I am writing this blog while in Chico (again) - we certainly do love it up there! In September we headed over to Marysville to pick up some mounts for Damon and his dad. C is modeling the duck mount nicely with a little kiss :) We are now the proud owners of a mounted turkey - you can see his feathers on the left above. He is now on the ledge above our door and we have named him Tennessee :)
We took the opportunity to spend one quick night in Chico and take advantage of the bookstore being open. Typically when we visit for hunting purposes its during off season and the campus is closed. C loves being on the 'big college' campus and so do we.
I was a founding executive board member of a non-profit on campus raising money for St. Jude. It was an established national fundraiser, but my friend brought it to Chico and I joined his board. I was excited to walk into the Bell Memorial Union and see a poster hanging about all the years the program has been in existence at Chico...proud to have been a part of that!
We spent a ton of time in the bookstore...one of the places where I worked. I started there my Freshman year in the gift department and continued working for the Associated Students organization until graduation. I loved working there. Good discounts, lots of friends stopping by to say hello and I got to be creative designing displays. Plus I did lots of restocking of shelves (which is something I always did in the stores as a kiddo), a little cleaning (I always love a good cleaning session when you get paid), I got to work independently and I was able to create ways to study while working. So many lovely memories - it was a perfect college job. Even though my mom didn't want me to work during school, I liked staying busy, connected to campus and to have a little more spending money than my monthly parental allowance :)
One of my other jobs was a Summer Orientation leader - this was the BEST job ever! It was a very hard program to get into and stay in. There was a semester long course we had to take and they still cut staff up until orientation started. We were a big close group of students from all different majors and walks of life. It was truly a great experience. I learned to walk backwards, gave daily campus tours to both incoming students and parents, advised students on classes to enroll in (I was in charge of Business and Engineering students) and lead training sessions. It was a perfect fit for my personality and a great resume and skill builder.
The Bell Memorial Union holds the bookstore, the main campus restaurant and has several floors of conference rooms, computer labs, offices and campus programs. It opened my Freshman year and was a really big deal. I remember my Freshman year the students voted on increased fees for a new recreation center/gym. I voted yes but never got to enjoy the facility since it wasn't completed for many years (it looks great now). I remember thinking it was cool that students prior to me voted for the BMU even though they didn't get to enjoy it. Glad that I helped pay it forward with the rec center...hoping that others are keeping that tradition of paying it forward is happening.
We also took advantage of the September sun with lots of pool time. So many games of Marco Polo and C's imagination games based on the Moana movie.
Of course Chico is full of amazing places to eat, like La Hacienda where they have an amazing secret sauce for their taco salads :)
Seriously - how sweet is this girl?!?
