Life at Temple University: March 2013

So! A lot has gone on since I last posted!

On February 23rd, Temple hosted one of its annual Experience Temple Days.

I went to one of these last year, and its what made my decision to come to Temple University.

As a member of the Honors Admissions Transition Team, we host a portion of the day for students who have been accepted into the Honors Program. We have a meet & greet with the perspective students and their families and answer any questions they have, all along with convincing them that Temple University is the place to be. Then we have a whole presentation where HATT's now give little speeches about how the Honors Program has helped them in their time at Temple University. And... if you remember be telling you before, I am one of those speakers!

This is my speech in what I hope inspires perspective

students that Temple can make their dreams come true:

Hi, my name is Gaelen McCartney, and I'm a freshman Fine Arts Major from Newburgh, NY, just north of West Point. When I came to college, I did a lot of the usual: made new friends, got lost on the way to classes, maybe ate too much pizza in the cafeteria. But i kinda wanted to do something crazy! I wanted to start my own student organization. So when in doubt, GO TO HONORS! The Honors advisors helped me with everything I needed from who to contact in student activities to how to spread my ideas to students. Within our first month, we were recognized as an official student organization and had over 65 student involved. HootaThon is Temple University's first Dance Marathon as part of Children's Miracle Network. We are already doing service and raising funds for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Our inaugural event is this coming November, you're all invited! It is amazing to finally see my dreams becoming a reality, and it would not have happened without the help and guidance of the Honors Program.

I went really well then, and i'm hoping it goes just as well this Saturday

for our second Experience Temple Day!

Then HootaThon hosted its first event! Be The Match: Give A Spit About Cancer; a bone marrow and blood transfusion registry drive. We had over 150 students, faculty, and staff who came to register to possibly Be The Match. It went really well, and the two woman who came from Be The Match said that they have never had a turn out like that from Temple University. We were so proud!

Lisa Rabbitt (our CHOP correspondant), myself,

and Jane (Event Operations Committee Chair)

Then I got some GREAT news! I was selected to be a Resident Assistant in Morgan Hall North!!

I'm really excited, and secretly hoping that i'm on the 11th or higher floor so I have a view of

Center City from my room!

Then, the Friday before Spring Break, Cody and I went into Center City to explore some more! We went to Reading Terminal Market and then just walked around!

Then, the day before Spring Break, I attended the 3rd Annual Volunteer Leadership Conference for HootaThon. It was awesome, and so much fun! I made some great connections and learned some awesome things that I will be able to use in the future.

It was very rewarding and cannot wait till next years!

Lisa, myself, and Robin

(director of Children's Miracle Network at CHOP)

Then it was SPRING BREAK!!! (although it wasn't much of a break...)

I ended up coming home after the conference at around midnight on saturday. The next day, I took a train down to Harlem with Aunt Anita to hang around and go to the Studio Museum in Harlem. It was a really fun day, and was an awesome new experience.

As I was ending the day with Aunt Anita, I said goodbye on the subway was she went towards Grand Central and I headed to Penn Station in order to take a train to Syosset to visit with Oma and Pop. It was so nice and so much fun to hang out with them! On Monday we went to Hicks Nursery to see their annual flower show. It was gorgeous!!!

Once I came home, I went to Commodores to see if John needed any work, and as usual, he did! I ended up sewing 38 napkins for metal trays in the store. I had so much fun making them. I love sewing, so if anyone needs anything.. :)

Then at the end of last week, I went to Atlantic City to visit Jane for St. Patricks Day! It was a lot of fun to be three blocks from the beach, and cool to meet all of her family and friends!!

(as well as getting ice cream every single day!)

first time in 30th Street Station

I left this note on the train... I hope someone enjoyed it!

Caesars Casino!

At the parade!

I think we should try this with Apollo...

Hurricane Sandy Damage

Hurricane Sandy Damage. those metal railings used to lead down towards the beach with the dunes on either side, but Sandy washed them away so much that when they rebuild to dunes, they became flat. Also, the spikes you see on the dunes are all brand new planted dune grass.

NOW, some advances in my art!

This was our 3D cardboard project. Its hard to see, but we had to create a transformation from our one foot object to our neighbors object. So I created a wave-type thing with organic forms. I hope you can kinda make it out.. It is really hard to explain through text.

In 2D, we had to create an environment in a shoebox and then place a

reflective object inside it, and then paint the object with the reflected colors.

and then we moved onto a depth piece. I decided to use my new Adobe Programs that I got for Christmas, and made this image:

Currently, we're working on a music piece. So i'm creating a poster kinda thing for a song that is form my generation. So i'm using the song "Clouds" by Zach Sobiech. If you don't know the song already, YouTube it. Its really powerful to me, and i'm hoping that what i'm creating turns out great!

In Drawing, we finished Self-Portraits. I LOVE mine! Its the first time i've really made a self-portrait that looks like me, and i enjoyed creating. Its about 5-6 feet wide, and about 3-4 feet tall. In that range.