2012 Winter Carnival Queens Competition! Photo Courtesy of: Jess Banda

We have reached the end of another chapter as the festivities and fun of Winter Carnival 2012 come to a close. For those of you that had the opportunity to visit Michigan Tech over Winter Carnival, I hope this last week has left you with great memories, and I hope you enjoyed all of the activities that took place!

In review of the past week’s events, on Saturday, February 4, the eight Winter Carnival Queen Candidates took the stage at the Rozsa Center at the annual Queen’s Coronation ceremony. On stage, the candidates answered interview questions and each performed a talent. Candidates skillfully incorporated this year’s Winter Carnival theme, “From All Over the State What Makes Michigan Great,” into their talent presentations. Talents ranged from dancing and singing to theatrical performances and various tunes played on instruments. The Queen’s Coronation ended with Ms. Melissa Hawks being crowned the 2012 Winter Carnival Queen.

Photo Courtesy of: Michigan Tech

The All-Nighter began on Wednesday, February 8 at 4:00 p.m. as students hurriedly began working on their snow statues. Students working on month-long statues spent the All-Nighter putting fine details and finishing touches on their statues. Students working on one-nighter statues spent the evening laboring away—trying to shape and detail a snow statue in less than 16 hours. It is truly amazing to see what Michigan Tech students can do in just a few hours with a bunch of snow, water, butter knives, and irons!

I strongly encourage you to take a look at the image gallery of the 2012 Winter Carnival Statues. In addition to working on snow statues, there were several fun activities for students to take part in during the All-Nighter. With all the delicious food, an outdoor dance party, and broomball, students never lacked something to do to keep them awake all night long!

On the morning of Thursday, February 9, the completed statues were judged based on their connection to the winter carnival theme, first impression, the description that accompanies the statue, the statue’s title lettering, artistic value, effort, intricacy, neatness, and even on how white the snow is. For a complete listing of the statue rankings for the one-nighter and month-long statues in each division, check out the 2012 Winter Carnival site.

Thursday through Saturday, students, families, faculty, staff, and community members spent time walking around campus and looking at the snow statues. In addition to viewing the snow statues there were several broomball games taking place, campus and residence hall tours for campus visitors, sleigh rides, dog-sled rides, the Bigfoot Snowshoe Event, and much more.

On Saturday, February 11 the Torch Light Parade took place on Mont Ripley, followed by a beautiful fireworks display. At 9 p.m. the much-anticipated Winter Carnival Awards Ceremony took place in the Memorial Union Building Commons. The Stage Revue, Queen’s Competition, Statues, and Special Events scores were combined to determine who the overall Winter Carnival winner is.

Please feel free to email me at seallen@mtu.edu with any questions, comments, or suggestions you may have. Don’t forget to check back for next week’s article in which I will be writing about spring break.

Samantha Allen

2011 Snow Statue

Preparations for Winter Carnival are underway! The theme of this year’s Winter Carnival, “From All Over the State, What Makes Michigan Great,“ is already inspiring some creative snow statues. Students preparing for Winter Carnival are certainly pleased with the cold temperatures and daily snowfalls because it provides them with the perfect conditions to work on the month-long snow statues. According to the Keweenaw Research Center Weather Station Snow Measurements, there has already been thirty-eight inches of snowfall this month.

Winter Carnival week runs from February 5 to 11. I’m sure most of you have heard or maybe even seen some of the great Winter Carnival activities. For those of you who may not know, Winter Carnival is more than just amazing, skillfully constructed snow statues. It is really a month of great fun!

This year’s Winter Carnival Special Events will begin Sunday, February 5, with a curling competition at the Calumet Drill House. From February 5 to 11, there will be a variety of Winter Carnival Special Events that students can take part in. From snow volleyball to sleigh rides and ice bowling, there is a special event for everyone to enjoy. The special events are always a lot of fun, and are a great opportunity for your students to see what Michigan Tech Winter Carnival is all about. For a complete listing of the week’s special events, check out the Winter Carnival Schedule of Events.

