Networking Overload

This will be a busy weekend at Beloit. Only one more week before midterm break and plenty of loose ends to tie up. I have two research papers due at the end of the semester for my classes and no idea what to write about yet. Midterm break is the perfect time to start gathering resources and thinking about structuring these papers but I need to find some direction first! Tomorrow I'm meeting with my history prof to brainstorm some ideas and hopefully I can catch up with my English prof to do the same.

I found out this week that part of my financial aid is being transferred to an endowed scholarship funded by private donors. Apparently an honor but now I will have to meet my sponsors at a reception on Saturday to thank them for donating to the school. It seems that this meeting may be a bit awkward since I didn't know they were my sponsors until Tuesday afternoon and had no idea why they were sponsoring me until this afternoon. But never pass a chance to network, my dears! And I will be doing that in tenfold this weekend. Not only do I have the scholarship reception on Saturday but tomorrow afternoon I am meeting up with an alumnus who was a history and anthropology major and is now attending graduate school at the college in my hometown which I also attended in high school through the PSEO program. There is also an alumni networking fair tomorrow afternoon hosted by the career center on campus in honor of homecoming and reunion weekend. I am planning on stopping by to chat with former English majors and see what they are doing with their lives. Hopefully not mopping floors.

Speaking of writers...I got to meet the author of a novel I read in my creative writing class today. He stopped into my class to chat with us about being a writer, editing, the underbelly of the publishing world, and life in general. Very charming fellow. He wrote the book American Youth--I highly recommend that you check it out if you haven't already. In fact, put it on your summer reading list under the heading "To read before I enter Beloit in the fall of 08." Anyway, he was very down-to-earth and funny and he gave a reading on campus this evening that I attended with my friends before coming to work. He even signed my book--a first edition and it's personalized. Ooooh....that's how I'm putting my kids through college, folks! If there's one thing Beloit has taught me, it's look to the future. Actually, I knew that before I came here but it sounded good, didn't it?