Courtesy of danielpackard.com

Daniel Packard, dating expert and professional dating coach, radio personality and internationally touring speaker, will uncover secrets of the opposite sex and answer students’ dating and relationship questions during his Live Group Sex Therapy show at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8 in Webb Hall.

“I’m personally excited,” said Carlos Urgiles, junior biochemistry and molecular biology major and vice president of the Union Activities Council. “It’s very interactive, and I really was attracted to what his message was – that’s why we asked him to come to our campus.”

Urgiles saw Packard perform before at the National Association of Campus Activities conference in Oklahoma.

“It’s something that college students are involved in, like sex, dating, having problems with someone that you might like, so we thought it would be an event that could reach everyone,” Urgiles said.

Packard was named Speaker of the Year in 2007 by the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities, according to COCA’s website.

“I’ve never been to one like this,” said Alyssa Schultz, senior sociology major. “I would be interested to go. I’m sure he will have a lot of things to say, so it’s probably really important for students to understand someone else’s point of view.”

The free show, with the slogan “A Comical Insight to the Opposite Sex,” will use a blowup screen to communicate with the students via their cell phones. Students can share their thoughts or ask questions about their personal life with live and anonymous texting and polling.

“Basically he’s a dating and relationship coach who tries to get opposite sexes to reveal secrets to other people,” said Micheal Torres, freshman business administration major and UAC’s chair of public relation, “and then he will interpret those text messages, let us know what exactly that means, how we can work with certain problems, or face specific situations on our own.

Torres described Packard as having an optimistic, humorous personality.

UAC has three speakers lined up to present this semester, and this is their first “sex” topic to their knowledge, Urgiles said.

Tianhai Jiang

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Rachel McCommon, senior rehabilitation service education major, displays her Weeklong Tag bracelets in the Memorial Union Wednesday afternoon. McCommon had a total of five bracelets from individuals she tagged during Union Activity Council’s Weeklong Tag game. Julie Thephachan/The Bulletin

Many students donned bright orange bracelets around campus this week, but not as part of new fashion trend. The bracelets signified the wearer’s participation in the Union Activities Council Week Long Tag event.

“It’s really interesting because you have to interact with a lot of people that you normally wouldn’t interact with,” said Ethan Platt, freshman music major,“and people you really even don’t know except for maybe you saw their pictures on Facebook and you creep on them a little bit before you find them and tag them, but otherwise it’s really just making the entire school feel like one big unit that’s after each other right now.”

Weeklong Tag had 186 participants this year, and each received a bracelet with another participant’s name on the back. They had to find the person through either Facebook or last year’s Sunflower edition and tag the person in real life. The person who was tagged had to hand over their bracelets. By tomorrow, the person with the most bracelets wins the prize.

“I know some people are getting really into it,” Platt said. “I’ve not been caught at all yet, and I haven’t caught sight of the person I’m trying to catch. But when it happens, it’s going to be pretty intense.”

The game was only the first of several events this semester.

“We usually try to do some events outside since it gets nicer,” said Carlos Urgiles, junior biochemistry and molecular biology major and vice president of UAC, “but this semester we have a lot of affordable events, that way we can have more events to provide for students.”

The new iPod Idol game will be held April 26 in the new Center for Student Involvement on the Main Street of the Memorial Union. Participants will sing through a karaoke machine with headphones in front of the crowd. They won’t be able to hear themselves, and their performances will be judged by the audience.

There are also three lectures planned. Tyson Wooters, former football team mascot at the University of Oregon, will speak at 7 p.m. next Wednesday in Webb Hall. Daniel Packard will speak about Live Group Sex Therapy at 7 p.m. on Feb 8 in Webb Hall.

“It’s an interactive lecture aimed at our age group,” said Eden Tullis, senior English major and UAC president. “Not just to talk about sex, but talks about the opposite sexes and what stereotypes they may have about each other.”

