OH, WHAT THE NEW YEAR WILL BRING :)

Hello Everyone!
Christmas has now past and we are about to begin a New Year for 2011!! Just as important my birthday is coming up January 5th WHOO HOO!! Along with that in January I will be having my knee surgery on the 11th. For those of you who do not know, I unfortunately tore my ACL in the game against Wilmington, however I just made the cut off for red shirting this year!! Sooooooo... for the rest of this year I am and will be working extremely hard so I can return and continue to battle as a yellow jacket for two more full years!!
With all that aside, we just had our annual Christmas party! Which I have to say has been the best one yet since I have been to BW!! We had amazing food, Olive Garden of course:) along with our hilarious "white elephant" gift exchange! Afterwards, we always have team skits which are super entertaining. The freshman with the clever and hysterical "13 days of Christmas" and us upperclassmen with our own scene/cheer from the movie bring it on! All in all was a blast :) Lastly, our next game is on my b-day against John Carroll and I am looking forward to our next OAC victory!!
GOOOOO JACKETTSSS!!!
NANCY COULTER #32

CHRISTMAS WONDERLAND

SOOOOO... just last week we had our second home game against otterbein... it was a bit of a struggle at the beginning but we came together with our fist held high (SYNERGY) and won in overtime so far we're doing well in the OAC. Just this past weekend also was christmas, we got a few days off. I decided to spend my break in atlanta with my brother and his family(to the right is a pic of me and my brother and two of his kids).. road a train downtown, built a gingerbread village with the kids, it was really fun sort of relaxing but still busy.. no sleeping in for me ha. Tonight some of the girls we went to see Black Swan which was AMAZINGGGG! really weird like it was definitely different not for some people like Amanda.. the movie was not happening for her lol but i love and can't wait to see it again! Other than that we have a whole week without a game but its nice cus we have a lot of preparing to do for our huge games coming up in the next week or so and i can't wait to kick some ---..

Signing off Olivia aka olive aka SHOWTIMEEEE french!

Finally, A Home Game!!

We just got back from Lexington, Kentucky and what good things we will learn from this weekend. I love getting to travel and get to know more and more about each teammate just by living with them for two nights! Plus nothing could feel better than clapping our way back into Berea, home of the yellow jackets!

Tonight we have a JV game against Lakeland and ready to show them once again what YellowJacket basketball is all about. We undefeeeated We undeeeefeated. =]

And last but not least we finally get to play a home game against Otterbein on Wednesday!! Sooo excited to not have to sit on a bus for 5 hours a trip.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas; nothing is better than being with Family, a christmas tree, and home cooked meals.

God Bless!
Keep on Stingin' Jackets!

Jen Calhoon #21

Back to B-W!

As most of you may know we are just coming back from our wonderful weekend trip to Kentucky, where we stayed in the lovely Hyatt Hotel. For those of you who might not know this, it is connected to the Rupp Arena where the UK wildcats play which was pretty awesome considering they played Saturday night there, it was extremely crowded in our hotel and it was completely full of blue. We even got had a decorated Christmas tree right outside our window, which gave us some Christmas spirit.

VICTORIA

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Hello lady Jackets! Today we had the honor of going to the glorioius Holiday Luncheon, which is in fact pronounced more like "lunch-in" than "lunch-ee-on" as Victoria Brown would say. :D Above is a picture of me singing my little heart out to some Christmas carols at my table- fuuuuuun stuff. I don't know what everyone else thought, but the food seemed pretty amazing considering I haven't had a home cooked meal in quite some time. Oh my gosh and the fruit pizza/ cheesecake was glorious as well. A part from practice and traveling to games break has been a good time to just relax and take it easy. It's nice not to have to worry about schoolwork especially after a stressful week of finals! Tomorrow we travel to Marietta to take on the lady pioneers! Getting pumped!

Go Jackets!

Jessica Lairson #3

That GOOOOOD W

The Lady Yellow Jackets just pulled off another great conference win against the Quakers tonight! It was a really good team win and we played with a lot of effort. Good job ladies! As you know, it is Christmas break and we have so much free time and GET TO SLEEP IN! So far it has been a blast hanging out with the team and I am sure we will have a lot more memories to come. We travel to Marietta next, so get those stingers out ladies :)



"Carpenter" ( i guess that is my name now?)
#33

Study, Study, Study...DONE!!

YES! Finals are finished for the team! With one semester down, we get to relax a while for Christmas break. This week has been very tiring as everyone has been up late preparing for their exams. We had a great week last week, grabbing a few W's from Heidelberg and Kenyon. Our JV squad also picked up two victories over Lakeland and Heidelberg's JV team! Now that it is finally Christmas break, we have lots of time to hang out as a team and go to eat (we kicked off the break with a nice trip to Olive Garden, which was lovely!) haha. My roomie Megan and I decked out our dorm room and made it look like Santa's workshop! We have so many lights up and our own little tree! We are all geared up to travel to Wilmington this Saturday when we have our first double header with the men's BW team. We play first and then the guys play after; hopefully we get a great crowd and bring home two yellow jacket wins!!
AWW Jackets
JoBeth Roll #14

It's the final countdown :)

^ Is a picture of our team in Holland, Michigan :)

The countdown to Christmas break has officially begun ! :) One more week of regular classes and a week of finals and we'll soon be done with fall semester!! I know that ALL of the bright yellow jackets will be studying especially hard the next two weeks! Soon before we know it, the annual GPA dinner will be here ( and for all my team members, you better be acing those finals because I DO NOT want to cook.) The GPA dinner for all those that do not know is we split our team into a brown and gold team. Whatever team has the lower combined GPA has to cook for the winning team. That is always a fun time... as long as Monica does not buy the smallest tub of chip dip I've ever seen hahah ! Aside from studying and working on finals, our team has just gotten back from the best holiday of the year THANKSGIVING ! I currently while writing this blog just ate a wonderful turkey sandwich! The Jackets all came back in fine fashion and had great practices Saturday and today. We had a great time and had a lot of fun as always. I look forward to the 2 JV & Varsity games this week. Always sting 'em with a smile jackets & have a fabulous week!

