Greek Week & Initiation

This is by far the craziest week of the year. Fun. But oh so stressful at the same time. Quick overview of how my fraternity performed this week:

Banner - 1st place; Chalk Drawing - 1st place; Greek Games - 1st place; Skit - 1st place; Fraternity GPA for Fall 2010 - 1st place; Penny Wars - 3rd place. There were two events in which we didn't place, Capture the Flag and Canstruction, but with our small numbers we made an incredible showing. All of these added up to us getting a very close 2nd place overall. With half the amount of people in our organization as everybody else, I couldn't be more proud of our guys. And to the girls who pulled it out just ahead of us (3 points) Congratulations! We'll be back for ya next year! Oh and Greek Formal, awesome.

Finally, yesterday we initiated seven great new members into the fraternity. I stood back and watched after everything was over. I just watched as everyone interacted with each other, sharing stories, laughing, and making memories that will last a lifetime. The whole scene was so surreal.

I'm at kind of a weird spot right now, coming to the homestretch of my college career. One more year. The end is lurking. But the thing that made last night so awesome was seeing the men that were coming after me. Having such confidence that they will be more successful than we that came before them have been. That's what I told one of the guys. I said, "Your responsibility now is making this fraternity better than it is tonight. At the end of your time here, if you can look back and say you as a class did that, then you've succeeded." I'm really excited for next year. There will be many memories made to be cherished. Furthermore, I can't wait to come back as an alum to see the great things that are going to happen in the future.

Hawk Hunt Winners!

I participated in a huge scavenger hunt put on by Residence Life the weekend of April 1st and 2nd. When my team heard all of the rules and the technology, we thought we were going to be at quite a disadvantage because none of us had a smart phone of any kind. We had to receive all of the clues via text message.

It started at 5pm on the 1st. Again, I thought we were going to be at another disadvantage because I didn't get off of work until after 8. We pulled an all-nighter, looking for clues on campus until 5:30am on the 2nd. After that, we started about town, searching for clues around the KC Metro Area.

We were starting to get a little drained after our noon check-in, but were rejuvinated with a strong finish of solving clues for the final three hours of the hunt. We were all confident that we had made a strong showing. "Maybe we got second or third." I was being extra positive (and at the time I even thought maybe a little overconfident) when I assured my team that our strong finish had bolstered us into the lead. What was awesome was that, regardless of whether or not we actually did win, I had such an awesome time. The points took three days to be counted until they let us know....VICTORY!!! More or less a Cinderella story because there was a couple of teams that we thought had the advantage on paper. We had good talent on our team and worked great together throughout the night. It was so much fun. Oh, and the $250/person prize money was also pretty cool.

Repeat next year?

Learning to Climb

The theme of my weekend is provided by this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoqGUVOXmkU

I will not go into any details but basically I was faced with a situation that put me on the ground in my room with tears on my face and my heart on the floor. And I don't break down like that very easily. I talked to a few great friends about the situation (a most sincere thank you to those who were there for me to listen - you know who you are). I was able to pour my heart out to all of these people and with their help I made it through.

There is no way that I could have gotten through all of this without the help of my friends, my dad whom I also talked to about it, and my faith. Until recently, I have not really ever read much out of the Bible, but lately subjects have been coming up in this amazing book that are shedding light on and getting me through some of life's toughest tribulations. Comfort was brought to me through one of the songs at Mass yesterday (in addition to the readings). The song was "You are Mine," and the chorus says, "Do not be afraid; I am with you." None of us can do this on our own. No matter how independent we think we are, we will always need someone to be walking right there with us. Not only to be there through our struggles to pick us up when we fall, but also to celebrate with us when we succeed. I got to experience both ends of that spectrum to the extreme this weekend. Talk about an emotional roller coaster! After all is said and done...Life is just soooo good. "This world ain't fair, it can knock you on your butt. You can just lie there, or you can get back up. You've gotta get back up!"

Rain or Shine, I am going camping!

