Dinner At Chaplain Power's House

Okay. This is weird. The pictures are correctly displayed on the blog however in typing my blog, I do not see the pictures. I only see the HTML code that makes the pictures appear on the blog. That is really interesting. I wonder if that has happened to other bloggers lately?? I usually use the pictures as a guide but this time, I will have to do without.


On to the regularly scheduled blog for the week... I was at my chaplain's house on Friday. I was blessed, honored, and humbled all simultaneously to be invited into Chaplain Jon Powers' home last Friday. I knew that he lived close but I did not know that it was in walking distance of my house near Park Street. I had a busy day already because of the Multicultural Student Weekend; I hosted a prospective like I usually do during this annual event. I realized that I needed to head over after working out. I arrived around 5 pm and I was happily greeted by Mark Miller (see right). Oh... you ask what is the occasion?? Well, I am going on a Spring Break Mission Team to Rosebud Reservation in Lakota Nation, which is located in South Dakota. Why am I at Chaplain Power's house? He is one of my faculty advisors for the team and he invited the team over for dinner. Awesome, right?!?!?!


The meeting with at Chaplain was actually a pretty cool session. There was eight of us including the Chaplain (yes, the team is pretty depleted on Friday, but I had a good time). We chatted casually about the day and our hectic schedules outside of mission meetings. Then, we had dinner, which was spaghetti and salad. The food was delicious. I contemplated doing the next dish when we come back on Fridays at 5. Why not- it is a learning experience. We chatted some more. We talked about the different types of professors on campus and how they have impacted us. I like hearing the perspective of my peers about a professor I had because I know 9 times out of 10, the response will be extremely positive.


On to the meeting portion of the dinner at Chaplain's house. The meeting was short and simple. We designated leadership positions for the team. My main responsibility as a leader on this trip is to document digitally the things we do (obviously, I have to get permission to take pictures because we are in foreign land and I do not think the people will be comfortable with me snapping pictures every twenty minutes). Basically, I am the videographer and the camera guy since I manage this blog and another one on Wordpress. Medical forms went out and I recently filled out all of my info as a precaution. I do not want to imagine being injured on the work site even though I know this does happen. I will try my best not to let it happen to me.


I enjoyed my first experience being in Chaplain Power's home. I felt at ease and at home. I like the laid back setting where we still were able to get work done. I cannot done that Spring Break is less than a month away and that I will be on a reservation. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I will be on a reservation but now that I am, I am going to humble myself and enjoy the experience for every precious moment. This was a great way to talk about the trip in general and to utilize time that was given to me when one of my professors canceled class today. I have a meeting soon so I have to prepare for that now.









Learning the importance of the Lakota Nation through education and immersion,
Hasani Wheat
Class of '10

Multicultural Weekend/Dinner

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

This Week in WCSA

This week was very busy for the members of the Wesleyan Council for Student Affairs. We had a short full body meeting in Ham-Wil discussing the upcoming student trustee dinner and the residential life town hall meeting about Delaware Police. This brief meeting briefly touched base on these issues and created much anticipation amongst the students. This was our first meeting and everyone had an idea of what they were going to say at the dinner this past Friday.

To the right, you will see a list of what members of WCSA want to see for this semester. One of the ideas of WCSA that we discussed in the fall was to increase our ability and our ideas to the community more. We are elected by the people so they have a right to know from their representatives what the deal is with certain situations especially those situations that could potentially affect the entire student body. A safer OWU is critical to the retention rate and overall satifaction of the school. A more cohesive community guarantees a stronger bond towards the goal of graduating from OWU. Celebrating diversity is something I take pride in and probably would not be here if it was not for the possibility of strengthening my mind about diverse environments. Sometimes, diversity is not appreciated so WCSA can be the mediator between these diverse groups and the general population. The last point- increased participation by the campus and more support from the faculty is key to establishing a genuine relationship to the harmony of this campus. There has been instances where faculty and students may not get along and not being able to remedy the situation by walking away, talking to other teachers in that field, or dropping the class, the student may feel slighted when he or she receives a final grade. If this occurs, then WCSA should be able to step in and help in any way possible. Also, if teachers tell students about an event (whether that is social or otherwise), then the student will be able to support the class more because they understand the scope of the class that much more.

