it's election night!

It's finally here! After a long and intense campaigning season, America headed to the polls today to VOTE for the President of the United States. I woke up and put on my Mitt Romney for President tank and sticker for the big day!

Being my first presidential election, I have had a great time getting involved in campaigning by volunteering at the Romney Rally in Roanoke, making calls at the Blacksburg Victory Office, and sending in my absentee ballot a few weeks ago!

Now it's just time to tune in and watch the results stream in! Praying America made the right decision. I am so excited and anxious to see where the country will be headed after the announcement of our President! 

color me rad

Last weekend I participated in my first ever 5K and one of the most exhilarating races I can think of. The COLOR ME RAD came to Blacksburg, VA!!

Alpha Phi created a team and a bunch of us met up on Sunday morning in our all white clothing, ready to take on the COLOR! Kelsey, JFrad, and Emmet were also in town for the weekend and signed up for the run.

After listening to some sweet mashups and techno jams and jumping around with color in the air, we were ready to start the run! Lucky for me, Alli had stitches in her leg still so she needed a walking partner. I am NOT a runner, so this worked out perfectly. We ran a little bit to keep up with the crowd, but walked the majority of the 5K. We made sure to get LOTS of color in the color explosion centers too!

I loved that the Color Me Rad was not so much a race, as it was a celebration! We weren't racing to be first, but racing to get more color!! We weren't running FROM from anything, but running FOR something. We were all just running (and walking) for the heck of it! Not to mention a portion of our registration fees went to Special Olympics.

Thank you, Color Me Rad for coming to Blacksburg! Life sure is better in COLOR.

happy halloween!

It's that time of the year again...it's Halloween! Time for tricks and treats, spooks and scares, pumpkins and ghosts. Virginia Tech celebrated Halloween last weekend, so today doesn't even really feel like Halloween but I am still trying to keep the holiday spirit alive! Here's how we celebrated this past weekend...

On Friday afternoon, Alpha Phi participated in the annual Oak Lane Trick-Or-Treat. Families and kids from the Blacksburg community went from house to house in Oak Lane to trick-or-treat. The Alpha Phi house had cookie decorating, face painting, Casper playing on the TV, and of course, lots and lots of candy! I always love getting to see all the kids' costumes and how excited they are for Halloween. As college students we really do live in a bubble consisting of just young adults, so branching out to the community and participating in this event is something I look forward to every year!

Friday night was Alpha Phi's Black Widow date party. JFrad and I went as Miss Frizzle and Bill Nye. We had a great time with everyone at Thomas' apartment and then at O's Lounge for the date party. Here's to science!

On Saturday, Kelsey, Christina, and I got dressed up again to go downtown for the night! I was a cat, Kelsey was a devil, and Christina was Ryan Williams. I am so glad I got to spend the night with my Oakton girls.

It was so great having Kelsey come down from UVA and JFrad and Emmet come up from Clemson for Halloweekend. I had a full house, but we had lots of fun in Blacksburg celebrating Halloween. How are you celebrating your Halloween?

join the terminello tribe!

It's official! Homecoming campaigning at Virginia Tech is well underway. This past week Alpha Phi started spreading awareness of our campaign, "Join the Terminello Tribe, Vote Christine for Queen!".

I went to classes and organizations to speak, blew up our social media channels, launched my website, distributed almost all of the Terminello Tribe t-shirts and wore them everyday on campus, painted cars, and even launched this awesome YouTube video!



I feel so lucky and proud to be representing Alpha Phi and Virginia Tech on Homecoming Court this year. Every day of campaigning has gotten better and better and I am having SO MUCH FUN!

Yeah, homecoming is a lot of work. But when it comes down to it, this is such an awesome honor and opportunity and I am just going to continue having a blast and giving the Terminello Tribe all I've got!

ROLL TRIBE!

bring on the lasts

This weekend was really the first time it's sunk in that annual events that I have attended and loved for the past 4 years are winding down and becoming a "last". On Friday, I went to my last Alpha Phi Red Dress Gala as an Alpha Phi collegiate member. 

My parents came into town on Friday afternoon and we scurried off to Squires Commonwealth Ballroom for the Gala. This was my Dad's first time attending Red Dress Gala, and I was so happy to have both of them there to celebrate my senior year with Alpha Phi. 

