Tag Archives: respect

Bernard receives The Sophomore Leadership Award

9 May

And the award goes to…

On the evening of April 29, 2011, at the Wyndham Grand Hotel, the former Hilton, located in Pittsburgh, PA, excelling Point Park University students and prestigious university faculty members as well as notable administrators smiled and posed for photos on the red carpet as they checked-in for the 2011 Outstanding Student Awards, an evening to celebrate student achievement.

And there sat at table number 20 a boy with his soft auburn hair and tie dyed hands from the earlier end of the year festivities of dying shirts and bags, Bernard along with friends munched on some fine salad and were astounded by the pure elegance of the hotel ballroom, but certainly Bernard and his table mates did not know what to expect of his award nomination for the Sophomore Experience in leadership.

The evening began with some funny and inspiring YouTube video clips that involved Point Park students from the powerful dance flash mobs of the G-20 summit to some of the Pittsburgh Playhouse performances like Thoroughly Modern Millie and Carousel. But the excitement of the evening certainly took Bernard by surprise as he watched the video montage capture his first ever Pittsburgh Light Up Night debut!

I did not know they even did this. I am slightly embarrassed, but truly happy that it was displayed to more than 100 people in the room. This means I got exposure!

And he certainly did.

Point Park University President, Paul Hennigan and Senior Vice-President for Academic and Student Affairs, Karen McIntyre welcomed the evening with some delightful campus-wide achievements as well as some reflective moments that various students have about Point Park.  As the night progressed with award presenters and happy recipients, there the nerves just bubbled inside of Bernard and his award category for The Sophomore Experience Leadership Award was called upon.

As the community director and The Sophomore Experience coordinator, Katie Munsch described the achievements of the award recipient having  helped the visually impaired at the Job and Intern fair, the amount of fireworks that went off in Bernard’s head was unimaginable and all sound left his mind as he turned deaf in recognition. With tears in his eyes and excitement in his heart, Bernard walked eagerly to the stage and shook the president’s hand and accepted his award.

I just remember feeling really excited and completely deaf to what was going around me. This is my first award ever to be formerly received and I am on a cloud right now.I just remember going back to my seat and asking if I smiled and if there was clapping, I feel like I just had an outer body experience.

Even though Bernard did not literally leave us for some astral plane expedition, he did manage to dance as he exited the stage with his award in hand and a mile long grin on his face. The energy just seems to not escape from this future television talk show host.

The evening did continue with more honorable awards like Outstanding Advisor, School-based awards, and even the highest achievable award, the President’s Award which the recipient gets an engraved bison-statue. Which graduating senior, Veronika Panagiotou accepted for an overwhelming impact on the quality of life at Point Park through her dedication toward service, leadership, and contributions to the community.

As the night ended with an ice cream sundae buffet in the ballroom lobby, Bernard did manage to take more pictures with the president of the school for his award and congratulated numerous award recipients and nominees.

It was truly blissful to see the excitement and joy in their eyes. I felt the energy in the room and it was certainly positive. I know what award I am going after in the coming years, that is another reason for coming to these events. You get to see what is offered to you and then you can work hard toward achieving it.

There were no acceptance speeches provided by any of the award recipients, most likely due to time constraints, but Bernard did manage to express his utmost gratitude for his accomplishment on his personal blog on Tumblr and you can read his thanks and understand better of why this evening was so inspiring to him. 

Snooki is a twit

6 Jan

I hop onto my computer this morning about to have a meltdown when my wonderful mom of superhero abilities comes zooming in past the table and sits in front of me with her Lysol can gun armed and ready to fight against my brother’s flu symptoms. She looks at me and says “Snooki  was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

“No.” replying back as I look at my computer screen perusing my Facebook notifications. Hopefully, I did not seem too pushy but she continues talking.

