Hello again! There is a common saying in quidditch: WEST COAST, BEST COAST. Here are some Western-based Tufflepuffs who demonstrate how accurate that saying is (although if you ask us, if the West was all that great, they never would have left). First up, we have our wonderful captain, Hannah DeBaets, hailing from Northern California. Hannah is spending her summer doing research in the Walt lab at Tufts. She's enjoying exclusive keycard access to high-tech parts of the lab - most importantly the kitchen. In addition to her lunch breaks, Hannah is doing the occasional bit of work. Her project for the summer is to investigate how the bacteria and other organisms that live on your body transfer to your personal items, like your phone. Besides spending a lot of her time this summer in a lab coat, Hannah has been hanging out in (and hanging from) a variety of trees. A relatively inexperienced tree climber, Hannah has found that sitting in trees with friends is one of her new favorite ways to relax. If you are looking for a good tree to climb, Hannah suggests you come visit Tufts and try the Possum Tree, which has become Hannah's most frequently visited tree. Hannah has spent the last few weeks exploring different parts of the world, including Montreal and LA. Coming up on July 19th, this Tufflepuff will be joining Team USA to face off against six other international teams in Vancouver. Among all of the new faces at Global Games will be at least one familiar one: that of Arlene Rosenberg, a fellow Tufflepuff and member of Team Canada. Hannah is looking forward to meeting her Team USA teammates and learning as much as she can from them. We here at Tufts Quidditch could not be prouder of our two national team members. Next up is fellow Northern Californian, Andrew Carp. Carp spend the spring semester in Hong Kong, where he went a lot of parties, explored the city and island, and ate at a lot of different restaurants. He also spent a few weekends traveling to China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Taiwan was his favorite because it had the best food and nicest people. In Malaysia, he got to hike a 14,000 foot mountain and almost passing out due to altitude sickness. After school ended, Carp spent most of the summer backpacking through southeast Asia. He got to go to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar. In Thailand, he traveled to an island called Koh Phi Phi in the south where Carp spent about four days sitting on the beach and kayaking through the cliffs around the island. He also got to snorkel, ate lots of pad thai, and fought his friend in a Muay Thai boxing match. In Vietnam, Carp also explored some of the biggest caves in the world. He also spent a lot of time riding motorcycles around the national park in Vietnam and traveling through the hills and caves. In Laos, Carp did a rainforest hike with this old Laotian guide called "Capitan". He also cycled through a really surreal area of Myanmar called Bagan. It has 4000 temples and stupas dating back to the 9th century or so. After visiting Myanmar, Carp returned home to Silicon Valley. He will return to Tufts in August, and we are all looking forward to hearing more about his trip. Our final featured Tufflepuff is Lily Buechler, hailing for Boise, Idaho. She has been working at Boise State University's Energy Efficiency Research Institute. She is working with a group of people doing research on microgrid peak electrical demand reduction . When not at work, Lily has been spending as much time as possible up in the mountains enjoying the outdoors. She has gone on a few camping and backpacking trips to some of the more remote parts of Idaho. She has had a blast kayaking, biking and climbing mountains with friends and family. She has also been watching the World Cup and is super excited for the final this weekend! That's all for this week! Hope the summer has been treating you well!
