We've reached the end...

I just had my last final exam for the semester today! It feels really good to be done with school considering I had 5 cumulative finals this time around. However, it is really sad to say goodbye to everyone for the summer. I am going to miss everyone so much, especially all the girls who lived in my cube and all the students who lived in Coate Hall in general. I am also going to miss tremendously the staff that I had the honor and privilege of working with this year.

I cannot believe how fast this year flew by! It seems like just yesterday, everyone was moving their stuff in to Coate Hall to start their college experience. Now, the hallways are once again filled with boxes but this time they are going to be leaving the building. Oh how the end of the year is always bittersweet (even more so this year for me). It is great to sit and ponder all the wonderful times we had this year, but it is also sad that things will never be the same again. I guess that's all part of this thing called life.

Signing off...
Sabrina :)

COATE BASH!

This Saturday Coate Hall is putting on an event called Coate Bash! It will be held on Coate Field (the field right next to Coate Hall) as well as in the volleyball sand pit next to the building. The theme for the event is Miami Night Life. It will kick off at 7:30pm with the band "Que Flavor" playing live music including latin music and reggae! There will also be salsa dance lessons as well as games such as the limbo and of course free food! After the band is done playing, we will be having a dance in the sand pit until midnight with music from an ipod. Who wouldn't want to come to this fantastic program?!

The event is being held in celebration of the spring semester classes being over and to have one last hurrah before finals week begins. It is sure to be great time and is always a fun event each year!

Augustana Concert!

Augustana is going to be performing a concert right here at UW-La Crosse!! It is going to be on Saturday, April 25th at 7:00pm in Valhalla in the Cartwright Center on campus. The price for a ticket is only $15.00 when you show your student ID. How cool is that?!?! A couple of their hit songs are "Boston" and "Sweet 'n' Low." It is sure to be a grand show that will be very exciting!!

There will also be karaoke in the basement of Coate Hall at 8:30pm on Saturday night as well. The students that live in Coate Hall this year are very talented singers and dancers so it will definitely be a very fun time!

Personally, I am also really excited for Friday because a bunch of my friends that live off campus are all getting together and we are going to have a picnic down by the river and then have a bonfire at someone's house. It is kind of like an end of the year party since people in our group of friends are going other places to do internships, graduate school, or transferring schools. It will be really nice to have one more get together before we all go our separate ways for a while. My weekend is going to be so much fun!! :)

National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR)

This Thursday through Saturday, UW-La Crosse is hosting the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). This is quite an honor and the UW-L community feels privileged to have the opportunity to host such a prestigious event. The conference is bringing over 2,500 people to La Crosse with over 2,600 presentations and presenters from 298 universities and colleges from 34 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and three Canadian Provinces.

Personally, I attended four presentations today and am going to three more tomorrow. The presentations are on just about every topic from English to Mathematics to Astronomy and more. It is a great opportunity to see what other fellow undergraduate students from across North America are discovering.

CUBE WARS!!!

Cube Wars is going on right now and it is very exciting and intense!! It is a competition between the different cubes in Coate Hall. (Since the building is a made of three square towers and four floors high, Coate Hall is divided into 12 different cubes.) There are a bunch of different activities that are included in the competition. Some examples include: a cube cheer competition, trivia contest, picture scavenger hunt, iron chef for best dessert, water pong, egg hunt, a sports day, as well as penny wars throughout the entire competition with all proceeds going to the on-campus food pantry. This is something the students living in Coate Hall take very seriously. (Other halls have competitions like this as well, so don’t be worried if you aren’t going to live in Coate Hall…) We’ll just have to wait and see who wins these Cube Wars and is given the title of best cube in Coate Hall. I may be biased, but I think my cube is going to win! :)

St. Baldrick's!

This Saturday, April 4th, Coate Hall is putting on an event called St. Baldrick's with the theme "Shave to Save." The event is being held at the Recreational Eagle Center on campus from noon to 4pm and is open to the whole campus as well as the surrounding communities. St. Baldrick's is a worldwide organization where people can shave their heads or cut their hair to raise money for childhood cancer research. If someone's hair is long enough they can donate it to make wigs, but shorter hair can also be donated. Short hair is used to make mats to help clean up oil spills in the environment. In addition to the shaving and cutting, we will be having games, a raffle with really nice prizes, music, and of course fun! If you are interested in more information about this organization and/or our event, you can visit www.stbaldricks.org.

Other events going on this weekend are a Treasure Hunt sponsored by Reuter Hall and La Crosse's Largest Lightning Game. The Treasure Hunt will be all across campus and La Crosse's Largest Lightning Game is basically a series of lightning games where the winners of each game move on to the championship game for a chance to win sweet prizes. Again, there is always something fun to do at UW-L!!

Inner Beauty Pageant and 24 hour Video Games

This Saturday we are having an Inner Beauty Pageant in Coate Hall. It is starting at 1:00pm in the basement. We are having a speaker and a student who lives in Coate Hall is also performing a skit about her own inner beauty pride. All who attend will be able to make ribbons for themselves that describe what they are proud of as their inner beauty and then walk down the runway declaring their inner beauty to all. The whole program is designed to promote self expression, self awareness, and self confidence.

This weekend also includes a 24 hour Video Game Tournament. It starts at 1:00pm Friday and goes until 1:00pm on Saturday. It costs $3 to enter and all the proceeds are going to an organization that buys video games for children who are staying in hospitals. This weekend is going to be really fun and lots of people are already hyped up about the Inner Beauty Pageant and the 24 hour Video Game Tournament!