What could possibly be my final blog post

In class today we got out peer evaluations back of our Introduction, Reflection, and Conclusion essays. In my Introduction essay I tried to show how I have become a more self-guided writer and gave an example of this by showing the process that my research proposal went through. Upon receiving the feedback of my peers, I have decided that this section is very detailed and would fir better within the Reflection essay. Instead, I need to go into more detail about my style of writing in my Introduction and show my "fun writing style". My Reflections paragraph needs parenthetical citations as well as more information about how I feel the pieces have turned out. I cite many changes I have made (almost in a list like we discussed in class), so I now I will describe how these changes have benefited the paper to make it seem like less of a list. I would also like to try and find a bigger picture and connecting point and try not to make my portfolio seem like a success narrative.
Now that the semester is coming to a close, and with exams approaching quickly, I am going to try to spend some of my time studying this weekend as well as putting the final touches on my portfolio. This weekend will also involve some fun things such as the showing of Step Brothers at Squires for only 2 BUCKS! Saturday is the swim team dinner and Christmas party. The freshmen class is going to a Japanese steakhouse together and I am excited for fried rice and steak! Only 13 days until I go home again!

I'M OUTTA HERE!!

So for my initiating action project, my final revisions before my presentation are to: add a description of the type of service (Baptist) that will be held and to make an additional flyer targeting...you...my fellow Hokies.
I really enjoyed everyone's presentation today.
I am now leaving for an invitational in Knoxville versus the University of Tennessee and the University of Kentucky. We are coming back at 2 am Sunday and then I have to stay in Blacksburg until Tuesday morning after practice : ( But then, HOME FOR THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!

Group Feedback

Today in class we decided into our groups and gave feedback on each other's Initiating Action Projects. My project consists of a flyer with details about Northstar's Christmas service which is being held December 14th at 10 o’clock a.m. at The Lyric in downtown Blacksburg. Some praises that I got on my flyer were that the Christmas colors that I used for my text were nice to match the Christmas theme, the pictures of food (Christmas cookies and apple cider) made the flyer more interesting, and the descriptions of the food ("warm apple cider") were good additions. Some suggestions were to get a better picture of kids on Santa's lap (possibly a picture where the kids looked happier) as well as adding what type of worship (i.e. contemporary) was being held at the service to the flyer.
Our group worked well at making sure that we gave both suggestions and praises in a pretty proportional way. The praises and suggestions, I thought, were really helpful.
I'm so glad that today is Friday and it is finally the weekend! Next week I am leaving Wednesday for a swim invitational in Knoxville, Tennessee, so it is going to be a short week. I'm glad I will have a short week, but this also means that I have a lot to get done before I leave. Most of this work will have to be done this weekend, but hopefully I will have time to do some other fun things. Tonight I'm planning on going to the basketball game and the rest of the weekend is a mystery.

Flyers

It seems the general consensice about flyers is to:
1. Keep it brief- only include the basic information
2. Use graphics- only graphics directly related to the topic at hand
3. Coloring- remind yourself what the flyer is being used for
4. Cluter- don't let pictures overwhelm the print message or vice versa
5. Size- make the most important thing the biggest and everything else smaller

The sources (eHow.com and catalogs.com) noth brought up good points to consider such as don't make your Christmas poster the same "holiday red" that everyone else will because you want yours to stand out. Also, you may think your flyer is informative, but its always good to have a second or third opinion. Ask someone to take a quick glance at your flyer and ask them what message they got from it and whether or not it was convincing.

Flyers are used by anyone who wants to get information out to many people in a quick and hassel free way. Professionals promoting their businesses as well as girl scouts promoting their bake sales can use flyers. Flyers allow much freedom and creativity, but you must use conservation.

