Ohana Means Family

By Lauren Woods

My first week on campus was one of most bittersweet, eye-opening weeks of my life. I’ve lived on my own before, but this was a whole new ballgame. If you ask anyone, they’ll tell you. Baylor University is so much more than a college; it’s a loving community. I’ve never been able to freely discuss how I view things from a Christian perspective. That changed my very first week of college. I am now on week three at Baylor and loving it. I feel as if my experience thus far can be described through something I witnessed my second day of classes.

I was walking to the Draper building where my sociology class is located, but before I got there, I spotted a group of students cheering on the curb. Now, when there’s a group of people cheering at Baylor, chances are something cool is happening. Naturally, I walked over to see what was going on. It took a moment to process what was in front of me. There was a family of duck-like birds who had just crossed the road. All but one of the babies had made it over the curb. This innocent baby bird was dramatically flailing its little wings in hopes of joining its family. The crowd of Baylor students was encouraging this baby bird with such passion; I couldn’t help but smile. All you could see was a group of students cheering, a baby bird jumping and a family of birds waddling away. An upperclassmen guy had finally had enough of the familial separation. He grabbed his notebook, scooped the baby bird onto the curb, and exclaimed something along the lines of, “BE FREE!” The crowd was simply overjoyed.

I had doubt about attending Baylor before I had arrived on campus. This doubt was thrown to the wind as soon as I had stepped on campus. I felt as if I was like this baby bird. Through welcome week activities and classes, I have been encouraged and welcomed with wide arms into the Baylor family. A separation or gap in my life has been filled, and I’m so excited for the next four years. As the wise Stitch once said, “Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.“ I’m so glad to be a part of the Baylor Ohana.

How It All Started

By Emily Woodby

I have dreamed of coming to Baylor since I was a little girl. Just to prove that I’ve been a life long fan, here is a picture of me and my brother, Tyler, showing our Baylor spirit! Now Tyler is a junior, and I have just started my first year. I still can’t believe how fast time flies. Compared to the picture on the right (the first day of class), a lot has changed.

As A Child

Now

 

 

 

 

 

 

The transition from high school to college is a bit difficult at times, but it’s so much fun. Getting in the habit of doing your own laundry, keeping all parts of your room clean and holding more responsibility for yourself is not an easy change, but the perks along the way make it worth it. Meeting all kinds of new people, learning your way around a new town and getting invested in your studies is an adventure and an experience like nothing else. Like every other college freshman, I was nervous, but with the support of my friends and family have made it a great move!

My Dorm Room

In the beginning, I was really worried about living in the dorm and sharing community bathrooms, but it’s been a blast! I’m not saying that I don’t miss the comfort of my own bathroom, but living with six other floors of girls gives me many opportunities to see my friends and continue to meet people. Not to mention that decorating your dorm room is so much fun!

My roommate Rebecca and I might have gone over the top, but it has made our room feel so homey and comfortable. While I’m showing y’all a picture from move in day…. here’s a picture of the surprise visitor we had – Baylor president, Judge Ken Starr! Please try and convince me that he’s not the coolest guy ever.

All in all, I’ve had an amazing experience these first six weeks. Wow, I cannot believe it’s already been that long! I’ve met great friends, started to get the hang of my classes and received a warm bear welcome from everyone here at Baylor. Without a doubt I am so excited to see what lies ahead for me!

Until next time!

Emily

P.S. I hope y’all have a great week!

Diary of a Car-Less Freshman (by Grant Siluangkhot)

Grant’s blog today was taken over by Greg Heffley from “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney! Here’s a little bit about what Greg thought of Grant’s adventures on Presidents Day.

First of all, let me get something straight: This is a BLOG POST, not a diary. I know what it says in the title, but when Mom went to title this thing I SPECIFICALLY told her to make one that didn’t say “diary” in it.

