Thrilling Golden Bear Victory

This weekend, the Men’s ice hockey team won one of its biggest games in program history beating Johnson & Wales University, in a very tightly fought 2-1 win in overtime. This was a first-round playoff game held at WNE’s Smead Arena this past Saturday. This was the team’s second win over JWU after losing the two previous outings 6-4 and 10-3. The team really showed its depth and resilience to overcome these last two losses and to persevere. They showed great composure (after giving up the lead with 1 minute and 44 seconds left), to win it in overtime. Sophomore Daniel Monahan scored his 11th goal of the season on a beautiful wrist shot to win the game. With 14 wins already on the season, I am very proud of the team. It is incredible to think that we will be playing for a berth in the finals of the conference tournament. Go Golden Bears!

-The kid from Cali
Jay.thall

Spend a Day at WNE

Do you want to know what it is like to be a college student for a day? Western New England University offers this opportunity to you through the Accepted Student Day Visit Program. This is a great way to sit in on a few classes, eat lunch in the dining hall, and meet current students and professors in their natural weekly habitat. As a high school senior I took part in this program and it helped me make my decision to come to WNE. I showed up two years ago, not knowing what to expect but after I sat in on a few classes, got a feel for the campus with other students, and saw what these students were doing in their free time, I just felt so comfortable. It was as if I was just like a perfect fit in a wonderful community. Each of the professors were thrilled to have a visitor sitting in their class. I was able to meet students on that day that would later become some of my classmates.

This year, I am happy to be the student who accepted students come and shadow. I enjoy giving back to this school and seizing all the opportunities that are offered. I already have had a few students that have shadowed and there are only going to be more coming. I had one student that shadowed me that told me that I helped with him making his decision about where he wanted to go to school. That to me, was something I will always remember. So sign up and come to WNE to see for yourself why our school is such a great place to be! Call the Admissions Office today! The remaining dates for this program are April 2-4, 10-13, and 16-20.

See you soon in class,
-Jason

Day Visit Program

Pictures (from bottom): Joe and I before seeing "Woman in Black", a Valentine I received on my dorm door, John and I before the Honors Reception.

Last weekend, some friends and I went to see the new horror movie “The Woman in Black.” It was scary, but not scary enough where you can’t sleep that night. That’s probably because it was only rated PG 13. It was interesting, however, to see Daniel Radcliffe playing a character other than Harry Potter. He actually has a son and a wife in this movie and is playing a much more adult role.

This week, I had a high school student shadow me. That means he followed me to all my classes, I showed him my dorm room, and then we went to lunch together. I will be doing this a few more times throughout the course of the next couple of weeks. It is rewarding to help kids in their college decision because I remember how difficult the whole process was. I also got dressed up (“business casual”) that same day to go to the honors reception in Rivers with my friend John. There was a speech by President Caprio and a former student. There were also desserts after!

Tonight there is going to be a wing tasting sponsored by Wings over Springfield, a local restaurant. I’m really excited for free wings because their chicken wings are amazingly delicious. There is also going to be Bingo later on. Maybe I’ll be able to win something tonight!

See ya,
Brandi

Weekends at WNE

Hey everyone!

The spring semester is going by so fast, it’s already one third over! Things have been going really great here at WNE. Classes have been good, but outside of class we’ve been having a lot of fun! A few weekends ago, my roommate, our friends, and me went to the local mall, about five minutes away, where they have a movie theater and saw The Woman in Black. Despite being scary, it was really good! After that, we walked around the mall for a while and had fun looking around all the stores. Besides the mall, there’s a lot of stores and restaurants just minutes away from WNE, there’s always something you can do! If you don’t want to go off campus, then you’ll be able to find something on campus! Besides just hanging out with friends, you can go to the many different activities that campus holds. Tonight, my friends and I are going to an event hosted by a local chicken wing restaurant (which is amazing!) called Wings Over Springfield. There’s going to be competitions, trivia, and free samples! After that, we’re planning to go to bingo that is held every few weeks in the campus center at the weekly “Late Nite” events they have. I’m so glad it’s the weekend, and can’t wait to enjoy it with my friends! I’ve included some pictures of us just hanging out, hope you enjoy them!

Talk to you in a few weeks!

-Jen

Exciting Weekend Plans

Hey Everyone,
The last two weeks have been awesome! It began with the weekend of the Super Bowl. On Saturday, the Campus Activities Board planned a trip to New York City to see the Broadway show Phantom of the Opera. After the show, we had about three hours of free time in the city and the group I was with walked from Times Square to the middle of Central Park and back. On Sunday, I celebrated the Super Bowl with some great people and even though the Patriots lost it was still a great night. Last weekend the Student Senate had an outing to Butternut Ski resort and our group went snow tubing. Most of the past two weeks have been consumed by homework and other leadership opportunities. I also started applying to “real world jobs,” which is helping me come to the realization that I am graduating in almost 90 days. In between now and graduation I have spring break, senior formal, and then finally senior week. I can’t wait for all that is to come!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a great winter and enjoying the mild weather we’re having! I also hope everyone had an amazing Valentine’s Day even if it wasn’t with a significant other. My friends and I decided we would celebrate Valentine’s Day as a big group, because that’s exactly what my friends are, a big group, we took up a whole entire row in the movie theater.

At the local movie theater about five minutes away from campus at the Eastfield Mall they have $5 Tuesday movies, which is a great deal for college kids! It just so happened that Valentine’s Day fell on a Tuesday this year, so my friends and I were each others’ Valentines and cried our eyes out to The Vow together.

I highly suggest that movie to anyone that hasn’t seen it and I highly suggest you take advantage of $5 Tuesdays at the Eastfield Mall movies when you decide to study at Western New England.


