Honor's Day

Everyone has that favorite time of the year. That one holiday, week, weekend or day that you just really look forward to. Some say Christmas or their birthday. For me, there's a tie:

1. Thanksgiving
2. ONU Honor's Day

This weekend, I had the opportunity to relish in Honor's Day of my junior year. This year, I was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the leadership honorary at Ohio Northern. As honored and excited as I was, Honor's Day means more to me than simple recognition. The following are the reasons why I love Honor's Day:

1. Mama and Papa C- A majority of students at Ohio Northern have the luxury of seeing their parents at least once a month. Being from Central Pennsylvania, I do not share in the same luxury. Since my freshman year, my parents have come to Ada for Honor's Day. It means a lot to spend time with my parents, especially during this stressful time of the year.

2. PolaR Bear PRide- Honor's Day always falls on the climax of the OAC Tournament season. For the past two years, the ONU softball team has hosted the OAC Tournament. I get to enjoy some great games and watch my best friends play softball. I love being apart of that innate Polar Bear pride that fills the stadium.

3. ONU Pride- Every ceremony, every meal, every walk, ONU pride just fills the air. I'm a firm believer that this university nurtures excellence. Honor's Day recognizes the people who maintain the level of excellence within the university. It's a celebratory weekend, that I enjoy being apart.

I will always remember my experiences with Honor's Day, and I am upset that my experiences will end next year. I love this university, and I could not be happier about my decision to continue my education here in Ada. 

Recruiting with Coach Witte

Recruiting with Coach Witte


In this podcast, Abby Schaller and I sit down with Ohio Northern Women's Volleyball Head Coach Kate Witte to discuss the recruiting process and how it's changed throughout her two decades at Ohio Northern.

Observation

As I read Brian Solis' "Engaged," I stumbled upon a far too familiar topic. Solis touches on observations and how important it is while engaging in social media. He identifies the importance of accurately identifying the target markets' demographics and psychographics.

Demographics and psychographics have been a common theme in my academic journey this quarter. In addition to the relevance the topics have when it comes to social media, the terms have been tossed around frequently in my campaigns, marketing/GIS and consumer behavior courses. The concepts have been crucial to my studies this quarters. I touched on this a while ago, but research is so important to the practice, and as I continue in my preprofessional journey, I'm starting to realize that even more. An understanding of what influences a target market or public is essential in order to effectively communicate with them.

Solis emphasizes that "we learn, earn credibility, and procure strategic intelligence through immersion - before we have an official agenda." This couldn't be closer to the truth. When we focus on collecting information about the demographics and psychographics of our target publics, we are doing so much more than collecting research. We are strengthening the entire communication process as a whole, in turn creating stronger, more meaningful relationships with our internal and external publics.

Ref 101

In reflection of my pre-high school volleyball career (club and high school), I must have been sincerely unpopular among the referees in Pennsylvania. I used to complain about EVERYTHING! There wasn't a call I agreed with. Frankly, I was just extremely unpleasant.

Enter ONU Men's Volleyball, and that all changes..

As part of our team fundraiser, each year we host two weekends of junior olympic volleyball tournaments. We completely manage the entire tournaments (ref, confessions, set-up, tear down). We are all Ohio River Valley certified officials. It's a great fundraiser, and we've experienced a lot of success.

With that said, being a referee has completing changed my outlook on playing the sport and officiating. Officiating is a thankless job. You can never make everyone happy. You have complete strangers yelling at you aggressively. You are expected to know and see everything. I will say that I am a completely different player because of my experience with the OVR. My patience, understanding and support for officials has drastically increased. It's a tough job, and I can appreciate that now.

I learned quickly that my officiating career with most likely come to an end after I live ONU. It's just not for me. I love watching and enjoying volleyball, and as an official you have to worry about so many other aspects of the sport. It works for some people, but not me. I will say that I WILL NOT be the parent who screams and yells about every call. We all know a few.