Posts by Emily

As per usual, I capped off my week last week cheering on all of my people who get their RED on on the field and the court with Stony Brook Athletics. This weekend, though, could be the biggest we’ve had so far this semester. If you’re any sort of avid sports fan, which you should be since you’re coming to debatably the most powerful school in the America East/Big South/CAA Conference, you’d know this weekend played host to the America East Men’s and Women’s Basketball Conference Championships in Albany. A win offers any school the opportunity to play in the big dance and garner all sorts of national coverage, something huge for an up-and-coming school like us. So when fan buses were announced, I obviously was on board.

The women’s team, running on a season with ten more wins than last year had already exceeded many expectations, and lost a heartbreaker to UNH at the buzzer after an unbelievable 10 point comeback in the second half Friday night. Though we couldn’t pull through with the win, this season proved a great opportunity for me and my fellow avid Seawolves who come to every game the opportunity to get to know and connect with the team on a personal level. The sheer turnaround from one year ago will truly etch this year in all of our history books as a great season to be a Seawolf.

After watching the heartbreaker to UNH at home, my friends and I made the conscious decision to stick around Saturday and watch the Women’s Lacrosse home opener vs. Longwood instead of taking the drive to Albany with the two fan busses packed to watch the men’s team down Bing by 23 points. And honestly, looking back, I’m glad I stuck around to watch history in Kenneth P LaValle Stadium. Being from the midwest, I’d never seen a LAX game, but after becoming close friends with the team, I figured it would be a good opportunity to watch some of my best friends on a nationally ranked team open up their home season. Right from the go, Stony Brook dominated and ended up winning 21-3, led by my good friend Claire Petersen who had 13 points and an NCAA Division 1 record 11 assists. There are no words to describe how proud I am of all of those girls as they continue having an unbelievable season.

Sunday capped off the weekend, with Stony Brook Men’s Basketball playing at UAlbany against the Danes. I knew this would be an important game, especially since Albany would have home court advantage. At 2 p.m. the busses rolled up to the SAC loop and filled with almost a hundred students ready to show their swagger in Albany. Never attending an America East playoff game, I really had no idea what to expect, and the day proved to be a day of revelations.

First thing I noticed when we got there early before the Vermont/UMBC game was over was the amount of students from other schools there–virtually nonexistent in comparison to the buses full of SBU students and so many who opted to drive or stay upstate for the weekend at home. It truly made me proud to watch as the bands from UVM and UMBC would cheer on each other after performing during the timeouts and just appreciating each others’ schools. It also was great to know the showing of Stony Brook students who came out as the game got started in comparison to UMBC or UVM and it was great to know our administration was so supportive of getting fan buses and students to the game to support. We really are an energetic crowd and it’s been great to watch our sheer size grow as the year’s gone on.

Though we couldn’t pull out the win, the experience of going to Albany and knowing we will be playing in the NIT makes the loss a little easier to swallow. At the end of the day, the strides the RED Zone has taken this year and seeing young leaders emerge on the team make next year something to look forward to.

As every weekend ends, some with wins, some with losses, it really always is great to see an even brighter future on the horizon, and it’s always great to be a Seawolf.

I’m not the typical Stony Brook student. I didn’t dream of coming here throughout my senior year, and to be honest, I only transferred here from my home state of Iowa after putting my finger on a map and this being the closest SUNY. Coming into Stony Brook back in 2010, I didn’t know what a Seawolf was or how to ride the LIRR. Honestly, I was beyond confused I was to live in Irving College but still be a student at Stony Brook University. During my first year here, and the following year I took off to do an internship with the Walt Disney Company in Orlando, I grew. I grew more than in my four years of high school, my first year of college at the University of Iowa, and more than the summer approaching my move to Stony Brook combined. And in that growth, during these last few years, I’ve realized so much about myself and about this campus community.

Stony Brook is special. It’s only about 50 years old, a baby compared to my 150 year old first school. Every day I spend here, every moment I wake up and realize I’m a Seawolf, I challenge myself to embrace the fact that this is a special place, that these students, the programs we put on today will pave the path for the generations of Seawolves who follow. In these last few years, I’ve realized the value behind each and every day, and have found pride in enjoying the little things. Giving out high fives on a Friday, candy ‘just because’ on a groggy Monday morning, and painting facepaint on all of my friends’ faces for a Sunday afternoon Women’s Basketball game have grown to define who I am.

