Jack Robertson's program for the school year was to organize and lead "Thorns, Buds, and Roses," a reflective program. With over 20 members of the hall in attendance, each member was challenged to voice a thing they disliked about the trimester (Thorn), a thing they looked forward to for next trimester (Bud) and something they loved about the trimester (Rose). Some members had more than one thing they felt compelled to say; as general guidelines we tried to limit thorns and roses about academics, classes, and teachers and tried to talk more about student life, the hall, and about each other. There were many roses said but few thorns, as I am happy to report. All in all, an excellent program for an excellent period of time.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Program(s): Exam De-Stressers
Leading up to exams, we usually try to plan some programs that try to reduce stress for 1st Hunt Residents. These are excellent opportunities to take study breaks, and this year numerous residents chose to take advantage of them. On Thursday October 30th, we listened to relaxing music and practiced meditation led by RLA Shane Steele-Pardue. Shane offered basic meditation instruction and taught basic movements along with techniques to soothe muscles, choose a relaxing position, and help individuals find their inner peace in prep for a stressful exam weekend and week.
We conducted a second stress reliever on Monday November 3rd (which is actually a 1st Hunt Tradition). We like to do massages before each extended and during especially stressful times of the year- a great opportunity for hallmates to chat, while both offering and giving massages and taking a study break all the while. (Personally, I am very thankful that the massage train is a thing)- it is an excellent stress reliever and a lot of fun.
Thankfully, we had these couple of programs to help us get through the 1st Trimester Exam week. As a hall and as individuals, we have completed our first trimester at NCSSM for the year. This time marks the end of the one of the toughest trimesters for the seniors and a difficult time for the juniors as well, as they have now been living at NCSSM for 3 months and everyone must take five classes during the second trimester. The winter trimester marks the beginning of Research programs for some of our residents as well (in all different disciplines- Biology, Chemistry, and Computational Sciences), which we are excited about on hall. With several breaks in our Future (Thanksgiving and the Winter Break, among them) we all look forward to having some extended time away from school to relax and focus on other interests. The journey continues at NCSSM, while our hall all the time continues to work to better itself, developing a more involved, more tight-knit community. We all face struggles- both as individuals and as a community- but we rebound from them, and we grow. We are resilient as a hall, and we stand up for each other. Second trimester is always a difficult time for students at NCSSM. Thankfully we have a resilient community that not only cares about its members but looks out for them.
We conducted a second stress reliever on Monday November 3rd (which is actually a 1st Hunt Tradition). We like to do massages before each extended and during especially stressful times of the year- a great opportunity for hallmates to chat, while both offering and giving massages and taking a study break all the while. (Personally, I am very thankful that the massage train is a thing)- it is an excellent stress reliever and a lot of fun.
Thankfully, we had these couple of programs to help us get through the 1st Trimester Exam week. As a hall and as individuals, we have completed our first trimester at NCSSM for the year. This time marks the end of the one of the toughest trimesters for the seniors and a difficult time for the juniors as well, as they have now been living at NCSSM for 3 months and everyone must take five classes during the second trimester. The winter trimester marks the beginning of Research programs for some of our residents as well (in all different disciplines- Biology, Chemistry, and Computational Sciences), which we are excited about on hall. With several breaks in our Future (Thanksgiving and the Winter Break, among them) we all look forward to having some extended time away from school to relax and focus on other interests. The journey continues at NCSSM, while our hall all the time continues to work to better itself, developing a more involved, more tight-knit community. We all face struggles- both as individuals and as a community- but we rebound from them, and we grow. We are resilient as a hall, and we stand up for each other. Second trimester is always a difficult time for students at NCSSM. Thankfully we have a resilient community that not only cares about its members but looks out for them.
Scavenger Hunt with 4th Bryan!
Downtown Durham Scavenger Hunt with 4th Bryan!!
On Friday, October 17th, we went out to Bull City Burgers for dinner with 4th Bryan, a girls' hall.
Afterwards, we split up into teams to find various restaurants, monuments, and attractions that make Durham.. well, Durham. The goal of the scavenger hunt was to take a picture of your team performing an action described on the item list or with the said item. Items ranged from “A baby” to “Ride a Bull” to “In the back of police car," and challenged teams to explore Durham while also getting to know each other. We'd like to thank everyone who came out for the program, as well as 4th Bryan's SLI Natasha, for all of their help in making this program a success. We have included some pictures of the adventure below. Thanks to everyone for turning up for the fun and for the bonding! We hope to do something like this again in the future.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Program: Wikipedia Race
A neat program that allows people on hall to challenge themselves intellectually and compete with their hall-mates is the Wikipedia race. The wikipedia race is where participants have to navigate between two unrelated ideas, people, events, places, etc. using only wikipedia links. For example, we had roommates who competed against each other to navigate from one roommate's wonder to another. The person who managed to navigate from say, "Mount Rushmore" to "William Shakespeare" using just wikipedia links in the least amount of time- would be the winner. Wikipedia race is a fun, pretty addicting game that those who participated enjoyed!
A big Thank You to Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick, as well as Cole, for this week's Hall Food!
We'd like to thank Mr. Shane, Mrs. Dana, and Cole Kirkpatrick for their generous gift of hall food this week. The Zaxby's was absolutely delicious and there was a great amount of food to go around for all to share. We'd like to thank you all very much for providing First Hunt with hall food this past week.
We'd also like to apologize for not thanking all of the families who have given the gift of Hall Food to First Hunt already (it truly is one of the best gifts one can give!). We'd also like to thank:
Teresa, Don, and Ian Bunner
Charlene, Mickey, and Aaron Sartin
Bob, Michele, and Kevin Larson
John, Sharmila, and Henry Bristol
Abhilasha, Puneet, and Uday Uppal
Cameron, Chris, and Reid Herrera
and
Jennie, Allen, and Jack Robertson
Thank you all so much for your gifts to the hall. They have been enjoyed and appreciated! We apologize for not thanking you sooner.
A Big Happy 17th Birthday to Mr. Cole Kirkpatrick!
Hope you had a Great Birthday, Cole! I know that your hall-mates treated you well on your day, that's for sure.
A Farewell to one of our own, Gabe Freeland! (Gabe was also this past week's Weekly Wonder).
October 8th, 2014
We will dearly miss Mr. Gabe Freeland, who spent his last week with us this past week. Gabe was a wonderful person to have on hall- his big smile, cheerful personality, and love of First Hunt's community have made him a person this hall will dearly miss. We wish you the best in all of your future endeavors, Gabe, and we hope to see you again on hall sometime in the future! You are, of course, always welcome back into the family of your old hall. Know that we will support you and be there for you in all that you do. On that note, please get to know a little bit about the very wonderful Gabe Freeland.
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