Committee Overviews: Service and Travel

We're continuing with our committee overviews, but expect to see some blog entries about the excitement we've had in town this week in the future. Over the past week, Bill Clinton campaigned for his wife at a local high school and Barack Obama held a rally at our own Minges Coliseum. Despite the rapid approach of finals, you can find ECU Teaching Fellows spending their spare time working as volunteers on each campaign.

We're also preparing to leave for Atlanta today for our concessions trip. Life as an ECU Teaching Fellow or Maynard Scholar isn't quite always this exciting - most years we don't have primary campaigns in town - so we're using these committee overviews to give you an idea of what our typical excitement is like.

Service Committee Overview
by Kristen Hales (junior)

The Service Committee has been bustling with activity this year. This philanthropic division of the Teaching Fellows organization has touched many lives through its continuing service to Operation Christmas Child during the fall semester, and its other endeavors. One of the newest things the Service Committee has embarked upon is doing bake sales for the Ronald McDonald House. This experimental activity was a great success, and is expected to become an annual fund raiser for the group.

Additionally, the Service Committee members are planning to do road side clean-ups on Elm Street, and will be responsible for completing two hours of community service around Greenville and Pitt County. These actions will only further the success the Service Committee has already encountered, and serve as an example for others in the community to follow.

Travel Committee Overview
by Will Mercep (freshman)

Congratulations, you have just joined the Travel Committee! There’s only one thing left to do… what was that thing again?

When you become an East Carolina Teaching Fellow or Maynard, you are given the privilege of being a part of one of our fantastic committees. As a committee member you will effectively have a roll in the way your organization functions. Now, we’ll take a look at the exciting role of a Travel Committee member.

In the Travel Committee you will be a part of one of three subcommittees: Sophomore, Concessions, or Junior. These subcommittees plan the sophomore and junior trips along with the, you guessed it, concessions trip. The planning entails finding restaurants, shopping, and site seeing opportunities at each place. They then compile this information into a brochure for the students attending the event. They also make reservations for dinners, hotels, and buses. The Committees are organized and held together by two co-chairs. The amazing ’07-08 co-chairs are Alaina Ellison and Kelli Fogt. They hold meetings roughly once a month to stay on their trip deadlines.

Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” ECU TF/MS Committees allow you to be the change you want to see in our fellowship.

Committee Overviews, Part I

As the semester is winding down, we're going to take a couple of weeks to highlight what some of our student-run committees do. Every ECU Teaching Fellow and Maynard Scholar is required to participate in one of six committees, and each committee meets six times a year. Because this blog is run by the Communications Committee, we'll start with them, followed by the Social Committee.

The Social Committee is changing for next year; its activities will be absorbed into another committee to make room for a brand new committee. But more on that later - this post is about this year.

Communications Committee Overview
By Anthony Hingley

This blog entry is to let everyone know exactly what the Communications Committee does. The subcommittees are: Bulletin Boards, Chalkdust, Graduate Networking, and Bloggers and Photographers.

The Bulletin boards subcommittee is responsible for planning, acquiring necessary materials, and putting up the bulletin boards located outside the Teaching Fellows office.

Chalkdust is a newsletter containing articles written by members of that subcommittee. That newsletter is sent out to the East Carolina Teaching Fellows Alumni. This is one of the ways we let our Alumni know that we remember them.

If you are a current Teaching Fellow or Maynard Scholar, and you’ve gotten a birthday card from the Teaching Fellows office, you can thank the Graduate Networking subcommittee. They also write in all the cards for the Alumni.

The bloggers and photographers are the ones responsible for all the articles and pictures in the blog you are reading. New this year, the blog has been a big success and will continue next year.

The other responsibilities of the Communications Committee are designing the Discovery t-shirt and presenting the Discovery fashion show. The Discovery t-shirt is the shirt that freshman Teaching Fellows wear on school t-shirt day during the Discovery trip. Each school makes their own shirt, and ECU usually has a very good one. The Discovery fashion show is one of the freshman seminars, where the Communications Committee lets the freshman know what is acceptable and what is unacceptable to wear on Discovery, as well as other useful pieces of information about the trip.

Social Committee Overview
by Bradley Baggett

The main thing that the Social Committee works on every year is the
Holiday Social at the end of the fall semester. Next school year, the
Social Committee will handle the Pirate Pal socials, holding one in the fall
semester and two in the spring semester. They also provide the snacks
outside the office at the end of both semesters. The Social Committee is
well liked by its members. They get to have fun and be social, something all
the ECU Teaching Fellows and Maynard Scholars seem to be good at.

