However, the very best part of the Black Tie was…. DANCING! That’s right; NNU students were allowed to dance a school function!! There was a live band and dance instructors that taught the students how to ballroom dance and fox trot. It was so fun to see the crowded dance floor as everyone tried to keep up with the instructor. The music kept the event going into the night and students had to be ushered out the door. Overall the event was a great success and a new favorite for all who attended. It is a great way to celebrate with a significant other or still be able to enjoy Valentine’s Day with a group of friends.

**To view pictures of the event, visit Director of Campus Life Tim Milburn’s Flickr page HERE**

Lauren Hartford
Marketing and Business Administration Major
Junior, Olympia, WA

This year, SGA planned a fun Friday night for all students called “week back.” The night started in the student center for games, hot cocoa and soup! There were interactive racing games and dancing on the Wii! My personal favorite is dutch blitz, which is very similar to nerts (if you go to NNU you have probably played nerts!) The highlight however was probably the Piñata that students got a turn to hit, and the tons of free candy that was inside. There were tons of students and everyone was enjoying themselves.

After games and food everyone headed over to the Rec Center for basketball, swimming and rock climbing! Students were having diving contests in the pool and playing water polo, while others lounged in the hot tub and steam room. I spent the majority of my time rock climbing because I had never done it in a gym before. There was an instructor and all the equipment provided, I luckily made it all the way to the top! Most of the guys played basketball games for 3 hours straight, which was entertaining to watch between activities. When we first arrived everyone had to write their name on a clothes hanger and was then put into a drawing. The 5 lucky winners got two free movie passes! Of course tons of snacks were provided as well so the students could keep up their stamina through the night. The evening lasted until 2 in the morning! Overall the night was a success and everyone had a lot of fun. What a great first week back to NNU.

Lauren Hartford
Junior, Olympia, WA
Marketing and Business Administration Major

This year is no exception. There are decorations up all over campus, Christmas music plays in a bunch of the buildings during the day, the countdowns to break are on the doors and walls of many rooms (including mine!), and this year, there is snow on the ground- we even had a snow day last week! The departments, clubs, and dorms are all gearing up for their Christmas parties, and there is just a general good feeling on campus, even with Finals looming this next week.

That’s not to say that there isn’t plenty of stress, with the week before finals almost over, some people are just glad they’ve survived all the papers and tests. During the day, the campus is relatively quiet since everyone is studying for finals and putting the finishing touches on their papers and projects so that they can go home and relax this Christmas.

However, one thing almost everyone on campus looks forward to this week is the Christmas Chapel. This is hands-down the best chapel of the entire year. Pretty much the entire NNU community gathers in the Brandt Center at the normal chapel time to celebrate Christmas. We sing Christmas Carols, and wear Christmas sweaters (some are adorable, some…aren’t, you decide), jangle keys during jingle bells, and dance to the 12 Days of Christmas. Buddy the Elf and Santa usually make an appearance too.

Last year, my roommate and I even dressed up as elves, just for fun!

This chapel reminds students what a happy time of year this is, and though we may be weary and stressed, I for one get the push I need to finish strong from just an hour of the fun and joy that Christmas Chapel brings.

It is the perfect example of the contrast between the academic rigor and the insane fun that NNU is all about. I know exactly where I’ll be tomorrow at 10:10, sitting in Chapel, with my NNU family and friends, singing Christmas carols and making a beginning to an amazing Christmas season!

Brenna Monahan
Junior, Secondary Education
Pomeroy, WA

The Alexander’s left on a Saturday morning and returned on the following Monday evening. Nine days in a big house that has cable TV, a quiet place to study, and a cute dog. Pretty simple right? I had asked before they left if it was okay to take the dog with me places if I was going to be out and they had given me permission to do so. On Wednesday night around 6:30 pm, I had some studying to do for a test I had the following day and left my text book at my apartment. I thought it would be fun to take Ruby with me, since a few friends were with my roommate at our place. They were very excited to see Ruby with me when I arrived and asked to let me take her off her leash. Ruby is a very active dog, let me remind you, and she started going all over the place. I had forgotten that our apartment had been plagued with a mouse issue and our landlord had put rat poison under one of our kitchen cupboards. Guess where Ruby went? Ruby ran into the kitchen while I was in my room and ate a big mouthful of the rat poison. I hear my roommate yell “ANNIE” and quickly determined what the problem was. Frantically we put the leash back on Ruby in the living room and used our laptops to research what happens when dogs ingest rat poison. This is what we found: Rat poison is what neighbors use if they want to kill their neighbor’s noisy or yappy dog. It takes a couple days to kill the dogs and if a dog eats rat poison they need help within two hours. The only thing you can do for the dog is see if it will puck up the contents of the stomach and get the poison out. To do so you give them hydrogen peroxide. Luckily for me, my roommate had a bottle so I grabbed the bottle, had Ruby tightly on the leash and left for the Alexander’s place.