Catherine #42 --"look good, ya play good."

post gobble gobble!

Well Thanksgiving is over, 20 pounds later..but it was delicious and it sounds like everyone had a good time with their families! I didn't go shopping Black Friday because I didn't want to get trampled, but it sounds like those who did go shopping found some good deals. Well watching the commercials of people getting trampled with my family on Friday, they also showed the animal cruelty fur protesters at a bunch of different stores. I then pointed out that it's not animal cruelty since their just shaving the animals and people do that to their hair all the time. Turns out that's not right....even though I think it's possible, apparently they must get skinned =(. So now my family won't shut up about that and my parents decide to tell everyone they talk to so I figured I might as well write it here before they get to all of you. On a brighter note, tomorrow is our first JV game against Lakeland, which we will destroy!! GO BROWN TEAM!! =) (we will also be beating Heidelberg this week!)

Go Jackets!
Natalia

GOBBLEGOBBLE!

Hello Yellow Jackets! We are in full swing of the season now. This past weekend we were just in Holland!!!! Holland, Michigan of course. This town seemed a little too perfect with all the little boutiques and shops....I just feel like we were in a movie. Sooo anyways..our first game against Alma we seriously played some awesome D and Amanda scored her 1,000th point, no big deal. (That's seriously freakin' amazing though...just sayin.) Then we got some food and watched the Celtics lose. After that we headed back to the hotel to scout and rest up for Hope. Game 2. I really thought we went into the game mentally prepared and we were hanging with them in the first half. I don't feel that they are the most amazing team I have ever seen...they play smart and play together, which is how we WILL play by the end of the season. I see alot of potential in this team. So lets get the OAC championship and get a national championship, k thanks.

We had a spelling bee on the bus, and Jessica Lairson stole the whole show. Kristen hung in there. I got out on definitely (sp?)...no really...I never spell that right. While waiting in line, JoBeth and I got down on "Ice Ice Baby". I'm feelin some karaoke girl..we will own it.

Also, I found out that Autumn can do the stanky leg, dougie, AND play the acoustic guitar. Total package. Jen and I were jammin on the keys in the hotel and Drea was getting down too. I had a lot of fun.

Surgery is on Tuesday and I couldn't be more scared, but more excited. It can only get better from here! I just wanted to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for being there for me and still making me a part of this team. You guys help me stay positive each and everyday, and I seriously mean that. My world fell apart in September when I tore it, and you guys have been there ever since. I really appreciate that. I love you all :)

ThanksgivingisalmosthereandImSOEXCITED!!!! I'm ready to eat everything on the Ziemski's menu and sit around all day and enjoy time home with the family and MR. Paco, the sweetest cat alive.

I hope you guys kick BUTT at CASE. I will miss you guys and be rooting for you straight outta surgery!

Have a good break everyone :)

AWWWWWW JACKETS!

Lizzard #25

On the Road Again!:)

As most of you probably already know, we won our first game yesterday!:) We did a lot of good things and yet we know that we still have a lot of things that we need to work on. It was a solid team performance! Now we pack our bags to take our talents to Holland, MI! Looking for two more W's!! Traveling with the team is always a good time. We are all anxious and ready to go! I finished my 8 page paper tonight that is due next week before Thanksgiving break, so I am feeling pretty relieved right now! Shout out to Mon-- I hope you were able to get all your work done tonight!
The roommates and I just finished watching My Sister's Keeper...yes i know it has been out forever, but it was my first time watching it. Definitely a tear jerker and highly recommended if you have not seen it. And we are already in the holiday mood with our Christmas lights up in our room! Can't wait to start hearing all the Christmas music!:) But not excited for the snow. Study, study girls! Two more weeks then finals!



Amanda Schroeder #12

Here we gooo!

The best time of the year has finally come: gametime! We are all very anxious and cannot wait to put everything together on the court when we tip-off on Tuesday night against Wittenberg. It will be a looong bus ride but we always manage to have fun and the trips go by a lot faster. School is pretty hectic right now as the semester is coming to an end. I am sad to say that my Thanksgiving break will be surrounded by lots of studying and paper writing. It will all be worth it though when I get my 4.0 ;) haha. I went to the Cav's game on Saturday night but unfortunately they lost. I think I have a curse on them because they lose everytime I watch them. Anyways, I can't wait to play tomorrow and the rest of the week, as we have lots of games just in the first week of the season!

Ali #22

G-O JACKETS

T-minus 2 days until our first game in Springfield against Wittenberg! My mom is an alumna of Witt., funfact. The whole team is really coming together on the court and off. Everything is getting pretty hectic for me with classes because it is close to the end of the semester but that doesn't mean we still can't have fun! Like Jess said in her previous post, there was a dance performance in Hammytime Apt. last Friday night. I thought someone was going to go through the floor with all of the gymnastics and lifts going on. It was quite the impromptu performance that was somehow choreographed and simultaneous. Celine Dion would be proud. In other news, the Celtics have the best record in the Eastern Conference and Rajon Rondo is amazing. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THANKSGIVING. But have been contemplating trying to be a vegetarian because we learned about the meat industry in philosophy class, it was one of the only things i could clearly understand in the class. That professor is on a complete different level than I am philosophically, I just try to absorb as much as I can. After thanksgiving is the most wonderful time of the year, winter break. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I cannot wait to decorate with lights and trees and SNOW!

GAME FACES ON Tuesday.

STINGM

Monica Gustin

JAZZ HANDS!

We have exactly 3 days until our first game, how exciting! The last 4 days of practice have been awesome, everyone is working really hard and we have shown a big improvement since the last scrimmage. The 2 biggest things we needed to work on was communicating with eachother and defense. The whole team focused on those factors this week at practice and I think we have gotten much better at each of these and I can't wait to see what we do against the Wittenberg Tigers! We are about to be rebounding machines! Anyways, I like to live by the simple rule.. "work hard, play harder" so of course after this hard week of practice Catherine and I had to do a little dancing this weekend. Monica and Olivia dj'ed while the both of us did any type of dance you can imagine to the artist of choice, Celine Dion. Primarily we focused in on ballet, tap and gymnastics. I think it was the best performance anyone has every seen. Needless to say though, we were a tad bit sore this morning after all the tricks we did last night! Being apart of this team is so fun and I couldn't have asked for better teammates. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me and my fellow yellow jackets :)

Jess Carpenter #33

Well there’s only a little over a week left until our 1^st game! I can’t wait! This week we had our 1^st scrimmage against Tiffin, which was awesome even though we didn’t end up on top because it was the 1^st time we got to play together as a team. We’ve been working really hard and just need to let a few things fall into place to be unstoppable. Other good news is that it snowed earlier this week! I absolutely LOVE snow! Winter is my favorite time of the year! Well adios Yellow Jackets!

