College education cost: sleep + social life (I had to earn those scholarships baby). Keeping those grades up: rest of life. Eating dinner at the Biltmore in the same room as His Excellency Sultan Saeed Nasser Al Mansoori '88 B.S.E., Minister of Economy for the United Arab Emarates? PRICELESS!
I can't believe I was chosen to be a part of the festivities this year! Each year some of the Medallion Scholars get to go and help out with the event. And by "help" I mean minimal stuff such as greeting people at the door, collecting name tags, directing people to their table, etc. And eating with some VIPs.
I sat at the LRG table, and they do licensing for all the ASU merchandise (that Sparky stuff of yours? They licensed it), and manage the bookstores too. The founder of the company was there, and he was such a sweet older man with kind eyes, and a firm handshake.
The dinner itself was pretty fancy; it was the kind where the waitor seats you himself and puts the napkin on your lap for you. He pours you bottled water, wine, and coffee! Choices, choices. And he puts the salad dressing on for you as well, because both hands are full with the salad fork and knife- (I had never eaten a salad with a knife before!) because it's tied up with a cucumber bow. Wow.
President Crow was there of course, as well as my favorite school official- Dr. Christine Wilkinson. As well as being the Vice President of ASU, she is also the President of the Alumni Association, and thus is around for many of our scholarship- related activities. She even hosts a backyard BBQ every year, at her own house. She's sort of taken a liking to me, because she was an English Lit major too. One last thing- she's also the one who nominated me for Fiesta Bowl Queen this past year. So, in short, I. Love. Her. Such a neat and inspiring lady! My role model.
Anyway, back to the dinner. My table was at the very front of the room, and so I had a great view of the stage and the screens. Several awards were given.
The Sultan received one, and I think one of the coolest ones went to an alumnus who is currently working on metal- air batteries, and trying to make them rechargeable. If he can, then it could potentially change our country big time! We would see cell phones batteries that had to be charged only once a month, and laptops would last a week! Cars are a huge field of exploration too, because with that kind of battery power our dependence on foreign energy would be significantly reduced.
So yeah, there were a lot of really, really cool people there who are doing amazing things. I am so incredibly glad I got to be a part of it!
** I wish I had pictures, but I didn't have my camera and it was too dark for my phone cam to work (I tried). But there are some other ones people took, so I'm waiting to see 'em!! :)
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