Hello St. George!

I got to go home to sunny St. George for the second time of the semester! It was so nice to see my family and enjoy the warm weather! 

My sister is the cutest! 

So glad I got to go to the happiest place on earth aka Yogurtland with these chicas!

Confession: I have missed baking in a real kitchen A LOT! It's been a serious struggle! So I went a little crazy when I got home and made tons of treats! 

What I'm Thankful For

Hopefully you are all wearing your stretchy pants today and are preparing whatever feast your mom and extended family is preparing for tonight. 

I won't take up too much of your time but I wanted to use today to tell  you all a few Aggie-related things I am grateful for!

1. I am grateful for paying $16 dollars to see a movie

Sounds steep but it went towards a good cause! Relay For Life is a big deal here at USU and every year they host a really really early preview of an upcoming popular movie and this year it was the new Hunger Games movie! Next semester, they will actually host the relay where the donations go towards cancer research!

Abbie, Maren, and myself taking a selfie before Katniss arrives

2. I am grateful for diversity!

THE Braxton Beers. My Diversity Day Partner.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to be a group leader for Diversity Day which the admissions office hosts every year to over 200 multicultural high school students! I had the honor of being partners with Braxton Beers! I didn't get a picture of it but my favorite part of the day was when Alex Boye spoke to us. My favorite thing he said to us was "There is a lion in your mirror."

3. I am grateful for being a mentor.

Remember those two new little bros I mentioned in my previous blog? Well they went through their ritual for Sigma Phi Episilon on Saturday and it was awesome seeing them go through. Some of you may be older siblings or a mentor to someone else and so you know how it feels to awesome it is to be that leader and example. For those of you who are not mentors, I would highly recommend becoming one because it puts a smile on your face when you see your mentee achieve something. 

One of my little bros Jordan and I taking a picture just after his ritual!

We call our family tree the House of Patriarchs. ( Braden (Trents big) , Trent (my big) , me, and Jordan (my little) )

4. I'm grateful for the Aggie family

This last one is the one near and dear to my heart. On Monday, I went to the Beards for Loretta showcase in the Taggart Student Center ballroom. This was the opportunity for all of the facial-hair growers on campus to come and show their beards to win prizes! There were some really great facial hair and even some ladies grew their leg hair for the cause!

What makes this so dear to me is because Loretta is the mother of one of the very first people who I met when I came to USU. Stephanie Mitzel Heinrich and her husband Scott (who is also my fraternity brother) were at the showcase to represent Steph's mom, Loretta Mitzel who was diagnosed with stage five pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer.

Seeing all of those students at USU at that showcase giving support to Steph and her family was overwhelming for me because it just made me realize how much I love being here at USU. You never know who is going to give you support but here at USU, you at least know you have support no matter what. 

Steph and I

Now after you finish reading and oogling over Braxton Beers (yeah, he is single), I want you to turn off your laptops, put your phone on silent and spend five minutes thinking about all the things you are grateful for. If you do it right and without interruptions,  your mind is going to think a million things you have that some others arent fortunate enough to have. 

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Make good choices!

Can I Play Christmas Music Now? Part 1

The snow glows white in LOGAN TONIGHT!

That's right people, the snow has fallen here at USU and I could not be more excited. Yeah I know, with snow comes cold but I am here to tell you that you can set your minds at ease because you don't have to freeze out there when you are walking to class or all of the events USU because I have done a few things this week and not even a small amount of frost bite has touched me yet.

Snowy at SigEp

On Tuesday, I was honored become a big brother again for two new members of my fraternity. All 14 new members of our fraternity went through what we call it the "Burning Heart Ritual". I won't go into all of the details but at the end of the ritual, the new members climbed into this big cave in Green Canyon and all of the big brothers were there waiting to greet their new little bro's. There was a lot of hugging and screaming (coming mostly from me) and now I have three amazing little brothers in my fraternity that I get to be a big brother to.

You  may think I was cold but I had Jordan (Left) and Angel (Right) to keep me covered. 

Arctic Tundra with Ambassadors

Before I got to become a big bro, the ambassadors went out and did service with a frosty smile! 

Bree, Ryan and I getting a selfie during the service project.

Looking Hot in the Cold

I know all of you went out and donned on your favorite pair of winter boots when it began to snow! I for sure did and I know some of my friends did too so I decided to have a little fashion shoot with them!

Alex Geddes

Landon and Taylor

Andre

Nick

I think that way too many people think that Logan is the worst city to be in during the winter but to be honest, this is place isn't as bad as people make it. I remember visiting my high school for the first time as an ambassador and every high school student asked me, "I heard it is so cold up there," and I every time I would say, "Well yeah, I mean it is winter."

