Happy Holidays

Have a lovely holiday with your son at home!

Hall Food!

Hall food was graciously provided by Ashwin Monian and his family this week! Thanks for the delicious pizza and cake!

New Pictures!

New pictures are on the slideshow from Semiformal and Baby Uni. Remember, you can always just click on the slideshow to go directly to the album. You can download pictures from there!

Theme of the Week: Grady Nash

This week's Theme is Grady Nash!

Holiday Hall Dinner!

1st Hunt Parents,

I'd like to thank anyone and everyone that helped make this year's annual hall dinner a success! Your donations were greatly appreciated. Every single 1st Hunt-er was there. We had a fantastic time with SO much good food. All three of our hall parents were there for the entire dinner. Ms. Hudson bought gifts for us to play a gift exchange game. Overall it was just a fantastic way to spend a Sunday evening.

It truly is a blessing to say we live on 1st Hunt with as much support as you give us!
Pictures coming soon!

Best,
Michael Robinson

Chancellor's Cup

First Hunt is in first place for the Chancellor's Cup after the completion of the soccer and ultimate frisbee IM seasons! The points for the Chancellor's Cup come from participation at IM games and from winning games in the IM season. We're currently leading 1st Hill by only 11 points, so we need to keep it up in dodgeball season!

Theme of the Week: Vipul Vachharajani

This week's featured person is Vipul Vachharajani!

Hall Food!

Hall food was graciously provided by Austin Hopkins and his family last night. The pizza was a welcome respite from a work-heavy week here on campus. One more week until Winter Break!

Mr. Unicorn!

First Hunt now has Baby Uni and Baby Uni Runner-up on our hall! Luke Fernandez, Quinten Stewart and Jeremy DeJournett rocked the house last night. Luke won Baby Uni, Quinten was runner-up for Baby Uni, and Jeremy did really, really quite well in Mr. Uni! We're so proud of everyone that participated--it was truly a great show!

Hall Food!

We'd like to give a big thank you to Otis Skipper and his family for providing hall food this week! The pizza was the perfect snack for a very busy week here at school. Thanks, Otis!

Theme of the Week: Luke Fernandez

This week's featured person is Luke Fernandez!

Yearbook Information and Senior Ads

Senior parents,



The deadline to order a senior ad is quickly approaching. All senior ad orders must be completed by Tuesday December 13th, 2011-NO EXCEPTIONS. Please visit http://www.ncssm.edu:8080/cal/event/showEventMore.rdo for a comprehensive guide on how to pay for a senior ad, available options for designing your senior’s ad, and the actual order form for an ad. Also please note that ordering a yearbook is separate from ordering a senior ad. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the yearbook coordinators-
Matt Boerner (Boerner@ncssm.edu) and Linsey Morrison (morrisonL@ncssm.edu).

Thank you!

Mr. Unicorn

Hi!

Several of our residents will be participating in this weekend's most anticipated event--Mr. Unicorn! The Mr. Unicorn pageant pits 9 juniors vying for the title of Baby Unicorn and 6 seniors going for the title of Mr. Unicorn. Contestants will perform talents, dance, and show their wit during the show. Several of our hall members will be participating!

Quinten Stewart and Luke Fernandez will be representing the juniors on our hall in Baby Uni. Quinten will be performing a rap of his own writing while Luke will be singing and playing guitar and Ukelele. Both will do fantastically!

Jeremy DeJournett is our lone participator in Mr. Uni, but we know he's going to bring back the title to 1st Hunt! Jeremy will be escorted by Vitchyr Pong, another 1st Hunter!

Vipul Vachharajani, Otis Skipper, and Raymond Blackwell will be doing MC acts introducing some of our talented performers, and Michael Robinson will be hosting the show.

Most importantly, our very own Michael Newbauer will be judging the competition! Mr. Newbauer is totally psyched and ready for a great show.

If you live in the area come check it out on Saturday night at 7pm in the ETC auditorium. Can't wait to update you with 1st Hunt success!

Best,
Michael Robinson

IM Game VICTORY

First Hunt started off the dodgeball IM season with a convincing win over 4th East, 4-1. In games of 7 v. 7 we came out strong--ready to beat all that came across our path! We won the first four games with ease, only finally dropping the last game after Harris Short fell in a 1 on 1 with one of their residents. Team captain Dayton Ellwanger had this to say: "Listen, guys, we didn't even necessarily have our strongest players out there today, but you guys played extremely well together. We can't be daunted by who is on the court for their team. We can only care about us."

