My friends, it starts so soon now. A week from today (today being Monday), the madness officially starts when I roll down to Pigeon Forge. But there’s many reasons why this semester shall be memorable. Here’s a quick taste of ten reasons why this semester, the fall of my senior year, will be quite extraordinary…
–Finally, the education major will get a taste of education. Completing 100 hours of observation in a local high school (please God, Lafayette or Henry Clay) might seem to be a bear of a task, I am pumped about getting out in the field and seeing how things go from the other side of the desk. It’s been a while since I’ve made my presence in a high school…I wonder what things I have forgotten?
–BCM Round 4, and from the perspective of the Oval Office, should be nothing but a good time. Right. I know there will be headaches, but I will hopefully realize that the BCM shall be fading away from my life soon and all the “pains” of being the chief executive will be well worth it. And it will be, as I’m looking forward to the memories that the Baptist Campus Ministry gives me this senior year.
–Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings will be nothing short of spectacular. It can be argued that there’s never been a better collection of professors in a three-hour span of time. At nine, we kick off the morning with Mark Summers and early 19th-century American history. Summers is a proven winner and will bring the theatrics to wake me up. At ten, awesomeness. Alan DeSantis, who many feel to be UK’s greatest, will lead a communications charge against myself, Alyssa, Kyle Craft, and Molly…perhaps Kelly Henderson as well. Glory in its finest, and to think I was considering dropping that class. The morning closes with Voss, a professor well respected but never takes, and our Civil Liberties. Should be a class that is well relevant to things I will one day teach.
–Josh Rasor, myself, and 22 of our closest friends will lock horns in the Bluegrass Premier Football League, which will likely drive me insane trying to manage but will result in many a good time I feel. I need to get to work on many things for the league, yet I cannot summer the organizational skills to find where to start. This will be a challenge, but I feel up to the task. Hopefully Josh Rasor does as well.
–Hockey will return in grand fashion. Although the team has been stripped of much of its talent and awesomeness due to graduation, and although I will miss several games in the fall due to weekend events (all pertaining to the BCM I believe), each and every game will provide thrills unlike any other. There will be many Junior Mints eaten, and much ‘f’ words yelled. Well, by everyone else.
–Also returning will be Billy Gillispie and his basketball Cats. With a buttload of non-conference games on the schedule, there will be good times at ticket lotteries and in the Erruption Zone. It’s hard to believe that I won’t have $5 access to basketball tickets coming here soon, so I better soak in all the fun while I can.
–Well friends, I don’t know about you, but I love the music of Steven Curtis Chapman. And wouldn’t you know it, he’s gonna be in Cincinnati with Michael W. Smith on October 10th. This is a Friday, and there is a UK hockey game that night…I just discover this. Now, if the concert would start at say, 8, and be over at 1030, I could totally be back to Lexington by midnight. Oh my goodness, there’s not two more opposite things than Steven Curtis Chapman and UK hockey, but combine them together, and that’s a magical combination!
–Of course, you wouldn’t have your fall semester without the traditional BCM events. This year, there are some changes. Focus has been ReFocused to Jonathan Creek (on the worst weekend possible too sportswise…UT-Florida, LSU-Auburn, first hockey games, Ryder Cup…way to screw my life up Keith Inman), and it should be a nice weekend break a month into school. Of course, you have the staples in the hayride and Fall Retreat, two events I hold most dear to my heart. But wait, where’s the Barn Dance? Aha, that’s right…THE BARN DANCE IS NO MORE! YAHOO!!! My legacy as BCM President shall be the elimination of the Barn Dance, and I am perfectly fine with that my friends!
–Last fall, Guitar Hero exploded into my life and culminated with the release of Guitar Hero III in October. All hail the majesty of Knights Of Cydonia! In any case, we shall walk down that glorious road again this October with the release of Guitar Hero World Tour. And even though GH went pansy on us by including the mic and drums with this, it still shall have all new songs to conquer on guitar, at the medium level of difficulty of course.
–And you can’t have a fall semester at UK without the awesomeness of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This year, unlike the past two years, the event will fall in December, on the last day of Finals no less. We shall all celebrate the conclusion of the seventh UK semester by rocking out in Rupp to TSO. I cannot wait.
But yes friends, perhaps the most exciting thing about the new semester will be the new faces that we shall discover. At this point last year, I knew little of Matt Scoggins, of Julia Wilson, of Allen Tate, of Tiason Lockridge, of Ally Smith, of Laura Leavall, of Grace Collins, of Austin Linton, of Kelly Poston, and so on and so forth. You can’t help but wonder who are gonna be the new people that intrude into my life and force me to develop a wonderful and rich relationship with them. I feel like there’s never been a time in my life when I was more open to creating and, more importantly, maintaining friendships. This semester will take a life of its own, as did the previous six semesters before it. I shall live every life to the fullest and fully appreciate that there will never be another senior year of college. If college holds true to high school form, the senior year will make me forget the previous three years. We shall see friends, we shall see.
But for now, a week more of summer. Quite a shame, as I am finally settling in and enjoying the life of having nothing to do. But it shall end, and I will be thrown into the storm…but the growth will be unmeasureable. Come along with me as we start the adventure. You will be glad you did.
