Week of the Shipboard Drive!!! :)

11.24.12

So as everyone knows, I have a work study position on the ship, and my
group worked on the Shipboard Drive, a week long fundraiser. Well, the
week in between Rio de Janeiro and Manaus is when it took place!

We also had a spirit week during this, and we made a Mind The Gap
Thermometer of how much money we raised, those who donated got to color
in a life ring and we glued it to this sign, and we had a participation
percent thermometer as well!

The first day went remarkably well-we had over 50% participation the
first day! (We also may have bribed people with stickers and cookies,
but that's beside the point!) The next days were much slower, but we
made the incentive that if we got 50% participation, we would have
another Taco Day before Manaus! (We kept it a secret for a couple days
because we didn't want people to just reach the incentives and stop
donating, you know?) Taco day happened, and it was nice because the
food on the ship this week hadn't been too great!

The third night we had the Auction...which went fabulous! We raised
over $28,000!!! People waited outside for at least an hour to get good
seats! Also, some of the most expensive items were over double that of
the average of previous voyages! The Captain's Map, the Captain's Hat,
a Semester at Sea Flag, and Shadowing Dean John for a day were all over
$1,000 or $2,000! How crazy is that?! The air was so chaotic, but so
exciting too! I was Kate's right hand man for the night, so I basically
did whatever she needed me to do. :) So at first I was just hanging out
with her, and then she had me go around and write down the second
highest bidder information-that way if something happens with the
winner, we can offer it to them. This was by far one of the most fun
nights on the ship!

After the auction, things really slowed down a little bit, so we started
writing hand notes to people, which actually worked pretty well! We had
a competition between the seas, and we had 2 seas reach 100%! The first
was the Arabian, the second was the biggest sea, Aegean! What an
accomplishment that our biggest sea could come together and have
everyone donate to Semester at Sea! I don't have exact numbers, but I
do know that we have raised the most money out of every SAS voyage! We
even had the most money raised before the Shipboard Auction! I think we
have a total of around or over $67,000!!! What an accomplishment, and
thanks to everyone who donated on our behalf! :) When I have official
numbers, I'll definitely post them! :D

Well there was something every night during the Shipboard Drive too,
after the Auction. The first night after the Auction was the Crew
Talent Show...it was so good! People waited in line for up to 2 hours!!
All the crew members that we have come to know and love were up showing
us their talents! There were native dances, a comedian, and bands too.
It was an amazing night and everyone had a great time! I got everything
on video, so I can't wait to upload a couple acts!

Then two nights later we had the Shipboard Talent Show! Again, people
had lined up for hours to get good seats! A lot of people sang, played
instruments, and me, Ali, and Colleen made a parody to the song "Baby
Got Back" and called it "Baby Got Ship." We started laughing so much
during the song, but everyone liked it! The little girls on the ship
did a dance, and the atmosphere was very supporting and excited! I
loved every minute of it! One guy sang a song by Josh Grobin- You Raise
Me Up, and it reminded me so much of home and STEM because of my friends
Adam and Kim!

Our last night before we got to Manaus, we had our very own Thanksgiving
dinner. Everyone lined up like they did with Taco Day, and the dinner
was pretty good! We all had tons of turkey, they had mac n cheese, some
potatoes, but they had pumpkin pie!! I definitely ate my fair share the
past two days, between Taco Day and Thanksgiving haha. But I had dinner
with my family, and I had a great time! :)

Overall, this week was by far one of the most crazy/hectic, but most fun
weeks I've had on the ship! I love my work study group and life on the
ship! :)

I think that's all that happened, but if I forgot something, I'll add it
later!

SH