We hope to continue to rack up the victories on the way to another IM championship!

Fall Sports Success

This year's fall sport season was LEGENDARY at NCSSM! Three of our hall members, Dayton Ellwanger, Will Milligan, and Chris Panuski were members of the State Championship Men's Cross-Country (XC) team. Chris was one of the top 7 NCSSM runners and got to run at states!

We didn't have any hall members in the state runner-up Volleyball or Women's Tennis teams, but 1st Hunt support was there for both teams throughout their long playoff runs. The Women's XC team finished 8th at state but won the East Regional championship, too!

The most recent Uni championship came for Men's Soccer. Jeshua, Michael, Taylor, and Otis won the 2nd soccer championship in 5 years for the Unis on Friday night at WakeMed soccer park! Congrats to everyone that played or supported these teams!

Men's Soccer Going to the State Finals

Congrats to Taylor Firn, Jeshua Ray, Otis Skipper and Michael Robinson for making it to the State Finals for soccer. They played a hard game on Tuesday to advance them to Friday's big game. They will be playing Hendersonville|Western Highlands for a rematch of last years championship title. We are truly proud of our UNI boys. GOOD LUCK BOYS!!!

Theme of the Week

The person featured this week for Theme of the Week is Ausome Austin Hopkins!

Hall Food!

The hall is still recovering from an awesome hall food last night from Luke Fernandez and his family! Thanks so much for the cake and Subway, it more than hit the spot.

Theme of the Week

This past week we featured Seth Templeton!

Soccer Sectionals

The soccer guys on hall have been experiencing recent success in the NCHSAA playoffs. Michael, Jeshua, Taylor, and Otis will be playing on Saturday at 2pm against Raleigh Charter (rivalry matchup!) at home. Many of the guys on hall have pledged to go to the game to support the Unis. Good luck, soccer boys!

Hall Food!

A 1st Hunt shout-out goes to Jackson Mower and his family for supplying hall food last night! We had all kinds of homemade treats and hot cocoa that warmed the heart (and burned my tongue :D). All in all we had a great study break that reminded us too much of home. Thanks for the treats, Mowers!

Exams

It's crunch time here at NCSSM! All of the guys on hall are preparing extensively for the end of trimester exams that start today. The exam schedule:

Friday:
9-11am: Study Period
1:30-3:30pm: Science electives and some interdisciplinary electives
6-8:00pm: Foreign language
Monday:
9-11am: Chemistry
1:30-3:30pm: Humanities electives, interdisciplinary electives, computer science
6-8:00pm: Physics
Tuesday:
9-11am: American studies, social sciences
1:30-3:30pm: Advanced math and math electives
6-8:00pm: Core english
Wednesday:
9-11am: Biology
1:30-3:30pm: Math

We come home!

Hall Food!

A big shout out goes to Michael Robinson and his family for providing hall food this Wednesday past! Michael cooked pasta for the entire hall for vegetarian hall food this week. Everybody loved it!

Twitter and Saturday Activities!

Hey everyone,

1st Hunt is now on Twitter! If you're much of a tweeter, follow us to keep up to date on anything and everything 1st Hunt! Our username is @NCSSM1stHunt.

As for tonight--we're prepping for our big hall sleepover tonight after check! We plan on all gathering in the main lounge, making a fort with sheets, and passing the night discussing philosophy, particle physics, and evolutionary theory. Okay, we aren't THAT into the school work :). Our 2nd IVIZ of the year is tonight as well! All the guys are cleaning their rooms in preparation for the festivities. Stay updated!

Best,
Michael Robinson

Hall Food!

A big shout out to Luke Fernandez and his family for providing hall food this week! We had pizza and cake to celebrate our ultimate frisbee championship! Pictures coming!

"Featured Show"

This week--Alan Wu!

Breast Cancer Awareness

Hey readers!
1st Hunt and our sister hall, 4th Bryan, are taking a big part in the programs for Breast Cancer Awareness week here on campus! On Sunday we tie-dyed t-shirts, made signs to hang outside of the cafeteria, and made pink ribbons to wear all week. On Monday we handed out the ribbons and today we did a 'Duck Dive' in which every student could come pick out a duck from a small pond outside of the cafeteria. They either won a Breast Cancer Awareness sticker or candy depending on the duck! Tomorrow we're getting amped for the Leah Dula Brown Breast Cancer Awareness walk. We will be looking fly in our freshly tie-dyed pink shirts (hot out of the dryer!). On Thursday we will all be attending the campus wide candlelight vigil to honor both survivors and the deceased who have battled breast cancer. On Friday we have more ribbons that will be given--this time students can write the name of a survivor that they are wearing it in honor for! Stay tuned!