Not only do I enjoy life as a whole, but the fact that my life right now is able to be spent on this campus and as a Seawolf is what gets me out of bed each day even when there’s two feet of snow on the ground. In these last few years, I’ve grown to become something special, to enjoy life more than many people could ever imagine, and it is that growth, that passion, that love of life that make me excited about every single day on this campus, every moment with my Stony Brook community.

It makes me proud to say: I am a Seawolf.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Stony Brook is going places, not only in the classroom-hiring top notch staff and building great new facilities-but in the athletics realm as well. I remember when I first came here in the fall of 2010, a transfer from the University of Iowa, a Big 10 perennial powerhouse, and saw my first football game. Going from 80,000 to 8,000 fans was a big change, and in my mind, I knew we only had up to go from there.

In the 2 1/2 years since stepping foot on this campus, believe me, we’ve moved up and exceeded any expectation I’ve ever had. In my time as a Seawolf, I’ve watched our Football boys take us to the national level and compete in the FCS Playoffs multiple times, our Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Women’s Soccer teams take home the America East Conference Championships this year, the Women’s Soccer team compete against the University of Maryland in the NCAA Championships and watch as one of my close friends has been named the America East Volleyball Rookie of the Year, as well as many others on the volleyball team named to All-Conference Teams.

As we break into basketball season, I had the pleasure this weekend to watch our women continue to build on the strongest season start in the past half decade, and cheered on the conference contending boys as they put a serious fight up against nationally ranked UCONN. It’s hard to believe where we’ve come from, a Division 1 school for less than 15 years, and it’s unbelievable to think where we’re going.

Despite Stony Brook being so big, with 25,000 students surrounding me every day on this campus, the most brilliant thing about this school is how wonderful our athletes are, how excited they are to get to know their fellow students, and how much they appreciate seeing us at all of the events. Every single day on this campus, I feel the highest sense of self-worth I’ve ever felt in my life, a feeling that can strongly be attributed to the relationship I’ve built with so many of our student/athlete leaders on campus.

This semester, I’ve realized that Stony Brook truly does the best of ALL worlds: every day I have the pleasure of going to a top-notch academic institution, cheering on Conference Champions and watching my friends and fellow Seawolves compete at the national level, and being able to go to a school that promotes growth, school spirit and pride more than any other place I’ve ever been in my life.

Recently I’ve realized that Stony Brook is not just going places, but we, all of these students here are going with it, and it truly is a brilliant, invaluable experience.

It’s great to be a Seawolf.

As promised, I had a feeling the Rec Center would be my next post, and it is! The day after my last post, it was announced the Rec Center would open last Friday, and since last Friday, it has become my new home. With 3 floors, 3 full basketball courts, a MAC court, an entire floor of cardio equipment, an unbelievable amount of free weights, weight machines and classrooms for fitness classes, this truly has become the hot spot on campus in the mere week it’s been around. Though I am already a regular, I thought I’d stop by and get a tour of the facility for you guys to check out from one of the students who work there. The link of the video will be posted soon–Hope you enjoy!

As we reach the thick of midterm season here in this fall semester, it seems all of my activities have been falling into place as well. Though I have an exam this afternoon and one on Thursday as well, I still find myself trying out new things on campus each and every day.

This past week was quite the exciting one, as I had a midterm Tuesday for my Sociology of Crime course, and received essays to grade for the other Sociology course I TA. So in the classroom, this semester has continued on its grind, but the TRUE highlight last week was marching down 5th Avenue in the Columbus Day Parade in the city with the Spirit of Stony Brook Marching Band. Never did I ever thought I would have the chance to play in front of a crowd of over one million, but that experience truly highlighted my entire experience at the Brook: unbelievable. Rumor has it, the band has been filling out applications for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the future…I can’t even begin to imagine how great that would be if we got accepted in the future.