There will be more of my adventures in this winter wonderland later but for now, stay warm and I will see you all soon!

Make good choices!

Ambassadors..here to serve and protect...but mainly...SERVE

These ambassadors aren't just equipped to give tours, they are also big believers in a little something called "SERVICE". Recently, a great member of the Utah State family (Hailey Evans) was in a car accident, and was immediately life flighted to a Provo hospital. She is still recovering, but remains in critical condition. Upon hearing the news, the ambassador program took on the mission to raise money for Hailey, by going door to door asking for donations, performing service, and shouting carols to a number of local neighborhoods. We love you Hailey, and the entire ambassador program is praying for you. Come back to us soon! Here are just a few images of the glorious night of service that took place just days ago:

Ready to hit the doors

Caroling for Hailey

(Hailey Evans) Keep her in your prayers. If anyone would like to help/give please contact Samantha Burrows at: sburrows@aggiemail.usu.edu

I Volunteer to Help Fight Cancer

We have all seen Hunger Games and know how to Volunteer as Tribute. Well this time we were able to actually volunteer, through buying tickets, to help Relay For Life fight cancer.

So, as part, we got to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 two days before the original release date. :) and who wouldn't like that!?!?

 

 

Even though this is a very grimy picture, the night was actually really great. How fun is it that we got to see the movie early, with proceeds going to cancer, and being a part of the only school in Utah that is related to Relay for Life. There are so many opportunities around campus that everyone can get involved with helping out through service, many organizations that are here to help others who really need it. Through benefits of all, this was really fun in knowing that I got to see a movie early, and even though the tickets were more expensive than most, that the rest of money spent was to help fight cancer.

 

 

HOW WILL YOU VOLUNTEER?????

#AmbassadorLife: Reporting for Duty!

What's goin on ladies and gents?! 

Have I ever told you all how much I LOVE being a USU Ambassador? Well...I flippin love it. It's pretty much the best job ever! Some of you may be asking yourselves "What in the heck is an Ambassador?" Let me do you the favor of giving you my own personal, (and perhaps simplified) definition: 

A USU Ambassador is a student representative who performs a variety of tasks in order to promote the university to prospective students.

One of our duties as an Ambassador is to participate in open houses. The open house is basically bringing Utah State to different places so that prospective students and their families are able catch a glimpse of everything that USU has to offer; the different colleges, student life, housing, scholarships and the best part...FREE AGGIE ICE CREAM! Sounds like a good time, right?! Check out the video below of the open house at the Salt Lake City Expo Center. (Shoutout to Abby Sugi for her outstanding dance performance at the end of the video!)

 In addition to that we also do recruitment visits to various high schools throughout Utah and Idaho. In fact, my favorite little cousin/fellow Ambassador 'Anapesi and myself went to Highland High school this week (GO RAMS!!!) to continue our recruitment quest! We chatted with a bunch of different students, answered their questions about college all the while making personal connections with each oher. These visits are so much fun for me because I enjoy the interaction I get with the students. I just love that I get to chat with them and establish that ground that they can hopefully feel comfortable enough to ask any question they have about USU or college life in general..and I just love sharing my experiences as Aggie most of all!

 Solid day's work!

Let's just say the cute gene runs in our family ;)

Apart from our recruitment and university promotion duties we also have weekly meetings to prepare and organize our Ambassador events. Sometimes we even hold other activities in place of the meeting time just to have a little fun. For example we've managed to have an Ambassador Halloween party as well as a Turkey Bowl Tournament this semester. It's always a good time when you catch a bit of a break from all the work to just have fun with the people you work with! This week we had the opportunity to  perform some service for our fellow community members in Logan. We specifically split into smaller groups and dispersed ourselves around town in order to bring little acts of service to all. My group came across a home in which needed the ice on their driveway to be chipped off. Even though it was freezing cold my group and I had a blast working together which also made the experience so great!

#DreamTeam 

My experiences as an Ambassador thus far have been meant more to me than anything. It's not everyday that you have an opportunity to do what you love and love what you do. I love Utah State and I love being an Aggie. As an Ambassador I want to exude that Aggie pride and spirit to others. I fell in love with every aspect of this school and all I want is for others to fall in love with USU the same way I did. AGGIES ALL DAY EVERY DAY!!!

I hope you all enjoy the video, photographs and hopefully the text as well...ha. 
Until next time my friends! Peace!

Frozen fingers, Front Row Seats, and Frizz n Fries.