2011 Queen Candidates

On Saturday, February 4, the Winter Carnival Queen’s Coronation will be held in the Rozsa Center at 7 p.m. During this time, the eight queen candidates will perform a talent and take part in an on-stage interview. The Winter Carnival Queen will be chosen based on her interview, talent performance, and a student vote. Students may vote for the candidate of their choice on Wednesday, February 1 and Thursday, February 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Memorial Union Building or Fisher Hall. The candidate crowned Winter Carnival Queen 2012 will have various responsibilities throughout Winter Carnival, including judging statues, attending events, and riding the Zamboni at a hockey game. For more information about this year’s candidates, check out the Queen’s page of the Winter Carnival website.

Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or suggestions you may have.

Samantha Allen
seallen@mtu.edu

2011 Winter Carnival Queen: Ms. Lydia Patch.

We have reached the end of another chapter as the festivities and fun of Winter Carnival 2011 come to a close.  For those of you that had the opportunity to visit Michigan Tech over Winter Carnival, I hope this last week has left you with great memories and I hope you enjoyed all of the activities that took place!  In review of the past week’s events, on Saturday, February 4, the eight Winter Carnival Queen Candidates took the stage at the Rozsa Center at the Queen’s Coronation.  On stage the candidates answered interview questions, performed talents, and did a fantastic group dance.  Candidates skillfully incorporated this year’s Winter Carnival theme, “Thousands of Pages Unfold in the Bitter Cold” into their talent presentations with the talents ranging from a lasso demonstration, to jazz dances, to theatrical performances, to various tunes played on instruments.  The Queen’s Coronation ended with Ms. Lydia Patch being crowned as the 2011 Winter Carnival Queen.

The All-Nighter began on Wednesday, February 9 at 4:00 p.m. as students hurriedly began working on their snow statues.  Students working on month-long statues spent the All-Nighter putting fine details and finishing touches on their statues.  Students working on one-nighter statues spent the evening laboring away trying to shape and detail a snow statue in less than 16 hours. It is truly amazing to see what Michigan Tech students can do in just a few hours with a bunch of snow, water, butter knives, and irons! I strongly encourage you to take a look at the image gallery of the 2011 Winter Carnival Statues.  For more information about All-Nighter and statue building check out the article “Snow Statue Building:  An Insider”. In addition to working on snow statues, there were several fun activities for students to take part in during the All-Nighter.  Between all the delicious food, an outdoor dance party, free ice skating, and a band bash, students were never at a lack of things to do to keep them awake all night long!

2011 Month-long Fraternity Statue Winner "Narnia is Frozen Until Four Royalty are Chosen"

On the morning of Thursday, February 10, the Winter Carnival statues were judged based on relation to the winter carnival theme, first impression, the description that accompanies the statue, lettering, artistic value, effort, intricacy, neatness, and even how white the snow is.  For a complete listing of the statue rankings for the one-nighter and month-long statues in each division, check out the 2011 Winter Carnival site.  Thursday through Saturday students, families, faculty, staff, and community members spent time walking around campus and looking at the phenomenal snow statues.  In addition to viewing the snow statues there were several broomball games taking place as well as campus tours, residence hall tours, sleigh rides, dog-sled rides, the Bigfoot Snowshoe Event, and much more.

On Friday, February 11 and Saturday, February 12 our Michigan Tech Huskies Hockey team faced off against Bemidji State.  Michigan Tech tied with Bemidji State on Friday, ending with a score of 2-2.  Michigan Tech lost to Bemidji State on Saturday, when Bemidji scored with 1:33 minutes left in the game, resulting in a 0-1 loss for the Huskies.  Highlights of the Bemidji State series can be found on the athletics page.