UAC also plans to bring an 80s tribute band performance to campus, in which performers will dress up in 80s-style outfits and bring back major songs of the decade. They will also have some of their traditional programs like Flintstock, grocery bingo and Night at the Movies. The first $4 movie will begin at 7 p.m. next Thursday at the Flinthills 8 Cinemas.

Tianhai Jiang

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FILM TO ANSWER THE ‘KANSAS PROBLEM’

Filmmaker Joe Winston will answer what has been on Emporia’s mind since William Allen White asked the question in 1896: “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”

In the film documentary that Roger Ebert calls “One of the 10 best documentaries of 2009,” Winston works to uncover how Kansas grew from a Democratic state to, as said in his film, “a stronghold for Republicans.”

The screening of “What’s the Matter with Kansas” will be at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Granada Theater and is free to the public. A Q&A session hosted by Winston will follow.

Audience members are encouraged to prepare for the session by attending the Emporia Public Library’s discussion over Thomas Frank’s book, “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”

The discussion will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 at the Emporia Public Library.

UAC to show Hughes Double Feature

The Union Activities Council will host a Hughes movie marathon showing of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Breakfast Club” from 2-6 p.m. on Feb. 9 in Visser Hall Room 330.

This movie marathon comes with drinks and games, as well as an ‘80s costume contest.

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Students listen to a live performance by LivyHigh hosted by UAC for the fifth annual “Party on the Lawn,” last night on the Morse Hall lawn. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin.

Union Activities Council hosted its fifth annual “Party on the Lawn” on the Morse Hall lawn at 7 p.m. last night.

“The UAC held the annual ‘Party on the Lawn’ since I was in school,” said Samantha Beye, president of UAC and senior communication major. “It has been a very long time.”

The “Party on the Lawn” started with the band Livy High. Free popcorn and tropical snow were provided to all the party guests.

“It is my second time to participate this UAC party. Last year it got rained and they moved the party inside. The band today is so cool and I really enjoy the free food,”said Cassie Sutton, sophomore elementary education major. “I am excited to come back. I miss it.”

UAC has come up a detailed schedule for the whole fall 2010 semester stared from Aug. 18. UAC activities this semester include Night at the Movies at the Flint Hills 8 Theater every month from September to November, Monthly Music Series in the Memorial Union Main Street and the Eric O’ Shea Musical Comedy in the Memorial Union Ballroom, among others.

Resident Assistant Liz Zhang, junior accounting major, brought all her residents to the party.

“I work in Towers, and I brought all my girls here tonight,” Zhang said.

Even some returning upperclassmen decided to stop by the event.

“It is fun to see a lot of people out in activity,”  said Ariel Vandiver, sophomore earth science major. “The music is really good. I am happy to be back, though a little anxious.”

Collaboration between the six committees made this year’s “Party on the Lawn.”

“We initiated the plan for this party last semester so that we could have sufficient time to prepare without messing up all the things at the beginning of this semester,” Beye said. “The UAC wants to include different activities during the party. So we broke the program up into our six committees. In this case every community had exact jobs to do, which could help us to be more efficient.”

UAC also set up an advising table for students who are interested in becoming members of UAC. Students could sign up to be members of one of the six UAC committees, which consisted of Featured Events, Live Music, Talks & Topics, Variety Entertainment, Public Relations and Visual Arts. Membership application forms are due by Sept. 1.

“Our goal is to bring great entertainment to all the student groups, all the faculties, and the whole ESU community,” Beye said.

Alison Li/Staff Writer

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Senior sociology major Harrison George performs at UAC’s Last Comic Standing last Thursday in the Memorial Union Colonial Ballroom. George was judged the winner by Pete Lee who was on NBC’s 6th season of Last Comic Standing. Sisi Huang/The Bulleyin.

Union Activities Council presented a Last Comic Standing competition in which several Emporia State student took the stage. Pete Lee, competitor on season six of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, hosted show.

“We met Pete Lee at the (National Association for Campus Activities) convention in the fall and we thought he would be a really fun act to bring to ESU,” said Lainie Harber, junior communications major and UAC president.

