Students Express Themselves Through Poetry

Students gathered to celebrate poetry and literature at Collins' Spoken Word Night last week. Several students read their own original work. The night was a mix of funny and serious poetry and short stories. It was great to see how creative other Collinsites were.
One student, Michael, read a poem by, according to him, "our generation's greatest poet." He did a hilarious rendition of "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga. It was a fun night and a great opportunity for students to show off their work and get positive feedback. I'm no poet myself, but I'm always glad to cheer on my fellow students.

A Lovely Day for a Game of Quidditch

A student plays "keeper" and guards the goalposts.

Hogwarts week is over. Yesterday was the big finale, the annual Quidditch Match. The orange team and the white team came out in all their caped glory to fight it out for the Quidditch Cup

The referee and "The Golden Snitch"

Quidditch here in the "muggle" world is like a mixture of tag, dodge ball and ultimate Frisbee. You get points by tossing the Frisbee through the round goalposts but it you get hit with a "bludger" you have to turn the Frisbee over to the other team. All the while, a player wearing all yellow is running around as the snitch. Whoever tags him gets a lot of points and as I understand it most likely wins.


The game was pretty chaotic, but it was fun. I think the only way everyone could have looked sillier running around in their capes was if they actually had brooms between their legs. "That's how the hardcore people play" says Hannah Boresow one of the players for the orange team. Hannah's team took home the prize at the end of the game and their celebration could be heard throughout Collins.

Hogwarts week has come to a close, but I'm sure everyone at Collins will remember it fondly. Especially the members of the orange team who have secured their bragging rights until Hogwarts Week 2010 rolls around. I know I can't wait.

Students Spend A Week At Hogwarts

It's that's time of the year again, Hogwarts Week is here!! Once a year Collins turns into a magical place.The halls are decorated with banners for each of the "houses" and floating candles hang from the ceiling. The Edmonson Dinning Hall becomes "The Great Hall" and the laundry room turns into "The Chamber of Secrets".

Yesterday were the opening ceremonies. Students in costumes earned extra points for their "house". Which ever "house" has the most points at the end of the week wins the House Cup. There were wizarding robes and wands everywhere. Later that night there was a wand making workshop and a lecture on "ancient runes" (A linguistics professor talking about Harry Potter).


Opening ceremonies got the students for excited for the week. Which will include many Harry Potter themed events including a scavenger hunt, a wizard concert and on Saturday a game of Quidditch. Hogwarts Week is always a ton of fun. It almost makes you believe in magic.

Celebrate Halloween by Painting a Pumpkin

Students at Collins celebrated Halloween by dressing up and painting gourds and pumpkins. All day students walked around in their coustumes getting ready for the big night. There was a Halloween party in the coffee house during the day and it continued into the night. There pumpkin painting, hot cider and of course candy. It was a great way to hangout with fellow students and get in the festive mood. Plus, some of the costumes were hilarious like Marge Simpson and a space shuttle.