May 2007

May was an extremely busy month! The month started with finals and then a trip to Dallas for the SIFE National Convention. We went down a couple of days early to sight see. We spent a day at Six Flags and went to the Dallas Zoo one morning. Our hotel is one of the most recognizable icons in Dallas, the Hyatt Regency Dallas. It is connected to the a large, light up revolving restaurant, over 50 stories high. One of my favorite parts was the view out of my window. I looked right out onto the JFK memorial and the area where he was assassinated, my sound a tad weird, but I am a history buff...

Competition went great! I was on the presentation team and we placed in the top eight again this year! It is quite an accomplishment for our team to be this successful as there are over 900 SIFE teams in this country. And SIFE teams are different from other teams, there are no divisions... so when we compete we are competing against Notre Dame, the University of Arizona, and many more renown universities. To have other schools come up, congratulate you, and ask if we can give any advice; not bad for a team that is only seven years old.

Another exciting moment from Nationals was our faculty advisor, Randy Abbott, winning Sam Walton Fellow of the Year. This is an award that we should have nominated him for a long time ago, but thankfully we took this head on this year, and it really paid off! We couldn't be any prouder of him!

Our last night in Dallas with this years SIFE team, we voted for our new leadership team. I am happy to announce that by a unanimous vote, I was asked to be next years SMSU SIFE President.

After Nationals I began working fulltime at Schwan's University with my internship. So I continue with my job, running the SIFE team, managing Nature's Backyard, being an active member of the Southwest Minnesota Youth Council and finding time for the rest of my fun-filled life. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this blogging and let you know a little more detail about my world.