The only reason I agreed to do this is because I figure later on when I’ve graduated and have a full-time job, I’ll have better things to do than answer future freshmen’s questions all day long. So this post is going to come in handy.

Like I said, I’m going to graduate one day, but hopefully before then, I’ll have a car. For now, I’m stuck with walking everywhere and taking the bus. Luckily, Baylor has the DASH (Downtown Area Shuttle).

Today started off as another average Monday day for a Baylor University freshman. Everyone moans and groans about how tired they are and how they wish class their classes would get cancelled. After all, today isn’t just any Monday; it’s President’s Day. Just a last year, as high schoolers, we would get the day off.

After sluggishly getting ready for the day, I had Chapel and Japanese class in the morning. I ate lunch at a dining hall with friends and then went to Chemistry class in the afternoon. Next was work.

I work for a tutoring company called Group Excellence. I help kids at Waco High School with their homework and SAT prep after school. Without a car, I have to find other ways to make it to work. So like I usually do, I took the Baylor DASH to the Baylor School of Social Work. From there, it’s about a two block walk away from the Waco Bus Station. For a little bus fare, I take the Route 4 bus to Waco High. There’s always an interesting conversation going on between the driver and the people on the bus.

When I got to the school today, I was in for a surprise. The bell rang for dismissal, as usual, but no one came out of the building. Then I remembered: Today’s President’s Day! The students have the day off! Silly me. Then I realized another thing: I didn’t have enough fare to ride the bus back!

I can write about this now because I eventually made it back to campus safely. To make a long story short, I had to find an ATM somewhere and then had to get some change. Sweating was involved to make it back to the bus stop in time, but hey, it’s all for the adventure, right?

Religion Class – More Interesting Than I Thought (by Grant Siluangkhot)

Baylor students are required to take six hours of religion courses to graduate. Most students decide to take Christian Scriptures for their first freshman semester and Christian Heritage for their second. I didn’t have any more room in my schedule last semester, so I’ve decided to take Scriptures this semester.

On the first day of Scriptures, we had a light in-class discussion with the professor about the class. One of the questions that popped up was, “Why are you taking this class?” Most of us just sat and grinned because we all knew (including the professor) that most of the students were taking the class “because we have to”. After some discussion of other reasons and explanations of the syllabus, I learned that this class might actually be really interesting.

I’ve heard disparaging stories from my classmates who have taken the class before me, so I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I dreaded the idea of reading hundreds of pages a night. Perhaps my classmates were exaggerating or I just got lucky with a cool professor because, so far, it’s not that bad.

The readings are light enough, and the topics we discuss in class are very thought-provoking. We’ve discussed problems with transmitting copies of scripture, conflict with translation, and the validity of the Bible. As a Christian, I think this will be a nice scholarly way to examine many aspects of scripture and the different opinions about it. I imagine that it would still be an interesting class to take for non-Christians, so they can get a better understanding of what the many Christians in this world are about.

The Breakdowns in Life (by Lexa Johnson)

Sometimes in life you may be heading down one path, but fate has other plans. Last night my friends and I were all heading to Dwelling Place, the college service at Antioch Community Church. I was driving all of us in my car when the check engine light came on; I figured that it wasn’t a big deal and that I would take care of it later. We made a quick stop at UPS so that I could mail off a package; however, when I started the car again it began to shake and it smelled like smoking rubber. Definitely not a good sign!

I parked the car and popped the hood to take a look. Unfortunately, none of my friends in the car knew any more about cars than I did. So, being a naïve college freshman and not knowing what else to do, I called my dad for help. My dad attempted to direct me through checking the engine and fan belt. After teaching me where the fan belt was, my dad was able to diagnose the problem. One of the coils had come undone and I needed to get my car to a shop or dealership.

Here I am trying to stay positive in the middle of the car diagnosis process!

