Little known fact: in 2004, I moved and became a South Carolinian. Leaving PA was something I had always wanted to do and I had no intention of returning. Then something funny happened.
A goal got in the way.
I was going to put myself through college and, well, I was still considered an out-of-stater. That means school is twice as expensive. I had been admitted to Winthrop University, but I shelved that and came back to the bitter cold of Harrisburg. I worked a few months as a temp for the PA Dept. of Labor and Industry, went to HACC and eventually transferred out to IUP. If you know me, you know how that story ends.
Sometimes you have to give up something you want to get something else you want. That’s life.
(Don’t get me wrong, I still plan on moving out of PA someday – I’m not built for this weather.)
Anyone who follows me on Twitter probably knows that I haven’t been having very much fun lately. I’m the Fundraising Chair for Alpha Phi Omega, a community service fraternity here at IUP. I have what should be a pretty easy job description – make the fraternity money. I had a few ideas of things I wanted to do that I feel would have been pretty successful but, unfortunately, things got mixed up along the way.
We started the semester almost broke due to poor money management from previous officers. This meant that I had very little money to spend in order to make money. We decided to make working security at Heinz Field events mandatory for every brother and pledge. This meant that I not only had to be a fundraiser, I had to become an expert in scheduling and logistics.
On top of the Heinz Field requirement, we also required that brothers and pledges complete three fundraising hours for the semester. So not only was I scheduling everyone to go to Pittsburgh to work security, I was also trying to plan other fundraising events – just so people could meet their requirements. Of course, there were snags along the way; Heinz Field switched security firms on us, we had to go through all new training with their new company and not everyone could make it. I was forced to try and strike a fair compromise between those who had already worked games and those who wouldn’t be able to. Things got messy, so I played the cards I was dealt – even though they weren’t that great.
And here I am today. I feel that I made the best out of a poor set of circumstances, yet at the same time, I’m really disappointed that I didn’t get to do a lot of the things I wanted to do. We missed out on doing Homecoming shirts for the first time in who knows how long. I wanted to experiment with online sales as a type of fundraiser, but again, I felt like I had to focus more on creating physical events so that people could meet our fundraising requirements. I was bitter for a day or two, but I’ve grown to accept it as a life lesson. Not everything is going to turn out the way I want.
So what can YOU take away from this? We all have dreams, goals, ideas, ambitions, wishes, wants, needs – but sometimes, things don’t go the way we planned. I’m not telling you that you’ll never hit that homerun someday, but base hits are okay, too. Aim for the rafters, but don’t feel like a double or triple constitutes failure.
And when you strike out completely, go down swinging.
Life has been crazy the past few weeks. I dealt with the passing of my great grandmother, I said goodbye to the wonderful people at Ritter Insurance Marketing and I made my way to Indiana, Pennsylvania. I was an Orientation Leader for this year’s Welcome Weekend – we moved in over a thousand new freshmen Saturday morning and afternoon. We also entertained 2,000+ students at the student union building on Saturday night.
Now that the pace seems to have slowed down, I’m finally starting to settle in. In the next three to four months, this blog will probably cover very little about Central Pennsylvania. From a social media standpoint, these will be the last few months in which I view the topic through student goggles. There is, however, the possibility for something very cool. As most know, I graduate this December (God willing) and will then venture out into the “real world”. I would love to work in social media. What better way to chronicle the trials and tribulations involved in a job search than with this blog?
I would also like to do a lot more video this semester. It seems as though funny things happen when I don’t have my Flip with me. I saw a cop speed down the road and swerve around a car to pull over a cyclist yesterday. Things like that need to be recorded on video.
I suppose that’s all for now. I’ll eventually get back into posting regularly now that I’m here and growing used to my schedule. If you’d like to get in contact at any time, you can do so via the Contact link in the top menu bar. Until next time – adios, amigos.