Anecdotes from a Freshman TF

We just spent last week in New York City for the big ECU TF Junior Trip! To make up for our absence publishing the blog this week, here are two different stories from one of our freshman Fellows.

Looking Ahead To Tutoring
by Katilin Bunch (freshman)

I recently went to visit and volunteer at my little sister's kindergarten class. I had gone to surprise my sister by having lunch with her. I got to meet her classmates and her teacher. She asked me to stay and learn with her; I asked her teacher and she told me it would be fine to stay. I helped all the students to learn to write their last names and helped staple books that they had made together during my three hour stay. I also went outside with the class; I had a great time.

This experience has me very excited to start tutoring for a school in Greenville this semester. It reminded me of why we as Teaching Fellows are majoring in Education. Education is so important and vital with so many rewards and I want to be a part of that. It also reinforced my decision to teach high school students. I love smaller children but I know that I am better suited for older students. I am so glad I got to experience this. It has helped me to prepare for volunteering here in Greenville and I can not wait to get started!!!

A New Experience: Communicating with Professors
by Katilin Bunch (freshman)

In high school I never had trouble understanding my teachers. My sophomore year a foreign exchange teacher from Japan was supposed to come and teach my science class but he never came. I never had a teacher with a really strong accent. Here at college, however, I am faced with two professors that have very strong accents. It is extremely hard to understand both of them; especially when they begin to talk fast. I have learned to pay very close attention and take extensive notes. So far this has been difficult for me because I am not used to it. One of my professors seemed worried at the end of our first class and when I went to introduce myself to her she began to question me about how I thought the class went. She also asked if I thought everyone had understood since no one had asked any questions. I told her that when she spoke so quickly it was hard to hear her and understand what she was saying. She thanked me for talking to her and told me she would try to slow down during the next classes. She did slow down and it really helped a lot and people began to ask her questions and participated in class more. I encourage anyone who is having trouble to talk to their professors too . . . your grade depends on you!

Back from Break!

We took a couple weeks off for Spring Break here at the ECU TF/MS blog, but we'll be bringing you updates from our program every week for the rest of the semester and into the summer. Today we have a double-header of topics completely unrelated to each other but both relevant to this week: first, a look at the future of our program from future (2008-2009) Communications Committee Co-Chair Will Mercep, and then some ECU basketball coverage in preparation for the March Madness festivities beginning this weekend.

The Future of Teaching Fellows
By Will Mercep (freshman)

When I think of ECU Teaching Fellows and Maynard Scholars, I usually think of them as being proud, perceptive, punctual, and preservationists. One might ask, “Now, what exactly do you mean when you say preservationists?” Well, I’m talking about self-preservation to be exact. We are always on the hunt to get the next generation of education majors through these doors. This is enacted, most notably, by our own Recruitment Committee. Their job is to get that pirate pride into the Teaching Fellow applicants and finalists. They also attempt to bring more high school students into the teaching profession as a whole.

But, that isn’t the only way the Teaching Fellows & Maynard Scholars show support. It’s also about the little things. When the list of 2008 Regional Finalists was announced, the front page of the TF/MS website read, “Congratulations 2008 Regional Finalists!” Under that was a link to a file with every TF candidate in the state and an invite to come to our Recruitment Day. We even get down to the nitty-gritty and have events with individual schools. Croatan and West Carteret High Schools out in Carteret County brought the members of their FTA organizations for a visit here on the ECU campus. Here at East Carolina teaching is paramount: Our Futures as Teachers Carve the Futures of Thousands.



ECU vs. Clemson and NC State
By Anthony Hingley (sophomore)

As a member of the ECU Pep Band, I go to the basketball games. Never have I been in such an electric atmosphere as when I attended the ECU vs. Clemson game and the ECU vs. NC State game.

First off, the Clemson game was lots of fun even before the game started. The memo for Pirate fans to wear black, aided by the free tee shirts, was heeded. Just looking in the arena, almost all you saw was black. When the game tipped off, Williams Arena almost exploded when the Pirates scored first. The entire first half was a lot closer than anyone anticipated, having a nationally ranked ACC basketball team coming to Greenville.