Lexi #45

Happy Halloween lil Jackets

I promise you can never be too old to trick or treat. Rachel Rossman and I just brought out our inner child and filled our pillow cases to da top. We've got candy for the rest of the school year and I'm so excited! As Jobeth mentioned, we had our intrasquad scrimmage which was fun and exciting! Especially welcoming the newbies. We have great talent and strong hearts and I cannot wait til we play!
I hope everyone had a safe and fun Holiday and we'll see you in the season!


AWWWW Jackets!!!
Jen Calhoon #21

Happy Halloween!!

Hey everyone! So this week the hive has really been buzzing! We had our annual "Brown and Gold Game" on Saturday. It is a tradition to split into 2 teams and have our own inner squad scrimmage. Our parents and families come up to watch what we've been learning and then everyone gets to introduce their families. It's a great way to meet the faces that we'll be seeing all year in the stands!! The game was close the whole way but the Brown team (which I was on!) came out on top. So we had 24 hours of bragging rights. Then we all got dressed up and celebrated Halloween! We had a cheerleader, a ninja turtle, fireman, Tom Cruise lol, nerd, sailor, Minnie Mouse, Pepper Anne, a yellow crayon, a prisoner, an indian, and even static cling lol. It was hilarious to see everyone dressed up! Well we have today off and then its back to the court to get ready for our first scrimmage against Tiffin University on Wednesday! The Tiffin Dragons better look out cuz these yellow jackets are ready to swarm!!!
AWWWW Jackets!
JoBeth Roll #14

6 practices down, 20 to go!

We've had a great first week of practice and I cannot wait til our first game against Wittenburg in 27 days! So far at practices everyone has been learning a lot and trying their hardest! Our intrasquad scrimmage is already next saturday, and i don't know about everyone else but i'm ready for it now. Next week is going to be extremely busy for me...i have three big tests and a 7 page rough draft due. But great news last night Hocus Pocus was on abc family for 13 days of halloween and it was the highlight of my week! I guess thats all for now...have a great rest of the week jackets!!

Rachel #10

YEAR 3 DAY 1

Good evening fellow yellow jackets and fans,

We just got done with our first two a day. What a treat Coach had in stored for us this past afternoon. First of all I  loved loved loved the FORTY burpees we did. I looked like a beached whale having a heart attack while doing them, but they will only help us down the road. I am positive no other team in the nation had the pleasure of doing those. Along with all the running and other really fun conditioning drills, we learned our basic offense and defense fundamentals. I am super excited for what the season brings. So far everyone has had so much enthusiasm and is really giving it their all.  Besides basketball beginning, we just had gotten back from fall break. I spent my fall break with my lovely family and my beautiful, precious kitty Sunshine. She is the best kitty in the whole wide world & I really wish she could move in with me at Hammytime. I finally got the chance to watch my brother perform in  the band at the football game friday night. The very next day his band made it to state :) I also had a bachelorette party for one of my good friends, who is getting married next saturday. I am so excited for the next couple months. Can't wait to get to practice tomorrow, I should of just slept in the gym.. bahahah : )

xoxox, 

Catherine #42 

Ballin'

Hey everyone...so we just finished with our very first practice of the season and decided to put my schedule up in my room and realized it was my week to blog and figured i might as well now before i forget. Anyway so far this semester has flew by so fast i can't believe we have a game in less then a month! This past week we did a team bonding session called colors which was really fun seeing where everybody ended up and getting to learn about each other in ways we probably might not of noticed, and learning how we can use that to make our team even closer. Most of us went home this weekend since it was fall break, including me I went home friday and picked my daddy up on the way. As some of you may know he had surgery thursday and it went really well and now he just has chemotherapy to do so it's looking really good now, thank you everyone for keeping him in your prayers you guys have been amazing with everything it has helped me so much! It shows me how great of teammates i have! Hope you all had a wonderful fall break as well, and i will be seeing you in about an hour for practice #2!

Love you all,

Lippy!

The season is almost here..... :)

Well we've been at BW for almost two months now and the weeks keep going by faster and faster! I can't believe our season officially starts this Sunday! 3 more days!! Everyone is super excited that conditioning is now over and the real fun is beginning! Our team worked so hard in preseason workouts and I can tell everyone is motivated and ready for the season to start. We have fall break this week so no classes tomorrow, which is great! School is getting busier and busier with midterm exams right now, so that's not too much fun. We had a team bonding activity Tuesday night which was pretty cool. It was a personality test that described your personality with colors. I think it helped us get to know and understand each other better, so that was fun. :) Oh Catherine, Megan, and I had a wonderful time studying together last night at Cat's apartment. (more like being creepy and googling people) :) haha it's sooo fun to be a yellowjacket!! Well I'm heading to Columbus to watch my little brother kick some butt at State for Golf...last weekend with the family for a while so it should be a good time.

AAAWWWWW JACKETS!!!

Kristen #23

Hey hey hey.
I'm a little late too on this but better late than never. Today was the last day of 6 a.m. conditioning!!!! Woot woot. I'm just happy my eye isn't grottie anymore. That was terrible. Not to mention other people who are getting sick :( hopefully all of us that aren't feeling so good will get better soon! School is getting a little tougher and I'm sure everyone has been busy busy busy. My friend asked me how long we have been up here and I realized that we have all been here for almost two months already! Time is flying and season starts in less than a week. I'm really excited and a little nervous, but the good kind of nervous... It's hard to know what all to expect. Hopefully we can all finish strong on Wednesday and stay healthy! :) Love ya Jackets.