The past week, the only thing that has gotten me through all of the workload, tests, etc was knowing that Saturday was going to bring a night out in the woods with a great group of guys doing manly things. I was so excited because it was originally planned for the previous week, for which I would have been in Nebraska. It got moved to this weekend so I was going to be able to go.

















I had one more obligation to get to on Saturday morning, volunteering with the Girl Scouts (some selfish motivation in the free donuts and cookies!) That was tons of fun by the way. I got to help facilitate a discussion about media influences with these young girls, teaching them about the lies and tricks that you can find all to easily in magazines. The oldest girls there were in 6th grade and I was pleasantly surprised at how intelligent they all were. Lots of really good thoughts that I honestly never expected to hear from children of that age group. They also made me sing Justin Bieber - because my name is Justin and who else would young girls think of when they hear the name Justin but Justin Bieber? I think it's time for a haircut.

Anyway, back to the camping. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and the trip was called off. Plan B. Steak and potatoes and "The Patriot." Not too shabby. However, I was determined to go camping. I had been looking forward to it all week. Now that I have a backyard, and a tent, I have everything I need. The air mattress that I got for Christmas got its first test run as well. I got my fix for the weekend. Next weekend, I'll have to include camp fire, smores, and hopefully other people in my backyard campout. Something to get me through another busy week.

Spring Break Get-Away...Nebraska!

I suppose my idea of an awesome spring break is quite different, or at least satisfied much easier than the stereotypical theme of a college student. This stereotype would certainly do whatever they could to get to the sandy beaches to lay on the sand and probably drink the week away. Me, on the other hand, I made a lot of memories without having to go to the warm beaches of Florida. Certainly I'm not discounting that destination - I went to Destin for spring break my senior year of high school, one of my most memorable trips ever, (and I wouldn't mind going back). This spring break was, like I said, different.

Grand Island...Nebraska. I kept telling people I was going to Grand Island and they would react, "Wow, that sounds...grand!" "Nebraska," I would say. To which they would respond with a considerably smaller amount of enthusiasm. I was so excited though. I was going to spend the week with my good friend, Brian Golka, and his family.

I was privileged with the rare opportunity of stepping into the everyday life of the Golkas. It began with lunch at Mongolian Grill where Brian and his friends from high school ate often. Just watching the guys cook was an experience in itself! After lunch, we visited his high school, Grand Island Central Catholic. We paid a visit to one of his favorite teachers who, welcomed me with a warm hug just like I was one of the guys. By the end of our conversation, she told me she wished I would have gone to high school there. I told her I would have, but the commute from Denver just would have been too much.

Later that evening, we went to the very first game in history for a brand new franchise in Grand Island - the Nebraska Danger! I didn't realize at first how big of a deal this was to the town because, being from Denver, arena football is like the minor leagues for me. But to a town like GI, well it's their only professional sports team. And what an event it was! It seemed like the whole town was involved in all of the between-quarter/halftime entertainment. They even had people doing stuff between timeouts. I was there to witness the very first win for the Danger. 70-59. Fan for life!

Finally, the main event of the week. A Golka family tradition. High school basketball. Three days. Eighteen games. I will admit, I am not a huge basketball fan, so when Brian told me what the plans for the week were I wasn't jumping out of my seat for this much basketball. However, actually being there reminded me of how much I miss the atmosphere of high school sports. The bands, the crowd, the true passion and love of the game in the players. Not to mention, not as many crazed drunk fans at high school sporting events as there are at professional games. By the end of the tournament, I wished there was another day to go.

The week came to an end, as abruptly as it has started. The Golkas were awesome. Shout out to Mrs. Golka whom I have been told is a religious follower (no pun intended as she works at a church) of my online life story. To John and Brianna, thanks for putting up with an extra for the week. It was such a pleasure getting to spend the week with such an awesome family!

Whoa! Almost forgot about the washing machine, junkyard "Office Space" reinactment. No need to write anymore...just check out the videos!

