Spring Practice Coming to a Close

As the school year ends, so does spring practice for my football team. We have gone 5 long weeks of intense training to help prepare for the upcoming season. Spring practice is a time for the players to help improve there skills and practice their plays. Coaches evaluate every player so that they can have an idea of where to put everyone when training camp starts. I have been working hard and helping to improve myself to become a better wide receiver. I go through drills and run plays and learn all at the same time. It is a great experience for me as a freshmen, as i have learned a lot from my coaches.

At the end of the spring practices, we are all tested on lifting and conditioning. These tests are given to show the athletes and coaches what they need to work on in the summer. It is a great opportunity to show everything that you have put into the past winter.

Coaches then assign a workout that needs to be followed in the summer while the athlete is at home. They give lifting and running activities to each player to help improve what they have done in the previous test. When training camp comes, the athletes are expected to come back better than they were when they first arrived. This is crucial to help show the coaches what you can do on the football field.

Fraternity/Sorority, and Student Sponsored Activities

Gallaudet is a great place to be because of the events that students, fraternities, and sororities provide. Many students enjoy these activities that they go to because they are so fun. Even though you have to pay for your ticket, they are still worth the experience. Fraternities and Sororities often schedule dances and parties for students throughout the year. The Student Body also sponsors activities to help students stay involved and interact with one another.

Fraternities and Sororities set up dances and parties for the students each year. They provide music, refreshments, and games that keep students involved. If you don’t have anything going on during the weekends, that is your chance to go and have some fun. You can go with friends, or even make new friends there. Many people opt to dance while they are there becuase it is so much fun. Nothing hurts to show off you dance moves and the dances. It is a great way to interact with people and will make your night enjoyable. So take advantage of the dances and parties set up by these groups, because they are worth it in the end.

The student body itself also sponsors on campus activities. Many dorm staff people set up activities for students to learn about something new and interact with each other. The students also set up dances themselves. For example, every now and then, a themed dance is set up for students to go to. These dances are at the Rathskellar Pub, where you can eat and talk to friends as well as dance. These activities are all free, which should help you to save money. Nothing hurts going out and seeing what these activities are like, because they are a lot of fun.

JumpStart Program

The JumpStart program is a great opportunity for students here at Gallaudet. It is a summer program that begins in middle July, and ends about the time school starts. It is an opportunity for people to become better students in the classroom, make new friends, and get a feel for Gallaudet and it’s surrounding environment in Washington, DC. JumpStart is divided into two parts; New Signers Program and Academic success. Many freshmen choose to attend this program to either learn ASL, which is the New Signers Program, or to simply take classes to help them in school, such as Math, or English, which is part of Academic Success. All students are assigned peer counselors to help guide them through their experience at Gallaudet. JumpStart also offers activities such as Personal Discovery, and Field-Trips to museums in DC.

New Signers Program is chosen by students who want to learn ASL and become better signers. The Students attend classes everyday in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon as well. It is an opportunity that is given so that students who don’t know ASL can be prepared for when school starts and know ASL. If you feel you won’t fit in, trust me, you will. I was a new signer when i first came here and attended the New Signers Program. It taught me the basics of ASL so that I was able to communicate with people who already knew sign and are deaf. I know it will help you just as much as it helped me. It’s a great experience to remember and you won’t regret it.

In addition, Academic Success is a program offered in JumpStart to students who want to become better at a subject. The two subjects covered are math and english. If you have struggled in high school with any of these subjects, it is a great opportunity to learn from a great teaching staff. The teachers are current faculty members and will help you become a better student at the subject. You will learn a lot from this program, and will be a better student when fall comes around.

Classes are not the only activities that are a part of JumpStart. Students will participate in Personal Discovery. It is an outdoor activity that gets students involved with teamwork. You will get to know your peers better this way by participating in this activity. It will help you become a better leader. I know it helped me. Also, you will get the chance to go on field-trips to museums. Museums vary from the Art Museum to the Holocaust Museum, and others. It is a great experience for students to be involved.

What to do Around DC

There is much to do while you are here at Gallaudet. Activities range from going out to eat with your friends, to going to tour DC itself. Whichever you choose, you are in for a real treat. Nothing can beat the excitement of being at a college that is located in the Capital of America. I promise, with so much to do here, you will wish you never had to leave Gallaudet.
There are many places where you can go to eat around campus. One popular place Gallaudet students go to is Union Station. Gallaudet provides a shuttle service that will take you there, and is only five minutes away. So it saves you time and money both at the same time. Union Station has many places you can eat. But the ones that students most often choose are Chipotle, McDonalds, and other variations throughout the area. Going to eat at Union Station is a great way to spend time with your friends. Or even if your parents are down for a visit, you can always go to a nice restaurant.
Also in DC, Students tend to go and tour the capital. There are many sites to see, such as the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building, the White House, etc. These locations are all outside of Gallaudet’s campus. Students take the metro there, which is a cheap way of transportation throughout the city. Every student should take the time to go and see what Washington, DC has to offer to its tourists, because it is quite an amazing experience.
Finally, DC offers many places to do your shopping. Whether it be for food, or for fashion. Popular malls around the area are Pentagon City Mall and Wheaton Mall. These are all near Gallaudet, and can be reached by taking the metro to and from.
Gallaudet has a lot more to offer than you can imagine. It is quite a thrill to be at a college where there is so much to do off campus during your free time.

