#309: Words of Gratitude

Expressing gratitude is something we all know we should but often times we don’t do it enough, or wished we had said it sooner.  Students, faculty, and staff from across campus reached out to us to anonymously express their gratitude for some of our wonderful community members!

“Meggie has been there for me since the very beginning. She deserves all the cats. She is nice and very informative. Thank you!”

“Elisheva Lauren Sprung gave a free campus tour to the Dredger family, a longtime family-friend of hers. Students had gathered in the atrium of the Admissions Building after an official Admissions tour, and Elisheva had gone over to reconvene with the Dredgers. Still seeking more first-hand information, many of the prospective students actually stayed and spoke to Elisheva. Ultimately, she walked around campus for more than an hour with a group larger than 10 people!”

“Last night I saw my vocal teacher, Rachel Schutz, perform a recital of Alban Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder and Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot lunaire Op. 21 from the early twentieth century and she did an absolutely amazing job.”

“Today I was surprised by being recognized for participating in an initiative during my hall council. Thank you, I really needed the boost tonight.”

In keeping with the theme of gratitude and appreciation, NRHH (National Residence Hall Honorary) took some time out of their day to offer thanks to our hard-working bus drivers! NRHH took the express bus to South P where they gave a cake and goodies to the drivers, then came pack to the SAC loop to cheer the drivers on.

#308: Zumba for Change!

 

Wednesday’s Zumba master class, led by Kristen Vadasz, helped raise money for the Northeast LGBT conference, which will be held at Stony Brook University this year, April 1-3. Photo by SBU Campus Recreation.

On February 11th, LGBTQ* Services and SBU Campus Rec hosted ZUMBA for Change, a special 1.5hr class to help raise money for the Northeast LGBT Conference. Over 60 people came together to the Campus Rec MAC Courts to dance, sweat, and laugh as a community, and it was magical.

Zumba students dance and workout in a circle to one of the many routines they learned during the 90 minute master class. Photo by SBU Campus Recreation.

 

 

The speakers were blasting, filling everyone with music and good vibes, people were just letting loose and filling the space with joy. The group was a mix of diverse students and professional staff of all genders, ethnicities, and groups–all dancing as one group for an awesome cause. LGBTQ* Services is hoping to host another event like this in the future, so keep your eyes peeled!

 

Students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds came together to support LGBTQ* services and had a wonderful time at the event! Photo by SBU Campus Recreation.

 

 

#307: De-stress with Dogs!

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) teamed up with University Libraries and Patchogue Rotary Animal Assisted Therapy (PRAAT) to host an Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) program during a “Let’s Talk” session in the Melville Library lobby during Finals Week.

Beau, accompanied by his parents, Linda and Roger, spent two hours in the Melville Library this past Wednesday, December 9th, de-stressing students via his cuteness. Beau was in a roped off session of the library so students could individually spend time petting him in an attempt to relax during this stressful time of the semester.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While students waited for their turn with Beau, they were given a chance to talk with CAPS counselors and partake in other stress decreasing activities, such as contributing to “After Finals, I Will…” mural and grabbing a free stress-balls.

Be on the lookout for more AAT programs next semester! CAPS is hoping to expand the program by hosting more library and group sessions in CAPS throughout the semester!

Thank you Jenn Penn, a Triage Counselor at CAPS, Kathleen Maxheimer, a University Libraries Outreach Strategist, and Linda, Roger, and Beau, PRAAT Volunteers, for all the work you have put into this program!

#306: Jameel Goes Double-Double, and Not Just in Basketball!

Jameel Warney, #20 on the Men’s Basketball team, has been getting some national attention lately as we kick off the 2015-2016 basketball season. Currently, Jameel is leading Division 1 in number of double-doubles.  A double-double is when a player hits double digits in two of five categories – points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots – in a single game.

Stony Brook Athletics has come up with a fun and creative way to celebrate Jameel’s double double victory. Jameel, along with teammates Ray McGrew, #11, and Carson Puriefoy, #10, have been starring in mini-episodes highlighting Jameel’s double-double life.

“I definitely get excited when I see the next episode posted,” said Jaclyn Lattanza, a graduate student at Stony Brook. “They’re so funny.”

Watch the latest episode here, and check out Stony Brook Athletics for more awesome episodes from Jameel and the team!

#305 Super Students, Super Moon

Chris Stubenrauch and others organized a chance for students to view the rare supermoon eclipse through his telescope. Photo courtesy of Chris Stubenrauch.

On September 27th around 9:00 PM, approximately six hundred students, and faculty took to the softball recreation fields to see a rare Supermoon Lunar Eclipse light up the sky, an event that hasn’t happened since 1982.

The program was the brainchild of Chris Stubenrauch, a resident in Langmuir College.  Resident Assistants from H-quad and from throughout campus supported this event. Students’ excitement about the program helped it to quickly escalate from what was originally intended to be a small quad-level program to a viral Facebook event that reached an RSVP total of 1,200 people. The awesome offices of the Dean of Students and Student Activities worked together to make sure the program was able to happen. The event was attended by many staff members including the Associate Dean, Jeffrey Barnett, the Coordinator of Weekend Life, Christine Noonan, director of Student Activities, Anthony LaViscount, and Langmuir College RHD, Jessica O’Brien. Over 500 students enjoyed the celestial rarity that the Supermoon Eclipse provided. Chris’s father Paul helped to operate their personal 10-inch Dobsonian telescope that students were able to take advantage of during the eclipse’s totality. What an awesome event, awesome students and awesome administrators for helping to make this happen. 