Even more exciting than that game was just a few days later, when ECU played an amazing, nail-biting game, which came down to the last minute of play. Seeing all the red from Wolfpack fans was not enjoyable, but having that many fans of the visiting team made Pirate fans that much more rowdy. I was very glad to be a part of that monumental victory, ECU's first every basketball victory over NC State, and our first basketball victory against an ACC team.

Recruitment Day '08 - and the Committee Behind It

By Austin Kestler (freshman)
Photo by Robyn McLawhorn (junior)

Recruitment Day 2008 for Teaching Fellows was a huge success. We had about 70 Regional finalist show up to explore what are program has to offer. Dr. Corbin greeted our prospects. Provost Marilyn Sheerer also attend to welcome our guests. After splitting the finalists up into their majors, advisers from each major talked with them in the smaller groups.
Then came the fun part: the question and answer panel that separated the parents from the students to ask real questions about college. Then, ECU treated them to a catered lunch followed by Joann Norris, head of the Teaching Fellows program across North Carolina, speaking with the future Fellows about what it is to be a Teaching Fellow. The day was quite a success with an overwhelming return of people moving ECU up from lower ranks on their top 5 school list to #1.

The Recruitment Committee does a lot for the ECU program. In November, they hold an Interview Skills Day a week or two before the Local Interviews. When the regional finalist lists come out, they stuff envelopes full of confetti, a letter of congratulations for making it to the regional round, and an invitation to the Recruitment Day. Also, the week before the Recruitment Day, they hold phone banks, where they call and issue congratulations, ask if they have any questions, and extend another invitation to the Recruitment Day. Then they take care of Recruitment Day. They also hold the regional interviews at East Carolina, so the members will help out with registration, talking with the students before and after their interviews, leading them to the rooms where they will be interviewed.

Junior Tutoring

By Kristen Hales (junior)

My experience with Junior Tutoring has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done during my college years. Every day I find myself going to get my car for tutoring, I end up smiling, because I enjoy seeing the kids that I get to help. The first day of tutoring, they were quiet and shy, but as they days have gone on they’ve blossomed!

I know their names, which teams they play on, and of course, the subjects they need help with the most. I was given the opportunity to work with a program called AVID, which takes at risk students with college potential and gives them allotted study and homework time so they don’t fall behind in their work. Of course, being ninth graders, they love to goof off, but when they need to they get the job done!

I’ve tutored Spanish, Algebra, English, and occasionally someone will have a History question, but even if I don’t get to tutor exactly in my study area, this experience is one that I wouldn’t give up for the world.

A Discovery: Music Composition

by Nieves Villasenor (freshman)

Throughout life we go through many stages where we think we know what we want to do with our lives. As a Teaching Fellow, all of us have decided that that very thing is teaching. For me, it's music, and I had always figured since I had received the scholarship, that teaching music is the only thing that I would want to do. While being at ECU, meeting new people, exploring new concepts, and getting a look at what more there is to offer, I have seen my opportunities expand.

Now, nothing has changed with me wanting to be a teacher. It's been my dream since high school to create and manage a band program at a high school. It's very different being a music educator, its much like being a coach. Music programs are visible across regions, and many times, much like sports teams, serve as representatives as a school. Recently; however, I have discovered a new realm of music that I believe would help me to be a better educator and that is music composition.

I have written music ever since the summer of 2005 when I had my first concert piece, "To Challenge the Earth and Skies," premiered in front of an audience of hundreds in Jones Auditorium at Meredith College. The North Carolina Governor's School students of that year did a great job with it, and even some of my fellow Teaching Fellows remember me because of it. At the time until now, it had always been a hobby of mine. As I matured as a musician and broadened my horizons of what kinds of music exist, I explored and experimented with varieties of styles.

My tenure so far at East Carolina has been most influential in my thought of possibly double majoring in music composition. I've met great people like Dr. Jacobs, Brandon Martel, Brian Bonsteel, Jamie Kofink, Kimberly West, Nathan Walker, and many people who have inspired me to take that path as well as a music composer. Their praise and criticisms have helped me to discover that I might have a possible future in this field as well. By coupling my abilities as an educator and my creativity as a writer, I believe that both these strengths will make me a better prepared educator.

In the future, I hope to premiere yet another piece, this time to an audience of my peers at East Carolina University. With the superb School of Music available to me, new experiences ahead of me, and a numerous amounts of interested ears, I believe I will only grow as a musician.