Gallaudet Interception gets Attention

In Septmember of 2010, The Gallaudet Football team’s defense made an outstanding play that may as well go down as one of the most attention-grabbing plays of all time.  The play itself was set up uniquely to stop an ensuing first down of the opposing team, Castleton State, our fellow conference rival in football.

To break the play down, the defensive secondary dropped back to play pass protection, while Castleton State dropped back to pass.  The quarterback was under pressure, forcing him to throw to the first receiver he saw.  The ball was overthrown to the sideline, but was in the reach of sophomore linebacker Tom Pangia.  He reached up, but the ball tipped his fingers and went over his head.  Freshmen cornerback Tony Tatum was running towards the sideline, and jumped out out of bounds, and made a basketball-like tip of the ball back inbounds while still in the air from his jump.  Safety Shelby Bean was luckily in the right place at the right time.  He caught Tony’s tip, and ran in 3 yards before being tripped up by the opposing player.

This play has grabbed a lot of attention from many well-known networks.  It was first displayed on YouTube.  It was then voted play of the week by D3football.com.  To add to all that attention, it was picked up by Sports Illustrated, Versus, Yahoo, and even ESPN.  It was featured on ESPN’s top 10 plays of the week and grabbed the number 2 spot.  The video is still viewed on YouTube, and is close to two million views.  A video is posted below so you can experience the excitement of the great play. Click the Link to watch.

Gallaudet Interception

Why I Chose Gallaudet

There are many reasons as to why I chose Gallaudet over my other choices of schools to attend for college.  Gallaudet has been a great choice for me from the start and I do not regret it.  Gallaudet offers many majors of your choice and also has many student services to assist you in if you need help.  The education here is high quality with a great staff.  The teachers will know your names when you walk past them in the halls because they have small names to memorize.  They will also sit down and help you with anything you may need help on.

Gallaudet uses American Sign Language as its first language.  Therefore, it provides me with direct communication.  I never had this type of communication back at my elementary or high schools, which made it hard for me to understand information.  When I found out about ASL being the primary language, I knew that I would succeed better academically than i did in mainstream schools.  Sign language has helped me to better understand information discussed in classes so I don’t have to ask the teachers to repeat what they said.

In addition, I chose Gallaudet because it has many people just like me; Deaf.  I finally can understand what it feels like to have someone just like me talking to me and in class with me.  When I was in mainstream schools, I never had this opportunity, and felt left out socially and academically.  Now I can communicate effectively with my fellow classmates and friends here at Gallaudet.

Gallaudet has many activities to offer, such as sports, theater, etc.  One of the reasons i chose Gallaudet other than for education was to play football.  It has helped me to stay active in my life and make me a better person.  I always dreamed about playing football at the next level, and here I am, playing college football for the Gallaudet Bison.  Although it is a small Division 3 program, it has been a great experience to be a part of the team.  The coaching staff is excellent, along with many players that I am friends with.  If I chose to go to another bigger school, in which I considered before I learned about Gallaudet, I would not be playing football like I am now.

Gallaudet is a great school to consider if you’re ever having trouble deciding on a college to attend.  Schedule a visit sometime and see for yourself what I saw.  Everyone has different opinions, but it won’t hurt to take a couple days out of your life to experience the wonderful environment Gallaudet University has to offer.  I know I made the right decision by choosing to come to Gallaudet, and I know you will too.

Football Team’s Community Service

As Spring is in full swing here at Gallaudet, and the weather is beautiful, many people like to do work on campus to make Gallaudet University as beautiful as possible.  With that in mind, the Gallaudet football team is participating in community service by making a garden out in front of the cafeteria.  Coach Chuck Goldstein made a commitment to the cafeteria staff that our team would help make a beautiful garden that would stand out and draw attention.  All the players from the team are required to show up and participate to help build the garden.  The work being done was a three day process which required a lot of time and effort.

To start off, bricks were brought in to help outline and shape the garden.  Players would line the bricks up and the put in dirt to the designated areas.  Also, dirt was also to be packed inside the bricks to keep them from falling over because they were stacked.  Flowers were then planted into the soil to finish off the final masterpiece.  It is a wonderful sight on campus for everyone to walk by it and smile.  The football team worked hard with everyone participating to make the job easy and successful.

Community service is a great opportunity to make yourself a better person.  People look out at you and know they can count on you in the future to do work for them.  It is also a great addition to add to your resume so that employers can look at what experience you have and know that you’re a hard worker no matter what you do.  The community service that i participated in with the football team was a great experience for me as i got to work alongside with other teammates and coaches.

Spring Practice Kicks off for Bison Football

Spring is the time of year where college football teams begin to prepare for the upcoming season.  It is a time to improve as a player, and as a team.  Gallaudet’s football team finished the 2010 season 5-5 with a fourth place standing in the conference.  With that in the past, we look to build on what we accomplished and be ready for the 2011 season.