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Hello again! The summer sure is heating up in Boston so to help us cool down, here are some of the coolest Tufflepuffs around. First up we have the one, the only: Ben “Babycakes” Pfander. Ben, like many other Tufflepuffs is spending this summer like he has spent the last few: working as a camp counselor at a YMCA camp in Michigan called Camp Echo. Babycakes has spent the last thirteen summers at Echo and the last four working as staff. At Camp Echo, Babycakes will be working both in the normal camp program and with the Teen Staff. With the normal camp program, he will be helping with a variety of activities, including baseball, basketball, kayaking, and even LARPing. On Teen Staff, Ben will be working with the older kids at camp on activities such as overnight and river trips that require more autonomy. Babycakes is especially excited for the Pine River trip, which is when the campers and staff take a 3-day, 2-night canoe trip down the Pine River. They cook on a camp stove, sleep in camping tents, and carry all their equipment in their canoes as they make their way down the river. All in all, Ben’s summer abounds with awesome activities. Aside from his amazing summer plans, our dear Babycakes is leaving us this fall. He is studying abroad in Ireland all semester, where he plans on studying Irish history, exploring Ireland, visiting some friends, and maybe playing some intercontinental quidditch. We hope you have a wonderful time! Bring us back some of that Irish Luck. Now we would be able to live with ourselves if we wrote about Ben and didn't mention what his partner-in-crime and fellow Midwesterner, Maxwell Leonhardt. Ben and Max are so attuned to each other’s actions that their summers are very similar. Max is also working at a summer camp this summer. He will be taking a few trips with campers up to northern Wisconsin to hike, canoe, and sea kayak on Lake Superior through the caves of the Apostle Islands. Max has also been working on an album with his band, That’s So Gentlemen, which you can check out here: http://notsogentlemen.bandcamp.com/album/summer-lightning. Much like Ben, Max is also not returning to Tufts in the fall. Unlike Ben, He will be missing for an entire year. We’ve come to terms with it though because we know he will be having a blast. Next year, Max will be working for City Year in Milwaukee. City Year is an AmeriCorp program in which he will be tutoring, teaching, and helping with after school programming. We know Max will do a wonderful job and couldn’t be prouder of him. Up next is the lovely and talented Jordan Anderson. Jordan spent the first part of the summer taking Cell Biology and working at Tufts Medical Center. As the first summer session has passed, Jordan is now working full time, in the Infections Disease Department. She is working on processing data of the impact of injection drug user on infectious endocarditis rate, HIV nutritional conference, and HIV retention in Namibia. Jordan has also been going on adventures, including visits to Rock Port, Old Sturbridge Village, the Fells, and Canada. Visits to Portland, Kennebunkport, and New York are in the works. Jordan, like fellow Tufflepuff David Stack is also going to Uganda this summer. She is going for two weeks in August to help set up a loan program. All in all, Jordan’s summer is incredibly busy and eventful, with many adventures to come. That’s all for this installment. Stay cool, my friends. As usual, any and all requests, concerns, questions, or general musings about the meaning of life can be commented below. Hello again! Summer solstice is officially in the past, and it is now truly summer!! To start the season off right, here's what more Tufflepuffs are up to this summer. The first featured Tufflepuff is our former co-manager and current fundraising coordinator: Matthew Cardarelli. Matt kicked off the summer by coordinating a tournament with teachers at Buckingham, Browne, & Nichols high school in Cambridge. Tufts Quidditch was approached by two high school teachers at the end of the school year to come help teach the rules of quidditch to their students, and to help with their very own World Cup. Matt was instrumental in organizing both the instructional session, shown above, and the World Cup. The World Cup was very successful, with the game coming down to a snitch snatch! Hopefully the event will happen in future years, as everyone involved had a blast! Besides his Tufts Quidditch duties, Matt has been working at athenahealth, Inc in Watertown, MA. He will be working on Software Development through August. One of the highlights of his job thus far has been go-karting with the company a few weeks ago. Matt is also very excited to play Mario Kart 8. He also plans to spend time with his family, since a family reunion with his 150+ extended family and a trip to Niagara Falls is in the works. Next up is Josh Golding, our newest addition to the Tufflepuff family. Josh spent the end of May in London with his family. Josh now has an internship at Giuliani Partners, which is owned by Rudy Giuliani and is a consulting firm that does a lot of work with security and law enforcement. He might also visit Montreal and Italy this summer. Continuing his summer of international endeavors, he is also planning on taking an online Russian course at a local college. Another Tufflepuff with international travel plans in the work is Nicolas Sempere. Nick is planning to visit France in the