Blog to you in two weeks,
Liz :)

Living Large on Campus

One of the great things out Western New England University is the on-campus housing. WNE has eight different housing sites that you could potentially live at. Undoubtedly our most popular options are Evergreen Village and Gateway Village which represents suite style housing for our upperclassmen, complete with a personal kitchen, living room, and a “yard” for outdoor activities.

The LaRiviere Center is our most unique housing option because students who live in this location are required to apply separately and complete a group project in order to remain in the facility. This “living learning” center is one of the nicest options for sophomores through seniors.

Plymouth Complex, Commonwealth, and the Quad Halls (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, & Windham Hall) are designed for freshmen and sophomores. As a freshman you are likely to live in the Quad which are traditional residence halls with the standard furniture and shared bathrooms. Starting sophomore year you may be lucky enough to live in a facility like Commonwealth which has a shared kitchen or Plymouth which has a private kitchen and yard.

This year I live in Southwood. Southwood is equipped with a full kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. This facility is made for four people, either singles or doubles. It has four floors with the laundry room in the basement and includes a common room with a TV and a pool table. I really enjoy living in Southwood and it is easily my favorite residence hall that I have lived in thus far on campus!

-The kid from Cali
Jay.thall

For more information about our housing options at WNE, please visit our website: http://www1.wne.edu/admissions/index.cfm?selection=doc.233

Back at WNE for Spring Semester

Hello and welcome back to the blog site! Hopefully you all had a great winter vacation and start to the New Year. Being home was nice but at the same time, I was starting to miss everything at school. I was fortunate enough to be able to move back into my residence hall a few days early. Each day I sat at home I would look at the clock, and I could not wait for the time I could move back in and be with my friends again. WNE has become a second home for me, and I enjoy being a part of this community.

Classes have started, and they are what I expected and then some. Soon I will be assisting the Admissions Office as a shadow for the Accepted Student Day Visit Program which allows accepted students the chance to follow a current WNE student for the day (call 413-782-1321 to register). Winter sports are almost over and soon the spring season will begin. It should be a good year for the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, the softball team, and the baseball team (which is ranked 11th nationally for Division III baseball in the preseason polls). I am looking forward to being able to work with these teams and seeing all the success on the field.

Enjoy school and keep looking for that letter from WNE!
-Jason

Adjusting to Second Semester

This week, I finally adjusted to my second semester schedule. I like second semester much more than first semester. I no longer have Monday and Friday labs and I don’t have to take Calculus anymore! I didn’t have many options for the first semester times, days, or professors, but I had a choice this time and it turned out really well. The weeks go by quickly and my weekends are not too overloaded with work.
Since I don’t like football, this Superbowl weekend I went to my boyfriend’s house and cooked some pot roast and cauliflower soup with his mom instead. It was really good especially now that the weather has stopped being so mild and cooled down to normal winter temperature. I hope that it snows some more since it all melted last week in the spring-like warmth.
Also, after locating my biological brother Jordan, I was inspired to deepen the investigation for the rest of my biological siblings. So I have filled out some paper work that will hopefully help me be able to locate them. Unfortunately, the information can take five to six months for processing so it will be a while before I hear back. I can only hope that it will be worth the wait!

Check back in two weeks!
Brandi

My Final Semester

Hey Everyone,
Hope you all had a great winter break. I am back for my last semester at Western New England and time has sure flown by. Classes are going pretty well. I have no classes on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, which means I get to have a four day weekend!!! Got to go to NYC and see Phantom of the Opera yesterday with Campus Activities Board. Really looking forward to the rest of semester with spring break, senior formal, senior and finally senior week only 103 days away!!!!! I can’t wait to tell you about the rest of my last semester here at Western New England University.

Will Tomack

Semester II

Hi everyone! Welcome back to the WNE Student blog. It’s been a while since the last blog! We got back from winter break a few weeks ago, and classes and everything else are fully underway again. It took a while to get back into the swing of things after that long break, but it was definitely nice to have. Getting back to classes hasn’t been easy, but now that we’re about a month underway, it’s like we never even left! I love my classes this semester, and have some great professors. The weather here has been crazy, it’s felt like spring this week! It’s hard to imagine that this time last year, I was a high school senior getting ready to make a huge decision, and now, here I am a second semester freshmen. It’s a life changing decision, but in the end know you’ll do what’s right for you. I hope these blogs continue to give you a look at life here at WNE, and can’t wait to document the rest of my freshmen year to share with you! Good luck, and talk to you all soon. =)

-Jen!

Happy Second Semester!

Welcome back everyone! I must say college breaks are not one to take for granted, a whole month for Christmas? It was well needed and definitely set me up for the busy start for the second semester. Since I'm a freshman I didn't realize that teachers really do not hesitate at all when it comes to putting on the workload second semester, but three weeks in I am feeling the work.
Since coming back to WNE many leadership positions, such as peer advisor and resident advisor, have been up for application and I am taking full advantage of them. My first semester was so productive and rewarding because of all of the activities that I involved myself in so I am planning on continuing that and taking it to the next level by applying to those more demanding leadership positions on campus. I have realized that the most important thing a first year student can do besides work hard at their academics is to get involved on campus in something that they feel passionate about. I am involved with the Residence Hall Association on campus as the Vice President of my hall and what RHA does is it puts on programs around the campus for everyone and for the individual halls as well, some are social and some are also educational to bring awareness to different topics on campus. RHA is run by students for students and is very influential not only at WNE but at other schools as well, so there is an endless amount of opportunities with this organization.
Becoming involved is extremely important and can lead to many future successes so, I hope everyone has great continuing college search, always keeping in mind what you are looking for in a university. Talk to you in two weeks!

Liz :)