A Year in the Life of Mary Jane Sweetland

Winning Weekend

I woke up to another beautiful day today!  Every day gets nicer and nicer here in Canton.  This weekend was amazing- everyone on campus was outside all weekend.  Friday and Saturday we had two really important games that decided whether or not we'd go to the Liberty League tournament.  We won both!

Our four lacrosse seniors celebrate senior day in the locker room before Saturday's game

On Friday we played a close game with RPI and went all the way to double over time, but we won in sudden death 12-11.  Saturday was our senior day because it was our last home game of the season.  We decorated the locker room and stands in celebration of our seniors.  Before the announcer read the line-up for each team he introduced the senior Saints and talked about some of their interests and accomplishments here at St. Lawrence.  After the game we had a little ceremony on the field for one of our first years, Kaitlyn Fahsel, to swear into the ROTC program with all of our team there.  It was a really nice way to end the regular season, especially since we won that game and now we're going to the Liberty League!

Teammates getting ready for St. Lawrence Star Search performance in the gym

I'm really proud of our team for pulling off three important league wins in a row.  I'm also proud of the character and bond our team has off the field.  Last week we participated in the Student Athletic Advisory Committee's Star Search, which is like a talent competition for varsity teams that raises money for charity.  Our team performed what I guess we called a "dance" when  really it might have just looked like us running and jumping around in our stadium jackets.  No matter what we're doing everyone always shows up to support the team.  I'm really glad our season will continue at least two more weeks.

The Dean Eaters take the softball field Sunday afternoon

Another part of this winning weekend was a big win by my intramural softball team.  The "Dean Eaters" (because we all live in Dean Eaton residence) are 3-0 as of yesterday in the coed intramural softball league. I didn't realize how much I would love being mediocre at softball.  It's so much fun!  I'm getting better every game, though.  Last night I contributed to an out (almost made a second out but I dropped the ball right out of my glove...) and had two base hits.  I'm proud of myself.

This week should be a good one.  We had a visiting poet, Selfa Chew, come to our Latin American Literature class today to talk to us about the relationship between history, politics, and literature.  She brought up some discussions relevant to her being a female and also Chinese-Mexican writer.  Tomorrow she will give a reading in Herring-Cole which my class will attend.  This week is also senior week for Delta!  Lots of activities towards the end of the week including our spring formal on Saturday! Lots to look forward to!

Slow pitch:  Courtney pitching for the Dean Eaters on Sunday

Spring Thaw in Canton

All of a sudden the snow banks are disappearing!  I'm very excited to announce St. Lawrence's first week of flip-flop wearing weather.  It all started this past weekend.  We had a beautiful sunny Saturday here on campus.  It was Father-Daughter weekend for Delta Delta Delta and we had two home games for lacrosse.   The weather couldn't have been nicer to play (or watch) lacrosse.

Tri-Delta's Cookout for the Cure at our women's lacrosse game on Saturday

While we were busy on the field, Delta girls and their dads set up a tailgate to raise money for St. Jude's Research Hospital.  It was an enormous success!   Some dads helped with the grilling and we had Delta t-shirts for sale and even a C.K. Bradley trunk show (literally out of the back of our president's car).  Though I wasn't a direct part of the tailgate I certainly appreciated all of the support of my Delta sisters at our game that day and all of the other fans that the tailgate brought in.  What a good Saturday.

Sunday was just as nice as Saturday!  We had a brunch at Delta for all of the families that came up for the weekend.  It was fun because my pledge class was in charge of cooking, so I got to cook all of the scrambled eggs.  It turned out to be about seven or eight dozen eggs that I scrambled that morning!  Needless to say I left the house feeling very accomplished (and very full).

When I got back to campus my roommates and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and enjoy a Sunday stroll around campus.  When passing by the golf course we came across an oversize walking stick which seemed absolutely necessary for our walk.  So Courtney led us around campus with the huge stick, which is now sitting in our room because we liked it so much.

Courtney and the walking stick, strolling around campus Sunday afternoon

The week started off busy as usual with classes and lacrosse.  On Tuesday night I went to St. Lawrence's annual Piskor Faculty Lecture because this year's speaker happened to be my advisor and Spanish professor , Steven White.   Dr. White's lecture  was about Latin American poetry and how it's related to Latin American ecology, focusing on several trees and rivers.  It was nice to see the product of one of my professor's hard work and to see the community's interest and support.

I love springtime at St. Lawrence because the weather is not wasted on a single person.  Everyone eats lunch at the tables outside of the student center and plays frisbee or wiffle ball in the quad.  I'm look forward to more Sunday strolls and playing lacrosse in some more nice weather.  I'm off to the admissions office now, more to come soon!

My roommates Courtney and Stanzi on our Sunday walk

Back from Spring Break

I'd hoped to come back to campus to find springtime, but as always, we're late bloomers when it comes to spring weather in Canton.  My spring break was spent

St. Lawrence women's lacrosse in West Palm Beach, FL

in West Palm Beach, FL where I got to enjoy a bit of warm weather and lots of good lacrosse.  We had a really good time getting to know each other better and we won all three of our games.  I could not imagine a more successful trip!

Each day in Florida we had either a practice or game after which we would eat lunch and have some free time.  We did some shopping, swam in the pool, went to the beach, and drank lots and lots of water.  After our last game on Friday (an overtime win!) we all piled in the vans and headed back to the hotel.  When we got there the coaches told us they had a surprise for us.  All we needed was a bathing suit.

We got back in the vans not knowing where we'd go and fifteen minutes later we pulled into the parking lot at a dock.  Our surprise was that they had chartered a huge catamaran for us to take a three hour cruise around the harbor!   It was the perfect end to such a fun week.

Some laxers drinking milkshakes in Florida (the guy that worked at the shop liked us so much he came to one of our games!)

Things have been pretty chaotic ever since we got back from break.  Bad weather meant rescheduling games and work is piling up again, but we're still enjoying the remains of our suntans and spring will come eventually.  I have three papers that I need to start working on because deadlines always creep up on you at the end of the semester.  Lots of running around going on - it helps that we play at home this weekend.  I'm excited because Tri-Delta is having a tailgate to raise money for St. Jude's at our game on Saturday, so we will have a good amount of fans too.  It should be fun!