Luckily the Toyota dealership is only two miles away from where we were. My friend Brittany was able to drive over and pick my friends up and she followed me to the dealership. I was able to safely drive there and it seemed like that would be the end of our problems for the night. However, once we arrived at the dealership we found out it was closed! Being my usual optimistic self, I hoped that someone would be there working late who would be able to help us. So we parked the car outside of the gate and hopped the fence to walk through the lot and over to the office part of the dealership. I knocked on the windows but the only people who were still there was the cleaning service. They said there was nothing they could do and I would have to find somewhere to park my car until morning when Toyota opened. Fortunately, there was an open parking lot next to the dealership that I was able to park in and leave my car until morning.

Of course the only way to end such an eventful night is to get frozen yogurt at U-Swirl. On Wednesdays at U-Swirl you can guess the weight of your yogurt and if you get it right then you get it for free! And just my luck I correctly guessed the weight of my yogurt. Free frozen yogurt quickly turned my night around! Through this experience I learned that it is important to understand that parts of the car and know their basic functions. Maybe next time I will be more prepared.

Waco, Texas … A Wonderful Place to Be! (by Hunter Gorman)

Regardless of what you may have heard about Waco, this place is quite incredible in almost every aspect that comes to mind. Just from the top of my head, there are awesome places to eat (i.e. Vitek’s, George’s, and Schmaltz’s), there are two rivers (the Brazos and the Bosque), there’s an incredible university (BAYLOR!), and there are a few hidden gems that make Waco an absolutely wonderful place to be!

 

HIDDEN GEM # 1 – CAMERON PARK

Cameron Park is the best, most out of place thing that you might find in Waco. It lies upon the limestone structures that line the Brazos and Bosque rivers, and it features very intense bike trails, some pretty interesting wild life, and of course incredible views of the rivers.

Cameron Park is pretty sweet because you can go there with absolutely no agenda and end up spending hours mesmerized by the things you’ll find and taken away by the beauty of God’s creation. You can also go there to hammock (you must have a hammock before coming to college), have a picnic, or study! Basically, it’s one of the greatest things you never expected to find in Waco, TX.

 

HIDDEN GEM # 2 – LAKE WACO

Lake Waco is located about 20 minutes from Baylor’s campus, and just like Cameron Park, it’s an unusual find for the average student. Lake Waco covers 79,000 acre-feet of water, and here’s a fun fact: the largest catfish caught from Lake Waco was 59.5 pounds!

At Lake Waco, you’ll find biking and hiking trails, great water for recreational fishing, a dam (makes for great sunsets), and beaches where the possibilities are endless (we like to go out there at night and start bonfires, listen to music, and star-gaze). Needless to say, Lake Waco is without a doubt one of the coolest amenities to the Wacoan.

 

HIDDEN GEM # 3 – Cameron Park Zoo

The Cameron Park Zoo is something you’ll hear a lot about while in Waco, but you’ll never truly understand the Cameron Park Zoo until you experience it for yourself. You may not think of Waco as having an awesome zoo, but in my humble opinion I think it can easily compete with the San Diego, Fort Worth, and other world-famous zoos. There are so many awesome animals (lemurs, giraffes, and elephants) and some not-so-awesome animals too (SNAKES).

In addition to being an incredible zoo, the Cameron Park Zoo can also be a social hub.  Every year, the Freshman Leadership Organization, or FLO, hosts a dance for freshman called, “Frontier” held at the Cameron Park Zoo! This year, I had the privilege of DJing the event and I’m not kidding when I say we had at least 350 people crammed onto the dance floor there at the Cameron Park Zoo! CHECK IT OUT!!!

 

HIDDEN GEM # 4 – PUDDLES

Don’t worry, you read it right PUDDLES.  Now I’m not saying anything, but I feel like since we’re the largest Baptist university in the world… God probably likes to say thanks in His own special way.

