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The past nine days flew by faster than I could believe. And, if you ask me, it didn’t feel much like a vacation at all!

I’m from Chicago, and there are pretty much two seasons – windy and sunny and windy and snowy – each one lasting roughly six months. But this past week the weather has been absolutely nuts. Right now it’s 30 degrees and hailing. But, when I woke up this morning it was 60 degrees and sunny. Two days before that there was a winter storm warning and all of the local high schools were closed. Two days before that it was 65 degrees and I was running around campus in shorts and a t-shirt. If you don’t like the weather in Ohio, just wait five more minutes, it’ll change.

The last half on this past week was pretty hectic for me because it was the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships down in Columbus, Ohio. I went with senior Scott Thomas who finished sixth place, which earned him All-American honors at the meet. He is the first All-American for our new head men’s track coach, Kevin Lucas, who is taking over for legend John Homon. There is no rest between indoor and outdoor track. The Stark County Championships will be held this Friday at nearby Walsh University, and a lot of Purple Raiders will be trying to qualify for conference and nationals in the next few weeks. This Saturday is the first step…

I am looking forward to the start of this week because the Annual Student Art Exhibit will open featuring artwork done by students at Mount Union! If you want check out some of these great pieces they will be on display at the Crandall Art Gallery starting Monday, March 14 and running through the end of the month. Types of art on display include drawing, design, printmaking, photography and sculpture. The Gallery is open Monday-Friday from 8 -9 a.m. and from 1 – 6 p.m. on weekends.

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My name is Sean Denard and I am a junior at the University of Mount Union. I’m an English major and psychology minor as well as a member of the men’s track and field team. On the track team, I compete in the shot put and discus where I earned All-American honors and was the MVP of the OAC Track and Field Championships.

I am originally from Naperville, a large suburb just 30 minutes southwest of Chicago. It’s the 2nd largest city in Illinois and is quite prominent in athletics and academics. My senior year I helped our football team win a state title and competed at the state championships for track and field.

Outside of school I have many hobbies which include cooking, glassblowing, writing, going on adventures and growing copious amount of body hair from my eyebrows to my toes.

Moving from a wealthy suburb of Chicago to the more rural setting of Alliance was definitely a paradigm shift that took some time to adjust to, but with this blog I hope I will be able to help others in a similar situation as mine to adapt to these new surroundings quicker than I had.