This week, I hosted a student. This time around was not your average hosting engagement. I participated in Multicultural Weekend. This is the second time I have hosted or participated in the program and once again, Multicultural Weekend was a success. There were about thirty students that participated in the activities planned for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I will go through the listing of events and particularly focus on the dinner, which I have pictures of. Warning: this blog was two of the same pictures; I know this.
Thursday:
I got to know my prospective and what his interests were, where does he want to go with it, and why. I do the normal thing- I show him the catalog which includes all of the courses offered at OWU and all of the particulars of the course load here; I also take him to places such as dorms, small living units, and Ham-Wil. Later in the day, he went to Gameworks in Easton. This was the second time I went to Gameworks in a week. I like Gameworks and the activities they have- it caters to all people. I got to spend a lot of time either eating hors d'oeuvres and my ordered meal (baby-backed ribs) or hanging out in the skybox. I was glad that I did not have any work to do like last time. I just had to chill out and actually enjoy myself.
Friday:
The BIG day for prospectives. I did not attend breakfast with my host because his brother also resides at OWU so they spent some quality time together and I got to reflect on the first day. I was supposed to attend a luncheon hosted by the Office of Minority Student Affairs; however, I did not because on Fridays at noon, I have Choral Arts to focus on. After class, I got ready for the reception and the dinner. This was another chance to mingle with fellow OWU students, alumni (which I actually got to meet or reacquaint myself with), faculty, staff, and the prospective students. The reception was very informal and laid back. The hors d'oeuvres are great and warmed me up to a nice dinner. The format of dinner was invocation, dinner, alumni reflect on the times they had at OWU and question-answer sessions, and conclusion by Laurie Patton. The alumni who were invited to speak were Brian Sam-Bodden, Detra Johnson, Craig Luke, and Dr. Naima Johnston. They were an interesting and eclectic selected by faculty. I am happy that they spoke about their experiences and provided insight to what it means to them about about a student at OWU. The advice was priceless. There was a change in the schedule. For the second year in a row, the play that was scheduled was canceled due to "unforeseen circumstances." Instead, the prospectives and their hosts were treated to a movie at The Strand- Welcome Back Roscoe Jenkins. I will be brief about my experience with the movie. The movie was hilarious but in some scenes, the movie was over the top. That is all I have to say. You have to go see the movie to get the picture and the reaction to the scenes. I went to the I-House party "Dress to Impress" afterwards and chilled at my off-campus house and Clancey's for the rest of the night (and no, I was not being a bad example to the prospectives).
Saturday:
Nothing spectacular. There was a brunch but I had already signed on for a day with the local Habitat for Humanity nailing siding to a house. By this time, I called my prospective and told him "Thanks for the visit, I hope you join your brother here at OWU and that I hoped he had a good time." I went about my business to the Alumni Basketball Game and that was the end of the events for Multicultural Weekend.
Some pictures:
#1- Students, faculty, and administrators carefully listen to the speaker's advice. In this particular shot, the speaker was Detra Johnson.
#2-Brian Sam-Bodden making a point at the podium.
#3- Same photo as #1.
#4- Junior Corey Turner focusing on the speaker's every word.
#5- Craig Luke, an alumnus of OWU's class of 1985, tells his story.
#6- Group photo. From left to right, Director of Minority Student Affairs, Terree Stevenson, '95, Dr. Naima Johnston, '93, Detra Johnson, '79, Craig Luke, '85, and Brian Sam-Bodden, '95.
Continuing to celebrate diversity at Ohio Wesleyan,
Hasani Wheat
Class of '10
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