next couple of weeks. Aside from his visit to Europe, he is working as a life-guard, visiting relatives, and working on a website for a place where he used to go for guitar lessons. He is also cheering on the French national team as they try to improve upon their performance at the last World Cup. Speaking of the World Cup, Nick's fellow Texan, Noah Schwartz, is planning on spending the summer cheering on the USA national team as they attempt to make it out of the Group of Death. Noah is thus very excited for the USA vs Germany game on Thursday and hopes for an American victory. Aside from cheering on the USA team, Noah is interning for Rita Lucido, who is running for the District 17 State Senate seat in Texas. He is also planning on attending numerous weddings, along with Blue Bonnet Cup and THE Fantasy Tournament. Another Tufflepuff who will be watching the USA/Germany game on Thursday is Nora Mueller. However, she will be hoping for a German victory. Aside from watching soccer, Nora is working for the Tufts Adoption and Development Project as a research assistant studying trans-racial adoption of Chinese girls to American families. She is also babysitting and doing a GRE prep class. Nora has also been spending time with her friends at Tufts and playing quidditch. She will be attending Canada Fantasy next weekend, along with six other Tufflepuffs! She will be visiting Germany in August with her family for her grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. Last, but certainly not least, is David Bernstein. This summer, David is a camp counselor in Maine. Some of the activities he is working on include teaching guitar, cooking, and kayaking. He also got life-guard certified. He is having a swell time at camp and will spend the rest of the summer there. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer as much as we are! Who do you want to hear about next? Let us know in the comments!! So the plan was to write one of these posts every other week. Yet here we are, five days later, and a new post in the making. The primary reason for this decision is the Tufflepuffs just have so many interesting things happening this summer, any delay writing about them would be criminal. We always say you wish you were a Tufflepuff, and here are some reasons why, this summer, it might be true. First up in this round of Tufflepuffs is Madeleine Lebovic, one of our wonderful rising sophomores. Like our dear Ian, Madeleine started the summer on a high note, as she was one of the three brave Tufflepuffs who went skydiving. However, after skydiving, her summer hit a low point, as Madeleine, like so many before her, struggled to find an internship or job for the summer. In response to her struggles, Madeleine decided to create her own business for the summer. She is running a summer camp this summer. Now many of us when we were growing up went to soccer, basketball, music, or arts camps during the summer time, but I am willing to bet none of us went to a quidditch camp. However, those in the Barrington Area of Chicago now have the chance to play quidditch over the summer, as Madeleine has started the Barrington Area Quidditch Club (BAQC). She will be running weekly camps for all ages this summer, starting June 16. Anyone interested in finding out more about the summer camps or the program in general should check out her beautiful website, http://www.baqc.net/ or email [email protected]. Next up is the lovely Bj Mestnik. Now while he has officially graduated from Tufts, he will never graduate from being a Tufflepuff, and thus he is featured here. Bj, after the craziness of senior week and graduation, hopped on a flight to Dublin, where he spent the day chilling and drinking with old drunk Irishmen. He then traveled to Rome, where he took in the sights of the city. He then traveled around Italy, taking in the sights and sounds of the country and of course, eating delicious food. He visited Venice where he recreated a chase scene in the crowded Venice streets and jumped in a Venice canal. He then traveled to Florence, which is his favorite city he's visited thus far. He planning on traveling to Brussels, Amsterdam, Milan, and Geneva. In Geneva, he will be picked up by his first WWOOFing family. For those who don't know, WWOOF stands for world wide opportunities on an organic farm, which is a program that allows people from around the world work on organic farms in different locations around the world. Bj will be woofing in Italy for the majority of his summer and after. Last, but certainly not least, is the fabulous David Stack. This summer, Stack is spending 6 weeks in Uganda as an internship. This internship, established by the New England Global Issues Institute along with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship sends teams of 18 or 20 students to Uganda. During this trip, his team will work with the Christian Ugandan University students, learning about issue in global poverty, relief work, the role of the global Church, and the rehabilitation of former girl soldiers. He will be serving in Kamplala and Gulu and will be living with the people he meet. His team will be working with Miles to Smiles and Thread of Life to try to understand and work with the people of Uganda to tackle poverty issues. He will also live and work with former girl soldiers at the ChildVoice site. We here at Tufts Quidditch could not be prouder of David Stack and know he will bring laughter and love to everyone he meets along the way.