Competition organizers said that Last Comic Standing is a good way to bring a fun and enthusiastic influence to campus and to give students an opportunity to have fun and participate in an interesting event.

“We know we have many funny students at ESU and we thought it would be fun to have a comedy competition as a UAC event,” Harber said.

Each contestant had a 20 minutes to perform. First place went to Harrison George, senior sociology major.

“I have always been a huge fan of stand-up comedy and I’ve tried it a few times in the past, so I really wanted to see what it’d be like to compete,” George said.

George said that laughter is a great stress-reliever and he always tries to find humor in everything he does.

“I have been doing improvisational comedy for seven years and I’m a member of the improv team here at ESU. I’ve done stand up for about a year, in Emporia and the K.C. area,” George said. “Life can be really tough sometimes and if you can’t make yourself laugh then it’s only that much tougher.”

The competition was started by Pete Lee’s performance.

The show was split into four sections for each of the contestants, Chance Henson, Ryan Lickteig, Kevin Dudzinski and Harrison George.

Lickteig, freshman English major, said the competition was amazing and all the contestants should be content.

“I’d have to say my grandfather and my dad were very influential, they are hilarious and very rare people; they take life as it comes and enjoy every minute of it,” Lickteig said. “They always told me I have strong opinionated views and that I use good humor in expressing my views. Hearing them saying that was definitely influential. Also I just enjoying performing and making people laugh.”

Lickteig has a strong desire to write and enjoys entertaining people. He thought the preparation for the competition helped him get reactions to his writing and ideas.

“I write all my material. I like seeing how people react to my jokes/humor; it is interesting and good building blocks for an aspiring comedian,” Lickteig said. “In most of my material I like to address social problems, yet make it comical to show life shouldn’t be taken so seriously. Also I like making characters and becoming them during my performance.”

Lee, who has devoted 14 years on comedy, showed audience members just how excellent they were.

“It was amazing. Everyone who performed was incredibly talented. I was crying I was laughing so hard. And the audience was the most fun-loving, supportive crowd I have ever seen. They were obviously there to have a good time,” George said. “I had a lot of fun, that’s for sure. What I love about stand up is you get a little better every time you do it; you learn what works and what doesn’t and you take that with you the next time around. It keeps me excited to keep performing because I feel I always have room to progress and get better.”

George said he hoped to move out to Chicago or LA and started a career in comedy. Holding his own late night talk show has been his lifelong dream since he was nine.

After the competition, Lee offered advice for each contestant’s own standup.

“I love the students here,” Lee said. “Their comedy is really funny. I think the four of them have potential. It was a tough choice for me to judge them tonight, cause how can you judge variety of people who are really funny. My only advice to them is keep doing this. Stick to your dream, enjoy this and write a lot, and try to be ridiculous successful.”

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The comedic playing of the Dixon Ball Stampede won them first place in last week’s ESU’s Got Talent hosted by Union Activities Council.

“Everything went well this year, and I love to play with (Joel Dixon and Luke Ball),” said Riley Day, junior music education major and one third of the Dixon and Ball Stampede.

The Dixon Ball Stampede, consisting of Day, Dixon, senior sociology major, and Ball, senior art education major, performed last year and got 2nd place.

“We had our eyes set on trying to do better this year,” Day said.

Other winners included Caitlin Smith, who performed “Wishin&Hopin’”, won the 2nd place and Joshua Widener, who performed “Simple Man,” won 3rd place.

“We had threewonderful and hilarious ZOIKS! members emcee for us throughout the performance, and then of course the ten truly talented participants and groups,” said Liana Farnen, junior elementary education major and chair of featured events for Union Activities Council.

In total, over 100 people came to watch the performance.

“I felt like we drew in a new crowd,” Farnen said.

Jamie Deekat, junior Business major, Alex Pedersen, senior communication major and Joel Austin, sophomore communication major,emceed.