Unsure if I mentioned it before, but I’m on the Hall Council Executive Board in my building, and plans have continued on our annual, award-winning haunted basement, planned for later this semester, which will definitely be a fright, to say the least!

Also, this week was my first full week as an RSP desk monitor, my new job I’ll explain in detail in a later post, and this weekend was the first weekend so far this semester that the band hasn’t had a football game (on campus or traveling) that we’ve performed at, so that opened my weekend up to catching up on some other aspects of my life I often let slip away during the school year: sleep, laundry, cleaning my room. You know, the usual.

As the leaves turn and the sun goes down earlier and earlier each night, I often find myself heading home and thinking about the Rec Center that should be opening soon down the street, just past the Union. I can only hope my next post or two will be all about my first experience testing out the new equipment! Until then, keep showing your swagger, Seawolves!

After a wonderfully busy week full of Hall Council, RHA, and Research Meetings, a Diversity Luncheon, 2 Volleyball Games (our seawolves have opened conference play undefeated!), and a trip up to West Point with the band for the football game (our first ever win against an FBS opponent!), I’ve taken this Sunday morning to think about Stony Brook, and how lucky I am to be here, right now, in such a wonderful environment.

What I came up with:

‘One of the greatest things I’ve found about Stony Brook is that no matter how big the campus is, how many tens of thousands of undergraduates there are or how diverse the population may be, all it takes to bond with someone on this campus is a simple smile, a ‘thanks’ to the guy holding the door open for you, or a ‘how’s it going?’ to the girl sitting next to you in a SINC site.

No matter where we are-on this campus, in the city, or back in our hometowns-when we see that Stony Brook RED, we think of this place, we think of what great experiences happening here, and know we have an immediate bond with any person–because this isn’t just a school.

Stony Brook is a way of life, Stony Brook is a family you are guaranteed to never lose.

And each one of us:

We are Seawolves.’

Hey Friends!

I’m Emily, hailing from the great state of Iowa (admit it, you had to look at a map) and a Junior Sociology and History major here at Stony Brook U, starting my blogging career for my favorite of Seawolves. Because I took last year off to do an internship in Orlando with the Walt Disney World Resorts, it feels so great to be back on campus for my most favorite of seasons: FOOTBALL! As a member of the Spirit of Stony Brook (the marching band for the few of us that just know us by ‘THE BAND’) the fall semester, and this week in particular always prove to be most exciting!

Kicking it off with a performance with the drumline and the rest of the band during a grill-out over campus life time on Wednesday, I got truly into the Homecoming hype this year supporting two of my friends who were announced as members of the court. Though I couldn’t go to the court’s ‘Creative Explosions’ on Thursday night because my parents were landing in the city for their first ever visit out to the Brook, I heard many crazy and entertaining performances were put on! The Men’s Basketball Team, Dance Team, PUSO (a really great dance crew on campus), the Marching Band, and even WOLFIE came out to be part of the excitement, showing their swagger and supporting the candidates. After a night in the city with my parents, going out to dinner and my favorite of all Broadway musicals ‘Wicked’, I brought my parents on the LIRR out to Stony and gave them a tour of campus, brought them into the bookstore so they could get some swag to rep at the game, and took them to lunch at my favorite spot on campus: JASMINE! The adventure continued last night as the band practiced and performed at the Seawolf Showcase at the Staller Steps. Both opening the show and performing in the middle, the band was actually able to stick around and watch a lot of performances from groups on campus like the Stony Brook High C’s, MALIK, Roosevelt Quad RAs, and PUSO. To be honest, one of my very favorite things is watching the diversity come out and perform for the students, it truly shows how one of a kind Stony Brook really is and makes me feel lucky to be a part of it.

Wolfstock 2012 concludes today, as I’ll spend my day practicing with the band and performing at the football game against Colgate and my parents will be enjoying Wolfstock Village, complete with a BBQ and entertainment as 5000 strong join the Red Zone  tonight! I can’t wait to step off for pre game in good ol’ Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium with my friends and Seawolves cheering from the end zone, and most importantly, I can’t wait to see who’s crowned this year’s Homecoming King and Queen! The anticipation is killing me!