Initiating Action..or lack there of

Cody got back to me and told me how Northstar is reaching out to the community in the upcoming weeks, but didn't mention what he thought could still be improved or initiated.
He said that Northstar has helped out with patients at Fairview Homes where people with mental and physical illnesses live (similar to a nursing home) and have redone the rooms there. Northstar has also made an impact on the homeless in Blacksburg by helping out, in particular, with two families by helped them get back on their feet by giving them work in the church office such as painting, or giving them rides whenever they need it. One of the father's in one of the families has attended the Northstar service the past 3 Sundays which is also really interesting. Finally Cody told me in December Northstar will be having church at the Lyric in downtown Blacksburg. It will be a Christmas celebration that the entire community will be invited to and there will be Christmas themed events such as Santa Clause being there.
To me this seems like Northstar already has reached out to the community in multiple ways so I still am unsure of what topic to do my assignment on.
I replied to Cody in a final effort to find something that needs improvement that hasn't already been acted upon, but until then I would like to build off of what Northstar has already planned.
Since Northstar is organizing the Christmas service/celebration and inviting the entire community to the Lyric, I think it would be appropriate to make flyers. I would find out more details about the event and let students on campus be aware of the event. It will be easy for students to attend because it is downtown and not off campus at Blacksburg Middle School (like a normal Sunday service). This is still tentative, but when more information comes I will post it to my blog.

Essay Feedback, Initiating Action, and Gamedays

My essay feedback this time makes me feel a lot better than last time. The larger change that I need to make is expanding on more general religious ideas like the “experience of God” and getting rid of some of the regular events that occur at Northstar that are towards the end of my essay. I feel that my feedback was extremely helpful and it was encouraging to know that although my essay has a lot of material, it is interesting to read. The minor things I need to consider editing are the usage of the terms worship and music (in my paper now I believe I use them interchangeably which I need to fix) as well as calling God “God” and not “He” (due to my larger audience).
For my initiating action assignment, I am still waiting on Cody (the worship leader) to get back to me about what he thinks could improve and how it could be initiated at Northstar or within the religious community. If he still thinks it is an issue like before, I am highly considering initiating other ways to reach out the community and get them involved.
The next few days are pretty big for me. Today is GAMEDAY and I’m really pumped to hopefully kill Maryland. First I have to get through my Chemistry test though : ( Saturday we have a meet against Clemson which is gonna be huge. We beat them last year at ACC’s but it was close and they have a really strong team. My mom is coming to watch so I will spend Saturday and Sunday with her.
Counting down the days until THANKSGIVING!

Problems In Communities

Today in class we discussed in our small groups and as a class the problems with Virginia Tech. Some of the things our group came up with were the math emporium, the size of classes, the fact that the dorms don’t have air conditioning, and the drill field is too windy. Other groups’ ideas that I thought were also important dealt with on campus parking, quality of service at Schiffert Health Center, lines at dining halls, and the ticket lottery for football and basketball games. After discussing all of these things as a class we talked about what we could do to makes changes concerning the issues we have. We talked about the student lottery for football and basketball. Our options include circulating a petition, sending a letter to the athletic director, possibly extend the stadium, or get rid of the lottery use a point system while award points to students who support other sports. Regardless of the tactic used we decided that one of the main things we would need to do is research further into the current system as well as find out other attempted solutions that already failed (to prevent repeating these attempts). Our group discussed making changes dealing with the Math Emporium. Research would include evaluating the performance of students at the emporium versus in a classroom with a teacher. We wanted to know the answer to questions such as “Why is the emporium off campus and not on campus?”, “Why does the transit schedule not coincide with the testing schedule?”, “If the emporium is so expensive why can’t we use that money to pay for more professors?”.
Now what I need to do is relate this exercise to my own community and decide what I would I think needs to change within my community and how I would go about making these changes.
This weekend I will be celebrating Halloween, and spending time creating a prototype for my engineering sustainability project.

This Weeks Current Outlook

This week, although already two days in, is going to be very stressful. I'm putting the finishing touches on my essay while considering peer feedback, the reverse outline I wrote in class, assessment criteria, and choice of verbs. It will be a huge relief once the essay is out of the way.

Tomorrow after class I leave for Charlottesville for a swim meet against UVA. Although I'm excited that I get to travel with the team (not everyone is getting to go) I'm stressed because I have an engineering test Thursday that counts for a large portion of my grade. I also have a Calculus test Friday. I'm just trying to get through the rest of the week and then it’s Halloween and I'm going to dress up as Tinkerbell!

Feedback from a Classmate

I thought that the feedback letter was extremely helpful. What I learned from it is that my audience and purpose is clear. The editor labeled that the purpose was to target students to try and get involved in the Northstar community. The audience stated was VT students, however my intended audience is anyone interested in attending and becoming involved and does include, but is not strictly limited to VT students.

Ben thought that my paragraphs on the food and music were good because a college aged student would be interested in these aspects of the church and service. As far as breaking down lyrics from worship songs, he said it was not necessary.

