Hello friends! I am eating some delicious food right now and I wanted to share it with you all. Not literally share the food, because by the time you read this I will be done and also this is my lunch so I probably wouldn’t want to share anyway.
Maybe some of you have heard of the wonderful majestic heaven known as
THE HAWK’S NEST
but maybe some of you have not.
That’s where I come in.

This right here, is my favourite meal. Ever. Greek wrap [no tomatoes] and a Sobe citrus energy. The Hawk’s Nest does this awesome thing where they make THEIR OWN HOMEMADE FLATBREAD for the wraps and then SLAP IT ON THE GRILL REAL QUICK before wrapping your delicious fixins inside and it’s just the chewiest most delicious wrap you will ever wrap your face around.

THE WRAPS.

• The Greek – Trudy’s favourite. Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta, roasted red peppers, cucumbers, red onions, and Greek dressing.
• Chicken Caesar  – I’ve actually never had this before, even though I LOVE Caesar salad. Whenever I want a salad-y wrap I just can’t deny the Greek. Anyway, simplicity is best with Caesar: grilled chicken, romaine lettuce, parmesean cheese, and Caesar dressing. Both Brady and Brit have had it before and highly recommend it.
• Honey Mustard Chicken – grilled or crispy chicken tossed with mesculin greens, tomatoes, red onions, and the best honey mustard I’ve ever had. Trudy recommends the crispy chicken because yolo.
• NEW Buffalo Chicken Wrap – I’ve yet to try this, but I plan to soon because who doesn’t love buff chix. Grilled or crispy buffalo chicken, bleu cheese crumbles, lettuce, tomato, and onion. Great.
• NEW Veggie & Hummus Wrap – I also haven’t tried this yet, but I do love hummus and portabello so I may soon. Fresh made garlic lemon hummus, portabello mushrooms, grilled zucchini and summer squash, tomatoes, vidalia onions, and red peppers. Brit just tried this today for lunch and had some choice words about it. “Too many onions. And it was soggy! *sad face with tongue sticking out and a tear drop/icky face*”

Good choice. Being awesome is pretty awesome. I would know, because I am awesome.
A wise man once said,

You know when you read a word too many times and it starts to look weird? That’s happening with the word awesome to me right now. I guess I’ll just have to use a different word to describe awesomeness..like……

STUDENT LEADER.

Now, don’t go clickin’ off back to your facespaces and mybooks and whatnot ’cause I said “STUDENT LEADER.” and that might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world to you. But let me assure you. It is the most exciting thing in the world to me, and I would like to share my excitement with you.

BUT TRUDY, HOW DO I BECOME A STUDENT LEADER.?

Well, conveniently placed anonymous question, I will tell you! There are TONS of opportunities for STUDENT LEADER.ship around campus.

CLUBS & ORGANIZATIONS.
You can lead a club or organization! There are over ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY (150+) CLUBS&ORGS ON CAMPUS. Everyone has beaten into your heads how important it is to get involved and blah blah blah so I won’t get into that. But if you’re in a club and you’re passionate about it, you can try to get on the executive board! Eboards consist of at least a President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and maybe some more club-specific positions like Marketing Chair or Technical Officer or Designated Hat Person. It’s a bit of a time commitment to be an eboard member, but it’s super rewarding in that you get to steer the club in a direction you might want to see, and it’s a great resume builder!

RESIDENCE LIFE.
Resident Advisors are kind of badly represented on TV and movies and funny YouTube videos and whatnot. Everyone thinks we’re OUT TO GET YOU IN TROUBLE or BREAKIN’ UP PARTIES LEFT AND RIGHT or SNIFFING EVERY DOOR IN A HALLWAY TRYING TO BUST EVERYONE. But! While conduct and conflict are part of the Residence Life Staff’s job, that’s not all we do! Here’s a nice list format to break up this wall o’ text:

• BULLET POINTS YEAH
• anyway
• RAs build community on their floors and in their buildings
• that’s basically a textbook definition for being friends with everyone and making everyone else be friends with everyone too

• RAs put on programs for the campus community
• there’s a specific guide called the Residential Curriculum the pro staff puts together for the RAs and it’s our jobs to take a broad theme (like, HEALTHY LIVING) and turn it into a fun and engaging program that people will get something out of (like, FOOD)

• just because the 4th floor RA is putting on a program in Leitch doesn’t mean only 4th floor Leitch residents can go! EVERYONE IS WELCOME. Residents, commuters, off campus friends..but probably not random people you find in the street
• RAs serve as a resource
• you know the “reference” section in a library? That’s basically what an RA’s room is. If you need info on anything happening on campus, help with academic issues, iSiS is being weird, your friends are being weird, it’s the middle of the night and you’re locked out of your room, it’s the middle of the night and you’re in need of some protection (I like to stock up at Safetypalooza until someone tells me to leave some for everyone else to which I hastily reply, “I’M AN RA THESE ARE FOR MY RESIDENTS” and then run away), you fell on your face and need a band-aid (I have an overstocked first aid kit in my room)..you get the point!
• RAs enforce the code of conduct
• this is what everyone assumes all RAs do all the time. Honestly, documenting incidents is kind of a pain. We have to get everyone’s information, let our supervisors know, let the RD on duty know, write up an in depth third person description of exactly what happened, follow up with the residents..

ORIENTATION
Do you remember your orientation? Was it THE BEST EXPERIENCE EVER?! If I was your OL it probably was.

This happened.

Orientation Leaders basically have the best job ever. Here are some more bullet points.

• hang out in Lowell all summer with free housing
• get paid full time
• MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN STUDENT’S LIVES
• guide incoming students around campus and give them all the info they could ever need about everything UMass Lowell
• hang out with Dean Siegel and Rowdy and sometimes Marty Meehan

• be generally silly

Orientation applications are out RIGHT MEOW and are due on February 26th. The application process is pretty great. You fill out an online application, and then join us and all the applicants in what is referred to as SELECTION WEEKEND. All day Saturday March 2nd you hang out with a current OL and a group of other applicants and basically just do a bunch of icebreakers and games and fun things so we can get to know you and your leadership style. Then Sunday the 3rd you have your interview. Orientation is super speedy with their decisions so you’ll usually get your letter within the next week. GOOD STUFF GOOD TIMES

So! Those are some sweet things you can do to be an AWESOME STUDENT LEADER. 

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY

-Trudy aka Trudes MaGrudes aka Tru Dat

(ps you also get awesome nicknames)

• ·         Applicants must be UMass Lowell students (graduate or undergraduate) or have graduated from UMass Lowell within the past year.
• ·         UMass Lowell students or recent alumni must take a leadership role in developing, presenting and implementing the concept and proposed solution.
• ·         Students are encouraged to form interdisciplinary teams, meaning students from different majors should work together in developing and implementing the solution. If you haven’t yet connected with team members from other majors, we will help facilitate this.

• ·         Applications due by 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, 2013
• ·         Applications must be submitted via the DM website. Forms are available at www.uml.edu/differencemaker.
• ·         Finalists will be chosen for the pool of applicants and notified by Feb. 20.

• ·         All student teams will be introduced to the Problem-Opportunity-Solution-Resources approach to problem solving. A series of workshops is scheduled to help teams examine their selected problem, explore the opportunity, develop possible solutions and identify needed resources.
• ·         Idea Plan submission due by 5 p.m.  Apr. 12, 2013
• ·         Each team must submit their proposed solution in an Executive Summary format, along with a concise PowerPoint Pitch Deck. This is an absolute deadline. Teams submitting plans past the deadline will not be included in the competition.