Through this entire time, my friends are laughing about how I am trying to kill the president’s dog and what will I do if that actually happens. Personally, I was trying not to think about that but rather, how to deal with the situation at the moment (I was also thinking about why I really went to the apartment in the first place and if it was really worth all of this trouble). Now, it is about 7:30 at night. I get to the house, take a bowl to pour the hydrogen peroxide in, my cell phone and the dog (now firmly attached to a very short leash), and go out to the backyard. I choose a corner of the yard that has bushes and sat done. I got Ruby to drink the liquid and waited. It took a while, but Ruby began to vomit up the contents of her stomach, which were bright blue due to the rat poison. Multiple times I had to watch the cute little dog look at me madly and then lose her stomach. I understood it was in her best interest but she definitely did not. I also realized that I had to contact the Alexander’s since this was a contactable problem and might require a veterinarian’s visit. Just thinking about calling them at that moment scared me silly. They were in Hawaii! What a horrible way to interrupt someone’s wonderful warm vacation by telling them their dog was basically poisoned by the dog sitter. But I knew I needed to do it and pushed the buttons to call Mrs. Alexander. She calmly took the news and actually congratulated us for knowing what to do in the situation. She asked about the vet, but I had previously contacted the animal clinic and learned they would have to call in the vet since it was after business hours. We decided to wait to see what would happen and possibly take Ruby to the vet. When I got off the phone I felt a bit more in control of the situation but still incredibly bad it took place at all.

As I was waiting for the dog to finish throwing up all of its insides, a thought suddenly hit me. Coumadin or Warfarin, is a blood thinner I have studied a great deal about due to my nursing education. Coumadin is basically rat poison (in a human dose that is therapeutic) and I knew the antidote to a Coumadin overdose is Vitamin K. Hastily I called my roommate and asked her to run to Walgreen’s to pick up a bottle of Vitamin K. By now, I am sitting in the Alexander’s back yard, with a dog that seemed to hate me, little piles of blue tinged vomit all over, and it was getting dark. Just when I thought it could get worse, the sprinklers started as well. We moved to the porch to wait for the Vitamin K. After giving Ruby a pill like the internet told us to use (do you see a trend here? The internet was priceless to us), I went back to studying and my friends left. As I began to study for the exam, my overly cautious mind frequently made sure Ruby was still breathing. She made it through the night and I left for school the next day with a dog that seemed to have forgotten all about the previous evening. As the dog sitter, on the other hand, I would never forget.

I got a call after my test on Thursday from Mrs. Alexander, asking how Ruby was doing and we talked about the option of taking the dog to the vet. They decided it would be the best and I was very willing to do anything to make the situation better. I went to pick up the dog at their house and took the dog to the vet. It felt a bit out of the ordinary to be filling out the required visit paperwork and writing the owner’s name and occupation as Dr. David Alexander, NNU President. We were able to see the vet and she also complemented us on how well we handled the situation. Ruby was put on a 4 week dose of Vitamin K and we were set. The vet told us Ruby looked fine and I exhaled a huge sigh of relief.

Ruby, the day after she ingested the Rat Poison. I took this picture of her so I could send it to the Alexander’s, showing them proof the dog was still breathing.

For everyone who is wondering, Ruby is alive and well. The Alexander’s asked me to come back and continue to pet sit for them, claiming I have a bond with Ruby now that will never be broken.

Ann Larlee
Junior, Nursing
Maupin, OR

Laura Hartford
Junior, Business Administration and Marketing
Olympia, Washington

Every fall students try out for this show with one act skits, musical numbers or other sorts of comical sketches. On the night of the affair, students gather in NNU’s little theatre and prepare for an evening of gut-busting hilarious entertainment.