On Saturday, February 12 the Torch Light Parade took place on Mont Ripley followed by a beautiful fireworks display.  At 9 p.m. the much anticipated Winter Carnival Awards Ceremony took place in the MUB Commons.  The Stage Revue, Queen’s Competition, Statues, and Special Events scores are combined to determine who the overall Winter Carnival winner is.  This year Phi Kappa Tau won Winter Carnival overall with Air Force ROTC placing second, and Sigma Phi Epsilon placing third.  Now that Winter Carnival 2011 is complete students are anxiously awaiting the announcement of the theme for Winter Carnival 2012!

Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or suggestions you may have.  Don’t forget to check back for next week’s article in which I will be writing about the upcoming spring break.

Students working away on a month-long statue.

This weekend the construction on month-long statues will continue and the Queen’s Coronation will take place as the pages of Winter Carnival 2011 continue to unfold.  In last week’s article I shared with you the events happening throughout the next week leading up to Winter Carnival.   In this week’s article, I would like to highlight the Winter Carnival events that will take place February 9-12. Students, family members, and community members can enjoy and participate in several activities throughout the extended weekend.

All-Nighter

On Wednesday, February 9, after classes are done for the day, students will head out to the statue sites and prepare to work through the night to make, what they hope, will be an award winning statue.  Many students have been working on month-long statues since they returned to Michigan Tech from winter break.  For these students, the All-Nighter will be spent putting fine details and finishing touches on their statues.   For the students who choose to work on a one-nighter statue, the evening will be spent laboring away trying to shape and detail a snow statue in just 16 hours.  It is truly amazing to see what our Michigan Tech students can do in just a few hours with a bunch of snow, water, butter knives, and irons!  To be on campus during the All-Nighter is truly a unique experience: the sight of students working away on snow statues, the smell of delicious chili and deep fried twinkies, and the sound several fun events taking place last all night long.  One enjoyable event sponsored by the Inter-Residence Hall Council is free ice skating on the broomball rinks.  The Cocoa Shack located near the broomball rinks will also be open for students to grab a warm cup of cocoa.

Continuing the Competition

On Thursday, February 10, construction on statues will stop at 8 a.m., and statue judging will begin at 9 a.m.  For the rest of the Winter Carnival recess, campus will be packed with visitors coming to look at the elaborate snow statues in their final form. In addition to the snow statue competition, there are several other competitive events that student organizations can take part in. Winter Carnival Special Events began last weekend and are continuing throughout the next two weeks. Some of the special events happening over Winter Carnival recess include snow volleyball, human dog-sled, tug-o-war, downhill skiing, and snowboarding.  Two very unique special events that will also take place are the Beards Competition and Stage Revue.  The Beards Competition is a skit performance in which gentleman who have been growing their beard since early December try to impress the judges with their beards, goatees, and sideburns with the help of funny costumes, skits, and songs.  Stage Revue performances are humorous skits that were put together by student organizations back in December, and they are a lot of fun to watch.  The students performing in Stage Revue have been practicing for almost two months and will be performing in the Rozsa Center on Thursday evening.

Sleigh Rides, Tours, Fireworks, and More!

Winter Carnival 2010 Queen Candidates taking a sleigh ride.

Throughout the Winter Carnival recess there will be several fun activities for students, family members, and community members.

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 9 a.m., sleigh rides will be available near the east entrance of Douglass Houghton Hall and at 12 p.m., Eskimo Banded Alaskin Malamutes and Sled Dog Rescue will offer dog-sled rides.

On Friday and Saturday, fans can cheer on the Huskies as the Michigan Tech hockey team takes on Bemidji State at the MacInnes Ice Arena.  Friday’s game will begin at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday’s game will begin at 5:07 p.m.

