From Minnesota to - Texas??

Hello, everyone!  The RV Tour has - as always - been taking us through large stretches of the country, and we're excited to tell you all about it. 

After we left Lewis University in Illinois, the tour made its way up to University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Imagine our amazement as we drove on to campus and noticed that a great percentage of the population rode around on scooters! Yes, motorized scooters: not bikes or skateboards (as Jor-El was used to when he went to school in Wilmington, NC).  It seems that scooters are a hot commodity in Madison.  We all drooled over this lost opportunity in our undergraduate careers.

We met with our contact Ryan, who is a hall director in the amazing new residence hall at UW in which we presented.  The majority of our presentations took place in this building's lounge area, which turned out to be a huge room with about 150 chairs in the room (not to mention a few big screen TVs nestled in the back of the room).  After spending some time getting some tech issues under control, we presented to a group of faculty and staff, and then to some student leaders.  It was great for us to have very engaged audiences in both settings.  We also presented our new Women's Program to a great audience of female students, who seemed very impressed by the program’s basis in research.

Later in the evening, after a somewhat long day, we had one final presentation across campus for The Men's Program.  This session was specifically designed for male resident students.  We were a little shocked upon entering the room when we only noticed one guy sitting there waiting, but we were informed a few minutes later that another safety presentation was going on downstairs in the same building.  So even though we had a small audience (which we like, as it makes for a more engaging dialogue), we still gave the same effort that we would as if we were speaking to a room full of people. It was a great thing we did.  After the presentation, 6 of the guys in attendance - nearly the entire audience - spoke with us about starting a chapter at UW Madison. What a great way to end a day!  It is always amazing to see how many new men are stepping up to make a difference in this cause.

Our next stop was in Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.  We had been brought to campus by the wonderful Kaaren, who works for the Gender and Sexuality Center. We were pretty amazed by the approach that the center takes.  Rather than just focusing on violence prevention, this office holistically incorporates all kinds of issues and topics relating to gender issues, including men's health, women's health, sexuality, sexual assault and violence prevention.  It was great to see a center that integrated all these topics!

Upon arriving on Saturday night, we had the opportunity to meet with our student contact, Leahruth, who was gracious enough to provide us with goodie bags (AWESOME!) and show us to our accommodations in their alumni house (which were incredibly comfortable).  Over the course of our time at Carleton we got to see a drag show on campus (definitely a new experience for us), present in a wonderful hall, and train a very intelligent group of young men -- who have now formed our newest One in Four chapter. Congratulations, guys!

After our lovely stint at Carleton (we miss you, Northfield!) we were set up to make what has been the most challenging drive of the trip so far.  After our late presentation at Carleton on Tuesday evening, we immediately had to start heading our way to Corpus Christi, Texas (where we were to present on Thursday).  After making some strategic rest and driving plans, we made the 27 hour trip and arrived in Corpus Christi safe and sound early Thursday morning.  

Not to let an opportunity go wasted, just before going to bed, JT and Dan decided to hop over to the beach (which was a short walk away from where the RV was parked) to dip their feet into the Gulf of Mexico. It was an exhilarating capstone to an incredible drive across the country -- it was just unfortunate that they didn’t see that the water was filled with tiny jellyfish until it was too late.

Luckily, our scheduled presentation at A&M was in the late afternoon, and when we arrived we were amazed to see the beautiful space we were presenting in.  This room was a performance hall, and was part of their Performing Arts Center. It was easily the most breathtaking place we’ve ever presented in, and we all commented on how we wish we could take the room with us wherever we went.

After our presentation at Corpus Christi, we were psyched to head to our next stop in Orlando, FL, where we would get the chance to meet up with Adam, our Executive Director, Dr. Foubert, One in Four's Founder and some of William and Mary’s One in Four chapter members at the Safe Society Zone conference.  We were all excited to spend a few days in a beautiful place and reconnect with some great friends.

RV Tour Visits Ohio, Ilinois

Hello, everyone!

As October comes to a close, we're coming near the end of one of the most packed months of scheduling in One in Four's history.  RV Tour 4 has been literally moving all over the country to make this month happen, and we've certainly been having our share of adventures! 

