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.