On Saturday, February 12 the Bigfoot Snowshoe Event, sponsored by Counseling and Wellness Services, HOWL, and the Outdoor Adventure Program, will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Bigfoot Snowshoe is an opportunity for Michigan Tech students, family members, and community members to take a walk on the 2K, 4K, or 6K trail located at the Michigan Tech Trails.  Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Student Development Complex‘s wood gym.  Loaner snowshoes will be available.  All participants will receive a long-sleeve t-shirt and will be entered into a raffle prize drawing.

For the students and visitors that may be looking at statues on Saturday, a free photo opportunity will be offered.  Student photographers will be taking free photos for students and visitors by the broomball statue located near the broomball rinks from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Broomball gear will be available to pose with.  Photographs will be available for download at http://gallery.me.com/mtu_compass.

Also taking place on Saturday, Housing and Residential Life and Admissions will be offering tours.  Tours of the new student apartment building, Hillside Place, and the residence halls will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m with tours leaving from the residence hall lobbies.  Campus tours will depart from the J. R. Van Pelt and Opie Library at 12, 1, and 2 p.m.

Winter Carnival 2011 will come to a close on Saturday evening.  At 8:30 p.m. the Torch Light Parade will take parade on Mont Ripley followed by a fireworks display.  At 9 p.m. the much anticipated Winter Carnival Awards Ceremony will take place in the MUB Commons and students will learn who the overall winner of Winter Carnival is.  The awards ceremony will be followed by the annual Snowball dance.

For a complete listing of Blue Key Winter Carnival Events check out the 2011 Event Schedule.

Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or suggestions you may have.  Don’t forget to check back for next week’s article in which I will be writing about the upcoming Spring Career Fair.

2010 month-long fraternity statue winner, Phi Kappa Tau.

The theme of this year’s Winter Carnival, “Thousands of Pages Unfold in the Bitter Cold”, is rather fitting with the chilly temperatures and several inches of snow that Houghton has been graced with the past couple weeks.  Students that are preparing for Winter Carnival 2011 are pleased with the cold temperatures and daily snowfalls because it provides them with the perfect conditions to work on the month-long snow statues.  According to the Keweenaw Research Center Weather Station Snow Measurements, there are 42 inches of accumulated snow on the ground.

The official dates of Winter Carnival 2011 are February 9-12.  I’m sure most of you have heard or maybe even seen some of the great Winter Carnival activities; however, for those of you who may not know, Winter Carnival is more than just amazing, skillfully constructed snow statues, it is really a month of great fun!

The special event, Yooper Sprint, requires students to race in one snowshoe and one cross country ski.

This year’s Winter Carnival Special Events will begin this Saturday, January  29 with a curling competition at the Calumet Drill House. From January 29 through February 11, there will be a variety of Winter Carnival Special Events that students can take part in.  From snow volleyball to ice fishing and ice bowling, there is a special event for everyone to enjoy.  The special events are a lot of fun to participate in or to watch.  This is a great opportunity for your students to see what Michigan Tech Winter Carnival is all about.  For  a complete listing of this week’s special events check out the Winter Carnival Schedule of Events.

As a 2010 Winter Carnival Queen Candidate, I had the opportunity to perform a talent at the Rozsa Center last year.

On Saturday, February 5 the Winter Carnival Queen’s Coronation will be held in the Rozsa Center from 7:30 p.m.-12 a.m. During this time the eight queen candidates will perform a talent and take part in an onstage interview.  Winter Carnival Queen 2011 will be chosen based on her interview, talent performance, and a student vote.  Student’s may vote for the candidate of their choice on Wednesday, February 2 and Thursday, February 3 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Memorial Union Building or Fisher Hall. The candidate crowned Winter Carnival Queen 2011 will have various responsibilities throughout Winter Carnival, including judging statues, attending events, and what would be my favorite part, riding the Zamboni at the hockey game against Bemidji State. For more information about this year’s candidates, check out the Queen’s page of the Winter Carnival website.

This weekend, to kick off the approaching Winter Carnival activities, there will be two hockey games in which the Huskies will face off against Wisconsin. Friday and Saturday nights’ games will begin at 7:07 p.m.  If your student is not too busy working on a snow statue, I recommend that they get tickets to the game, and go out and cheer on our Huskies!

Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or suggestions you may have.  Don’t forget to check back for next week’s article in which I will be writing about more activities that students, family members, and community members can participate in during Winter Carnival.

Huskies Hockey with the 2010 Winter Carnival Title Trophy.

The festivities and fun of Winter Carnival 2010 are coming to a close but what great memories this past week has left us with! This Friday and Saturday our Michigan Tech Huskies Hockey team faced off against No. 6 Minnesota Duluth. Michigan Tech won Friday’s game 3-1 and battled to the end on Saturday losing 2-3. Michigan Tech earned the Winter Carnival title for the first time since 2007 with their 5-4 total goal advantage this weekend. Highlights of the Minnesota Duluth series can be found on the athletics page. Also taking place in sports this past week were wins by our Men’s and Women’s basketball team against Tiffin and Ashland.

Phi Kappa Tau's winning statue in the fraternity division.

In addition to an exciting weekend of Husky Athletics many students spent their Thursday and Friday off from class spending time with friends and family and taking a look at the phenomenal snow statues. Students worked through the night on Wednesday with their student organizations on the snow statues. At 8 a.m. on Thursday morning the statues were judged based on first impression, the description that accompanies the statue, lettering, artistic value, effort, intricacy, proportion, neatness, whiteness of snow, and it’s relation to the winter carnival theme. For a complete listing of the first through third place statue winners for the one-nighter and month-long statues in each division check out the 2010 Winter Carnival site.

Upcoming Spring Career Fair

Now that students are heading back to class after a refreshing Winter Carnival recess it is time to get focused and start thinking about landing that summer internship or co-op. The 2010 Spring Career Fair will take place on Tuesday, February 16 from 12 p.m.-6 p.m. in the Student Development Complex. Currently there are 98 companies registered for the Career Fair and with the event a week away, more companies are continuing to register everyday. To view information about the companies currently registered for the Spring Career Fair check out this Registered Employers link.

Michigan Tech Career Services has been very busy planning this year’s Career Fair as well as helping students prepare for the big day. The past couple weeks the Career Services held a Resume Blitz in the Memorial Union Building Commons and in the Residence Halls in which students could bring their resumes to Career Services Staff who would look them over and provide some helpful tips. This week Career Services is hosting Interview Skills Week in which students can schedule appointments to practice interviewing. This is a great opportunity for students to get more familiar with what an interview process may be like and also to get vital feedback. Students may participate in Interview Skills Week by registering for a one-on-one appointment with Career Services Staff on the Career Services website or by visiting the Harold Meese Building.

Michigan Tech Career Services host lots of great events throughout the year to help students with career development and job placement. Events range from the Resume Blitz and the Interview Skills Week mentioned above to a Dining Etiquette Dinner, Networking Skills session, and Negotiating Job Offers meeting. A complete list of events offered by Career Services can be found on the Career Center’s Online Calendar.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please feel free to email me. Have a great week! -Angela

A Month Long Statue in progress.

With this lovely Wednesday afternoon marking the beginning of Michigan Tech’s famous Winter Carnival All-Nighter, the students have headed out to the statue sites and they are ready to work their way through the night, making what they hope will be an award winning statue. Many students have been working since they returned to Michigan Tech this semester on month long statues. For them, the All-Nighter will be spent putting fine details on their statues. Many students who don’t chose to work a month long statue choose to work on the one night statues. For the students who choose to work on the one night statues their All-Nighter will be spent laboring away trying to shape and detail a snow statue in just 16 hours. It truly is amazing what our Michigan Tech students can do in just a few hours with a bunch of snow, water, butterknives, and irons!

Students competing in the Yooper Sprint Special Event.

