Tag Archives: Student Activities

JSA Cultural Banquet (by Grant Siluangkhot)

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Last week I had the pleasure of joining a few members of Baylor’s Japanese Student Association (JSA), students taking Japanese class, and Japanese exchange students at a banquet. The banquet was designed to celebrate common intellectual interest in Japanese culture and to learn about potential careers in Japan.

It was an interesting night and a great learning experience. The speaker was JSA’s former president who uses Japanese for his work. He spoke about life and business in Japan and encouraged us to go and experience the country for ourselves. His talk made me even more excited for this summer and my studying abroad with the Baylor in Japan program. (Baylor has many study abroad opportunities to many places for the summer and the regular school year.)

At the banquet I met a number of interesting people who enjoy learning Japanese like I do. It was a fun way to practice the language in conversation and learn a few new words along the way.

Before the end of the night, we had a competition among the separate dining tables. It was a quick game of true or false regarding difficult facts about Japan. We all had a laugh after seeing how little the Japanese professors knew about things like recent pop culture!

I’m glad that I was able to spend my Friday evening with culture, fun, and friends. I can’t wait until next year’s event.

Spring Social Season (by Hunter Gorman)

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The green grass growing, the sun warming, and the new spring pledge classes of the over 40 Baylor Greek organizations in full swing, can only mean one thing and one thing only: Social Season at Baylor. This is a loved time of year on campus with an endless amount of fraternity/sorority mixers, take-a-dates, and dances. The time of year when 10th street is filled with sporty youths, the library filled with those more scholarly, and the thought of the fast approaching spring break on everyone’s mind.

Spring truly is a great time here at Baylor, and really gets people in the mood for some dancing! Check out this video of Baylor’s “Harlem Shake!”

As I said, dances are a common theme of the spring time and it honestly can get a little overwhelming when you think about the number of events that you can have and they all seem to happen in the same week! School work is something that is very easy to get behind on during the spring season, especially freshman year, while you continue to experience that euphoric feeling of new found community.

For those of you that will be coming to Baylor as freshman for the nearing fall semester, spring is a time to look forward and also a goal to work for during your first semester. Aside from the various Greek and other student organization’s events, Baylor University has a lot going on during the spring time such as spring break (as mentioned), the Easter Holiday, the fun and exciting “Diadeloso,” and then finally, summer time!

During the spring it is very easy to lose track of time and before you know it you are almost done with your first full year of college (that’s my case anyway).

For those who are looking to Baylor as incoming freshman, get excited! Baylor is a great place that thrives on community and tradition. Finally for those of you looking to Baylor as a place to restart your college journey, look no more! Baylor’s great people and many communities could not be more excited for you to get here!

 

“When the Lights Go Out” (by P.J. Martinez)

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As I’ve mentioned multiple times throughout this blog, I have been participating as a SING chair for my fraternity for this year’s All University SING. After working on this act for the past year, I can finally say it is finished! This seriously has been one of the most memorable moments while being here at Baylor.

Our act, “When the Light Go Out” was based on the movie “Night at the Museum.” Pretty cool, huh? The characters that were a part of the act were cowboys, Indians, gladiators, soldiers, and statues. Standing behind us on the backdrop, was a painting of a skeleton dinosaur. This act was simply full of fun and energy, and it’s safe to say we had the crowd amused.

 

SING takes place in over a two week span with the last week including the awards ceremony. On the last night, after the show takes place, all the SING chairs stand on stage and wait for the awards to be announced. Everyone waits nervously as they think about what awards they could receive. The first awards they announced were People’s Choice. These were awards solely based on what the audience preferred. We won Best Vocals and Best Backdrop! Next came the invitations for Pigskin. Only the top 8 acts get the opportunity to perform at Pigskin in the Fall. We were invited to perform in Pigskin! This was our goal before actually participating in Sing this year. Next, came the top 3 awards that actually place. Making it to Pigskin is actually quite an accomplishment in itself, but being either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd is always good! They began to announce, and as they uttered the words, PHI KAPPA CHI, my heart soared. That was our act and we had won third place!

Seriously, by far the best feeling ever! It was great stepping outside of Waco Hall and seeing the guys in my fraternity cheering as we held our plaque in the air. I will always remember this moment!!!

Going Greek (by Kristen Ritch)

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I kicked off my spring semester a week early with Panhellenic recruitment, allowing me to join my wonderful new sisters as a member of my sorority. For those student and parents who are worried about the Greek process, put your minds at ease:

  1. Recruitment, or “rush,” happens in the spring at Baylor, allowing students to make friends outside of Greek life and to be able to make an informed decision as to which sorority or fraternity to join after a semester.
  2. There is no Greek housing at Baylor. This lets students make friends in the residence halls and room with people outside of their Greek organization.
  3. Philanthropy is a huge component of Greek life. We donate thousands of dollars and volunteer hours each year to our individual philanthropies.
  4. It looks fantastic on resumes. Since being in a sorority is such a huge time commitment, employers will know that you were able to handle the time obligations while maintaining a good GPA, as all Greek organizations have a minimum GPA requirement and have the highest average GPA of any group on campus.
  5. There is a strict no hazing policy at Baylor, so the horror stories you hear about are not going to happen to Baylor students.
  6. Also, it’s important not to listen to stereotypes of sororities or fraternities, because each one has something to offer and the Lord will place you wherever you need to be. It’s based on personalities and a good fit as well as merit.
  7. If you are worried about the financial obligations, there are scholarships available for each sorority and from Panhellenic; and I’m sure it is the same way for fraternities and the IFC (Interfraternity Counsel).
  8. Becoming a Greek gives you the ability to participate in All-University Sing, which was explained last week, and in the annual Homecoming parade—the oldest one in the nation! There are plenty of other organizations that participate in Sing and Parade that aren’t Greek, though.
  9. Despite Greek life being a huge time commitment, leaders understand that grades should be first, and are sympathetic if you cannot attend an event for school, work, or family reasons. This means that you are able to maintain a good balance.
  10. Going Greek isn’t for everyone. By the time the first semester is winding down, most people have a good idea as to whether or not they wish to be in a sorority or fraternity.

I can’t wait to see all of you new Baylor freshman on campus next year!

Sic ’em!

All-University Sing (by Sophia Cooper)

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Baylor is full of unique traditions, starting off the year with Homecoming and ending with Dia Del Oso in April. Right now, we are wrapping up the 66th anniversary of All-University Sing. Organized by the Student Productions committee, any student organization has the opportunity to put on a 7-minute act of singing and dancing as part of the competition.

The costumes are outrageous and intricate, the themes develop well thought out, and the atmosphere is electric. Groups practice for hours every night from the start of second semester, perfecting their dances and vocals completely. Waco Hall stage is filled with hundreds of students for two February weekends, and tickets get sold out within days of opening.

Two of my roommates are in Alpha Delta Pi, one of the competing sororities. I have watched as sequins explode all over our living room on multiple occasions as Caroline fixed up her costume. Stephanie has spent hours teasing and hair spraying her hair into the perfect bun on top of her head as part of the theme for ADPi. Based off of the TLC show “Toddlers and Tiaras,” ADPi took the stage dressed as pageant queens, talent stars, and overprotective pageant moms. It was absolutely hilarious, and I am so proud of all the hard work they’ve put into their performance!

Want to read some reviews of Sing acts? Check our student newspaper’s reviews here!