We had never held Red Dress Gala in Squires before, but it ended up being the perfect venue! The decorations looked great, the food was delicious, the band was awesome, the silent auction was on point, and of course, everyone looked great in their red and black dresses.

I think everyone in attendance had an amazing and unforgettable night, and we even raised over $10,000 for the Alpha Phi Foundation. 

The next morning started off at 9:30am with a classic Johnson tailgate. My family and I all went over and enjoyed the delicious spread of tailgate food and drinks. A bunch of Alpha Phi seniors and their families were there and we hung out before the Hokies played Bowling Green at 12pm.

Of course my Dad loves to get to Lane Stadium early, so we left the tailgate around 11am to head over to watch the pregame pageantry. Although we had a rough start to the game, the Hokies took over and killed Bowling Green, 37-0. Not bad!

I feel so lucky to have had my family here with me this weekend to celebrate my last Red Dress Gala and Alpha Phi Parents Weekend. Why do we have to grow up so fast? I wish I could be a freshman and do it all over again. But I wouldn't want to change a thing!!

life is a highway

So last night I made a somewhat spontaneous 2 hour road trip up to Charlottesville for my best friend, Kelsey's, 21st birthday. We had been discussing this plan since summer, and luckily it all came together last week so that Katie and I would be able to meet up and stay with Kelsey at UVA for the night of her 21st.

Although the trip was short, we had an amazing time celebrating with Kelsey and her friends! We hung out at her apartment for awhile before heading to "the corner" to celebrate in true UVA fashion. And of course, we ended the night with cheesy bread. Katie and I were just so glad Kelsey had such a good night!

The true test of the trip, however, came this morning when I woke up and headed to the parking lot to get my car and hit the road back to Tech. As I was pulling out of my parking spot, a woman stopped me to tell me I had a flat tire. I had no idea what to do. I was in Charlottesville. Katie was already back at JMU. Kelsey was in class. So it was just me and the parking attendant.

Although this all may seem to be completely unlucky on my part...especially as a Hokie in the middle of Hooville, there was a lot of positive and good luck in this unfortunate event. Luckily I was warned of this flat tire before I got on the road. Luckily Jesse (parking attendant) was willing to help me change my flat tire. Luckily I had a spare tire in the trunk. Luckily I wasn't in a rush to make it back to class.

I do not want to point fingers or put blame where it may not be deserved, but there is something suspicious about my car's front tire going flat overnight in a UVA parking lot when my car is clearly marked as a Hokie girl's. At first...I'll admit it...I was furious. Why would this happen to me? Why today? Who did this to me? But I gathered myself and my frustrations, and Jesse (a UVA graduate might I add) changed my flat tire despite his preconceived "I don't know how I feel about doing a Hokie a favor" attitude.

And before I knew it, I was ready to head back home to Blacksburg. As I started driving, I got to thinking about all of the good I had already seen today. Sure enough, there are nice people in Charlottesville, and all over the world for that matter, that are willing to help without recognition.

The more I though about it, the more I realized just how much I needed this trip to visit my best friends for 12 short hours. I needed to be tested with a flat tire in a place where I knew no one. And I needed just a few hours to drive and think. To put all my worries away and to not be able to do anything for a short while.

Life is a highway, my friends. Enjoy the ride!

PINK TAKES TECH

After weeks of voting and competition against other colleges last semester, Virginia Tech came out on top to win the Victoria Secret PINK Tailgate Party! The party was set up on the Drillfield and it was a HUGE production. There was an awesome stage for Chiddy Bang and Gym Class Heroes, two of PINK's models walking around the Drillfield, a bunch of pink tailgate games like cornhole and football toss, a photo booth, and even an outdoor VT PINK store.

The party started around 5:00pm and went until around 10:00. Luckily, my professor let us out of our 5:00 class early to head down to the Drillfield to check it out. I met up with Talene first! We explored the Drillfield, got some free swag, and took a few pictures. 

Then I met up with Alli, Alexandra, and KJ once they were out of class and done with dinner. We sat at the picnic benches, drew on the big pink TECH letters, and danced around to the DJ. 

I didn't end up staying for the Gym Class Heroes concert, but I could hear it all they way in Oak Lane all night. Thanks, Victoria Secret PINK for coming to Tech! We had a great time!! 

