Research Week

        This week all I've been assigned to do is research. We didn't have any special guests this week so we prepared for the guests coming in the next few weeks. This has been the worst week thus far in the internship because I don't like doing the research to figure out who the guest are. I like having them arrive and letting them tell me their story. Ive learned from experience thus far that this is the most interesting way for me and the students who attend the convocations and dinner convocations.
        The first person we have coming is Denny Miller. Denny Miller has been in several television shows and movies for several decades. He has not been in anything lately that my generation would recognize but he was very popular during the 60's and 70's. His most popular jobs have been portraying a lost surfer in Gilligan's Island, an old friend to Carol in The Brandy Bunch, and his character in Charlie's Angels. Many people also know him from his portrayal of Tarzan. Tarzan is the reason he is coming to present to us this upcoming week. One of our professors is a Tarzan nut and has helped to organize the entire convocation. We are expecting several people from the community and not very many students to attend this event.
        We also have Paul Rusesabagina coming. He is the hotel manager portrayed in the movie "Hotel Rwanda." He saved over 1,000 Rwandan people during the Tutsi and Hutu civil war. Both groups of people had resistance groups and shortly after the beginning of the genocide, all countries pulled their support out of the country. His story is a serious tear jerker because he lost family members and friends through out the attacks. Because of the topic of this convocation, we expect to have an overwhelming amount of people from both the community and the school. Hopefully, we will get lucky and have a turnout like we did for Coach Herman Boone.

Herman Boone Convocation

       Meeting Herman Boone was such an amazing experience. There were 606 students, community people, faculty and staff that attended the convocation. Other then that, we also had a dinner prior to the convocation and a reception following it. He is such an inspiration. He talked about how he changed so many lives in Alexandria, Va. During the first year that Alexandria, Va integrated T.C. Williams high school, he was the football coach. He considers what he did for the young athletes as one of the hardest but most rewarding jobs he has ever done.

      Other then his stories about how he had changed the lives of the young men on his football team, he  also talked about how he previously had been to Bridgewater in the 1970's. He told stories about how the players were scared of Bridgewater because they saw a horse and buggy going down the street at night and thought it was a ghost cart. He also told a story about how he mad a young man run to the mountain, not realizing how far it is. Overall, he was an awesome man whose made such a difference. 

Herman Boone is coming

Thursday-
      Herman Boone is joining us tomorrow for a dinner and a convocation. I am very excited to meet him because this is the first dinner that I am truly going to be hosting myself. For those who don't know, Herman Boone is the Coach who was portrayed in the movie "Remember the Titans." He is a very inspiring man but I won't be able to fully explain what he is about until I meet him. During this weeks work, I didn't really have much to do because this dinner has been filled since the beginning of the year. Therefore, I don't have much more to say until tomorrow.

Gary Fabiano

     I met Gary Fabiano on Tuesday night. He is such a remarkable man. As a photojournalist, he has been to several different countries during war, famine, and riot. Other then his trips around the world, he was also in New York City during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This was what I found most interesting. He was buried under the rubble in a pull in truck dock under World Trade Center #7. He thought it would be safe but shortly after running to "safety" the entrance closed in and everyone was trapped. His story about everything he went through is extraordinary and heartfelt. Unfortunately I cannot explain his experience because he was very serious about how he didn't want his story to be written down unless he was writing it down. Therefore, I will have to keep his story to myself. One story he didn't say was "off the record" was one about him being in a field. While he was in the field, bullets were flying all around him and as he hid behind an overturned car he noticed his avenues of escape starting to close. He then began to take a dash through the field to a building that was about 40 yards away. During his mad dash he suddenly stopped cold in the middle of the field. As soon as he stopped, he saw a black dot flash past his face and he instantly knew it was a bullet. He then sprinted again to a safe place. This story is just on of many things he has gone though. Listening to him speak about his job and his life made me realize that I am lucky to by safe in America because although there have been terrorist attacks and there are many dangers here, America is relatively safe.

Planning a convocation

      This week is completely focused on planning future convocations. I have been assigned to email multiple people for the convocations upcoming in the spring and to look up public speakers for the fall of next year. This is what I joined the internship for but I am realizing that I don't really like planning convocations.
      I originally wanted to do event planning as a career when I came into college but as I've grown up and taken classes about many different topics, I realized that I really don't want to pursue that career. Therefore, this is not my favorite part of my internship. I looked over several public speaker agencies websites and every one is full of people who no one knows. This is an issue because we need to find people for the fall who have easily recognizable names. They also have to have an interesting topic.
     In regards to the spring convocations, which are relatively already planned, I have been assigned to email all of the guest speakers and confirm their attendance. This is hard for me to do because I don't know who the people are or what they are about. They also don't know who I am, so I don't know if they will respond to me.
      I am going to have to do the emailing and the planing in order to get through the internship but I won't like it. Fortunately, after this year I will never have to event plan ever again. I will miss working the events and meeting all of the extremely interesting people though. Again, on the bright side, I will be joining the U.S. Airforce and will be meeting a completely different rack of interesting people. Hopefully, this experience will be helpful in my future endeavors. If not, then it is at least a wonderful experience and will lead to awesome stories when I'm older.