The meeting is outlined here at a board in the main office in Ham-Wil. The budget requests was few; however, there was a huge request coming from the SpringFest act that will be performing here in the Spring. I will talk more about the Town Hall Meeting in the next paragraph. The same with the student trustee dinner. Finally to end the brief meeting, we discuss when and where next meeting will be held with the addition of new committee times (because of the switch in people's classes conflicting with the old time as well as the switch with new members in some areas).

On Wednesday, I was a busy man. I think that was an understatement. Supposedly, I had to attend to four things at the noon time right after class. I was only able to do two (I am not Superman). I had to go to a community service roundtable for more information about new projects for the Spring semester. I am still Philanthropy chair for my fraternity so I had to be there. I also had to attend the mandatory Residential Life Town Hall Meeting which focused on "Should Delaware Police have swipe cards to access the OWU dorms?" This session was controversial. Some residents think that this decision will infringe upon a person's privacy. The buzz is still heard in the air on campus today. I will leave the debate open on this blog. What do you think?

Finally, the Student Trustee dinner. On a level of importance, I would say that this is WCSA's biggest event. The President's Ball was big but there was no measure of seriousness that pertains to the event. For the dinner, everything was formal and of course, I was about business. There were many questions that I got answered and other questions that were still debated after the conclusion of the dinner. Before the dinner started, there was a chance to hang around to meet the new President, Rock Jones. I talked to a lot of trustees at the reception that shared their input about life in general, the campus life, majors, careers after OWU, teachers, Greek Life, and much more. I meet trustees, young and old, and we mingled. I saw our old friend, the former WCSA President, Marie Rymut, back in top form. At the reception, whoever I saw, I grabbed and talked to.

At the dinner, I was assigned to a table. Unknowingly, the table I was assigned to had FIJI alumni there. With Phi Delt and FIJI being rivals and all, I started to see what I would get out of the conservation. Our conversation was pleasant and I answered any and all questions respectably. I like when people pick my brain about Greek life and I get that feeling from the alumni that are Greek as well. No worries there. I pushed play on the camera that our Vice President, Joey Yost, set up earlier and the speeches began. First, our treasurer, Ben Owen, spoke about diversity and know it impacted him in the four years he was there at OWU. I felt that it was an impassioned speech and that it was genuine. Considering all of the organizations and committees that support the rights of diverse groups on campus, I know that he was genuine. Next on the program was Joey Yost, who had the longest and the best speech of the night. His piece was entitled "This is Where We Call Home." He talked about how students come to OWU in their years here as well as recalling how fast time flies, relating to his own experiences as a senior on his way out. As a politics and government major, I knew that Joey was a good speaker but I always felt that he was the behind-the-scenes guy, helping WCSA President, Tricia DiFranco, and giving his opinion on certain issues. On Friday, I saw the other side of Joey and to be frank, I liked the fact that he was sincere about why he and others call OWU home, now and forever. To cap things off for the speakers, the current President of WCSA, Tricia DiFranco, spoke more along general terms. I know that I did not take a picture of her but I cannot get it all everytime. Tricia basically informed the crowd that there was a lot of progress done by WCSA and that with the trustees' help, more progress will be bestowed among the OWU campus. Her speech was short and sweet (I know that people had things to do so it was probably better for everyone). At the end of the dinner, Tricia invited the OWtsiders to perform for the trustees. They sung California Dreamin' and OWU Alma Mater. I felt that the performances fit the theme of the student/trustee dinner almost perfectly.

Before we all headed our separate ways, members of WCSA took a couple of group photos. I am in it- I have on a red suit. I wonder how I compare in this photo to last year's photo. The suit or the hat? Anyway, I talked to a couple of people as I began to walk out of the Benes Rooms. One of those people happened to be the new President, Rock Jones. I did not get into deep, specific questions this time. I just shot the breeze with him to get a feel of how he liked the dinner and life at OWU. Overall, I felt that I accomplished what I needed to do there. I got my questions answered (most of them) and learned a lot more than when I came in earlier in the afternoon. The food was good, the speeches were great, the conversation with the trustees was diverse and dynamic, and the camera I was running played perfectly. Everything went smoothly- as expected.

Embracing the Alma Mater,

Hasani Wheat

Class of '10