That's all for this post. Let us know in the comments who you want to hear about next. 6/2/2014 1 Comment Tufflepuffs in Summer!! Part 1What's up, universe? Hope you've all been enjoying the summer! We sure have! Which brings us to this series of posts. We will be writing about the exploits and adventures of various Tufflepuffs through out the summer. Our wonderful seeker, Ian Luo has the prestige and honor of being the first Tufflepuff featured this summer. Ian's summer thus far has consisted mainly of playing League of Legends, chilling around Boston, and consuming copious amounts of Helen's. Over Memorial Day weekend, Ian flew to Chicago to go skydiving with our very own Madeleine Lebovic and Ben Pfander. According to Ian, it wasn't as scary as he thought it would be. For the rest of the summer, Ian has an internship at Tufts and is planning on continuing to expand his cooking ability. Next up is our lovely past Historian, Mari Fromstein. This summer, Mari is returning to Minneapolis for the beginning of the summer, where she is working for the parks and rec department, like her hero, Lesley Knopes. In the parks and rec department, she plays sports, makes tie dye and crafts with kids, and helps in the city's drama club and traveling puppet show. She is attending Midwest Fantasy in Illinois along with playing summer quidditch in Minnesota. A week after Midwest fantasy, she will be flying to New Zealand to start her semester abroad. Have a wonderful time in New Zealand! Say hi to Frodo for us! Our third featured Tufflepuff is our very own Co-manager, Arlene Rosenberg. The summer started off with an incredible honor, with Arlene being selected to represent Team Canada at the Global Games in July. She'll be rocking that home field advantage against our captain, Hannah DeBaets. Aside from her selection onto Team Canada, Arlene plans to participate in numerous fantasy tournaments this summer, including Canada Fantasy, Northeast Fantasy, and Champagne Cup. This past weekend, Arlene's team was victorious in the Montreal Fantasy Tournament, and she is hoping to keep her winning streak going throughout the summer. Aside from playing quidditch, Arlene is working for Yellow Shoes in the head office in the buying department. She is helping put together the spring/summer 2015 collection for the women's section and is actually getting to design some shoes. She is also coaching a baseball team with her brother and relaxing in Montreal. Finally, a very happy birthday to our lovely BJ "SPRING BREAK" Mestnik and Ben "BABYCAKES" Pfander. Even though we won't see either of you for a while, know that we are wishing you the best. Always. Who do you want to hear about next? Tell us in the comments! Michael Sanders joined Tufflepuffs his sophomore year at Tufts. He was an integral part of Tufts World Cup 5 & 6 teams and has since taken on a leading role within the TUQ beater corp. Big Mike's favorite part of quidditch is the strategy and pure insanity that goes along with the game. He enjoys beating people in the face but will never say no to chasing, seeking, or even keeping. Mike's favorite quidditch memory is his entire time with the team. His whole experience on Tufts Quidditch has been his favorite memory, and he loves his team more than he's willing to admit. When Mike graduates this May, he will most definitely be continuing his involvement in the sport - regardless of where he ends up. Big Mike is most definitely a "super" senior. On top of being an active member of the quidditch community, Mike is a brother at the Tufts chapter of the Theta Chi fraternity, a FOCUS dad and grandad, dances with the Tufts Burlesque troupe, is a member of Major: Undecided (a sketch comedy group), and is president of TUPAC, along with numerous other activities on campus. Mike is also "the worst," as demonstrated by his trading card for World Cup 7. Over the summer, Mike interned for NYPIRG - New York Public Interest Research Group. It is the largest Student-Run research and advocacy organization in NYC. His job allowed him to attend important State meetings, meet a lot of important people including the mayor of NYC, help save the planet, and, most importantly, allowed him to take time off to participate in three Fantasy Quidditch tournaments! Next year, Mike hopes to continue doing good; he will most likely be in the Peace Corp somewhere in either South America or Africa. In terms of World Cup 7, Mike is looking forward to seeing all the friends he's made within the quidditch community. Michael Sanders is one of the 2 graduating seniors from the Tufts team going to World Cup 7, and will be incredibly missed next year. 4/3/2014 1 Comment Diamond In The Tuff: BJ MestnikThe reason why Brandon James Mestnik joined quidditch was so that he wouldn't go through his entire college experience without any friends... and sometimes we're glad he did! His sophomore year, BJ was somewhat a part of the quidditch team, playing neither chaser nor keeper. After a year abroad, he came back with some skittles. On top of being a cheater, he took on the role of on-pitch sneaker. BJ's favorite thing about cribbage is just hanging out with the team, having fun, and kicking bottom. BJ's favorite quidditch memory is pulling the snitch during the infamous NYDC-Tufts game at Turtle Cup. This was BJ's first major tournament playing sneaker, and pulling the Harry Greenhouse tush after 35+ minutes of play was an unparalleled moment in Bj's life. The team rushing onto the field after the catch was called "good" was absolutely over the top. Outside of cribbage, BJ is watergirl for the Tufts Frisbee team, has learned 3 new languages (Arabic, French, Pig-Latin, Spanish, and counting), and loves to call people nerds. During his junior year, BJ studied abroad for a semester on Mars and then a semester Upstairs. This senior enjoys regaling his team with all sorts of stories from his time abroad. One of his most famous stories includes climbing the pyramids