Michael Robinson

Sister Hall Bonding!

This Sunday past the First Hunt boys spent some quality time bonding with the sister hall. It all started that morning with the gentlemen of First Hunt making a delicious breakfast for the ladies of 4th Bryan. We woke up early, made pancakes in Hunt kitchen and invited our sister hall over to enjoy them. And trust us, they enjoyed them.
Afterwards First Hunt and 4th Bryan teamed up to make pink Tie-dye shirts in honor of breast cancer awareness week. The shirts are drying now, but they are certainly going to turn out wonderfully!

IM Championship Victory!

As the headline suggests, the First Hunt Fire Lions brought home the IM Ultimate Championship today in dominate fashion against the First Hill Freebirds. Going down 3-1 awoke the beast from within the Fire Lions. We raced ahead to a 5-3 lead at halftime on a strategy of short, methodical passing and patient, preventative defense. The second half was no less impressive with the Fire Lions outscoring the Freebirds 5-2 to take the 'ship 10-5!

"Domination. Absolute domination."-Fire Lions Captain Jeremy DeJournett

Ultimate Victory

1st Hunt has done a remarkable job this season in racking up the victories in IM Frisbee. So much so, in fact, that we were the number one seed going into playoffs! We matched up Thursday in the semifinal game against 4th West. After falling behind 3-1 to the speedy 4th Westians we scored 4 unanswered points before halftime. Jeremy DeJournett gave a rousing halftime speech. Out of the gate we scored another four unanswered points, yielded two, and finished 4th West off 11-5. Next play: 1st Hill in the championship. Keep it up First Hunt Fire Lions!

Birthdays!

The hall birthdays sure have been stacking up lately--we've have had 5 this week alone! We would like to wish a VERY happy birthday to Jeshua Ray (Oct. 14), Jeremiah Collins (Oct. 14), Bo Warren (Oct. 15), and Vamsi Yechoor (Oct. 16). Have a wonderful birthday, guys!

First Hunt Relay

This past weekend we had the famous First Hunt Relay. Everyone split up into teams for a relay race that tested skill, speed, athleticism and the ability to eat a donut with no hands. From chugging a soda to doing "the worm" everyone showcased their unique talents. It came down to a close finish, and in the end, Will Milligan, Jin Yoon, Trey Faddis and Dayton Ellwanger walked away with the First Hunt Cup.

Hall Food!

Last night we sat down to a gargantuan feast of Subway and Cake in honor of Taylor Firn's birthday! "It was filling," remarked Luke Fernandez. Filling it was, Luke. A big thanks goes out to the Firn's from 1st Hunt!

Taylor's Birthday!

Today we are celebrating Taylor Firn's birthday on hall. Happy birthday, Taylor!

Hall Food!

Aakash and his family lovingly provided pizza and cinnamon sticks last night for hall food! The guys really appreciated the mid-week snack. We also had cake the other night to celebrate Aakash's birthday!

IM Game VICTORY

The First Hunt Fire Lions were victorious again yesterday against 2nd Hill. We trotted out to a 5-3 victory, bringing our record to 3-0 on the season! Our team feels good going into our last regular season game. We hope to round out a dominant season with an IM championship in playoffs next week. Stay tuned for details!

Pics from the action:

Hall Food!

This week's hall food was lovingly provided by Jackson Mower and his family. The ice cream sundaes were the perfect way to end the week before extended. Have a great extended, guys!

Pancake Night!

Last night the hall gathered in Mike's apartment to make pancakes and watch a movie! A First Hunt tradition, pancakes with Mike is always a favorite program. We ended up choosing Bridesmaids from a list full of manly movies--and loved it! Everyone had a great time chowing down on blueberry, banana, chocolate, bluebanchoco, and plain pancakes with OJ to wash it all down. We can't wait to do it all again!

IM Game

The 1st Hunt guys did work this week out on the IM field. Our numerous practices in Ultimate Frisbee led to the ULTIMATE victory over 4th East 9-2. We hope to have a much better Ultimate season and we certainly started off the season right! We will keep you updated on our IM success!