*J Lair.

So I know i'm a little late writing this but i've been sooo busy with school and basketball everyday of the week besides weekends ha. We're already on the seventh week of school, its hard to believe but playing basketball i think has made it go by so fast. In less than a week we officially start practice and say goodbye to conditioning and i think everyone will be happy about that i know i will. This past weekend i went home so i missed broth returning back to the hive :(. But i attended my family reunion down in yellow springs, oh such a great place and even though it was cold and started to rain it was fun to see everybody that i haven't seen for years or so, its always good being able to go home. I came back to the most amzing roommate ever ali :) and she cleaned the room while i was gone which was really nice of her thank you!. its always a good time in 107b ha. but school is going great i went to maya for one of my classes that was delicious lol and the weekends here at bw are going great and can't wait for halloween!! love october! and the movies that come on this month. Being a yellowjacket is amazing!.. happy halloween to everyone in advance


OLIVIA #11

TIMEE IS FLYINGGG!!

Hello Everyone!!
Like I said, time is certainly flying by very fast. I realized that including today, we only have 5 more conditioning sessions left and approximately 13 days until our first practice! That is amazing. I am personally super excited for this season and I can tell everyone else is as well by how hard everyone is working in conditioning and open gym. Last Wednesday, Coach Campbell put us through an intense spinning workout, and on Friday we had our swimming workout which is always fun!
Lastly classes are going good, almost time for mini B and I get to add two more classes to my schedule...yay! Also, I love living in an apartment this year!! It is sooooo nice having my own bathroom along with it is having a kitchen to cook in! Of course, the living room is completely decorated in batman, I LOVE BATMAN. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well in classes and having fun so far!
GO JACKETS!
~Nancy Coulter #32

BUZZZZZZZ

Hello Yellowjackets.

I am currently sitting in the cybercafe drinking a strawberry-banana smoothie in celebration of finishing my first econ test of the year. I had a half hour to kill before my next class so I thought to myself, what would I rather be doing right now than blogging? Answer: NOTHING. so here we go... we're about a month into the school year and everything is going really well so far! Everyone is getting settled into classes and of course saving a little time for fun. Morning workouts are chugging along and soon actual practices will be startinggg!! Last Friday we played football, and Catherine Spisak was actually recruited to the Browns, but thankfully she decided to stay and play for the BW Women's Basketball team instead. Thanks for your generosity kitty. My team was not so lucky, and we had to do stations twice, which meant getting to know the 5 ton tire flipping station a little better than I wanted to. Grey's Anatomy premiered last Thursday and we had a watch party at Catherine and Monica's apartment, complete with chicken wing dip that I oh so generously provided. We also had to overcome some adversity early on, with Lizzy and Jess Carpenter both suffering injuries. It is making us stronger as a group though, and we are all pulling together in support of them. Other than that, it's been pretty quiet in the hive. AAAAWWWWWWW JJAACCKKETTSSSS!!

Megan Frisina
#4

Start of week 5!

I'm already experiencing senioritis therefore I am a few days late on my blog. Classes have been going very well. This week I get to dissect the left leg of a cadaver along with 2 other girls in my class. So a warning in advance girls...I will probably smell like the lab when I come to the workout on Wednesday, but no big deal. I am pretty excited to literally start digging in.
Workouts have been going very well. Everyone is pushing themselves and striving to do the best that they can. I have come down with a cold which I am not very happy about...I think the flu shot should contain every possible strand of the flu/cold. I am feeling very miserable as I sit here and write this lovely blog and I will try not to infect any of you girls!
I am very excited to be done with preseason and finally start actual practices! :) This season should be very exciting and a lot of fun and I can't wait!

Fall starts this week and that's it! BYE!


Amanda Schroeder #12

BOOOOOOM!

Well I just remembered that it's my week to write in the blog! So here we go.

Who knew being a yellow jacket was so fun.... :) We went camping and I must say that I really love the fact that four out of 8 freshman stayed in the ritz. Suckaaaas! We offered to the 2 seniors, but they play fair and square. Clearly, it was TOO hot in there and I guess I would have liked more of a breeze, but I can't have EVERYTHING. So it is what it is.

I was a little hesitant of these early morning workouts, but they are going really really well and everyone is busting their butts every day -- especially on that ladder.
Monica is my lifting partner, and we go hard in the paint...all day every day. End of story.

I also want to thank the people who literally held me up at conditioning when i was dying..haha I didn't see any faces...so thanks guys.

So in conclusion, I love it here at BW and i really think of you guys as my family. Seriously. I really look forward to the next four years playing basketball with everyone. Let's ball it up :)

Much Love,

Lizzard

my first few weeks as yellow jacket!..

The first couple weeks at BW have been great! I feel like I'm constantly running around and busy, but it keeps me out of trouble =) I'm either studying, at study table, open gym, workouts (like everybody else on the team), or I'm in my room eating in my nice cozy twin size bed (even though my feet hang off) haha. All my classes have been going pretty good, I have never read so much in my life though! My grandma (baba) is constantly calling telling me I should come home after basketball to shower, sleep, and eat..she is basically saying that she wants me to move back home haha I do miss my family, but no that much! I'm really excited for the season to start and glad everybody gets along so well it will be a fun year =)

Natalia Simovic

Labor Dayy babbyyy

Unfortunately it is the end of the labor day weekend and we all have to return to classes in the morning. I went home for the weekend for a big family cookout. It was great to see the family because I probably won't go home again until Thanksgiving. The first two weeks of school already flew by. I really enjoy all of my classes (for once I don't dread going to all of them haha). The first conditioning workout took place Wednesday and everyone survived! I live in Ehouse with my wonderful teammate Olivia. She is probably sick of me already but at least she pretends to like me. As monica stated earlier, we went camping last weekend. It was a lot of fun, except having to put up the tents in the dark and having to sleep in the Econolodge tent. We all have pneumonia now thanks to the water that leaked on us all night. Always a fun time with the lady yellow jackets though. :)



