The Battle for the Iron Skillet: October 1st

On October 1st, we will partake in a very important part of higher education: the college rivalry.

Fort Worth's Texas Christian University Horned Frogs and Dallas's Southern Methodist University Mustangs will meet at the Amon Carter Football Field to battle for... a skillet.

Located less than 45 minutes from one another, the crosstown rivals have been battling each other on the field of competition since the early 1900s with over 300 games played on the gridiron and hardwood.The rivalry was created during the 1915 season when the Frogs recorded a 43-0 victory over the Mustangs followed by 48-3 and 21-0 triumphs over the following two seasons (a combined 112-3 score during that period).
During the post-World War II college football boom, the student bodies at TCU and SMU created a traveling trophy called the Iron Skillet that was presented to the winner of the annual football game. Over the next few decades, the tradition of the Iron Skillet died, but the rivalry continued to be as heated as ever between the two schools. (TCU Athletics)

 Why a skillet? One story claims that "an SMU fan in the 1950s was caught frying frogs legs in a skillet at a tailgate before the game, and a TCU fan wagered that the winner should take the pan home".  However, the real story is probably more boring: the student councils for each school decided to have a "trophy" and decided to pick something similar to Michigan's and Minnesota's Little Brown Jug.

Whatever the origin, this is a long-standing tradition in the DFW area, and we want you to experience it. We will meet at MVC at noon (buses will pick you up at the schools), have lunch at MVC, then head to Fort Worth. We will take a tour of the TCU campus before the game, which starts at 2:30. After the game, we will have dinner, then head back to MVC. We should be back on campus by 8:00.

We have a limited number of tickets for this event, therefore only those who have signed up will be able to attend. If we have more students than tickets, we will choose who will go based on attendance (at Saturday Academies and at tutoring), and behavior.

Photo from TCU Magazine's The History of the Iron Skillet

Back to School Bash: Setting Goals

This Saturday we will kick off the 2011-2012 school year with a trip to White Rock Lake. We will meet at MVC at 9:00 (note the time change!); we will be back on campus for lunch, and the day will be over at 2:30.

Photo by SteveM_61 via Flickr

While we are at the lake, we will work on setting goals -- academic and personal -- for this school year. The beautiful scenery (and cooler weather) will serve as inspiration to help you focus on what you want to achieve out of this new school year, what short-term goals you want to set for yourself in order to help you move toward your long-term goals.

You will have several choices in how you express your goals: you can write them down in a journal, or jot them down on notecards, or, if you prefer to express yourself in a different way, you can draw your goals. We will provide journals, note cards, and drawing paper, along with pens and pencils. If you would like to express your goals through photography, you will have to supply your own camera as well as a way to transfer your photographs to a computer (if your camera has a removable SD card, we can upload the photos that way; if not, you will have to bring the cable to connect your camera to a computer).

After lunch (which will be back at the MVC campus), we will break into small groups and share our goals with the group. This way, we can help keep each other accountable for our goals as we move through the school year together.

When setting your goals, remember to make them "S.M.A.R.T." In order for goals to be effective, they must be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-targeted

In other words, make your goals something you can actually do, and make them clear enough so that you'll know when you've done them.

Instead of, "I want to get good grades" (in every subject? Every six weeks? What is "good" -- passing? Or all As?), be more specific: "I want my semester grades to be all As and Bs."

Instead of, "I'm going to do my homework" or "I'm going to clean my room," make a plan: "I will spend one hour, from 4:30-5:30 every weekday, doing homework" or "I spend two hours every Saturday cleaning my room." Even if your room isn't "perfect" at the end of those two hours, you know you've met your goal, and you can cross that off your list.

Make your goals realistic: don't say you're going to study for five hours every night; that's not very likely to happen (if you get home from school at 4:30, that means you will be studying straight until 9:30 at night without a break), nor is it very effective (your brain won't focus on something for more than an hour at a time, which is why you need to take a break every 45-50 minutes or so).

Some goals need a time limit. If you are learning a new skill, for example, give yourself a deadline. Instead of saying, "I will run a 5K," say when you will do this: "I will be able to run 5K by New Year's." Instead of "I will learn to cook" (which is not specific or measurable or time-targeted), say "I will try a new recipe once a week and for Thanksgiving I will cook three side dishes."

Your goals should not just be academic. What do you want to do? Do you have a bad habit you wish you could break? Do you want to learn something new? Do you want to start a new, healthy habit, like working out or meditating? We often forget to take time to care for ourselves when we're scheduling plans!