Here’s a brief story explain why I think that:

It was a Sunday afternoon when Marcus (my good friend) and I were about to unpack the car from the picnic we had just had with his sister and some of her friends. I kid you not, as soon as we got out of the car a beam of light shined down from the clouds onto a puddle.  Marcus, being an intelligent Baylor student, walks to the puddle and pulls out a fifty-dollar bill. I am scouring the puddle for more, while livid because I didn’t find the money, and Marcus carries on with unloading the car. After returning to the car, he goes back to the puddle only to find thirty more dollars just lying there, even though I swear I just got done looking! At this point I am furious and Marcus now has $80 for no good reason.

Regardless of who actually found the money from the Sacred-Puddle at 9th and James… There is still a sacred puddle here in Waco and if you get some time while in town, you honestly might want to swing by and test your luck at the puddle.

Penland Hall Take-A-Date (by Hunter Gorman)

Here at Baylor, and any college for that matter, right around fall time you begin to hear about these things called “Take-A-Dates.” Typically, sororities are the ones who organize these events. They consist of a dinner and then some sort of fun activity. Here at Baylor there is a delayed rush process, which means none of the freshman are in any type of Greek organization until at least our second semester so we knew we wouldn’t be asked to one any time soon… so we decided to go out on a limb and put on our own!

Since we are around Halloween time, we decided to set our destination the scariest haunted house in the world, the Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth, TX.  This is not just any haunted house, nope, this haunted house currently holds the record for “Longest Walk-Through Horror House” as by the Guiness Book of World Records.

We started our night at around 6pm and loaded 26 people into 4 different cars and headed to Forth Worth! Since it was about dinnertime, once we were into town we stopped at one of America’s favorite burger places, In-N-Out burger for a nice meal before we went to get spooked!

Bellies full, we once again piled into our cars and drove to the main event, The Cutting Edge Haunted House. The house took up an hour and a half to get through and we all made it out alive!

The girls were the funniest things ever to watch because they were literally so scared that they screamed at the sound of their own footsteps.

Needless to say, we all had a great time and we once again realized that freshman year is the year to create community with the ones around you every day, so that’s what we did.

Wear Pants! (by Grant Siluangkhot)

Can’t wait to hear another freshman horror story from Grant? Well, wait no longer! A while back, when I first started classes at Baylor, I was excited to start a new routine and go to my new lab classes; after an interesting morning of Japanese and Chemistry, I merrily headed to my chemistry lab.

Because I had a few minutes before lab, however, I stopped to check if I was prepared. I had viewed the PowerPoint slides and took the pre-lab quiz the night before, my cleanly stapled summary and syllabus were with me – I was all set. Feeling ready for lab, I walked in the room to see everyone in lab coats. And me? No lab coat.

I could see signs posted with “PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT REQUIRED,” and with the multiple reminders about appropriate attire online, I could tell that the lab people were very strict on dress code. Lab was going to start in 2 minutes, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to do the lab if I didn’t have my coat.

Then I did what my little freshman brain thought was best to do. I ran for my dorm. The BSB, where my lab is, happens to be on the other side of the universe to Brooks College, my residence hall. I tore into my room, heaving from my sprint, and rummaged through my drawers and closet to find my lab coat and goggles. (I’m glad that I remembered to grab my goggles, too.)

That’s my dorm on the lower left and the BSB is on the upper right – clear on the other side of the Baylor universe!

My roommate saw that I was freaking out and asked what was going on. I said something along the lines of “Forgot my lab coat! Started 10 minutes ago! I was so ready for the lab. I had everything done! Can’t believe I did this!” and dashed back to the BSB.

When I got back to my chem lab, I was sweating, smelly, and feeling lost. Everyone had already started, so I had to hunt down the lab assistant who was busy going around guiding other students. Eventually, I got my lab instructions and my own station. I was relieved.

That’s when some lab official comes in and says to the class, “You can’t do lab if you’re wearing shorts. You need to wear pants!” OH NO. I’M WEARING SHORTS. In my lab coat rush I had forgotten the other part of those email reminders. I couldn’t imagine missing anymore lab, so I talked to the lab assistant and he let it slide—this time. Phew!