Ali #22

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor day jacket junkies.  Or should I say, "Today is Labor Day, and it has been a wonderful day of no labor so far! " But i have a sport media relations paper that I really need to start and finish at some point. Anyways, we have been through two weeks of school and one conditioning workout.  It wasn't tooo tooo bad, because coach saw us all crumpling before her eyes and decided to let us slide on the spin around the cone and sprint mumbojumbo.  I can tell this is a great group of people who are going to work hard, work together and have fun.  I need to buy my Celtics ticket for when they come to demolish the cavs on october 27.  It's not going to be a fair game, but it will give me a chance to cheer for Rondo in person.  Other notables coming up is the homecoming football game, the VMA's and of course, Grey's Anatomy season premiere.  I like to watch TV.  Oh yea WE WENT CAMPING, as a team.  It was a first for me.  We had three hotels, winners got to stay in the Ritz, wich was the cabin, and the loosers had to stay in actual tents, aptly named the Econo Lodge and the Ramada.  Jess Carpenter woke up in a puddle of dew. Apparently the Econo Lodge had some leaks.  Thank goodness my team won the scavenger hunt and got to sleep in the cabin.  We won because mostly of JoBeth Roll's obsession of doing things correctly instead of quickly, and Mellissa Hoffenbofen's dad's gardening skills.  Another first for me on this trip was four-wheeling.  You could fit about three people safely on the car thing, and for some reason Schreoder and Catherine let me drive.  I hate driving slowly, and all I heard was them screaming slow down slow down.  Then they threw me in the pool.

AWW JACKETS

STINGM

Monica Gustin

Lexi Rohrbach, Freshman

Hi! Well, I'm Lexi. I'm from Tiffin, Ohio and I went to Columbian High School. I played volleyball and basketball and I ran track. My family and friends are a big part of my life because I am definitely a people person. My family is just me, my mom, and my brother, but it doesn't seem that small because the rest of my family lives around us too. My mom's name is Becky and we are really close. She was my volleyball coach so I saw her pretty much all day everyday during volleyball season. My brother's name is Michael and he's a sophomore in high school. He's into sports just as much as I am. My Aunt Debbie and Uncle David are a big part of my life, too. About a year and a half ago my dad passed away so they became like my extended family after that. I really don't know what I would do if they weren't a part of my life. They plan on coming to a lot of games so I'm sure you'll meet them at some point. For fun I like to just hang out with friends and I usually get into really random situations. If I had to describe myself I would just say fun and random. I'm a really open person so if anyone wants to know anything you just have to ask me.

Pics: Ok, I don't know what order they are going to be in, but here it goes. The 1st pic is me and my friend with headlamps we found in her barn. We were going to adventure into the woods in the middle of the night but we chickened out haha. The 2nd pic is me, my mom, my Aunt Debbie, and my Uncle David on the beach in North Carolina. The 3rd pic is me and my mom and the last one is me and my brother cleaning out the warehouse that my family owns.

Melissa Hoffbauer :)(:

Hi everybody!!! My name is Melissa Hoffbauer and I am a Freshman here at Baldwin Wallace this year :). I am double majoring in Pre-Physical Therapy and Athletic training with the goal of one day becoming a licensed Physical Therapist! I am from super small town called New Washington and I went to an even smaller high school where I graduated with a class of 48!!! BW is definitely different than my hometown because where I live if 4 cars went down my road a day that was a lot of traffic to me ha. One of the pictures is of my classmates and I in our snow days shirts which was a little project a few of us seniors at Buckeye worked on to question why our school board was the first to get rid of all calamity days in a school year! The teachers and students all got involved and we got like a ton of publicity numerous articles including one in the Columbus Dispatch! It was awesome! :) One of the others is of me and my little cousin Lyric he is my little buddy I spent quite a bit of babysitting him this summer! Also in the two other pictures we made a hugeee slip and slide and found a mud slide haha enough said :)! So pretty much from that you can see most of my spare when I wasnt in school or playing basketball ;) I was with my friends and family! Well we are all at BW now and starting open gym on Thursday so Im pumpedddddd! See you all then! =]

Victoria Brown! =)

Hiii! so my name is Victoria and i am going to be a freshmen and I'm going undecided but i think i want to go into education. I went to Western Reserve high school in Berlin Center, Ohio where there is one stop light and two gas stations and then nothing! My summer has consisted of hanging out with my friends, babysitting my cousins the two boys on the left, and the girl on the right of me, in the picture which is from my great grandmas 85th birthday I'm in the blue, and working out with one of my friends who is going to be playing volleyball in college.The other picture is of me and my friends who just went to the beach in Delaware for a long weekend. My parents are Shannon and Jennifer (or as most call her jbrown). I have a sister named Kristiana she will be a senior at BW this year she's in the bottom picture to the left of me. I have an obsession with Rajon Rondo (Celtics in case you didn't know!) and Reggie Bush(Saints) . I'm pretty excited to be starting school but kind of sad that summer has gone by so fast i can't wait to meet you all! See you in a week! :)

Kristen Troyer

Hi everyone :) My name is Kristen Troyer and I'll be a freshman this year. I went to Garaway High School, located in Sugarcreek, Ohio, better known as "amish country." I'm majoring in Early Childhood Education. My summer has pretty much consisted of working, working out and playing, and hanging out with friends and family. The picture is of my sister Katie and I at my favorite place ever, the beach! :) My parents are Bob and Amy and I have a brother Jake, who will be a junior in high school and Katie or "Bug" will be an 8th grader. Umm some things about me..I'm a very competitive person, I hate losing more than I love winning! I'm a very independent person. Some of my favorite things are shopping, ice cream, coffee, the sun, and of course basketball. I've been ready to go to college for like 3 years now! I'm so excited it's finally here and I can't wait to meet all my new teammates! See you guys in a few days :)

Hi there :)

^^Top: some sophomore teammates and me trying to dance on senior night. we were terrible needless to say. Bottom:me and my adorable little sister (who wants to be a yellow jacket already haha )

Hellooooo. My name Is Jessica Lairson and I will be a freshman at BW this year. All I can say after meeting some of the girls at open gyms and orientation [Lizzie (= haha] is that I am really excited to get to know all of you and even more so for basketball to start!I'm from Louisville, OH.... pronounced "lewisville", but all the wayuntil 8th grade I grew up in the huge city of Crown Point, a suburb about 35 minutes from chicago. So yes I love the Bulls, Blackhawks, Bears, and White Sox! I am a very competetive person and I hate to lose at just about anything you can think of. My summer has pretty much consisted of working full time as a waitress at this little bar/grill place, which my last day of work was actually today! SO with one week til school starts (and my bday!) I'm finally able to relax a little :) I love meeting new people but admittedly, I'm still a little intimidated. See you all soon!