IT SNOWED!!!! This week my roomies and I hit up the USU basketball game! It was so much fun! After a killer win, we all walked in the freezing cold snowy weather for miles to one of our friends apartments! It was actually one of my favorite memories of college so far!

Just the usual building snowmen at 1:37 in the morning...

For ambassador class this week we did a service project! It was so cool to help out local families and perform small acts of service! 

GO AGGIES!

If you haven't been to Frizz n Fries yet, then you definitely need to check it out! 

This week there was also a charity Christmas concert put on by Van Lady Love! They are a great band, and we went hard on the front row the entire show. They had a raffle to win a sick guitar and guess what?! BRAXTON WON!! YAY!!!! 

Dorm hacks= when you break your key in half and it won't work, cut an extra yogurtland card in half and paste that sucker to the other half! #success 

Bubble Soccer!!!

Who doesn't love playing a wholesome, safe, non-physical game of soccer. It's like making sweet music with your feet. Now take away the "safe" and the "non-physical", and stick each player inside a massive beach ball body suit. It's like watching human-sized lollipops kicking a ball around a soccer field, and leveling each other. My roommates and I experienced the mayhem first-hand for business week....take a gander!

The REAL bubble soccer: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153446144604057&set=vb.662594056&type=2&theater

The Last of the Mohicans

Roommates, the stuff of legend

Kanye for the Day

Kanye West.

You heard me.

Kanye Freaking West

What is up with this guy?

Why is he so amazing?

I feel like I need to explain my week through Kanye quotes so here we go.

1. "Would you believe in what you believe in if you were the only one who believed it?"

He's right you know. When you believe in something so strongly and you want to share that to the world, make sure you aren't the only one who believes in it. Bring someone along!

Thats what I did last Thursday at Bingham High School during their college day where all of the seniors can go and explore colleges in Utah! I had the opportunity to talk to over 300 high school students about my amazing time at Utah State University and what USU has to offer them as well! My "aggiemony" was strong on its own but what made it even stronger was the "aggiemony" of one of the fellow ambassadors and one of my greatest friends, Mr. Landon Howard. 

It is safe to say that we killed it at our old high school stomping ground and I am excited to visit those seniors again (November 18th, for those Bingham Miners reading this) and see how many have applied to the best school in the state!

2. “If you know you're the best it only makes sense for you to surround yourself with the best. NO EXCEPTIONS”

I don't know if I am the best exactly but I do know that I try and surround myself with some of the best people I know.

I recently planned and executed my fraternities fall formal where we had some good music, some good company, and a bumpin dance party. I was just sitting there eating delicious catering (shout out to Iron Gate Catering) and looking at all of my brothers talking and laughing with their dates and each other and it dawned on me that this organization, this brotherhood that I have been a part of for the almost 3 years now has been so good to me and I am surrounded with men who have good heads on their shoulders! 

Don't mind the devil eyes, I love these guys with all of my heart!

3. " I'm just the expresso...I'm just the shot in the morning to get you going. To make you believe that you can overcome that situation that you're dealing with all the time. "

When life gives you 18 high school student leaders to hang out with for the day, you make an awesome conference for them to enjoy.

Aggie Leadership Extravaganza was on Saturday and it was a BLAST! Brittany Peterson and I were Team Kat and we had 18 little kitten leaders to hang out with and they were just the coolest katz I have ever seen. At ALE we had games, food, dancing, posters, cheering, and a really amazing key note speaker. His name was Mike Schlappi and he will change your life! 

Team House Kat

Momma Kat and Poppa Kat

4. "Everyone should be Kanye for a day."

Ok, this last one was actually said by yours truly but c'mon, that is totally something Kanye West would say and you know it!

On Saturday, I attending the Alpha Chi sorority informal with Miss Abigail Jarmin. She requested that we dress like the infamous Kim and Kanye West....

Let's just say we represented them quite well. .

Now, I want you to go and google Kanye West.

Click on the 'Images" tab.

If you are scrolling through the pictures, you are going to notice that a lot of them are of him frowning. I don't know if I would call it frowning exactly but I wouldn't exactly call it a smile either.


The final lesson I am going to leave with you is this:

There are going to be PLENTY of reasons to frown this week

And I am not saying you can't frown, sometimes your face doesn't have the energy to curve upwards.

Go listen to your favorite song, go for a run, eat some ice cream, vent to your mom, whatever you do to make yourself feel better. Get all of the anger and sadness out!

Because when you smile...

Everyone else can't help but smile too! 

Have a good week!
Make good choices!

- Chris