The football team practices three days a week while also lifting three days a week.  The practices include position drills along with team sessions to practice running the plays in the system.  The coaches get a feel of where the players are at right now so they can make adjustments for when training camp begins in August.  It is crucial to every player that they work their hardest during this time of year so that they earn their starting positions in the fall.  I was a starting Wide Receiver as a freshman for the Bison.  Though my stats from the previous season weren’t the best, I am working hard this spring to build on that experience and become a better athlete next season.  Spring practices also have a bit of fun added to them.  With many players missing practice on Thursdays because of classes or other sports, the coaches tend to try and make Thursdays a fun day for the players that show up to practice that day.  If we are lucky, we get to play a few games that still help to make us better players and keep us in good shape.

Spring Training for Football is a time where you learn from your coaches and you put in what you learned when you are on the field playing against some of the best schools out there.  It is important to put foth your best effort so you can win that spot you’ve always wanted and be out on the gridiron on a Saturday afternoon in the Fall.

A Little bit about Myself

Hello there. My name is Josh Hanna and I am one of the latest bloggers to join gBlog.  I will tell you a little bit about my background and lifestyle growing up.  But first I want to tell you how much of a great experience Gallaudet University has been for me my first year on campus.  The school itself stands out among all the other Universities in the world. it is the only Liberal Arts college out there for the Deaf and Blind.  Many people of different backgrounds come here to get a high quality education and meet new people just like them.  I got to meet a lot of people that have same characteristic as me. And that is being deaf.  This community here at Gallaudet has my my first year experience on campus a moment in my life to remember forever.

To begin, I would like to tell you a little bit about myself.  I was born hard-of-hearing and grew up with a hearing family.  I went to a mainstream school all the way from when i first started school until when i graduated high school.  It was a tough challenge for me in that it was a big school with many students.  But that did not keep me from getting high grades in all my classes.  My family is rich in athletic participation in which everyone grew up playing sports.  I played five sports growing up, but the sport that stood on top of all the others was football.  I love the sport for what it is and have been playing it since I was five years old.

It wasn’t until almost the end of my senior year that i found out about Gallaudet University.  I planned to go to a bigger college where i would continue to mainstream.  Then out of nowhere, the head football coach of Gallaudet contacted me interested in recruiting me to play football for the Bison.  So from there, i went to visit the campus, and something about it just made me fall in love with the university.  I never met a deaf person in my life, and i also didn’t know sign.  Coaches were eager about me attending the University, and i finally made up my mind.  I decided i wanted to become a member of the Deaf community.  I wanted to have the experience of having people just like me attending the same school which i never had growing up.  This is what has my my first year here at Gallaudet a wonderful experience, and I am sure that you will make the same decision as I did.  It will be a moment that you won’t regret, but will cherish for the rest of your life.

My Life Goals!!

There are many goals that one can have in life. They can be present goals, short term goals, and long term goals. When people go through life they gather up and set plans for everything they set out to do in life. Most goals are health related such as losing 10 pounds or eating healthy. The best time of year to make goals, long or short term, are at the beginning of the year. New Year resolutions are very important to have although most people end up not following through with them. This year I made a list for myself that had some new short term goals as well as long term goals.

There are several goals I have for the short term. The biggest goal I set for myself for this semester is getting all A’s and B’s. To make it simple, I want to end the semester with a 3.0 or better. My freshman year, I came out on top with a 3.3 GPA and got the Fantastic Freshman award. It was the best semester of my life and everything was going great for me. The next three semesters went downhill for me as I fell into peer pressure and started partying and doing things I wasn’t used to growing up. After nearly not being able to come back this year because of financial aid trouble as well as a low accumulative GPA, it opened my eyes to want to be like my old self again. Getting my financials straightened out way ahead of time is something new I want to do as a short term goal. Twice I have filled out my FAFSA past the deadline and ended up having to take out loans for those semesters. My college career could be free if I get my paperwork done early!

After I graduate, my number one goal is to find me a good, rewarding job that will have a steady salary.  Having a wife and kids is a must as well! I’m the oldest of nine kids so I’ve been a part of a very big family growing up. It’s funny because as I grew up I always thought that nine kids was crazy and I told myself that I would never have a lot of kids so I said I would have one kid and that’s it. Looking back on my childhood, I missed all those times we would all go out to Chuck E. Cheese or just have those simple family movies where we would all get together in the living room with our blankets and watch a movie. I never know what I will have one of these days only God knows but I would love to have three boys and one girl. I guess you can say I changed my mind when it comes to kids in the future! Ha!

When I get to be about age 45, hopefully my kids will have graduated high school and have gone off to college to get them a degree. The biggest dream I have growing up is to see my future kids succeed in life and become the way I am. If I have the privilege to live a very long life, those would be my goals I would like to accomplish.

As you can see I have very big dreams ahead of me. I have all the support in the world and I feel like nothing can stop me if I keep my mind to it! With the help and support of my family, girlfriend, friends, coaches, teachers and counselors…. my goals will become a reality!