Rachel Rossman

<----My sister kayla and me at six flags in dallas (im on the left)

Hey everyone!

For those of you that don't know me my name is rachel and i'll be a sophomore this year. I'm from Olmsted Falls ohio which is right down the street from bw...but i still live on campus. I'm really excited to move back in a couple weeks!! I've been busy this whole summer. I work five days a week at dairy queen and get to wear a very attractive head set (that monica and catherine love). Besides working i have been working out and i have traveled to two different 3 on 3 tournaments in pennsylvania. Also, I went to dallas with my sister for a chance to win her a brand new car...the whole trip was paid for and so was our six flags trip, a tour of the cowboys stadium (sorry jess) and a tour of the mavericks stadium!! Every night we went out to a 5 star restaurant without a money limit. My last trip for the summer was to durham, north carolina. I went with three friends... jen (my roomate this year) and 2 other girls i played aau with. we visited our friend shay who plays basketball for duke. So...other things you should know about i have 3 sisters...elise, sarah and kayla who plays for mount union (last year was her first but she is actually 2 years older than me). My other 2 sisters are 22 and 25 so i am closest with kayla. My parents are Mark and Mary who know everything about basketball (like every other parent). My mom asks me about every person who blogs and keeps asking when i was so... hi mom. But thats about it for now and i hope everyone enjoys there last few weeks of summer vacation! see you all soon

awwww jackets!

Rachel #10

Lizzy Ziemski is in the house...orrrr hive :-)

Hey everyone! My name is Lizzy Ziemski (Zem-skee)....everyone pronounces it wrong haha. I'm going to be a freshman this fall at BW and I plan to major in sports management....I'm super excited!

<--- Senior night game against Conneaut

I'm from a pretty small town of Jefferson, Ohio in Ashtabula County. I'm literally surrounded by cornfields and dairy farms. My house is in the middle with a basketball court on the side of the barn...hahah it's pretty sweet.

This summer I have worked a pretty insane schedule, I actually work 2 jobs. So workouts are hard to get in, but I'm doing the best I can! I can't wait to meet all of you :-)


Some things about me: I can beatbox....like make noises with your mouth....boom ba-boom kat! So if we have anyone who can freestyle, it's goin down!!!

I love basketball (duh..) and eating, sleeping, working out, music, and stuff along that line.

<--- These are my friends and I at ground Zero in NYC.





Not only am I doing basketball, but I'm also running track. My specialty is high jump. I went to state, 3 years in a row...being state-runner up for 2 of them. So I have high expectations for track too! Down below is a picture of my dad and I after state this year!! He's a pretty cool guy!


So yellow jackets, I'd say it's time for a ring, eh? I'm pretty hungry for a national championship, ya dig?!?


Enjoy the rest of your summer!

-Lizzy

Natalia Simovic

Hey everyone! My name's Natalia and I am veryyy excited to be a freshman this year at BW! :) I plan on majoring in psychology and minoring in business. In my free time (besides basketball), I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, going to the movies, the beach and shopping! I am to be 100% Serbian :) haha I never like to go anywhere alone! My favorite show ever is One Tree Hill, I'm a little obsessed lol. Some others favs include pizza and salad and of course ice cream. I listen to all kinds of music and my favorite movies include The Hangover and A Walk to Rememeber. Sometimes I can be very clumsy/forgetful (I blame these traits on my mother) and I am very tall so of course my clumsiness doesn't go unnoticed haha. I look forward to meeting everyone and I think this year will be lots of fun!! Hope everyone enjoys the rest of summer ;)

1st pic - My friends and I at my grad party. I cut my hair off =(

2nd - My brother, me, and my mother being creepy haha

3rd - Me on prom!

JoBeth Roll

((The pictures above are of me in front of a store called JOJO! and then a picture of all of us getting ice cream!))
Hey everybody, my name is JoBeth Roll and I will be a sophomore this coming year. I am a Communication Disorders major and a Psychology minor from, just like Katie and Olivia, the small town of Bucyrus, OH. I have been really busy this summer working out at our YMCA with my buddies (90 year old ladies on the treadmills and one guy who is training to be a UFC fighter!) Other than working out, I babysit and also work with a few young girls at our YMCA helping them improve their bball skills. I just returned from my wonderful vacation in Isle of Palms, SC!! A week of fun in the sun was just what I needed. My mom, Heidi, my dad, Todd (but affectionately called "Randy" by our team), my brother, Taylor and his girlfriend Peggy (who will both be seniors at BW next year) and my boyfriend Chris (who will also be a sophomore at BW and is also on our men's basketball team) plus my aunt, uncle and cousins all went down and stayed in a huge beach house only one block from the beach. It was amazing to relax, eat some great sea food, and spend some quality time with my family. So now I am back in Bucyrus, where the highlights are bonfires, playing tennis with friends, and...well that is about it haha. I am really excited to get back on campus and meet everyone who I haven't already met. Get excited!!
AWWW JACKETS!
Jo #14

Looney Tune Calhoon #21-Sophomore

Hey guys, for those who don't know me, my first name isn't important to know; you'll never hear it anyway. It's just Looney, I guess. I'm vice president of the LCM club. I'm majoring in Communication Disorders and minoring in Broadcast Communications. Like everyone, I've just been keeping busy working out, working, playing in 3 on 3 tournaments with some friends, and staying in the sun. Right now I'm sitting watching my mom dance, it's a scary sight. My mom- Elaine; Stepdad- Howie; Dad-Kim. I've got 2 brothers and a half sister. And a new family member Bernie. He's so much better looking than Catherine's cat. We've trained it to sit on command. Yep well, can't wait to head back to school. See you all so soon! She's the best boat captain anyone could ask for. And we're the 3 best friends that anyone ever could have.