“Well I meant online.” (We have no cable at all, but today sometime the cable guy is going to come.) She says rather curiously as if I should know what she was talking about. Well, I don’t and to be honest I can’t even keep up with Ellen DeGeneres, even though people suspect me to. It is very thoughtful for people to do so, but I don’t have all that time to be a stalker and I just concluded that Ellen won’t see me in the wave of people anyway. So, my wonderful mother continues after I gave her the look.

I looked rather placid, since I had nothing to write for my blog and she already knows how I feel about Snooki and that whole Jersey Shore cast. Not going to rant here.

“Well, Miss Snooki went on the show and told everyone outright that  her not blacking out was a good night.” I looked at her again with some interest and then the topping came after. “Snooki is a twit.” I laughed and she smiled a bit after noticing her remark was a bit forthright.

“Yeah, but that’s what she is known for and that’s what people seem to like.” I stated trying to sort out Snooki’s motives for telling her drunkenness habits on a nationally broadcasted talk-show. “She’s so good, she has us talking about her right now.”

“But there are girls out there that look up to this girl.”

I was even more interested and so I asked “There are?”

All in all, my sister’s friends seem to look up to Snooki’s character as well as the other members of the cast. I could probably shovel some reasons as to why people look up to her and the cast, but I am not going to waste my time, because as far as I am concerned, my mother is right. She is a twit. And these “celebrities” need to get it in their thick skulls that doing bad stuff and not respecting themselves is wrong. This is where that line of Reality TV comes in that I don’t agree with, but I have my own motives into wanting to get involved with the television industry. I want to make positive change and the bullies, alcohol, and wannabees are not going to ruin my chances of making my life better! So for all those you do like her and her badass crew then you need to do some deep meditation and soul searching before you come talk to me about your life’s dreams.

So for all of your curiosity and entertainment, here is your one and only SNOOKI being a twit.

OWN needs youth

2 Jan

Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN)

Happy New Year to one and all! This is the second day of the bright future ahead of us and lets all take a minute to stop and breathe in harmony that surrounds us all. Great! Lets begin!

When I first discovered OWN, I was on my computer and there I was following my daily rambles of Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, then suddenly, I ended up on the OWN site and Oprah Winfrey was looking for the next TV star with Your OWN Show! My heart dropped to the floor and I paced around a bit before I made any hardcore decisions. Then I looked over my computer screen and  perused the site  and said YES, I can! After I mustered up enough strength I looked at the rules and regulations to enter the contest. The entrant had to be 21 years or older. I don’t know if this happened to anyone else, but this opportunity skyrocketed my passion and then my ideas suddenly crashed to the ground all in a matter of seconds. Really, Oprah! Twenty-one years old seems like the reason would be an alcohol-related ruling, but who really knows. So, I just subscribed to the site’s updates and I left it saying to myself, if they needed someone younger they will sure enough ask.


Since, the launching of OWN, it has come to people’s attention that Oprah carries a strong and faithful audience aged around 50-years-old. In this recent CBS news video that I found on YouTube, experts are suggesting that Ms. Winfrey should in fact consider reaching out to the younger population. This younger audience is not exactly said to be of a certain age, but my immediate assumption would be teens and probably the college era of youth. But only the terms young and youth are used, so who really knows. All I know is that the young people of today do know who this thriving successful black woman is and many students need just as much positive empowerment as the older folks!

Photo credit Lindsay Dill

I am certain that Oprah’s new age thinking is going to appeal to a younger audience by the simple fact that there is this giant increase of vampire loving and werewolf adoring young fans, Harry Potter fanatics, and even a newly rising following of The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanna Collins. Not saying new age thinking is about those creatures and themes entirely, but at the root of it all there is commonality among people today for something more magical and worthwhile like a real life adventure! That’s what kids these days want.

All in all, it is a matter of inspiring teens to believe again, help them create at their best, and then motivate them to  teach others to dream further by passing it forward. So ask me now how I feel about that rule on being 21 to enter Winfrey’s Your OWN Show. My response is going to be that I am going to bet on myself first.

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