I need to talk more about the main message and describe the worship session on a more personal level.

Finally, it may be beneficial to omit the paragraphs on weekly announcements and offering because they aren't supportive to the purpose.

More on... "What makes a good essay?"

According to both Encountering the Essay and Essayist on the Essay, the term essay is too broad of a topic to really be defined. Encountering the Essay chooses to describe it by listing what is commonly classified under the heading of “an essay”- such as celebrity profiles, interviews, reviews, reportage, scientific papers, or newspaper columns. Essayist on the Essay chooses to state what is not an essay- poetry or fiction writing. A good essay is “personal, reflective, and leisurely”. To me this means that if you are taking a story telling approach (opposed to the typical five paragraph) then your story must be true, and it must be delivered in an honest manner such that the topic is interesting, but not exaggerated beyond belief. Anne Dillard’s Stunt Pilot is also listed as an example of a good essay. This is because Dillard touches on the requirements and facts of an article but ands the literary demands such as metaphors and descriptions to enhance the essay quality. Finally the ideal essay is “searching for something and taking [the reader] along”.
In order to make my essay a good essay I need to do a number of things. First I need to make sure that I have a clear and defined purpose and audience. This will help me snag the readers interest and take them along and make them feel a part of the essay as if they were actually experiencing it. One of the qualities listed above that contributes to a good essay is meeting literary demands such as metaphors and descriptions. I do think that my draft has a lot of great description in it. I think description is great, but I also need to make sure that the description is focused and enhancing the writing by adding substance, not just length. The descriptions need to be telling about different things through the essay or describing the same thing in many different, creative ways. If it is too repetitious it is overkill and only takes away from the quality. Finally my essay needs more structure and sentence variety, but this can be easily fixed when moving on to the “up draft”.

Group Discussion and Week Summary

Today in our groups we dicussed the options for our essays narrative/story-like, informative/formal essay, or a combination of both. Each member discussed who their intended audience was and also the purpose of the essay. For a few of us the purpose was trying to get to members to join our community and the audience was therefor anyone interested in becomming part of the community. Only on group member wrote an introduction, so we read it over and decided that we needed a more clear purpose in order to make a less general audience. At first we thought that our essay needed to be more story-like because of the excerpts/essays we have been reading, but then we learned that we just read them to give a spin on the types of academic essays we are used to seeing.
As far as the week that is almost nearly behind me, I got a chemistry test out of the way (although it wasn't the greatest experience). I am looking forward to the weekend. Tonight I plan to attend the women's volleyball game and cheer on my fellow Hokies. The rest of the weekend will hopfully go to getting ahead in class and relaxing. I sure hope the weather clears up. Rain tends to keep me locked in the dorm room : (

Essay Feedback

Well I just got the feedback on my research proposal, and to be honest I’m pretty overwhelmed right now. After reading the comments I didn’t realize I would be making such large adjustments at this point. In reviewing the comments it seems that a large portion of my essay (the justification section) is not actually advancing the research I am proposing, it is only related. This is somewhat frustrating because to me the most interesting piece of the essay is the information from my site visit and interviews which doesn’t support the proposed research. Since there wasn’t any real research performed at Northstar the effects of technology and contemporary music can’t be directly measured. The effects I was going off of were simply my opinions that suggested certain outcomes from what I obtained from my site visit and interview.
I don’t want to completely get rid of the justification section so I am going to use this information for the upcoming essay, or I am going to have to demonstrate more specifically how my site visit/interview shows a connection between advanced technology and contemporary music on number of new members.
The other corrections seem to be somewhat simple and easy to fix. Right now I’m just stumped and still uncertain as to which way I should go next.

"Essays"