Jessica Carpenter, sophomore

Hey girls, I hope everyone's summer is going good and you're having just as much fun as I am. Although my summer has been fun, I have been super busy! I work 40 hours and squeeze in my workouts, so I don't have as much free time as I did last summer. I am getting paid so that is always a plus. Anyways, my name is obviously Jessica Carpenter and I am from North Canton, Ohio (HOOVER!!) I will be a sophomore and I am very excited to come back in about a month to meet all the new freshman! I can guarantee you this season and school year will be a lot of fun and I can't wait to win a ring with this new group! If you haven't heard the latest nba gossip, lebron has moved in fact to my favorite team..MIAMI HEAT. I am the biggest dwade fan you will ever meet, and thanks to some select juniors I have to hear about the Celtics everyday and its horrible. ew. But other than that, that is all I'm gonna tell you about myself, we will be meeting soon anyways. Have a good rest of the summer and keep working hard :)

OLIVIA FRENCH

Oh hey! everybody.. I hope everyone's summer is going as great as mine working everyday and playing ball lol. For all the newbies coming in that don't know me I'm Olivia, I'll be a sophomore this fall and can't wait to get back!! I'm from Bucyrus/Columbus lol... and as Katie or Jobeth said bucyrus is pretty much a cornfield town not much to do lol.. and i do live on farm if anyone was wondering lol. Summer is going by so fast i can't believe it but i'm excited to get back to school move in and meet all the new girls.. ONE MONTH! YAY! This summer i've just been working and getting ready for fair and i've been doing a summer league at otterbein which i'll be done with next week and like amanda i got the insanity and i'm almost finished with it! let me just say that workout on top of the ones we already have is no joke!! seriously ha. Well i hope everyone is doing great and enjoy the rest of the summer! =]

Megan Frisina- Sophomore

Above: the boat team at april reign, yikes.

last year senior Ariel Brough and I (she was having blog withdrawls so i decided to include her)

HII EVERYONE!! Soo summer is flying by. In about a month we'll all be moving into school (Findley here I come!) I can't wait to see everyone again and meet all the new Freshmen that I haven't met yet! Anyways a little about myself, My name is Megan Frisina and I am from Corry, Pennsylvania, which is about 5 miles south of a big corn field. Haha it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere but I'm about 45 miles away from Erie, Pennsylvania, home to Catherine's favorite place in the country: Waldameer park and waterworld. I am a Sport Management and Business Administration double major. I have a brother named Max who just turned 22 and subs as an aide at Corry High School and also works at Mcdonalds, which he would probably be mad at me for publicizing to everyone haha. I also have a pleasantly plump dog named Butterscotch, who is 15 so she is allowed to eat whatever she wants (She's been eating whatever she wants all her life, but at least now we have an excuse haha). This summer I work as an umpire for the little league and referee for summer basketball camps, so i get yelled at alot, and of course spend alot of time at the Corry YMCA. Today I shared the gym with about 50 little kids who thought my sprints would be alot more fun if I had to dodge them as i ran. Needless to say the Y will be sorely missed once school starts back up. Hope everyone has a great summer and see you in the fall!! AWW JACKETS

hello out there......

Hi everyone....... i bet everyone is enjoying those lovely workouts as much as i am..... my name is Katie and ill be a Junior! I am completely forgetful (like i would have forgotten to blog if Amanda Schroeder) I am the most random and crazy person that you may ever meet. i have no problem being up close and personal with anyone and i love to talk so watch out. I tend to tell stories more than once and and confused quite often. I work for safety and security on campus so watch out! So far this summer i have done nothing but work..... i work from 7-3 then bail hay from 4 to about 10. Other teammates enjoy making fun of me because i live on the middle of no where Bucyrus Ohio and for some reason want to attend a family cookout which i find odd. I love kids as you may find out when the whole Strickland clan is at our games. well i hope to see everyone soon and i need to save my little typing fingers for all the papers we will have to type :-) have a good rest of the summer.

The first picture is of me and my two best friends

the second is me and my boyfriend (my cousin)

Monica Gustin-Junior?

Hi everyone! Happy birthday America! In Bexley we just celebrated the fourth/5-6? I'm not sure why but apparently Bexlians wanted to be fashoinably late. So what's going on this summer? What is going on is that the workouts we are doing are hard (Shoutout to Geno, if you read this hook me up with final four tickets!). What isn't going on is the times we have to finish our sprints in, yikes. What else is going on- LeBron is in a media frenzy. What isn't going on- him moving from Cleveland. "Royalty rhymes with Loyalty", ok 'Bron, find out what rhymes with winning... The Celtics will still win eastern conference alll dayyy.
Anyways I dont have a picture so im trying to fill space :)
My name is Monica Gustin and I'll be a junior yellowjacket. I live in Bexley, Oho-ten minutes from downtown columbus. I have a younger brother Marcus who will be a SENIOR at BHS, go lions. He plays soccer and basketball. He plays basketball for my dad, Dave who is the head coach at bexley. My mom, Beth, calls him the head basketcase. Right now they are on this home improvement kick, so it's getting dusty.
This summer I have been working at Marcella's Italian Kitchen "Hi! How many are dining with you tonight :D", and doing marketing promotions for companies around Columbus, "Would you like to try some chips today :D!" Also the best movie this summer just came out, Eclipse. It was amazing. Even better was the Harry Potter preview!! I can't wait for the premiere. Today I am going to get my horizontal license, so I'm pretty excited about that! I can't wait to get back at BW and meet everyone and see everyone! Have a safe and fun rest of the summer everyone!

STINGM - 24

NANCY COULTER!! -JUNIOR:)

HELLO EVERYONE!!

My name is Nancy Coulter and I will be a junior this fall. I am from Washington Court House, AND yes it is in Ohio for those of you who have never heard of it haha, it is about three hours south of BW -OR about thirty minutes from Wilmington. I am majoring in Health and Physical Education. Also I have a fantastic mother, Patty, and a younger sister Morgan( btw who just turned 13 and can't stop talking about being a "teenager" now ..lol). This summer I have been doing our wonderful workouts:) and basically living at my work, American Eagle! Lastly I hope everyone is doing very well, enjoying their summer, and working hard for season! AND...FRESHMAN! I am excited to meet all of you and ready for a fun and successful season with you!

