Butler University Student Foundation

You know Thanksgiving Break is over when you can hear “Dominick the Donkey” being blasted all over campus. I can remember living in Schwitzer Hall my freshman year and being able to hear the song through the cement walls of my dorm room. Even though the song is played on repeat all hours of the day, without it campus would not be the same. “Dominick the Donkey” is just one of the many traditions that can be found on the Butler University campus during the holiday season.

Another lovely tradition that we have here on campus is the lights and decorations that can be found everywhere. When walking through the mall most of the trees are adorned with lights that look amazing when it snows. The fraternities and sororities also decorate their lawns and houses with lights and tons of holiday decorations. These decorations set a fun and festive mood all over campus and get both the students and faculty excited for the long awaited Christmas break.

Some more fun traditions are the holiday concerts and activities that occur during that time of year. If you want to take a break from studying for finals there are Christmas carol concerts or ugly sweater parties that can always be attended. All in all, Butler’s campus is such a fun place to be during the holiday season, that the students do not mind studying for finals. Just kidding!

BUSF Love and Christmas everywhere…

Grace Frank

This past semester I had the opportunity to participate in the President’s Inauguration.  I have always been a proud Butler student, so when I was asked to participate in the festivities I was thrilled.  A student representative from each college would speak at the Inauguration Gala.  To prepare for the big night, the wonderful Miss Meg Haggerty took a group of girls shopping for dresses.  We had a blast that day getting to know one another and finished the perfect day at Chik-fil-a.  The group met a few more times to practice our speeches and try to relieve our jitters.

When the big night arrived, I was so nervous!  I had practiced my speech so many times, but what if I messed it up during the one time it counted?  I was accompanied by my date and BUSF member, Alex Snyder, who eased my nerves.  We arrived to a packed house at the Indiana Museum of Art, which is right down the road from campus.  Everyone was decked out in beautiful dresses and tuxes.  I had the opportunity to meet many Butler Alumni, faculty, and staff.   Later that night, we were escorted to dinner.  It was absolutely gorgeous and there was an amazing blue fountain that was the backdrop for the podium.   Our table was very energetic and entertaining and included University Vice President, Levester Johnson, faculty members, and a board member.   It was refreshing hearing about how excited they were for Butler’s future.  After an amazing dinner, I was pulled away right before dessert.  The six of us were placed in our spots throughout the room until it was our moment.  When it came to us, Kyle Inskeep was the first to speak.  He spoke so well that it gave me the confidence and reassurance that I could do the same.  I did not glance at my note card and the words flowed better than I could have hoped.

I will never forget this unbelievable night filled with so many wonderful individuals.  It was such an honor to be included in such a wonderful group of Butler students that had done so much for the University.  I could not have come up with a better way to wrap up my college career at Butler.  President Danko will continue to lead Butler in a positive direction, and I could not have been more thrilled to be a part of such a momentous occasion!

BUSF Love and all dressed up…

Kyler Clark

Orientation week is by far one of the best weeks at Butler, whether you are a freshman or an upper classmen.  Being at Butler for almost a full week before classes start and either beginning new friendships and relationships or catching up with old ones is such a sweet way to start the new school year.  I remember that as a freshman I was pretty intimidated by the whole prospect of leaving behind everything that was ‘comfortable’ and what I knew for a completely unknown experience. It took me all of two days of welcome week to realize that

• A) College is far and away better than high school and
• B) Butler was already home.

Because my orientation week/Butler experience was so great I decided that I wanted to be an orientation guide to give back to upcoming Butler classes.  Just as I can rave about welcome week, being involved in welcome week as a SOG (Student Orientation Guide) was equally as awesome.  As an SOG I was able to show up early to school and hang out with my close friends all the while learning how to lead an effective orientation session for two days.  From my experience as an SOG I can say that two things make welcome week as a freshman and will shape your career at Butler: a willingness to be bold/outgoing and a desire to actually take something away from Welcome Week and apply it to the first semester at Butler.  I absolutely loved Welcome Week as a freshman for these reasons and as an SOG this past fall I was able to see other freshman make or break their Butler experience because of this week.  Be adventurous and attentive during this week before classes and you will not be disappointed.  Classes and your college lay beyond this half week of games, making friends, and getting into the groove, be sure not to let it pass you up. I promise, if you do that then you will LOVE Butler.

BUSF Love

David Korb

It is hard to believe that this year’s CASE ASAP Conference is over. Steph, Ciera, Katie, Jennie and I have really enjoyed our time in Nashville. We are currently traveling highway 41 and have been able to pass through Evansville, Ciera’s home town, as well as be educated on the lifestyle of southern Indiana from Steph. I feel so happy to have been able to go on this trip with both Jennie and the Exec.  It was a wonderful bonding experience and we have become pumped for this upcoming year.

As we have been traveling home today, it has been fun to recap our favorite memories from conference as well as what we have gained from attending other schools’ sessions. Everyone left excited about different ways to make our organization stronger.  Katie is pumped about traditions, Steph is ready to put her marketing skills to the test, and Ciera has already begun to prepare for the new members we hope to gain this year!

As for me, I was fortunate enough to attend a session by Mizzou on a tradition on their campus called Beat Week.  Which is a week leading up to their big rival game against KU.  I left the session pumped to pass on some wonderful ideas to the lovely Sarah Wesp and her spirit committee to add to our already thriving spirit week!

Seeing a different part of the country was a wonderful way to wrap up this summer.  I hope to bring the Southern hospitality back to Butler with me! Thanks for following our travels we hope you have enjoyed reading about our 2011 CASE ASAP trip!

