Half Marathon, Retreats, and CANNED Food
Alright…I know its been forever and a day since I have updated this blog, but after reading all that has been happening, you will understand where I have had no time to update. With the days getting longer and longer (because of sunlight, or lack there of…), I have been getting more and more tired when the work day is complete. It was told to me when I arrived that you are not a true New Yorker until you are able to fall asleep on the subway, and wake-up either before or just as the train is pulling into your stop. Thankfully, it has taken me many train rides and countless times sleeping through my stops to finally be able to call myself a true New Yorker, and wake myself up the stop before I have to get off the train!! In my book, that is a huge accomplishment!! 
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Now, onto all the exciting things that have held me back from updating (please bear with the short novel you are about to enjoy):
When we last left off, I had just completed running a half-marathon! It is still hard for me to believe some days that I actually still completed it, and sometimes wonder if I just dreamt it, but then see my medal and race number, and realize I didn’t. With the fun had that weekend, I wasn’t sure how it could get any better, but the following weekend proved it would! I made a surprise return trip to good ol’ Romeoville, IL to visit some friends and share in some wonderful experiences shared by others. 
. I was so excited to be able to pull off such a huge surprise, and I am pretty sure I can vouch for my friends that it was just as exciting. I never imagined how much I would miss people until I moved away and was able to return! Though the weekend was extremely short, I loved and soaked in every minute of it!
It was then back to New York to begin another week at work but one that proved to be nothing less than exciting. I received a text on Monday morning from my boss alerting me she would be staying home with her daughter who was sick. I immediately became nervous and anxious for work that day because I would be in the office by myself hoping nothing would go wrong. One day turned to two and then three. I can honestly say I learned that I am an extreme people person from this experience; I began to turn on music in the office, look at pictures of friends on facebook, just to remember what it was like to be around people! It’s sad to admit, but honestly, there’s no surprise in knowing I need to be around people and their high energy! 
Though it was different being in the office by myself, I was also able to learn a lot about my responsibility and ability to create tasks for myself when someone is not present. I also got the experience of running one of our freshman retreats all by myself (with the teacher and 2 guidance counselors in the room…). Needless to say, that retreat will forever live in my mind, as a good (and bad) experience!
The week was short, having Friday off for Veteran’s Day, yet I went into work late morning for our Lasallian Youth day retreat! This retreat was planned by our Exec. Board Senior students on Lasallian Youth for the rest of the LY students. This year’s theme focused around the idea of cyber-bullying. As all participants learned, cyber-bulling is an up-and-coming force that is destroying the lives of so many young middle and high school students. I believe the students did a fantastic job planning and executing the retreat, and for once, it was nice to be a participant vs. leader.
As the days were growing closer and closer to Thanksgiving, Bishop Loughlin’s Canned Food Drive was getting closer and closer to ending. As you well know by now, the house system at Loughlin is central to all activities/competitions we partake in throughout the school day. I believe the canned food drive is one of the two largest competitions (aside from the Penny Drive). This year, we set a goal, hoping to beat last year’s total of 4,000-ish non-perishable food items. Now, if you are asking yourself why it’s called a CANNED food drive, yet other food was donated, that’s a good question. After last year’s drive, the food pantry we donated to got an infestation of pantry moths and had to close down. All of the food found in boxes/bags had to be thrown away, and thus causing the pantry to no longer accept ANY food donations. The thought of not providing meals to needy families during the holidays was heart-breaking, and the pantry began to accept donations again from us under one condition; ONLY CANNED ITEMS WOULD BE ACCEPTED! This put a lot of pressure onto the school for breaking last year’s record, but the students rose to the challenge.
As a part of the food display above, we had a giant revealing to the school at our Thanksgiving Assembly.Categories: Christopher Hueg
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