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Smurthwaite Scholarship and Leadership House

A Great Start to a New Semester!

Retreat Group Pic

We all came back to Smurthwaite from Winter Break a couple of days early to readjust to each other and have a fun weekend together before Spring classes started.  The new member class opened the kitchen for us and we packed away all of our holiday decorations. We did a great diversity program hosted by Bradley Halverson, a student affairs grad student and we did a lot of silly bonding games to get comfortable with each other again. We also spent a day hanging out with our Big/Little pairings. Groups went out to lunch, walked classes, picked up books, and just spent quality time together.

On the Monday of Retreat, we participated in the Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service events. We went to Tuttle Creek State Park and helped clear away some trees and brush that had been taken down. It was reeeaaally cold, so we worked together and got everything done as fast as we could. Below is a picture of everyone huddling together after we finished all of our work!

MLK Jr Day

This semester, we welcomed a new Resident Assistant, Cassandra Nguyen. She was a member of the house until last semester, so she’s ahead of the game on knowing the ins and outs of Smurthwaite.

Sara Peters, our wonderful Assistant Coordinator, started a Smurthwaite Breakfast Club this semester. Every Tuesday at 8 am, the ladies of our house can make waffles and interact with speakers

We had our Shadow Weekend on February 6th and 7th where potential new members can come spend the weekend with current members of the house to get a better feel of the house environment. When the guests arrived, they did icebreakers and went to the rec to play minute to win it games. When they were worn out from that, they had an information session with the ladies of the house to ask questions about Smurthwaite and college life in general and house members shared personal experiences they’ve had while they have been at K-State and Smurthwaite.

After all of that, everyone had the option of going to a KSU Men’s Basketball game and those who didn’t go to that got to go ice skating. When that was done, everyone was pretty tired and hungry, so they had dinner back at the house and there was a movie/game night so people could talk and just hang out with each other. Sunday morning was open so people could go to church if they wanted to and breakfast was provided at the house. We had a pretty fun group this year and the weekend went really well!

Shadow Weekend    Shadow Weekend 2

All in all, the start of the spring semester has been pretty great! The ladies of the house are getting used to class, work, and house duties again and we’re excited for what this semester has in store for us!

With love,

Your Smurthwaite Sisters

 

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