Last Saturday marked the long awaited day – Fresheree 2010. The theme was “Superheros” and the sophomore class did an incredible job of decorating NNU’s little Theatre. Several of my friends put together acts that left me almost in tears from laughing so hard. No doubt, it left several students with aching sides and sore cheeks from the endless rolls of laughter. I think this year’s Fresheree was better than ever. I think my favorite was the dance some of the sophomore boys did. Three of the funniest guys I know wore leggings and tutu’s and danced to “Single Ladies” by Beyonce. Can you say Hilarious?! Don’t worry we video-taped it just so you could watch it. Check out the NNU Admission’s facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/nnuadmissions to see the video!

Dawn Linnell
Junior
Elementary Education, Spanish minor

TWIRP is coming up and is always a sweet deal. TWIRP means, The Woman Is Required to Pay. Girls ask guys to a super fun event that lasts all weekend. There are also plenty of good-looking girls at NNU.

Things I learned my freshman year, that I applied this year are:

-How to fit a couch in a dorm room

-Couches are worth it

-Cardboard cut outs of Star Wars Characters are good companions

-Taking care mice and fish are a good way to make yourself feel responsible,

-Roommates who moan in their sleep are the funniest ones,

-Maximum desk space is preferable

-A thermometer outside your room is convenient

-Cafeteria coffee suddenly becomes worth it

-Old video games (Super Mario) are harder than new ones (Halo)

-Professors have funny Professor humor.

That’s it

Chris Peck, Sophomore
Boise, ID
Commercial Music/Music Education

The finale of the week occurs on Friday after the first week of classes. It has two parts, the first being Friday Night Lights where different dorms are separated to make teams. These teams then compete against each other to find the ultimate winner. The next part is when the NNU campus goes “RollerScamming.” A theme is chosen and students dress up in costumes, the key being creativity, and go to the local roller rink! The theme this year was “In the Beginning.” Students go very creative with everything from Babies to different eras. My roommates and I, pictured above decided to dress up like animals, because animals were created by God in the beginning! The other two are dressed up in outfits they would have worn as children. All look forward to this yearly tradition, and there is always a great turnout! After the event a huge group went to Shari’s to top off the evening. Overall a great start to the year!

Lauren Hartford, Junior
Business Administration and Marketing
Olympia, Washington

Through NNU there are several opportunities students took advantage of this spring break. For example, many of my friends took a road trip, spearheaded by Outdoors Club, to go surfing for a week in San Diego. Talk about a cheap way to have an incredibly fun yet relaxing week!

Other students I know skipped the time of “fun in the sun” for a little bit more rigorous trip. This group of students led by our Director of Student Ministries, Julene Tegerstrand, went to Vancouver, British Colombia for some inner-city ministry work. I’ve heard nothing but great things from all those who went!

Personally, I chose a little bit different route to go on. For my spring break I went to Santa Ana, California (outside LA) to live and serve in a homeless shelter called Isaiah House. While I was there I helped in the preparation and serving of 3 hot meals Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to 150 homeless men and women at the public city center. The best part however was just being around and doing life with 50 homeless women who live in the shelter. Because I speak Spanish I was also able to talk to the homeless people we served meals to and occasionally serve as a translator which is always fun. I won’t lie though, going to Newport beach at the end of the week was a definite plus!

So what does that have to do with NNU you may ask, it has everything to do with NNU! I first heard of this homeless shelter through a guest speaker from California who came to speak for Winter Awakening in January. At that time God had been speaking to me about using my life to serve the homeless and the hungry specifically through a scripture in Isaiah 58. When I heard about this shelter called Isaiah House I felt God tug at my heart. Needless to say, a week later I found myself buying a plane ticket to Santa Ana, California. Without the chance to hear God speak though NNU’s guest speaker I may never have had this opportunity.

Whether its a relaxing break spent back at home or somewhere new and exciting, NNU is a great place to find what you’re looking for. Spring Break is just one of the many great adventures awaiting you at NNU, just come and see for yourself!

Dawn Linnell
Sophomore
Elementary Education, Spanish minor