Hall Food!

This week's hall food was graciously provided by Grady and his mom. The guys thoroughly enjoyed the pasta, salad, garlic bread, oreos, and drinks! It was the perfect way to end a long Wednesday. Thanks, Grady and co.!

The past week with 1st Hunt!

This past week has been full of friendly competition on 1st Hunt. It started last Thursday with the "Saltine Challenge" - the myth that it's impossible to eat 6 Saltine Crackers in 60 seconds. Jeffrey Phillips proved this wrong, eating all 6 in just 52 seconds. Then came the ping pong tournament on Friday, where Otis Skipper walked away with victory, barely beating Jeffrey in the championship. Otis then teamed up with Trey Faddis to win the Cornhole Tournament the next day. Keep in mind, on 1st Hunt, everyone's a winner.

In other news, First Hunt would also like to send a huge thanks for the families of Aakash Ghandi and Vipul Vachharajani for providing us with Sunday brunch. The boys got to enjoy Chai Tea, Bagels, Dhokla and lots of other amazing food. Getting to wake up to such an amazing brunch and getting to spend time with the hall was a great way to start the day, and everyone who came had a great time.

September Programming Calendar!

Here are the hall programs we have planned for the month of September so that you can follow along with the hall!

Hall Food!

The 1st Hunt guys would like to extend a huge thank-you this week to Dayton Ellwanger and his family for providing hall food this week. The various assortment of pizzas were delicious!

The Help!

After school last Friday, we went to the Northgate Mall with our lovely sister hall to watch The Help. The Help is a pre-Civil Rights Movement movie about a young white journalist who decides to actively write against the repulsive racism in Jacksonville. The program reminded us of our origins and the sacrifices people made so that we could live in such a loving and respectful community. The poignant movie vividly portrayed the horrors of the era and brought tears to many—boys and girls alike. Afterwards, we went to Cook Out to grab a late night snack. The program was a great success and more than 30 people came out. Thanks sister hall for coming out!

Pool Party!

This Sunday afternoon, the First Hunt boys had an awesome pool party at the Phillip’s apartment! There was food, soda, sun, fun, and it was an all-around great time. Everyone enjoyed taking a little time from their busy schedule and relaxing for a while. Thank you so much to Jeffrey Phillips and his family for offering so much of their time and energy for First Hunt. The food was delicious, the sun was hot, the water was cool, and a great time was had by all.

Hall Food!

A big 1st Hunt thanks goes to Raymond and his family for providing pizza for hall food last night. It was delicious!

IM Season

Our soccer IM season has been rough so far, but it has definitely been fun. Almost everyone came out to the first game and played extremely hard. Despite losing the game 2-1, the boys had plenty of fun. Afterward, we ate at the cafeteria as a hall with our heads held high. Our teamwork and enthusiasm paid off in the second game, where we won with a decisive 2-0 finish. Unfortunately, our bad luck returned in game three when, after an intense back-and-forth regulation time, we lost in shoot outs. Still, First Hunt is not out of the running for the championship. If we win the next game, we still have the chance to take home the championship!

Programming

So far we've had great participation for the programs on our hall. We've been doing lots of programs to encourage hall bonding. From Intramural Sports practices to meditation, people have been having fun and getting to know each other. On Aug. 21 we took a hall trip down to Duke Gardens. We had a great time on the walk over, then just hung out, talked about life and got a chance to appreciate nature. The next Sunday we went to CiCi's, where everyone got to chow down on lots of pizza, pasta, salad and desserts. Overall, the hall ate about 200 slices of pizza! We've had a great past few weeks and are looking forward to the remaining part of a fantastic year.

Hall Food!

A big thanks goes out to Grady Nash and his family for providing hall food this past Wednesday. Thanks so much for the delicious pizza and cinnamon sticks!

Hall Food!

Shout-out to the Chris Panuski and his family for providing pizza and wings for hall food last night. We really appreciated the delicious food from Devil's Pizzeria.

Hall Food!

This week's hall food was graciously provided by Taylor Firn and his family. Thank you so much for the delicious Subway sandwiches!

Beginning of the year fun!