BUSF LOVE and a million thanks to Jennie who made this weekend possible for us,

– Bridget McGrath

Today was the last day of the CASE ASAP conference, which has been super jam-packed and awesome!!  This morning we got to present to about 50 fellow CASE ASAP attendees on how to make a long lasting tradition on their campuses.  We chose to highlight one of our favorite BUSF events- Blue II’s birthday!  After explaining our event as well as how to create traditions in general, our audience seemed to love Butler, Blue and free cupcakes almost as much as us!

In the afternoon, we had lunch, went to more sessions and heard from a keynote speaker.  Then we were given some free time and what’s an all female exec to do…..go shopping!!  J  We found a shop called the $10 Boutique, which sold jewelry, scarves and other fun things, all for $10.  Afterwards we looked for cowboy boots…unfortunately those were a tad bit more than $10. L   We, then, headed back to our hotel to get ready for the banquet.

The banquet included dinner, speakers, and award presentations.  AND then there was an extremely exciting surprise: the CASE ASAP Conference 2012 will be in…. INDIANAPOLIS and co-hosted by…BUTLER and University of Idaho!!  That means that we will be able to have a ton of BUSF members both help run and participate in the conference.  Get excited and mark your calendars for August 9^th-11^th!

After the banquet, there was a dance party, affectionately, called Club ASAP and it was blast!!  We were able to put our newly learned line dancing to the test (Bridget even got down the electric slide!).  Ciera and the Cicerones (the infamous Florida Student Foundation) taught us all how to do the Wobble.  By the end of the night, it was apparent that Bridget and I were the expert dancers…well maybe Steph and Ciera had a little bit of experience on us

Saturday was a great end to the conference and our time in Nashville (which is an amazing city that you all have to get to!).  Can’t wait for CASE ASAP conference 2012- see y’all there

BUSF Love and a slightly off-key rendition of “Sweet Home Alabama”,

Katie

Day number two  of CASE ASAP Network Convention has been a packed with a ton of different things, but it has been a blast! The day started early with breakfast, after which we hit the ground running with a district meeting. Butler is in the wonderful District 5 with other schools such as IU, Michigan State, UIC, and many others. After district meetings were over Steph, Bridget, Katie, and I split up and attended different sessions ranging from things like how to have a successful membership recruitment, creative ideas for spirit week, even how to host your own CASE ASAP conference. Needless to say, we learned a lot!

The Keynote address for the afternoon was a fantastic presentation by the Appalachian State Ambassadors. They spoke on how important it is that a group have fun and play as hard as they work… and we certainly took their advice. The conference arranged for a group to come in and teach anyone who wanted to learn how to line dance. So of course me, Bridget, and Stephanie (reluctantly) made our way out to the dance floor! Surprisingly, it was so much fun and who knew this exec board had so much rhythm and dancing ability?! (just ask Bridget!)

We decided to close out the day by going out and exploring downtown Nashville. We did dinner, had amazing ice cream at Mike’s Ice Cream on Broadway, and then did something that every tourist in Nashville needs to experience… take photos with every Elvis statue you find! Today was such a fun day with just the right amount of business and fun! Can’t wait to see what the rest of CASE ASAP brings!

BUSF love and ready to get back to dancin’ y’all,

Ciera

Today is the first day of the 2011 Case ASAP Network Convention, so Jennie, Exec, and I are all on our way to Nashville, Tennessee.  Network Convention is 4 days of sessions from other student groups, networking, and keynote addresses, so we are all so excited to learn from the other groups and see how we can help BUSF grow and become an even more amazing organization.  For the past two months or so, we have been planning for Convention and for this year, so this is a great way to truly kick off our year (t minus 20 days until the first day of classes!!).

This weekend we aren’t just attending the Convention, we are also presenting our very own session.  In the past, BUSF has presented on topics from member recruitment, to how to improve events, to how to restructure your organization.  This year, we decided to focus on how to start your own unique campus tradition, using Blue II’s Birthday as our example for what has worked for us.  We have been piecing it all together over the phone and through email, so now that we are all together it actually feels like it makes sense (which is rather helpful, obviously).

Each day, one member of Exec will be posting a blog about the day’s events, and how the weekend is going, so be sure to check back to see what we have been up to!

BUSF Love and ready for some legit southern sweet tea…

– Stephanie Flint

The consequence of having a 12-hour day of dancing on Saturday, though totally worth it, was the amount of work that was left over for Sunday.  I went to a local church that has really been a great experience, and then after that I got to work.  Though I did have a lot of homework and studying to do, it was still a great day because numerous people were in and out of my room eating, relaxing, or studying along with my roommate and me.  And of course, the occasional video game and random conversation breaks were always welcome too.  Sadly though, the day and weekend came to an end, and now I am facing another week of classes ahead of me (but trust me it beats high school anytime).  Next week someone else will be posting his or her Butler experience.  I hope that some of you have gotten something out of my day-to-day experiences here at Butler!

By David Korb

Thursday and Friday were pretty much run of the mill days like Monday-Wednesday, so I wanted to jump ahead to Saturday.  Saturday was an incredible day.  Butler hosted its Dance Marathon event for Riley’s Children Hospital.  The event was a 12-hour long dance/stand-a-thon.  We did not have to dance for 12 hours, but we were not allowed to sit down.  It sounds like a daunting task, but it was such a powerful notion to be standing for the children that cannot, enduring the sore feet and cramped legs that came along with it.  Though I had experienced it before, I truly got a feel for how much Butler cares about its community and how volunteer oriented we truly are here.  Throughout the day we learned segments of a 12-minute long dance that our Morale Team made, and then we put it together at the end.  In between learning the dance, we listened to numerous Riley families and children who had been touched by Riley.  This aspect of the day was a very motivating experience.  If we were not listening to a speaker or learning the dance we were either eating, dancing on our own, or playing on the various inflatables.  The day was long, but it was very rewarding…and together we raised over $102,000 for Riley!!

By David Korb