FOCUS Greek

I went to a FOCUS Conference specifically for members of Greek organizations over the weekend and it was fantastic. FOCUS has played a pivotal role in the recent development of my Catholic faith life. The awesome thing about my spirituality becoming so strong is that it dominoes through all of the other aspects of my life. My leadership in my fraternity is certainly one of those aspects.

Being the president of my fraternity, I have learned a lot about what it means to be a servant leader. Servant leadership is an emphasis within FOCUS. My role as president requires a lot of me in regards to being there for my brothers. It's interesting because I think that the role of a president gets misconstrued too often as the guy who tells everyone else to do. While that is true to some degree, the other much more important part about my role as president is being there for my brothers. This lesson can be applied to parts of my life outside of my fraternity as well. I believe that we all have a level of responsibility to everyone around us, not just our friends or the people with whom we most like spending our time. This is the type of leader that was Christ. He took on the responsibility of serving those around Him; He also spent a lot of His time with the sinners of the age. You don't have to be religious, or even believe in the same religion as I do to know that everyone looks for a leader to serve them. A leader gains a lot more respect from his followers if he is walking the path right along with them. That is what I strive to do in my fraternity and that is what I challenge myself to in my daily life.

In short, I love that the lessons that I am learning through my faith are applying to the experiences of my daily life. Even for people who might not necessarily be of the same religion, the principles of the Catholic Church, I am learning are applicable to and are so true to life. Beautiful. And I still have so much more to learn...

Never a Dull Moment

This weekend was jam-packed with all kinds of awesome memories. Friday night, after I got off work, we got the evening kicked off with some guys only time for a couple of hours. More people started rolling into the house (the best turn out we've had for any of our gatherings). Best part of the night...I made brownies that were delicious. I love having people over to the house so that I can share the many blessings which I have been given. They're not worth much if you don't share them.

Saturday was go, go, go. Planned Parenthood at 7am. Had a little bit of a scare on the drive home. We hit a patch of ice, swurved one way, then another; the driver almost saved it, but the car ended up spinning 360 degrees. We slid up onto the median and came within a couple of feet of smashing into a light pole. We lifted up a prayer of thanksgiving for God's protection. Our guardian angels were up to the task. Thanks, Samuel.

Later, Josh and I went to volunteer at the YMCA again. Kelly wasn't there this time, so I got to meet a new kid. His name was, "B-E-A-U. Beau." (Pronounced Bo). That's how he introduced himself. He spelled it out for me. It was awesome. Beau and I really connected well. It was so much fun working with him. After we got back from the Y, I went and saw Rockhurt's production of Macbeth with Nate. I didn't find this out until after, but in talking with one of the members of the cast, I found out that they put the entire thing together in 3 1/2 weeks! Memorizing the lines, building the set, everything. Very impressive. Lastly, on Saturday evening, I got to go to one of the sorority's dances. The one setback of the night was that I accidentally put BBQ sauce on my strawberry. It looked like chocolate syrup for fondu; plus, the chicken tenders weren't out yet so I don't feel too bad about the misunderstanding. (Still tasted ok by the way). Other than that, the dance was so much fun. We had a circle of good friends just tearing it up. Afterwards, some of us went to Chubby's for a late-night dessert. Oh, it had been too long since my last visit to Chubby's.

So all of this great stuff happened over the weekend, but there is one thing that I am particularly excited about that has been taking shape over the past couple of months, and is actually still in progress. I started learning a new song on the piano a couple of months ago. It's the first new song that I've tried to learn in two years. It's called "Ridin' West" by Jon Schmidt. Well, I was struggling with a couple of the pages for a relatively long time, and I finally made it through that part of the song. Still some polishing up to do, but I did it pretty well. I connected this as a life lesson. There will always be struggles in life. Yes, there will be some things that come easy, but when we get to those rocky parts of our lives, we cannot give up. For, when we meet those challenges head on, and we work through them, that is when our life's song comes together in harmony. Does that sound good? I was trying to be somewhat deep and metaphorical. Ah, either way, you get the idea right?