ALSO, VS PINK recently had a contest among the VT sororities to win free PINK t-shirts to wear at next weekend's home football game. And Alpha Phi won! I can't wait to get my free t-shirt. ALPHA PHI LOVES PINK!

gameday reflections

Monday night's Orange Effect game in Lane Stadium was unlike any Hokie Football game I have ever experienced. I needed to write down my thoughts somewhere, and what better place than here? The day started out like this...

All my classes were cancelled due to "parking issues on campus" so I had all day to get fired up for the big game. I mean ALL DAY. Alli even curled my hair during our free time! 

I got all decked out in my orange Sports Marketing polo, khaki pants, maroon and orange accessories, and Hokie Nikes. I was ready to goooo.

I met the other Sports Marketing interns at the office in Cassell at 4:45 for our pregame meeting. We were assigned roles for both the pregame and during the game. And I was one of the lucky interns who got to stand on the sidelines the whole game!

My first pregame activity was to block off Spring Road for the pregame parade. Around 5:45 the football team, cheerleaders, HighTechs, Marching Virginians, and Highty Tighties march along Spring Road for all the fans to see! I had only ever seen this parade once before when my parents were in town, so it was really cool to be there to see it!!

After the parade, the interns and I headed up to the Media suite for our "Media Meal". We ate an awesome dinner with all of the media teams at the game. It was also great to just sit down and talk to the VT Sports Marketing Staff for a little bit before the madness started.

After dinner, Patrick and I went back to the office to run some errands and then escorted Caleb Hurd to the field. Caleb was a former VT Hokie football player and currently works for NASCAR in Dale Earnhardt's pit crew. He read the Hokies Respect motto at the beginning of the game!

Before I knew it, Enter Sandman was blasting in Lane Stadium and the whole place was jumping. I have never seen a crowd like that in my life...all dressed in orange and SCREAMING for the Hokies! It is definitely a memory I will keep forever. I wish everyone could experience what it's like to be on the field during Enter Sandman.

Throughout the game, the other interns and I had various tasks that we were assigned to including StubHub's move of the game, the halftime presentation, etc. But the majority of the game we got to spend standing on the sidelines watching our Hokies. We even made it on ESPN a time or two!

Although the game was at times very stressful and uneventful, it ended up in overtime with a win for the Hokies! At first I was hesitant about being on the field for my last first game as an undergrad. Not getting to tailgate with my friends, not sitting in North End Zone for the first time ever, not being able to jump to Enter Sandman and scream my lungs out during key plays. But I truly am so thankful I have this opportunity to intern with Virginia Tech Athletics. I will certainly not take a moment of this experience for granted!

ORANGE EFFECT!

It's finally here! Game day in Blacksburg. Tonight we take on Georgia Tech in Lane Stadium at 8:00!!

Campus is rockin' out in orange and maroon. Tailgate tents have been up since the crack of dawn. Enter Sandman is on repeat as we gear up for kickoff.
WE. ARE. READY.

And to top it all off, tonight I will be ON THE SIDELINES as a VT Sports Marketing Intern. Look out, ESPN!

LET'S GO HOKIES!!!

the best advice

A Love Letter to College Freshmen.

Everyone should read this. Freshman or senior, and everything in between! This is the best advice anyone could ever give a college student. ENJOY!

the BEST first day ever

Senior year is already off to a great start! I knew it would be good, but who knew it would be THIS good? Here is a breakdown of my day.

I woke up around 10am (after briefly waking up at 7:45 to send KJ off to her first day at her new internship).  I hopped in the shower around 11 and got ready to go on campus by noon! I met up with a neighbor from home, Jeannie, who is a freshman now at Tech. We ate at Hokie Grill and it was awesome getting to hear about her first experiences at VT.

From there, I went to Pamplin to meet my new adviser! She and I went over my class schedule and got to know each other a little bit. I am definitely on the right track to graduate in May, don't worry Mom and Dad!

My first and only class on Mondays is at 2:30pm, so I had a little time after my adviser meeting before my class started. So I went outside and sat on the Drillfield. It was the perfect day in Blacksburg today! Then I went to my International Marketing class, which only lasted about 30 minutes since all we did was go over the syllabus. That's my kind of first day!

So it was 3:15pm when I first entered Virginia Tech's newest dining hall, Turner Place. I walked in and it felt like I was in Disney World! I met up with Alli at the Jamba Juice line, and then met my little for dinner. We decided to try the new hibachi grill, Origami, since it opened at 4 and we were right on time!

