Ohana Means Family, But Penn State Berks Means Family FOREVER!

Aloha! It’s Jeanine again! For the past few weeks the campus has been buzzing about Parents and Homecoming Weekend! Every year Berks celebrates this tradition and it continues to grow and grow (special shout out to the Homecoming Chairs- Josh, Amanda, and Melissa!). In the hustle and bustle of my crazy, hectic life (over involved senior problems!), the first rumblings of Homecoming started when nominations for Homecoming Court went out! In years past I’ve looked at the email, nominated the Seniors I thought deserved to be on Court and let it go until voting opened up. This year was different… I was a Senior and those deserving Seniors were some of my very best friends. (This will probably be a trend in my blogs… realizing that my time here is coming to an end and being both very happy and sad at the same time about it.)  So, I took a deep breath and sent in my nominations and went on with life. My biggest focus for that weekend was the Open House Program that admissions was running since I’m a Lion Ambassador and a self-admitted perfectionist, being on court seemed like a farfetched idea since I’m just me and there are tons of deserving candidates!

Fast forward a few days after nominations closed and I get an email in my inbox saying, “Congratulations, you’ve made it to court.” To say my jaw hit the floor was an understatement so I immediately ran out of my Res Hall Room across the hall to the boys suite (all of my best friends live in one section of The Woods… it’s super awesome) to find out that two of them made it to court! Text messages and facebook notifications later I found out that the majority of the court were people who I knew well or considered good friends! I was honored just to be nominated and figured that’s where it would end… none the less, I called my mom and told her she had to come! She agreed, of course, and I got back to worrying about Open House, C.A.B. volunteers to staff the events, and float building of course!

Freshmen Ryan (green shirt) and Chelsea (driving) helped us
with the “float” tons! It was pretty rocking!

Calvin, the C.A.B. mascot, saying, “Aloha!”   

As everyone talked about who to vote for and such, I kept to myself and worried more about my other jobs and being able to enjoy the weekend that was fast approaching. There was tons of stuff going on all weekend that I wanted to partake in first hand so that’s where my head was at. First up was float building on Friday. C.A.B. decorated a car and designated it the “C.A.B. Party Car!”

After floating building, we went to the SGA sponsored Bonfire and ate lots of popcorn! We also sang happy birthday to my best friend, Danielle, who turned 21 and celebrated by running around crazily all weekend for both Lion Ambassadors and THON! (Don’t worry guys, we took her to Wendy’s and got her a frosty at midnight… that was her only request of the weekend!)

Saturday morning came very quickly… 6 a.m. alarm clocks are not fun! I showered and got changed for the Open House. After much deliberation I grabbed one of my favorite dresses and a blazer to wear for Homecoming Court and opted for a Jeanine wardrobe staple… flip flops! (If you know me, you know that I would wear flip flops all year if possible.) The Open House went incredibly well… balloons were set up, signs put out, the Lion (who was probably the tallest one I’ve ever seen) was excited, and the Lion Ambassadors (once given coffee or OJ) were lively and ready to go! Seeing prospective students on campus always gives me a pep in my step so it was great! Once 11 a.m. hit though, it was time to focus on Homecoming. I grabbed my dress and got changed in the bathroom and we were off!

Kenny (my Homecoming Partner and one of my very best 

friends) and I got a picture with one of our favorites at Berks 

Blaine Steensland (Director of Campus Life)

The LA boys who made it to court were
nice enough to pose with me J 

Dr. Hillkirk holding the results and making us all anxious!

I walked beside the C.A.B. car (you can kind of see me in my first picture) and really just wanted to hurry things along! I was honored, of course, to be on court but really didn’t think I’d win so the perk was seeing my mom for me. As we lined up in pairs I got butterflies in my stomach! Lots of my friends were there and I was worried I’d trip! Once I made it down the aisle I waited to hear the results. Dr. Hillkirk announced Homecoming King first!

John Dolan,  who is one of the greatest people I know at Penn State Berks and one of the people I am lucky enough to call my best friend (he lives across from me and we basically take all of the same classes) won King!

I was so excited that I almost forgot to listen when they announced Queen. Much to my surprise...

I won Queen.. something I totally wasn’t expecting!

And this is what happened once we both realized we won together!

The entire Homecoming Court and last year’s King and Queen! 

We’re a good looking bunch!

In the moments of clarity that followed as I was being hugged and interviewed something became more clear to me than it had ever been before… Penn State Berks is my family. The people who I have spent the last four years with have changed my life…forever! The slogan of Homecoming was Ohana Means Family, but I think it should have been Penn State Berks Means Family FOREVER. I will forever be part of this university and these people forever a part of my life! I am so thankful and grateful for this crazy family I have found here at Berks! I can’t imagine being anywhere else! I spent the rest of the day with my family and friends. We went on rides and watched Hawaiian dancers! We stopped by and watched Despicable Me 2 (I love me some minions) and enjoyed time together!  It was the best Homecoming Weekend I could have ever asked for! The Homecoming Committee, especially Josh, Amanda, and Melissa along with Kelly Ann Ryan (Assistant Director of Campus Life) did an incredible job!

Movie night!

When they told me to make the most out of the four years I got at college I took it to heart, but I never thought it would be ending like this (and to think it’s really just the start of the end!). This definitely counts as one of the moments in life that takes your breath away! I am so happy I got to share it with one of my very best friends who I know I’ll have for life!