Tomorrow statue judging will take place at 8 a.m. and the winners will be determined. In addition to the competition of who can build the best statue there are several other competitive events that the student organizations take part in. Winter Carnival Special Events began last weekend and are continuing throughout this weekend. Some of the Special Events that took place last weekend include ice bowling, snow volleyball, broomball, curling, and icefishing. Tomorrow the competitions continue with the Beards Competition, Banner Contest, and Stage Revue. The Beards Competition is a skit performance in which gentleman who have been growing their beards since early December try to impress the judges with their beards, goatees, and sideburns with the addition of funny costumes, skits, and songs. The Stage Revue Performances are also a lot of fun to watch. Stage Revue Performances are humorous skits that are put together by student organizations back in December. The students performing in Stage Revue have been practicing for almost two months now to be ready to perform in the Rozsa Center on Thursday night.

Students participating in the Special Event Ice Bowling.

On Friday and Saturday the Special Events continue with downhill skiing, snowboarding, tug-o-war, and much more. For a complete listing of this weekend’s events check out the 2010 Winter Carnival Schedule. Winter Carnival 2010 will wrap up on Saturday evening with the Torch Light Parade beginning at 8:30 p.m. on Mount Ripley followed by a fireworks display. At 9 p.m. in the MUB Commons the Awards Ceremony will take place and the student organizations will find out who is the overall winner of Winter Carnival is!

For those of you parents who have traveled up here for Winter Carnival I hope you have a fantastic time! As for those of you were not able to make the venture to our little winter wonderland tell your students to take lots of photos! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please feel free to email me. Check back for next week’s article, I will be writing about the Winter Carnival results and the upcoming Career Fair.

2010 Winter Carnival Queen Candidates

Hello!  I hope you all were able to enjoy a relaxing Winter Break.  I bet it was nice to spend some time with that special student of yours!  I know I really enjoyed the opportunity I had over Winter Break to spend time with friends and family.  I spent my Winter Break snowshoeing, playing games, and learning how to ski.  As a Queen Candidate for this year’s Winter Carnival Queen’s Competition, I spent some of my break preparing for the interviews that are coming up and preparing the talent I will perform at Queen’s Coronation on Saturday, January 30th.  I am very excited to represent Michigan Tech as a Queen’s Candidate this year!

In addition, to spending time with loved ones, having fun, and prepping for Winter Carnival I also spent the last week of Winter Break in Alberta, MI at the Ford Center for the LeaderShape Institute®.  LeaderShape® is an intensive week-long leadership development experience that is designed to help students to “lead with integrity.” Students work in large and small groups as they learn and teach one another through interactive lectures, activities, and discussions.  I attended LeaderShape® last year as a participant and was blown away with all that I learned and all the wonderful Michigan Tech students I met.

This year's LeaderShape® faculty.

I decided this fall that one week of the LeaderShape Institute just wasn’t enough for me, so I applied for the On-Site Coordinator position which would allow me to return to LeaderShape® this year.  As the selected On-Site Coordinator for this year’s LeaderShape Institute® I had the opportunity to assist with all the behind the scenes work that goes into making the week a success.  I am so grateful I had the opportunity to experience the 15th year of LeaderShape® being a part of the Michigan Tech campus!  Even after two years of LeaderShape® I am still amazed by the passion Michigan Tech students have for impacting the world in a positive way as they strive to “lead with integrity”.

If you think your student may be interested in attending LeaderShape® next year, I would encourage them to watch for the posters that come out early in the Fall semester with information on applying.  Typically 50-60 students are accepted to attend Michigan Tech’s session of the LeaderShape Institute® and the Institute usually takes place during the last week of Winter Break.  Please feel free to email me with any questions you may have about the LeaderShape Institute®!

Be sure to check back throughout the semester for the weekly articles. Throughout the next couple weeks I will be writing about Broomball, Winter Carnival, and how to be a successful student this spring.  Here’s to the start of another great semester filled with new opportunities, fun activities, and  exciting Michigan Tech traditions!