The Stunt Pilot, by Annie Dillard, is an “essay” because of the great descriptions and comparison by use of similes and metaphors. Dillard’s portrayal of the art of stunt piloting as well as the report of her own fascinations, makes the reader more drawn to the topic and makes you feel as if you too can also appreciate this “art” without even witnessing it. She describes the planes movements with similes such as the plane: “arched its back like a gymnast”, “played with its own line like a cat with yarn”, and “split the bulging rim of the future along its seam”. She describes the landscape by painting a picture with her words such as in the sentence, “Vaguely I could see the chrome sea twirling over Rahm’s head like a baton, and the dark islands sliding down the skies like rain.” I think that the essay is great because it uses a ton of description, but the description is not overkill. It is done in a poetic artsy manner and blends in the story Dillard is telling.
The well renowned Gay Telese captures the disposition and relationship between each of the characters in Ali in Havana. Talese describes Stevenson, the local three time Olympic gold medalist, as “a proud man who exhibits all of his height (with a) firm jaw and his oval shaped head locked at a right angle to his straight spined back.” She tells that Stevenson and Ali have a distinct relationship although they do not speak the same language or even communicate much at all. They are “brotherly in their body language”. When approached by Castro, Ali’s hesitation is portrayed through the sentence “His expression remains characteristically fixed and benign, and his eyes do not blink despite the flashbulbs of several surrounding photographers.” The closeness of Ali and his wife is represented when Yolanda begins to “caress (Ali’s) left wrist, on which is a silver Swiss Army watch she bought him…the only jewelry (he) wears.”
Although I did have some trouble retrieving the entire excerpt of Silent Dancing, I was drawn to the distinction between the view of Cofer’s mother and father of living in El Building in New Jersey. Her father had ordered Judith and her family to keep to themselves and not talk to any of the other families living above or below them. These orders were put into place so that the family wouldn’t develop any bonds, making it easier to leave the barrio (neighborhood). To her mother, the building was “comfort”. She enjoyed the familiar language-Spanish, familiar smells-red kidney beans, and familiar music- Salsas. For some reason I thought it was ironic that what driving one parents to leave the area and move away was the comfort of the other.

Workshop and Revising

At our first workshop in class, it was really helpful reading our first section out loud. This way we got feedback as to whether or not the group members could assume what research you were actually proposing and who the audience was. If they couldn't then we knew we needed to add more to our papers. We didn't have time to read each person’s paper, but what we did instead was reread our own papers. We discussed that sometimes in the relief of actually finishing writing a paper we don't even read the entire thing through. Instead we click print and bring it to class. Rereading my paper the entire way through I found "silly" mistakes such as forgetting to put a word in or typing a word twice by accident. We also discussed the possibility of adding an abstract or cost section to a few of our proposals.

On another note-
LETS GO STEELERS!! BEAT THOSE JAGS!!

And yet another note-
This weekend was pretty busy. The swim team hosted seniors in high school who we are recruiting to swim at VT next year. They come from states all over such as Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Florida. We showed them around campus, took them to the football game, and let them get to know the team. For this reason Sunday is now dedicated to homework, and I must get back to list of things to do.

Revising

What’s your project? In this essay, I would like to propose research. By using background information, an interview, and multiple site visits, explain why the research is necessary and how it would be beneficial.

What works? I think the strength of my draft is using factual information such as statistics as well as opinions such as direct quotes. I can build on this strength by making sure that the quantitative and qualitative information that I use is stated in a way that adds to the paper and doesn’t take away from the paper (if a bunch of confusing numbers were listed that weren’t supportive, or a quote was very wordy and unclear).

What else might be said? I am still deciding whether there is a need to add an abstract since my actual proposal is towards the end of the paper, or if the background information is enough said. I am also considering adding a cost section. Although my proposal does not ask for a certain amount of funding it does ask for specific equipment and I may need to research into how much this equipment actually costs.

What’s next? Since the work is a research proposal the next step would be the actual research. Hopefully the proposal will be very clear, but will still leave the reader thinking about other possible opinions or options of research related to the topic at hand.

Good and Bad

Today was an emotional day. I'm super excited that the Steeleres won their Monday night football game last night in overtime against the Baltimore Ravens. The bad news was that I got my grade back for my engineering test and it was more than disappointing : ( Hopefully I'll do better on the next one.

