Muncie Children's Museum FREE this Saturday!

The Muncie Children's Museum
is a great place to go with small children. Located in downtown Muncie, it is convenient to get to and well worth your time. This is a fun, hands-on kind of place where children learn, discover, play and connect with others in a fun-filled environment.

Words from the website:
The Muncie Children's Museum is a fun and safe learning environment for children as well as parents. It serves the children of East Central Indiana by expanding their knowledge with the use of thought-provoking and interactive exhibits. Parents are encouraged to explore the exhibits and museum with their children. The Muncie Children's Museum isn't just for the young people of East Central Indiana, but for the young at heart as well!

Visit the Muncie Children's this coming Saturday, October 20 for FREE!

515 S, High Street, Muncie, IN

Join the IEI for Saturday Homecoming Events!

Join the IEI for Saturday Homecoming Events!

10:00 am The Parade

The Homecoming Parade leaves Muncie Central High School and travels north on Wheeling to University, then heads west on University Ave. to McKinley, and ends at McKinley and Petty (by the Robert Bell Building). IEI faculty and students will be gathering at the bridge on Wheeling to watch the parade. Please join us!

11:30 am Tailgating

What is this?? It’s an extremely fun cookout from the back of your (or a friend’s) car! B.Y.O.B (This means “bring your own beverage”), a chair or blanket to sit on, some (or a lot) food to share, outdoor games, cards, etc., and friends!

Details: If you are driving your own car and want to be a part of the tailgate area with your car, meet at the BSU Facilities Building (this is across the street from Sheidler) by 11:30 am. All IEI cars will leave together from this point and drive to the parking entrance on Tillotson (west of the football stadium). This important because if we drive together, we can park together; and if we park together, our party is unified!

If you do not want to drive and just want to meet us there, come to the parking area at noon and just look around until you find the IEI group. We will have some colorful balloons flying from one of the cars so that will help you find us. When all the cars are parked, people take out tables, games, food, and there is lots of music, laughter, and fun!

Cost: $5.00 per car

3:00 pm The Football Game!

Students get in FREE with Ball State ID cards

If you want to bring your children, the grassy area at the north end of the stadium is a great place to sit with children. Be sure to bring a blanket so you can sit on the grass.

Tomorrow: Bed Races!

On Friday, October 12, 2012 you can see the famous Ball State Bed Races!

If this sounds weird, it is! So I hope you are curious about it and will get out to see it.

What are the bed races?

Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like – racing beds! Teams have beds with wheels on the legs of the beds and they compete against each other by pushing their rolling beds down the street. Teams dress up in crazy clothes and one member (at least) sits on the bed while the others each take a corner and push the bed as they run. On-lookers enjoy watching them and the teams all enjoy the crazy competition.

This is a very short event, however, so you don’t want to be late!

When: Friday, October 12 at NOON

Where: Riverside Avenue in front of Emens Auditorium

Homecoming Activities for Saturday, October 13, 2012

Homecoming Activities for Saturday, 

October 13, 2012

Homecoming parades and football games are standard traditions at college campuses all across the United States. Ball State is no exception. And tailgating? Oh yeah, that’s another one and you don’t want to miss any of these! These are all “typical” American experiences. You have the opportunity to take part in these activities this coming Saturday along with some of the IEI faculty.

First of all – the parade: It begins at 10 am starting at Central High School (near downtown). If you want to get a good viewing spot, come to the Veterans Memorial Bridge along Wheeling. This is at the end of White River Blvd. You can take Riverside or University straight west until they come to an end and then take a right. You will see the bridge – and all the people just ahead.

I'll let you in on a little "secret" (Our very own Dr. Leusman just might be seen somewhere in that parade.... I'm just sayin') 

Then, after the parade, several IEI faculty will be gathering to tailgate. 

What is tailgating? 

Well,…

The (n) tailgate is the back end of a car, truck, SUV, etc. As a verb, it means to hang out with friends at the back of your vehicle and have a fun party. It originated because people would gather in the parking lots at stadiums all over the country and “party” (v.) before a big game. It became so popular that the word actually made it into our normal lexicon.

So if you want to experience this American tradition, go to the stadium parking area on Tillotson. Tailgating is from noon to 3pm. You don’t have to bring anything, but of course, chips, drinks, sweets, etc. will certainly be welcome.