and then getting stuck in Egypt with no belongings (we won't spoil it for you). After graduation, BJ will continue to travel the world and have awesome adventures. He one day hopes to play professional cribbage. In terms of World Cup 7, BJ is looking forward to smiles and trying his best. BJ Mestnik is one of the 2 graduating seniors from the Tufts team going to World Cup 7, and will be tremendously missed next year, even more than Mike (except we don't choose favorites). David Stack joined the quidditch team because he had a passionate longing to fly. When he realized that the brooms used in quidditch are often simple PVC pipes with no magical powers, David decided to keep playing because the people were pretty cool. His favorite things about quidditch are the balance between the absurdity of the sport and its competitive nature and also the people that play it. Even though people play to win, at the end of the day, they realize they look like a bunch of idiots running around with a stick between their legs. Thus, instead of rivalries taking hold, teams just cuddle together. David also likes playing sports in general, so quidditch was a great new one to pick up. After declaring himself the Stack family knock-out champion and playing years of competitive bocce across upstate New York, David was looking for an equally interesting physical stimulate at Tufts; quidditch has provided that. When he's not cuddling with the Tufflepuffs, David is on the Ultimate Frisbee team, is a very active member of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship group, and works with STOMP. He is slightly confused as to why has declared an Environmental Engineering major since the things he is really passionate about – photoshopping his face onto pokemon, stunting, and following the WNBA – have nothing to do with that. David figures college doesn't really suit him, but he’ll likely keep paying tuition so he can keep playing with the Tufflepuffs. For World Cup 7, David is most looking forward to seeing if the Lost Boys are truly as attractive as people say they are. Arlene Rosenberg joined quidditch her freshman year after being dragged to the annual Intro To Quidditch by her friends. There, she realized that the aggressive nature of the game greatly appealed to her background in Muay Thai and soccer, and she decided to try out for the tournament team. She chose beating because without her glasses, she found it especially difficult to shoot a quaffle through the hoops. Arlene's favorite thing about quidditch is the second-family she found within her team. Coming from a tiny all-girl's school (350 girls from Kindergarten to grade 11), Arlene truly appreciates the fact that she can always count on her Tufflefamily - something she found out last year after sustaining a concussion in late April. Arlene's favorite quidditch memory is playing in her first ever game at the Harvard tournament fall 2012. The excitement she felt as she landed her first beat was unparalleled, and it encouraged her continued participation in the sport. Outside of quidditch, Arlene has played a number of team sports including soccer, volleyball, baseball, and even a brief stint in basketball. Baseball, however, is a sport that was instilled upon our shortest Tufflepuff since birth. Arlene attended her first major league baseball game at only one week old and has attended hundreds of games since. Growing up in Montreal, this Canadian girl was a devout Montreal Expos fan and was on a first name basis with most of the players. She was even a Bat-Girl, before almost getting run over by Orlando Cabrera as he ran into home plate. After the Expos left Montreal (something Arlene hasn't gotten over), Arlene and her brother became less involved in the sport, but her love for the game hasn't depreciated. The Rosenberg siblings actually plan to co-coach an intercity baseball team this summer. In terms of World Cup 7, Arlene is looking forward to kicking ass, Tufflecuddling, and playing quidditch outside in the sun. 3/30/2014 0 Comments Diamond In The Tuff: Ethan SturmEthan Sturm first played quidditch when his friends from high school put a team together to compete in World Cup 4. Originally, he went to New York planning only to watch the games - but he ended up playing for them because they were missing players. Ethan joined the Tufflepuffs in the Spring of 2012, right after World Cup 5, and the rest is history. Sturm's favorite thing about quidditch is the depth of the strategy due to the large number of positions and the interactions between them. Ethan's favorite quidditch memory is starting The Eighthman in the fall of 2012. The Eighthman is a quidditch media site designed to bring together elements of strategy and sports analysis. The Eighthman aims to improve discussion and analysis of quidditch and to highlight development across the sport. Ethan is the Editor-in-Chief for the Eighthman and hosts a podcast on the site with fellow Tufflepuff, Noah Schwartz. While it may seem impossible for Ethan to be involved in anything other than quidditch (or that he could take a picture without a derp face), this double Jumbo is currently in his second semester at Tufts Dental School. He wants to be a dentist because he's always been interested in the heath field, but found that the lifestyle of dentistry better suited his desires in life. His favorite classes at school tend to be the practical classes. He enjoys giving back to people, as he often replaces crowns for those who can't afford dental care. In terms of World Cup 7, Ethan is most looking forward to seeing who finishes on top. He believes that this year, the field is wide open and that there are quite a few teams who could win it all. |
AuthorTufts University Tufflepuffs, catching snitches and wrecking pitches since 2009. CategoriesAll Diamond In The Tuff Fundraising New Kids On The Block Tufflepuffs In Summer Archives
July 2016
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