Thank you Chris for organizing this awesome opportunity, and thank you to our faculty for ensuring students were able to experience this awesome moment on our campus!

#304 SHAC Cleans Up Campus

This past Sunday, students with the Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) were joined by Chill Peer Educators and University Scholars to support our campus environment in an awesome way.  They worked together to collect over five pounds of tobacco discards.

Stony Brook students teamed up to remove tobacco waste from our campus. Photo courtesy of Kathleen Valerio.

Their efforts also included an information session, which was conducted by event leader and SHAC member Madiha Saeed.  There she shared information related to the adverse environmental impact created by tobacco discards.  Madiha received support from Brigitte McNeil, Taylor Medwig, SHAC membership and University Scholars.

And they’re not finished yet! Round two of this awesome clean-up will be on October 4th from 11am-1pm near the Melville Library.

Over five pounds of tobacco waste was collected by students this past Sunday. Photo courtesy of Kathleen Valerio.

Thank you all for your awesome efforts supporting awareness of environmental risk linked to tobacco discards!

#303 What’s A Seawolf?

Walk The Moon, who performed here at Stony Brook last week, posted this picture on their Facebook of their band with the Spirit of Stony Brook Marching Band.

Walk The Moon poses with the Spirit of Stony Brook Marching Band before their performance together. Click on the picture to see the full Facebook post.

While that’s awesome on it’s own, what happened next was even better. When someone commented on the picture and asked “what are seawolves?” the Stony Brook community wasted no time in sharing the answer.  58 students, alumni, faculty, staff, and more showed their pride with a simple, yet powerful answer.

We are all an awesome community of Seawolves.

#302: Shut Up and Dance with the Stony Brook Marching Band!

Stony Brook Undergraduate Student Government and Student Activities hosted the annual Back to the Brook Concert last night in the Island Federal Credit Union Arena. This year’s feature artist was Walk The Moon, best known for their hit song “Shut Up and Dance.”

During their finale performance of “Shut Up and Dance,” they introduced a surprise guest artist, our very own Spirit of Stony Brook Marching Band!

Walk the Moon bassist Kevin Ray performs “Shut Up and Dance” while sporting a Spirit of Stony Brook Marching Band Shako! Photo courtesy of @sbumarchingband

Marching Band members ready to perform “Shut Up and Dance” with Walk the Moon at Back to the Brook 2015! Photo courtesy of @sbumarchingband

The marching band rocked out with Walk the Moon, complete with an awesome drum break, tons of dancing and flair, and an insane amount of energy.

How awesome is our marching band?! Watch the performance here!

Video courtesy of @sbumarchingband

#301: Get Involved Get Ahead!

Students flood the academic mall, eager to get involved in the many clubs and organizations offered on campus.

Yesterday the office of Student Activities hosted the first of two involvement fairs right here in the academic mall.  Each year Stony Brook’s clubs and organizations get together during campus lifetime to recruit for and answer questions regarding their specific club.

With over 425 officially recognized clubs and organizations on campus, there is something for everyone to discover.  This week’s fair included clubs like the Strength Club, which focuses on weightlifting and power-lifting;  Stony Brook Live, which is a musical group that provides entertainment at different campus events; The Hula-Hoop Enthusiasts, who enjoy learning about the different ways to hula-hoop; and many of our fraternities and sororities.

If you missed this week’s involvement fair, there’s still a chance to check out more next week, September 9th, during campus lifetime.

Thank you to Student Activities for hosting this awesome event to help students get involved during their time here at Stony Brook!

The Hula-Hoop Enthusiasts display their awesome talents to attract members to their club.

The Strength Club is perfect for those interested in lifting weights.

Students sign up to receive more information about Stony Brook Live.

#300: Welcome Back Seawolves!

Stony Brook Cheer and Dance teams welcome new students to Stony Brook! Photo courtesy of Stony Brook Alumni Association (@stonybrookalum)

Hello Seawolves! Welcome to the start of another awesome semester at Stony Brook University! We just wanted to take a few moments to recognize some of the wonderful things that have been happening recently while you’ve been getting settled into your classes.

The university welcomed over 2,800 new freshman and over 1,400 transfer students for the fall 2015 semester. We want to welcome all new students to our awesome community here at Stony Brook!

Our awesome faculty and staff put together some amazing events for our new students during opening weekend.  There were dance parties, human Foosball tables, and tons of free stuff.

New students dancing and getting to know each other during opening weekend activities in the SAC. Photo courtesy of Stony Brook University (@stonybrooku)

Students partake in a game of human Foosball during SBU opening weekend events. Photo courtesy of Stony Brook University (@stonybrooku)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only did we welcome new students, but our alumni association began celebrating their 50th year! The Stony Brook Alumni Association does a great job keeping up with our alumni and making sure they stay involved in this awesome community.  Check them out at http://www.stonybrook.edu/alumni and watch more about their 50th birthday on their latest YouTube video!

Here at the Community of Awesome, we want to recognize all of the wonderful things that happen right here within our Stony Brook community.  In order to do that, we need your help!  If you see something you’d like to highlight on the Community of Awesome, either click the button at the top of the page and fill out a submission form, or send us an email at communityofawesome@gmail.com.  We want to hear all about your awesome adventures during your time at Stony Brook.

Good luck this semester and go Seawolves!