We were the second table ever to be served at Origami! What an amazing experience!! We had an awesome chef who definitely made us laugh AND cooked the best vegetables, fried rice, and chicken I could have ever dreamed of. And we got to meet 8 new friends sitting around the hibachi grill. My stomach is smiling just thinking about it! I'm so glad little and I took advantage of Turner Place this afternoon. I don't know the next time we won't need to make a reservation or stand in line for 45+ minutes at Origami.

Since dinner, I have just been relaxing at the Alpha Phi house. We have our first House Girl meeting in an hour followed by our first Alpha Phi Exec meeting of the semester. I can only hope the rest of my week is equally as great as today has been. Here's to senior year!

gearing up for SENIOR YEAR

Well, it's as official as it will ever be! Today is my last first day of school. Senior year feels so bittersweet. I don't even know how to describe all the emotions going through me right now. I am excited, nervous, anxious, and very, very sentimental.

The past few days have already been unforgettable ones as I have geared up for the start of senior year. I have seen friends and sisters who I have missed terribly the past 3 months, I have moved into the presidential suite of the VT Alpha Phi house with my favorite friend KJ, I have enjoyed downtown Blacksburg with my fellow Hokies, and I even started my new job with VT Athletics as a Sports Marketing Intern yesterday at the VT Football Autograph Signing and Hokie Hi Spirit Picnic.

I now know how fast your college years fly by at Virginia Tech, and elsewhere! So my advice to any college student is don't sweat the small stuff. Take in every moment. Every laugh, every lunch date, every late night phone call. Every meeting, every bus ride, every walk across campus. These are the best 4 years of your life! I know this for a fact. And I cannot wait to see what my last year has in store! I know it's going to be the best of the best.

BRING IT ON, SENIOR YEAR!

my summer with SCA

So I know I should have written this post MONTHS ago when my internship with the Student Conservation Association ended in June, but I just haven't had the time to sit down and reflect on my experience until now.

The first 6 weeks of summer I spent commuting to Arlington to work as a Marketing Intern for the SCA. Mrs. Reimann, one of my Mom's close friends, worked some magic and landed me this internship with the Arlington office. I was so grateful that they took me in and allowed me to work for them, essentially creating my own intern program.

Throughout my 6 weeks, I worked on many different projects. I started off working on the SCA's summer programs for high school and college students. I used travel sites to book planes all over the nation for the students, managed excel sheets, emails, and annual reports, and worked on the students' training materials and packages.

A few weeks later, the SCA had me exploring their new social network, jointhesca.org. I created a page for myself and started building content from there. I went through thousands of pictures from past SCA events to upload to the page, helped the D.C. network grow, and helped SCA alum get connected to the site.

My favorite and final project, however, was assisting the VP of Marketing in the planning and execution of SCA's 55th Anniversary Day of Service and Reception. Together, Jamie and I picked the venue, worked with the caterers, managed the VIP and RSVP lists, and did everything in between to make the event absolutely amazing!

June 26th was my last day as an SCA intern, and I couldn't imagine a more perfect ending than the SCA 55th Anniversary celebration! I learned more than I could have ever imagined by working for this non-profit for 6 short weeks. And I cannot wait to use the experience I gained at the SCA in my future Marketing career!!

BULLIN'

For the past 3 days I was at the LARGEST session of Hokie Camp ever, serving as a counselor for the RED BULLS. We stayed at a 4-H camp in Smith Mountain Lake and had way too much fun!! My building group (McComas) consisted of 12 awesome campers: Andrew, Cory, Heather, Emily, Sarah, Kelli, Jair, Katharina, Kyle, Eddie, Grayson, Nate. Words cannot even begin to describe how great these campers are! They are going to do BIG THINGS at Virginia Tech. 

Throughout the 3 days at camp, we did a lot of team building, went canoeing and kayaking on the lake, learned about VT traditions, had countless dance parties, created some bullin' cheers, played some intense games of dodgeball and ultimate frisbee and of course, made life-long friendships! 

Hokie Camp was hands down the best way to end my summer! I love getting to see the transformation of new students over the course of those short 3 days at camp. I feel so honored to be a part of their freshman year experience. And now we are all back on campus together to start off this fall semester!!!

Welcome to Virginia Tech, Class of 2016!