On Sunday afternoon we took a hall trip down 9th street. The new juniors got to see and hear about some of the senior's favorite places on 9th street like Elmo's, Ox and Rabbit and Chubby's Tacos. We stopped to have dinner at Cosmic's Cantina, a Mexican restaurant at the end of 9th street. It was a great chance for everyone to get to know everyone else on hall and get some delicious food. After that, it was on to brother sister hall activities.

Later that evening we played a variety of games with our sister hall, Fourth Bryan, to get to know them better. The first game was “In My Neighborhood,” a game designed to find similarities among everyone. Following a longstanding NCSSM tradition, we played “Ride That Pony.” Despite its silliness, the juniors and seniors played with visible enthusiasm. Finally, we played a couple of games to learn everyone names. We even got a Popsicle break! It was a great way to get to know other people and many of the residents on both halls enjoyed the activities. Pictures will be coming soon!

Getting Ready for the New Year

Juniors, Seniors, and wonderful parents-

Welcome (or welcome back!) to First Hunt! The RLAs have been on campus the last few days working extremely hard to get the hall ready for the awesome year ahead. We are SO excited for the seven seniors moving in tomorrow, seventeen juniors moving in on Saturday, and the other seven seniors moving in next Monday. This year will prove to be challenging in many ways, but we are looking forward to it all!

A reminder: don't forget to bring a dress shirt and tie for Convocation next Tuesday.

Can't wait to see you all soon!
Sincerely,
Michael Newbauer, Michael Robinson, Vitchyr Pong, Otis Skipper, Huston Collins

RLAs for 2011-2012

Hey everyone!

I'm Michael Robinson, and I'll be taking over the responsibilities of Assistant on 1st Hunt next year. I will be maintaining the Hall Blog. I'm currently a resident of 4th West in Room 409, but I am absolutely ecstatic to move down to the Annex next year in room 130. I am captain of the Men's Soccer team, and also a Senior Senator. I love cooking, good music, and a good night's rest. I can't wait for the lifelong bonds that are sure to form between hall members, and to see how we can form a cohesive unit as a hall on the road to domination as the best hall on campus!

Get ready for an awesome year!
Michael Robinson


My name is Huston Collins and I will be one of the RLA’s on First Hunt next year. My hometown is Pilot
Mountain, a small town near Winston-Salem.

I am super excited about helping juniors make the transition to NCSSM’s unique environment and to
succeed academically and emotionally. I have a passion for learning as well as playing the violin. Juniors
will find me in my room with an open door and though I may have a rigorous schedule, I will always
make time to chat. I lived on 1st Hunt last year and look forward to creating an awesome environment
with my Co-RLAs.

Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Huston Collins


Hello,
My name is Otis Skipper and I'm from Asheville, NC. I will be living in room 131 in the Annex. I enjoy hiking, ping pong and playing IM volleyball. My favorite activity is soccer, I played on the NCSSM soccer team last year, and will also play this year. I'm really looking forward to welcoming all of the juniors and intend to plan lots of great hall activities for the upcoming year.

Can't wait for the new year!
Otis Skipper

Hey,

My name is Vitchyr Pong and I will be RLA on the best hall on campus: First Hunt! I am from Cary, North Carolina, a nice quiet town just west of Raleigh. I can’t wait to work with everyone on First Hunt and make sure that it is a fun and friendly environment. As the manager of housekeeping, I will also make sure that the hall is clean for everyone to enjoy. For fun, I participate in Ultimate Frisbee, breakdancing, chess, speech and debate, volunteering (besides workservice), juggling, sports in general, and anything else that catches my eyes. I’ll be living on First Hunt Main, but I look forward to getting to know all of you because this year is going to be awesome.

See you in the fall!

Vitchyr Pong

Hall Food

Thanks to Eli Turlington and his family for hall food on Thursday!!

Idol of Inspiration: MICHAEL BAI

Hall Food

Thanks to Aakash Gandhi and his family for hall food on Thursday!!

Idol of Inspiration: Jeremy Dejournett

May Calendar

GOLF!!

Congratulations to Eli Turlington-- OF FIRST HUNT-- and the rest of the golf team for winning first place in the State Regional Competition on Tuesday. Let's support them as they move on to the State Competition-- Go Eli!!

IM Basketball

Congrats to the First Hunt IM basketball team, as we have won our first 3 games, and will work to continue on our streak to the championship, as well as the Chancellor's Cup. Go First Hunt!

Hall Food

Thanks to Jackson Mower and his family for hall food yesterday!!