“It was definitely a collaborative effort, but through all of their work and cooperation, the event went off quite successfully,” Farnen said.

According to Farnen, ESU has had talent show in years past butUAC likes to keep things new and exciting for the students.

“We tried to mix upthe events a little bit and give the students something new to look forwards to,” she said.

Many people were involved in the planning and execution of this event since last semester.

“I really enjoy with working with all of the contestants,” said Christina Holt,sophomore elementary education major and vice chair of featured events for UAC. “It was a huge success and big thanks to all the people involved.”

Holt was in charge of the planning ESU’s Got Talent.

“Holt was very integral and made sure to keep in contact with all the right people,” Farnen said.

There was a panel of six judges made of people from selected student organizations.

“The ESU’s Got Talent brought out a lot of talented students and allowed them to showcase themselves in a whole new environment,” Farnen said. “I thought this event was a major success.”

In all there were 10 performances including singers, comedians and Capoeira.

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Ever had a question about sex that you were nervous to ask? How about the embarrassment involved with some condom confusion or whether you should get that rash checked out? The answers to these and other sex oriented questions are on the way.

Comedienne and educator Maria Falzone will speak at 7 p.m. on Feb. 3 in the Memorial Union Kanza Room to educate and entertain students with her “Sex Rules!” presentation.

            “We hope to have a lot of people turn out for this event,” said Karie Nicholson, freshman business administration major. “We feel that it’s an important topic that people don’t have a lot of knowledge about and with her comedic style she can hopefully bring more people to educate.”

            Union Activities Council encountered Falzone while at a convention in Texas that presents speakers and comedians for college audiences. The attention getting comedic nature of the presentation, combined with the frankness of Falzone warranted an invitation for the speaker.

            “We saw her in Texas and really wanted her to come to ESU,” Nicholson said. “We felt that it was an important topic that a lot people didn’t know much about.”

            According to her Web site, Falzone’s lecture takes a comedic look at the serious sexual issues facing college students. Falzone also illustrates how to properly use condoms, dental dams and properly deal with Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI’s).

            “It’s really about how to have better and safer sex,” Nicholson said. “She talks about sex and alcohol, as well as other areas involving sexual matters.”

            Falzone’s Web site also states that her past experiences with sex, including contracting Herpes from a friend, allow her to talk about sex on a more personal level than many speakers. The lecture also presents facts and figures about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) sex that may go unspoken in other sex lectures.

            Some students believe that the mixing of comedy and lecture could have positive effects on attendance.

            “I don’t know if the sex material specifically will attract more students to the lecture,” said David Ternes, sophomore accounting major. “I do think that the comedy involved may get more people to come than to other UAC events.”

            Students used to uninteresting speakers at sexual education lectures have nothing to fear, according to Falzone’s Web site.

            “I think that the comedy will make people pay a lot more attention to what is said by the speaker,” Ternes said. “We love funny stuff as college kids.”

            Following the University’s tradition of prefacing Spring Break with some sex education activities, UAC hopes that students will take the lessons learned at the lecture with them for Spring Break.

            “Spring Break is coming up, and we want people to be aware,” Nicholson said. “People should be informed about this particular topic.”

            Those in attendance will be encouraged to participate and will get frank and honest answers to whatever questions they have.

“We hope as many people can come out as possible,” Nicholson said. “It’s not your traditional sex education lecture.”

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UAC hosts hypnotist

Ron Diamond, a comedic hypnotist, will be performing at 7 p.m. on Monday in Albert Taylor Hall. Diamond is featured every year at the Kansas State Fair said Hilary Moe, variety entertainment chair of Union Activities Council

Diamond will try to hypnotize about 30 volunteer members of the audience. The event is free to anyone who wishes to attend both those who wish to be hypnotized should arrive early.

Bonner Leader Program accepting applications

The Bonner Leader Program is accepting applications. Interviews will be conducted today, tomorrow and next week. Students will perform community service hours for scholarship dollars on a graduated scale. $1,000 can be earned for 300 hours of service in a one year term. $1,250 can be earned for 450 hours of service in a one year term. Emporia’s program is one of two in the state.

