Last day at SBCC & Ambassadors Goodbye Party

Yesterday was the last day of instruction at SBCC for me. I will probably never assist to another lecture at SBCC and that makes me feel weird, and a little sad. But once again, I am excited to begin my course of studies at the Haas School of Business in Berkeley!

On the other hand, I am not going to talk about my classes in this blog post. I mean, the day was pretty average, with work in the morning, Art History lecture right after, and Philosophy immediately after that. The lectures were not special just because they were the last ones. The day started becoming interesting right after I was done with class.

First, I walked to the green hill at West Campus. From there, the view is spectacular, and that’s one of the things I will miss the most about SBCC. It is such a gorgeous view that I have seen more than one couple of spouses getting married on that hill. It’s funny to think that what is for us just a hill at our school, is also a destination of choice for people looking to get married. So I walked up there, and I took a nap. The hill is green (a good sign of response to the drought, it used to be yellow about a year ago…), peaceful, and has the greatest view. That makes for a great spot where to take a nap in between classes.

Happy Birthday Allen

When I woke up, around 3 o clock, I felt some energy came back to me. I grabbed some lunch and started feeling great. Then I had a meeting with the SBCC bloggers and our boss. Needless to say, this was our last meeting, and rather than being a checkpoint to assess our work, it was more similar to a goodbye party. Melanie, our awesome boss, brought pizza from Giovanni’s! I had just eaten lunch, but who can say no to free pizza from Giovanni’s (which has a ton of mozzarella cheese on it) ? 

So that continued my stream of free food, after the free pizza at Demo Day on Tuesday night, the free JSB lunch on Wednesday, and the free dinner at the Honors Gala on the night of the same day. But the stream kept going. 

Around 5:15pm, after saying goodbye to boss Melanie and the bloggers, and checking in at the Economic Club of Santa Barbara leadership meeting (which was almost over when I arrived), I jumped in my friend’s car, headed to… more free food! 

Every semester, the International Student Ambassador Program organizes a lunch at a restaurant to say goodbye at the end of the semester. Yesterday, for the first time, we had a dinner instead of a lunch, and we went to Carola Smith’s house in Montecito instead of going to a restaurant. Carola Smith is senior director of International Programs (and head of the International Student Support Program, aka Int’l Student Office) and she was so nice as to host a goodbye BBQ party at her beautiful house. 

Allen and the great view

After eating some delicious BBQ chicken, BBQ sirloin steak, as well as some pasta and some salads, we also had dessert! That’s because yesterday it happened to be Allen’s birthday! So some of us Ambassadors bought him a cake and surprised him at the party. It was very fun to see his happy and surprised face, and to sign happy birthday. Somebody even made sure to put some cake on Allen’s face, and then we all grabbed him, stripped him of his phone, wallet, shoes, and socks, and threw him in the pool.

Adviser Shelby giving out award certificates

Yeah, I know, that’s not nice!— you may be thinking. But it actually wasn't too bad, as some of us already were in the jacuzzi, and others (including Allen) joined later.

Before anybody went down to the swimming area, the advisers and leaders of the Ambassadors Program gave certificates of completion to all of those who had just completed their first semesters as school Ambassadors, and then announced the awards for this semester. Every semester, one or two Ambassadors receive awards for “Outstanding Service” or for being an exceptionally motivated team member who drives the energy at every meeting, an award that we call the “Spark Award.” We also award the “Newbie award” to a student who was new to the Ambassadors Program but demonstrated great leadership and commitment. 

We left the party around 8:30PM, and we all had a really great time. 

I have been an Ambassador for a year and a half, and it was a beautiful journey that will forever stay in my heart.

A presto,

- Fede