Literature Review

Northstar Church is one of over 44,000 Baptist congregations nation-wide. The Baptist denomination is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. The Baptist faith is strongly based on the fact that followers of this faith should chose to be baptized (fully immersed in water) as a display of their faith. There is not an age restriction on becoming a member of a Baptist church; however, one cannot become a member until baptized, and cannot be baptized until they fully comprehend the significance of professing their faith (this is why the majority of Baptist churches reject infant baptism). Baptist churches share the ideas of the belief in one God, the virgin birth, forgiveness of sins through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the need for salvation, and the Second Coming of Christ. Since Baptist churches do not have a governing authority, many become associated with denominational groups such as the Southern Baptist Convention.
Although the denomination is the one of the largest, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has reported that the baptism rate is on the decline. Baptism-“a key measure of vitality and evangelism”-has declined 5% from 2006 and is currently at 345,941 baptisms per year. The SBC also disclosed that the membership numbers dropped by 40,000 from 2006 to 2007. The promising statistic is that attendance has increased slightly and the number of congregations has grown by 1%.
A study at Case Western Reserve University examined the beliefs about God and forgiveness in a Baptist congregation and attempted to identify core beliefs about God and forgiveness. The results showed that core beliefs included that “God commands us to forgive others”, “God wants us to love our enemies”, “I believe that God has forgiven me of all my sins”, “God has forgiven me for some pretty big things”, and “God is both merciful and just”. This study, although preformed on a limited sample of members of a specific Baptist church and convenient college students, represents the fact that the majority of conservative Christians believe that God is merciful and just, that Christians are morally obligated to forgive others (it is a Divine mandate), as well as the fact that God’s forgiveness is necessary but certainly attainable.
A large piece of what Northstar represents is contemporary and creative worship. Pastor Gordon Atkinson states that “Preaching is such an esoteric art form. It requires creativity but only within very rigid rules.” Creative worship can involve using art, dance, contemporary music, digital projection, and other multi-sensory experiences. It is very easy however to add these forms of creativity and actually take away from the message. Worshipers must not lose sight of what worship is all about: identifying and rejoicing the presence of “God-with-us”. Benefits of creative worship include a picture to explain a point visually, reading the words of the songs from a projector instead of a hymnal, or using images to match the feeling of a song or scripture. Contemporary worship music is beneficial in that fact that although it is all themed by its content (Christian beliefs and lyrics) it is represented by many different genres including rock, country, gospel, and hip-hop.
Although the number of baptisms has fallen in the past year, Baptist churches still represent the values and beliefs they had aimed to represent. By emphasizing the fact that God merciful, just, and easily accessible by the means of creative and contemporary worship, the Baptist community can still reach out and touch the lives of many more people.

Bibliography:

Atkinson, G. (2008, June 3). Where do sermons go?. Christian Century, pp. 10,11. Retrieved September 24, 2008, from Religion and Philosophy Collection database.
Bott, R. (2007, November). Creative Worship. Clergy Journal, pp. 8,10. Retrieved September 24, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.
Exline, J. (2008, Summer2008). Beliefs about God and Forgiveness in a Baptist Church Sample. (cover story). Journal of Psychology & Christianity, 27(2), 131-139. Retrieved September 24, 2008, from Religion and Philosophy Collection database.
Price, D. (2007, December 22). Compilation 'WOWs' Christian Music Fans. Billboard, 119(51), 74-74. Retrieved September 24, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.
SBC reports baptism rate lowest in decade. (2008, June 3). Christian Century, Retrieved September 24, 2008, from Religion and Philosophy Collection database.

Relief at Last

What a relieving day! I had a quiz, two tests, and an exam this week. I finished off with my Chemistry test today and I also completed my interview. I’ve been attending the church services at Northstar for the past three weeks and I am getting a good feel for the community interactions. As soon as you walk into Blacksburg Middle School on Sunday mornings, there are plenty of church members and their families’ conversing while helping themselves to the complementary donuts, bagels, juices, milk, and coffee. The members, attendees, and leaders off the church are extremely welcoming and friendly. All sorts of people will come up and introduce themselves and are genuinely interested in learning more about you. I think what I would like to zero in on at Northstar is the fact that since the church is relatively small it is very close knit and has a strong emphasis on volunteer work. The church is very organized, and this is mainly due to the members choosing to be active. Northstar encourages its members to do more than just attend Sunday services.
My interview took place this morning at Starbucks on Main Street. I interviewed Cody, the worship leader/youth and college leader, for Northstar. Since he is not too much older than me he was extremely easy to talk. He gave me a lot of useful information and insightful answers to the interview questions. Since I was relatively familiar with the current events of the church, it was really easy to bring up other topics as he answered questions. When I ran out of interview questions, we just started talking about life. This added a nice touch to the whole interview experience. As of now, I am not left with any questions unanswered, but if I think of anymore at a later time I know Cody will certainly be available for a follow up interview.