Bonner Leaders will be allowed to work at a variety of places including the Humane Society, Youth Friends and After School programs. To get an application, email Jen Groves at jgroves@emporia.edu. Application submission deadline is Monday at 5 p.m.

Career Services hosts Career Fair

Career Services will host the Fall Career Fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 24 in Webb Lecture Hall. Over 50 employers will be present to meet with any non education majors.

Students should arrive early dressed in business attire, said June Coleman-Hull, director of career services. Students should also bring extra copies of their resume and research any companies that they want to talk to before attending. There will be opportunities for internships and full time positions.

There will also be prep sessions today and Monday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Roe Cross Room in Cremer Hall.

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Slayton Rous, senior health promotions major, adds ingredients to his skillet during UAC and Sodexo’s first Top Chef Cook-Off Monday night in the Webb Lecture Hall. Rous won the competition and hopes to have a chance to defend his title in the future. Kathi Walker/The Bulletin.

After 60 minutes of cooking, UAC and Sodexo’s first Top Chef Cook-Off produced champion Slayton Rous, senior health promotions major.

“Everything turned out terrific tonight,” Rous said of Monday’s competition. “I usually use different ingredients for the recipe I used tonight, but everything came out great in the end, so I’m happy. I started with a beef sauce, then moved on to a cheese sauce, made the noodles and the ratatouille at the end. I figured it would be quick, tasty, and I know how to make it well.”

More than 100 students cheered as the six competitors crafted their culinary creations.

“I’m actually surprised at how many people came out to support the chefs,” said Kyra Strobel, senior communication major and UAC’s public relations committee chair. “We were really pleased by the turnout and hope this will start a trend of really getting involved in events like this in the future.”

Jeff McCullough, general manager for Sodexo at ESU, said he was also pleased with the turnout.

“Considering that this is our first time and that we’re dead up against another event tonight, it’s really hard to find a night this late in the semester where nothing’s going on, and I’m really pleased with the turnout we got for this event,” McCullough said. “I was especially pleased with the amount of non-contestants that showed up… I mean everyone has their own contingencies and plans for the evening and yet they all showed up to support the contestants.”

While only six chefs were selected to participate in Monday night’s competition, over 35 students competed in last week’s qualifying Quick Fire competition.

“There were around 37 or 38 contestants at the start of the Quick Fire event, and now we’re down to six,” Brown said. “I think based off of the response we saw to this event, maybe there’s a future for a culinary arts series of events at ESU, or even a program.”

The novelty of this type of competition at ESU played an important role in choosing the theme.

“We based this first challenge off of a Pasta Challenge, because it was fairly basic, and we didn’t want anyone getting too scared or nervous, so we just went with this basic kind of ingredient,” McCullough said. “We made sure we had several different kinds of pasta out there, and all sorts of ingredients, which really makes this about putting together different kinds of ingredients in a unique way.”

Some chefs at Monday night’s competition brought a secret ingredient or a recipe they had experience with, while others chose to show up and let their experience do the cooking for them.

“Each contestant was allowed to bring one secret ingredient with them, which three of the contestants did –  one brought a walnut and blue cheese crumble, one brought beef broth, and one brought tomato sauce with sage,” McCullough said. “Three of the contestants are using a recipe, but three are just cooking from memory, and both are interesting strategies.

“On Friday, the six contestants who were drawn from the top 30 percent of the Quick Fire competition were given a list of the ingredients that would be available on our Bounty table so they had the weekend to work on recipes and such.”

In addition to providing cookware and uniforms for the contestants, Sodexo also helped to create the formatting for the evening’s competition.

“We needed to do one of these events to get the format down,” McCullough said. “Now that we’ve seen how it can work and seen the crowd that just this first-time event drew, we’d like to do a longer event next time, starting with a larger pool, and narrowing it down to some final contestants after five or six events like this over several weeks.”

