't know whether we will one day be in their place. These residents are so diverse, and for some of them, they haven't seen their families in a while. I love being a part of their family, as corny as that sounds, it's from the heart. I was very close with my Grandparents and when my Grandma passed away suddenly on May 8th, 2005, it shattered my world. She was so excited to see me graduate from high school and go to college. Also, I turned 18 on May 20th. Unfortunately, she wasn't there to see me accomplish those three milestones. She was also there for me during the hardest time of my life...I was in a biracial relationship and for some reason, my parents didn't approve of my ex-boyfriend just because of his skin color. His parents and my parents broke us up because the race thing was stressing both families out. Since then, my parents have changed their views and will let me date whoever I choose, but ever since he and I started dating, my grandparents were behind me 101%. The night before she had her stroke, I was crying with her because I just didn't understand why my mom and dad would do such a thing to me, right before my prom, birthday, and graduation. And she said that she trusted me and knew that I would always make the right decision. That meant so much to me. I made the choice while she was still in the hospital to live with my Grandpa. They didn't live far from us, they were only three houses down, but it killed me because my uncles only saw him once every month after my Grandma passed away. He was appreciative of any company. During my freshman year of college, I made sure to go home one weekend out of the month, and I spent my breaks with him. My Grandfather passed away, also suddenly, on May 7th, 2006. I spoke to him the night before he passed away, and he told me that he couldn't wait to get home from the hospital to celebrate my birthday. But the best present that I received on my 19th birthday was that he was with my Grandma. Ever since then, I have just been so appreciative of the gifts life brings to us. haha, I know I have laid out a lot of personal stuff, but I felt it was neccessary to prove my point that we should give our time to the elderly.

Ok! Onto happier things...we had Meet the Greeks today. However, even though I felt that there was a lot of Greek Unity at the event (I'll get to that later), I feel that the event wasn't promoted enough throughout campus. Everyone at the event were members of a Greek Organization, and there was barely anyone there who was interested in recruitment. However, it was amazing to see that Mu Sigma Upsilon Sorority Incorporated had a bunch of sisters from their chapter at SUNY New Paltz to support them at this event and Chi Upsilon Sigma Sorority Incorporated had their sisters from SUNY Binghamton to support them as well. I have yet to meet my other sisters at our recognized chapters at SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Fredonia, and SUNY Potsdam/Clarkson University, so I feel really happy for them that they have such a tight bond with their other chapters. However, my sorority is going to get together with our other chapters in November. I hope I am able to go but I have work on Friday and because I will be away at the College Music Journal Conference from October 21st to the 25th, I am scared to take too many days off from work.

On Tuesday, Chi Phi and my sorority is holding a campus-wide voter registartion event, Greek Life Rocks The Vote! We will be tabling at Mills, Hulbert, and Wilsbach from 11-3 and we will either get you registered to vote or give you an absentee ballot. That night, we will be holding a presentation about voting and the candidates at 7PM in IRC 4. I hope to see you there!

Be the change YOU want to see in the world,
Claps

Greek Peer Advocates, Community Service, and Scholarship Recognition, Oh My!

First off- I'd like to congratulate my sisters and the sisters of Sigma Sigma Sigma for winning the Highest Sorority GPA award at the Greek Awards Dinner last Thursday. Tri-Sig has won this award for many semesters, and it's an honor to be tied with them for this award. One of the myths about Greek Life is that once you join an organization, you will never have time for school work. The complete opposite is true. At Oneonta, our recognized Greek Life Organizations put a lot of pride into their schoolwork. We have a scholarship chair who presides over the SUNY Oneonta Inter-Greek Council and each chapter has a scholarship chair to make sure that their brothers or sisters are keeping up their grades. Next semester, in order to be active through the school, each Greek brother and sister must have a GPA above 2.5. Also, in order to be eligable for fraternity or sorority recruitment, one must have a GPA above 2.5. Being a Greek Life Scholar has a lot of benefits, I believe that if your term GPA is above a 3.0, you will receive an award at the end of the semester recognizing you for your acheivements, and for those who have a cummulative GPA of 3.25, one will be invited to join the national Greek honor society, Order of Omega.

Oneonta Greek Life also have Greek Peer Advocate program, otherwise known as GPA. Each chapter designates a brother or a sister to serve a Greek Peer Advocate. But what is this program and what do the GPAs do? I'm one of the GPAs for my sorority and we decided to switch the program up this semester. In the past, we would invite Greek Life to programs about Time Management, Conflict Resolution etc., the programs were good...but they didn't apply to all of the age groups. So this year, we are tailoring programs for sophomores, juniors and seniors. For example, the senior GPAs and I created a program called "Shake Your Money Maker" and we are going to talk about money management, how to budget out your college loans, and how to get health insurance after graduation. The sophomore class is having a GPA program about how to rent an Oneonta apartment. I would highly recommend being a GPA to any Greek because you get to develop programs and you get to know a lot of people from other organizations.

Also- I'm really excited because starting on Thursday, we are playing bingo with the residents of the Robynwood Nursing Home. We have played bingo at the nursing home for almost 3 years. I live for Thursday Night Bingo. The ladies are so nice and so funny and you find yourself getting attached to them.

Alex's Lemonade Stand- We Raised $241.55!

One thing I love about my sorority is that our name is synonymous with community service. We have won the IGC Community Service Award for three years in a row and my goal is to make it 4 years. I am the Community Service Chair of Sigma Gamma Phi for this semester, and over the summer, I thought of a lot of new community service ideas. One of those ideas was Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Alex's Lemonade Stand is a charity that supports childhood cancer research. Alex Scott was a little girl from Pennsylvania who was diagnosed with cancer. When she was 4 years old, she set up a lemonade stand in her hometown and all the proceeds would benefit childhood cancer research. She set up stands until she passed away in 2004 at 8 years old. Ever since then, it has become a movement across the country, and this summer I had the chance to participate in a Alex's Lemonade Stand with my youth leadership group and we had raised $300. It was so amazing and I knew that I wanted to do it in Oneonta.

On Saturday, September 6th, we held our first Alex's Lemonade Stand at Oneonta Wal-Mart. At first, it seemed like all the odds were against us: it was raining all day, and when we arrived at Wal-Mart, it was shut down due to a transformer fire that affected all of Southside Oneonta. However, we waited the power outage out and we started to collect money.

But the thing was, we weren't just sitting on a bench pouring out lemonade every now and then- we had the chance to meet a lot of amazing people with unique stories. 2 of our alumni who live in the immediate area stopped by to give us money, a man donated $10 in memory of his wife who passed away from cancer. As he told us the story, we were all either crying or just tearing up. I also met a man who donated money who was crying because he had a flashback of his friend who passed away during 9/11...and on the lighter side I also got to meet a man named Sal Claps...who knew that I would meet someone who's last name is my nickname.

All in all, it was a successful day and I am so happy that we did this event.

If you would like more information about Alex's Lemonade Stand, please visit http://www.alexslemonade.org/

Keep on keepin' on
Claps