After University at Buffalo we headed to University of Dayton, where we spent a few days training a new chapter of One in Four and presenting to their Greek life.  Over two days at Dayton, we trained a great group of guys and also had a strong showing of support from female student activists.  Everyone came together to learn more about the issue and to help plan how the new chapter at Dayton was going to make a difference.  It was awesome to work with such excited students!

Yet, no trip would be complete without a little RV fun.  On the night before we left Dayton, our generator became a little fussy and it eventually stopped working.  Ordinarily, this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but we needed some serious electrical power to get the RV back into driving form and we didn't have any time to spare - - we needed to be in Romeoville, IL to present at Lewis University early the next morning.

After tinkering with it for a while, we decided it was going to take some creative problem solving and soon contacted the Dayton Police.  We tossed around all kinds of ideas, but in the end we ran about 50 feet of heavy-duty extension cords from a nearby building, and transformed Cassie from home back into car.  From here, we were able to drive through the night (with a stop in our favorite White Castle in Gary, Indiana), drop off the RV to be serviced, pick up a car from Dan's very generous parents, and make it to Lewis on schedule the following morning.  Surely, it was one for the record books. 

At Lewis we had great audiences for all of our presentations over the next two days.  We spoke to faculty/staff, first year students, male athletes, and we were able to present the Women's Program to nearly all of Lewis' female athletes.  Our contact Teresa took excellent care of us (offering us wonderful food, which we always appreciate) and Dr. Mellman, the director of the Lewis Counseling Center, continually thanked us for our efforts. 

It's needless to say that our schedule has been pressing and that keeping the pace has been a fun and challenging experience for all four of us.  But without a doubt we've been humbled and inspired by the people we've met at every step of the way.  Whether it's leaving a new chapter of men who are now excited to take a stand against sexual violence, or having a survivor approach us after a presentation, we know that there is no other job in the world that we'd rather be working. 

Check back for our next post, in which we discuss: a presentation at University of Wisconsin-Madison in which 6 men approached us afterward, adamant about forming their own One in Four chapter - and a drive that began in chilly Minnesota and ended with us dipping our feet into the Gulf of Mexico.  Stay tuned! 

One in Four Stops at University at Buffalo, New York

Hello friends of One in Four!

It's been a long time since we've posted a blog entry, but we hope that you'll forgive us: we've been very busy tackling a very busy fall schedule, and we've wanted to make sure that we can offer the schools we visit as much energy as they need from us. Now that we're a bit more comfortable with life on the road, though, we're going to make an effort to post on this blog much more regularly than we have so far - so be sure to check in often!

The RV Tour just finished up a two day stint at University at Buffalo in New York, and the people at the UB Wellness Center took incredible care of us - they put us up in a hotel and gave us food, as well as official University hats, T-shirts, USB drives, and miniature basketballs and footballs.  They even arranged for each of us to receive a short, between-presentations massage from Shelly, the University Wellness Center's resident massage therapist.  Also, on our second evening the folks at the Wellness Center treated us to the best pizza and wings you can get in Buffalo, for which Buffalo is well-known for.  We certainly didn't argue with this treatment - especially since it came on the heels of days of rough driving from Pennsylvania, out to Tennessee, and then back to New York!

To be fair, though, UB did have us present 5 times a day each day we were there - which we've grown very accustomed to - but the tender love and care UB offered us definitely made our time there very enjoyable.

We also received a lot of gratitude from several people who saw our presentations at UB.  The Chief of Police was at our first seminar, and afterward he offered to help us line up a presentation at the convention held for all police trainers within the state of New York. On our second day, after the director of Residence Halls at UB saw one of our presentations, she returned to her office and informed all of her res directors to drop what they were doing and attend the next afternoon session. 

It was absolutely humbling to be offered this kind of help from those with the power to make a huge difference at UB.  Hearing from them validated the difference that we're making on this journey - and it makes those 5-presentation days (as well as the free food and massages) especially worthwhile.

Right now we're on our way to Dayton, Ohio, and after that we'll be heading to Lewis University in Illinois.  We'll be sure to post again soon!