YES! I am so glad I got to do my first chemistry lab, especially after being late and wearing shorts. Here’s the thing, I had Bio lab next. They happen to have the same policy and whoops, still no pants. Luckily, I got by again because it was only the first week. I know that others weren’t so lucky. Some students were sent back to change to the appropriate attire.

On the first day of lab I was late and sweaty. I did not want to go through that again, so I made sure that I had many reminders on my phone and in my room.

. . . And that is the story behind why all the Tuesdays on my calendar have WEAR PANTS written on them.

The Senior “Lyfe” (by P.J. Martinez)

Seriously, where has the time gone?  As I was looking for my next #throwbackthursday picture for Instagram, I scrolled all the way to top of my phone and found a picture of myself dressed for a geek dance party standing in the middle of my old dorm room. What seemed like a long time ago, actually really wasn’t. Now, it’s Senior Year and everything seems to be going so fast. Everyone asks, “So, what are you doing after this?” This question gets asked on a regular basis once you are a Senior. So, be ready!

Graduate school applications are coming up and yes this is making me a bit nervous.  I know exactly what I want to do, but where does that need to happen? For higher education, my mentors have said that it is best to go somewhere other than Baylor and get glimpse of what diversity is actually like. Although I would love to stay here at Baylor, the time to leave is approaching. Other seniors are getting ready for their future jobs and already have plans to start the post grad life. Some are even engaged. Crazy!!!

From my point of view, this year has definitely been easier than the past. If you are on track to finish your degree on time, the last two semesters seem to be a breeze. Or so it seems as of now. I’m currently enrolled in 13 hours this semester, and 12 next semester. I seriously feel like I’m living the dream. Once I’ve done all my homework, there is then time to hang out with my friends and do things I didn’t have time to do in the past.

As I write this post, I sit here wishing that I could re-live freshman year again. Mainly just to see how much I have changed. I truly feel that Baylor gave me the opportunity to grow and become an older person. Yes, I do have a lot more growing to do, but being here gave me the spark in order to do that. I hope that once you enter upon your freshman year here at Baylor, you cherish every moment you have, join any organization that seems interesting to you, study, and simply have fun!  The “Senior Lyfe” can get here faster than you know it!

Geek Dance Party!

Majors and Classes (by Lexa Johnson)

You may have heard that one of the benefits of college is that you finally get to take classes that you actually want to take. Well its true! In college you have more flexibility with your schedule and generally have more classes to choose from, depending on your major.  When choosing your major make sure to choose one that is right for you.  Don’t fall into the trap of choosing a major just because you think it is the one you have to choose or that it is the only route to the career you are working towards. Baylor offers a wide range of majors to choose from so be sure to look into them all.  I made the mistake of choosing to be a biology major just because I thought I had to in order to be able to apply to Physician’s Assistant school at the end of my undergraduate career.  However, once I got to Baylor I realized how many more majors there are to choose from and I choose to major in Medical Humanities instead.  So go online and look into the many majors that are offered here at Baylor and what courses they include. A major you may have never even heard of could end up being the best fit for you and your time here! 

When you are a freshman Baylor offers several Freshman Academic Seminar courses. The benefits to these courses are that the class size is much smaller, about 19-20 people, and it offers an opportunity for more class discussion. There are several to choose from such as English for Modern Culture, Religion, and even Physician and Patient Relationships just to name a few. I am currently in English for Modern Culture where we evaluate how modern culture has influenced our literary styles. My professor is Dr. Pittman and she is fantastic! She does a great job of keeping our class engaged and she is hilarious. Today in class we watched “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to evaluate the style of the movie and are comparing it to the new version. I recommend taking a Freshman Academic Seminar class because the smaller class size offers the opportunity to get to know your fellow classmates better and engage in good class discussion. Baylor has many different opportunities available through the majors and classes that are offered here which really sets it apart from other universities.