Interview ?s

Do you have any questions about the process?
Is it okay if I record/quote you?
How long have you been involved at Northstar Church?
What is your role at Northstar?
Can you tell me about your involvement in the church?
What denomination is the church?
What, to you, makes Northstar unique?
Why did you choose to attend and/or serve at Northstar?
Do you feel a special connection to the church? How would you describe it?
What are your goals that you would like to accomplish at Northstar?
What makes Northstar a community?

Goal (noun): Result or achievement toward which effort is directed.

Since blogging is closely related to our class this semester, I would like to become more knowledgeable and efficient at using Blogger. I would also like to become more comfortable creating and writing my own blog. I know that the style of writing on a blog is more casual; however, I am having a hard time adjusting my writing simply because it is stuck in my head that I am writing an assignment for English.

I have always been taught that writing is a process. I cannot honestly say that my own writing commonly goes through a process. I don't usually write a first draft, second draft, etc. I just write my paper, and read it over once checking for simple errors. I know this isn't doing my writing justice so I would like to learn to really edit my papers as well as edit them multiple times.

In previous research assignment I have relied on the internet as my main source of information, unless required otherwise. With so many resources available at the library at Tech, I would like to take advantage of the opportunity.

Not As Exciting As A Tech Football Game But...

I sit in a small room with dull gray carpet and bright neon white lights. Large rectangular tables are lined up with two chairs assigned to each table. This is the setting of the dreaded tri-weekly two hour study hall of a student-athlete at Virginia Tech. I am extremely amused as I survey my teammates and their actions in the already too familiar surroundings.
Directly across from me is a diver named Cara. Cara is five feet tall and I can only see her blue eyes, deep in concentration, from above the laptop. She is constantly combing her fingers through her blonde bangs and I notice her fluorescent pink nail polish chipping off of her finger nails. She occasionally rests her cheeks on both fists, causing her face to scrunch up looking stumped at the problem lying before her.
Haley, another swimmer, is sitting with her back towards me so that I can see her screen and her progress on her day’s agenda. Unlike Cara who sits rigidly in her chair, Haley sits comfortably, cross-legged in the chair with her ear buds in. She is looking up definitions on WikiAnswers and trying to write a paper, but not making much progress.
The nonchalant Alex doesn’t even bring her laptop with her for our two hour adventure. She only brings a book to read. While she reads, she props her feet up on the table. She is constantly checking the time on her cell phone which is always followed with the phrase, “Oh my God”, whispered under her breath.
Last Emily plays with her shiny pearl earrings while she stares in awe at the computer screen with her mouth wide open. Occasionally she takes a sip from the bottle of Aquafina water bottle sitting next to her laptop.

"Knowing" about my Community

In class on Friday, our groups discussed the assigned reading, "How Do You Know?" We concluded that most truths come from personal experiences. If they do not come from experiences it is common that they come from reliable experts on the specific topic. We also acknowledged that there is an uncertain "gray" area between fact and opinion and between truths and non-truths. Finally we stated facts change with evidence and evidence changes with time.
After deciding to learn about the Northstar Church community, I realized that much of my research will relate to our findings. In the study of a religious community, I can assume that many believers in God are believers due to personal experiences with God as well as a relationship with a pastor, preacher, or worship leader who is experienced and knowledgeable. A possible "gray" area within a church or a religion could be the Bible. The Bible can be interpreted in multiple ways and can be relayed to a congregation in many different manners. Different followers have different religious paths, and the beauty of religion is that there is not one path that is truth or not true.

Top 2 Communities

I have narrowed my list of communities into two that I am particularly interested in. The first is a diving team. The swim and dive team are grouped together here at VT, but I now realize that I don't know much about the sport and think it would be a really interesting topic. I could research the VT dive team as well as a club dive team (not associated with VT athletics) that practices on campus at War Memorial Pool. My second topic of interest is religious groups. The two religious groups I have in mind are an off campus church called Northstar Church as well as an on campus youth service such as CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ), NLCF (New Life Christian Fellowship), or COW (Campus Outreach Weekly). Although I am not an active member of any of these religious communities yet, I have attended a service at each and plan on becoming part of one of these communities soon. I know we discussed in class that it maybe difficult to research a community that you are a part of, but I am hoping that since I will be a new member I will have much to learn. If anyone has thoughts or knowledge on either of these topics, please let me know what you think!

Communities I Belong To

hokie swim team
religious community
steelers fans
people in a relationship
former bertucci's employees
english speaker
vt student
music lovers
engineers
freshmen