~~ALSO! In the picture is me..of course, and MY NEW CAR!!! I just got it yesterday!! :)

Living the dream...everyday...here at BW!!

Hey Everyone! I told Coach that I would put up some of the pictures from the past week from our Summer Basketball Camp. We had girls ranging from 3rd grade to 8th grade come for our 4 day camp. We worked on skills, playing 3 on 3, some intense games of BLOB, basketball golf ( my team the Chocolate Monkeys were the champions!) and some great ball friendly drills! Six of us worked the camp this past week : Sophomores Megan Frisina, Jen the "Loon" Calhoon, Rachel Rossman, and me JoBeth Roll and also two new Froshies Kristen Troyer and Lexi Rohrbach! The sophomores attended the midnight showing of Twilight which was great (Go team Jacob!) Haha and then Wednesday night all 6 of us went to watch the Indians actually win a game! Hah, we managed to get ourselves some really great seats and even get on TV!!! All in all it was a great week being back at BW. We all even did our workouts together which is a lot better than my usual workout partners (My 90 year old friends at our YMCA hah). Hope everyone is working hard in the off season so we can all be in shape for boot camp!!
-JoBeth Roll #14

Ali Stack: Senior :)

I hope everyone is having a terrific summer, as I know I am! It is certainly flying by though. It is so hard to believe that it is almost July. I am from the small town of Vermilion, OH (about 20 minutes from Cedar Point which may make it easier for you to know where I live haha). I spend most of my time working out, being a marketing intern, and slaving for the wonderful Drug Mart. It is a super busy summer but I am having fun still. I am a Communications major and Psychology minor. My parents names are Gary and Gayle, and I have an older brother named Eric. Oh, and the cutest dog in the world Motis. I am super excited to meet all of the new freshmen in the fall, even though you all are going to make me feel extremely old haha.

This is a picture of my parents and I on my 21st birthday :)

Amanda Schroeder- Senior =)

Hope everyone is have a great summer! I sure am! So for the newcomers I from Columbus Grove, OH. I'm majoring in Pre-PT/Exercise Science...but I have just decided that my goal now is to be a nurse. So I have a lot of thinking to do before the start of school. As far as my family, my parents are Max and Shelly, and I have two younger brothers, Derek and Blake. I'm currently working at a produce stand for a local business. I'm taking the GRE tomorrow..so everyone pray that I do good!:)
I am currently doing Insanity with a friend and we are starting week 3! :) That plus the workouts are extremely tiring, but totally worth it. Can't wait for the start of next season! Hopefully everyone is excited as I am! Well thats enough about me....I'll see you all in the fall!=)

In the picture is my housemates: Becca, Me, Abbey, and Casey It's a lot of fun living with them and we pretty much do everything together!

Great times with Older Yellow Jackets

It's a big summer for a few of our older Yellow Jackets. Three of them are getting married this summer!!! I'm so happy for them!

So today was Jen Nance's bridal shower. Natalie Winkelfoos (sitting in the background) hosted the shower and did a GREAT job with it.

Erika Schultz and Karissa Kusick-Dominick also were there.

Just one week ago, Kim Luthman got married to Justin Jones. Snapped this picture at the reception - I have no idea where Justin is as Kim is sharing a slow dance with Heather Eckstein (now Hanchuk) and her husband Greg. Both Heather and Missy Jakovcic (now Galus) were bridesmaids.

Jen will be married in August. Also in August, Dana Palivoda will marry Brandon Boyes. Busy summer and fun stuff!

Team Camp

I can't believe how quickly summer is going! We already had our team camp.

Coach Strickland did an awesome job, as usual, of putting it all together and running it. Several of our players helped out as well.

It was great to see everyone again. It seems longer than about 6 weeks ago since I saw them.

We had alums coaching teams in it as well. I forgot to get pictures on Saturday when Kim and Holy Name were here but did remember on Sunday so got a picture of Nikki coaching her team.

Great job everyone!

Summer

So BW is hosting the DIII National track meet this week. A few of our players came back to work. Jen Calhoon and Catherine Spisak worked several days. JoBeth Roll was here for a day too. I was able to catch Cat and Jen in action today - Cat working the merchandise sales (she is a master of the credit card machine) and Jen selling tickets. It was great to see them!

My Final Blog-"Glory Daaaays!"

Welp. I just finished up an emotional week of graduation festivities. This weekend was especially crazy with Ovation on Saturday where I managed to tear up during the alma mater. Following Ovation, I went out to dinner and had a little event which I had aptly entitled “My Last Hurrah.” It was my last night with my teammates and I had a blast! Couldn’t have been better! And everyone is really excited that they never have to hear me say the words last hurrah again because it is all I’ve been talking about for months.

Sunday we had our team banquet. It went really well. Coach made yet another great highlight tape, and I made it through my senior speech in one piece. I will admit that Ali’s speech about me got me a little frazzled. But I mainly pulled it together, thank goodness. (It is tradition that a junior makes a speech about a senior and then the senior gets to make a speech. Ali was that lucky junior ;) )

One of my teammates said that the banquet didn't feel like a banquet. It felt like a bunch of friends hanging out. I couldn’t agree more. There is truly nothing more rewarding than knowing you’ve affected other people’s lives, and knowing that they have affected yours in wonderful ways as well. How many people are lucky enough to say their best friends are yellow jackets? Not too many. In twenty years, it’s the people that I will remember the most.

So, to sum it up, over the past four years I’ve had good days and bad days; homesick days and days where I felt like I never want to leave; stressful days and lazy days; winning days and losing days; crying days and days where I laughed so much a got a headache. Regardless, one thing is certain. They were all glory days.

Former Center, Ariel Brough #45
Keep livin’ the dream ladies.

The Loon Calhoon and me at my last hurrah.
Obviously still super excited about my last hurrah.
Just one of my best friends Monica "Mon Mon" Gustin and me at my last hurrah.