Finally, the football game! Ball State students can get into the game for FREE with your student ID.

For more information, check out the flyer on the bulletin board just outside the IEI office.

I sure hope you will take advantage to do one or all of these activities with your fellow IEI faculty and classmates. And let me know what you think about it! Send me comments and/or pictures that I can post here on the blog.

Happy Homecoming, all!  

Chirp! Chirp!

Play Your Cards Right IEI!!

IEI won 

the campus-wide decorating contest!

WINNING!!

Yeah! 

Kudos to US! 

Congratulations to US!

We decorated with playing cards and a whole casino theme focused around the great diversity in the IEI complete with passports and cards games from around the world. 

We decorated our office doors with maps and flags from different countries and set up card tables with games from several of our representative countries. On one of the bulletin boards outside the main office, we set up a graffiti board where students signed their names in their own languages. 

Indeed, the judges were impressed!

Thank you everyone for all your hard work and

team spirit!

Ball State Fight Song

Monday's Music Pick for this week must be the 

Ball State Fight Song

Fight songs are written and used to promote school spirit. Every school has one. Groups of students and Alumni will sing their school song enthusiastically for years to come. 

The lyrics are below, and you can also hear the music on this Youtube flick

Fight team fight for Ball State
We must win this game
Onward now you Cardinals
Bring glory to your name
Fight! Fight! Fight! 

Here's to both our colors
Cardinal and White
Praying for a victory
So fight, fight, fight! 

And do you know the word "mascot"?
noun

Well it is an animal, person, or thing that a group of people take on to represent them. It is supposed to bring good luck. At Ball State, our mascot is a cardinal - and that is also the official state bird of Indiana. 

We have nick-named the Ball State mascot "Charlie" and I'm sure you have seen Charlie Cardinal around campus from time to time. If you go to a football or basketball game, you will be sure to see Charlie Cardinal running around shooting energy and school spirit into the crowds of people. 

AND...

Think about this year's homecoming theme: 

play your cards right. 

This is actually a play on words because "cards" is also short for "cardinals" 

so the slogan means for the Cardinal football team to play a great 

- and winning - 

game!

What is “Homecoming”?

What is “Homecoming”?

Homecoming is a very American tradition on college campuses. It is a term that refers to a specific weekend when the school’s alumni are invited to come back “home” for special events and activities. Note: Alumni means people who have graduated from that school – so when you leave Muncie with your degree in hand, you will be a Ball State University Alum (singular of alumni – we usually use this word in its plural form: alumni). 

Campuses all across the nation celebrate homecoming festivities throughout the fall season. Each school usually has something unique to their own school culture as well as typical traditions.

Some of the typical traditions include a parade, a queen and king court, tailgating and a football game. We have all of these things, too, at Ball State. We also have a few one-of-a-kind traditions such as the BEDRACE. 

Another tradition is to decorate the school with school colors and an enthusiastic competition between colleges, departments, dorms, and more. Have you been to the IEI this past week? If so, you have certainly seen us working to decorate according to this year's theme: Play Your Cards Right. On Friday university judges went around to all the departments that participated in this year's competition to take pictures and notes. Did we win??? Stop by the IEI this week to find out. And check back here later for pictures of our really cool decorations. 

This week I’m going to post information about homecomings in general and about ours at Ball State in particular. Keep posted! What you learn here will help you spot the various activities on campus and will make it more interesting and fun for you.

Today I’m giving you the schedule of events at Ball State the week

Monday 10/8

6pm:       Tour of theMcKinley Strip

7-10 pm:   Homecoming Village Martin Street from Riverside Ave to University Ave.

Wednesday 10/10

9am – 3 pm:      Blood Drive Puris Hall

3pm:     Stop,  Drop, and Dash Charity Run

Thursday 10/11

9pm:    Air Jam at Emens Auditorium

Friday 10/12

10am:     Bed Race on Riverside Ave

Saturday 10/13

10am:    Parade begins at Central High School and goes through downtown Muncie

3pm:  Football game against Western Michigan              

And if you want to learn more 

about homecoming traditions 

in the US, 

check out these articles:

4 UniqueHomecoming Traditions

When HomecomingGets Weird

10 Fun FactsAbout Homecoming

The History ofHomecoming