Rous said he would like to participate in the Top Chef Cook-Off again.

“It’d be awesome to defend my title if they did another event like this,” Rous said. “I’d come back and do it – hopefully they can make it even bigger. I’d like to see a lot more events like this again, hopefully they can involve other groups around campus.”

Chelsea Brown, UAC featured events chairperson and sophomore health promotion major, said that the turnout from Monday night’s event could lead to future cook-off competitions.

“Based off of this event’s attendance and the excitement in the air tonight, I think this was a big hit,” Brown said. “I think if we do it again, it’ll be an even bigger event than it was this year.”

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Kan. Health and Environment Secretary to speak at Community Health Workshop

Kansas Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby will speak at a community health workshop to be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 4 at the Granada Theatre.

John Barnett, assistant professor of social sciences who is organizing the workshop, said that he heard Sec. Bremby speak last May at Washburn University.            Barnett said that he was inspired by Bremby’s message and that the purpose of the workshop is to create a dialogue in the community. He said he hopes this could end up being a statewide model for Kansas and that it will be a continuing process.

A question and answer session will follow Sec. Bremby’s speech.

For more information, contact Barnett at jbarnet4@emporia.edu.

Greeks to host fundraiser

Sigma Tau Gamma and Sigma Sigma Sigma will host a fundraiser for Compeer from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 27 at 12^th Street and Commercial Street.

The goal of the fundraiser is to raise at least $1,000.

UAC to bring Wii-HAB to Memorial Union Main Street

UAC will host Wii-HAB, a chance for students to play games on up to four Wiis, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 30 on the Memorial Union Main Street.

Kyra Strobel, chair of the UAC public relations committee, said that the idea to host the activity came from Rehabilitation Centers using Wii games for patients.

The grand prize will be a Wii Fit, but other fitness-oriented prizes will also be given away. Students do not have to be present to win.

PRIDE to host garage sale to bring speaker to campus

People Respecting Individuality and Diversity in Education (PRIDE) will host a garage sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 28 at St. Andrew’s Church. Proceeds from the garage sale will be used to bring a speaker, Sylvia Guerrero, to campus during Pride Week, April 20-24.

Guerrero is the mother of transgender Gwen Araujo. Araujo was murdered in 2002 for being transgender. Guerrero will speak not only about her daughter, but also the rights of the LGBTQA community. The Lifetime movie, “A Girl Like Me,” is about Sylvia and Gwen.

Items sold at the garage sale will include clothing, furniture, toys and dishes. In the case of inclement weather, the garage sale will be rescheduled for a time and place to be announced.

Didde Center to host Cake Walk

The Didde Catholic Campus Center will host the First Annual Cake Walk for Relay for Life at 7 p.m. April 3 at the Didde Center Social Hall.

Mary Sigle, outreach minister at the DCCC, said that the cake walk is the opportunity for the community to come together in the fight against cancer while still having fun.

The cost is $1 per game. Cakes are being supplied by Dari Delight, Reebles and local parishioners. Sigle said the goal is to raise at least $400.

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The Union Activities Council hosted speaker Peter Bielagus last Thursday night in Webb Lecture Hall. Bielagus, Young America’s Financial Coach, focused his speech on how students can avoid getting in financial debt and begin to save money and invest.

Bielagus said that he understands firsthand how quickly a student can fall into financial debt.

“When I was in college, I really messed up my finances,” Bielagus said. “I didn’t know anything about personal finance and I very quickly got in about $5,000 in credit card debt – in about six months… I realized one day when I got a credit card bill and I couldn’t make the minimum payment that it was a big problem.”

Bielagus said that few students are actually familiar with how credit works or even how to find their credit scores.

“The level of knowledge at most schools of understanding personal finance is pretty poor because most high schools don’t teach it and most colleges don’t teach it either,” Bielagus said. “When they enter the workforce with all the stuff going on now, it’s just simply more important, because what you could do four years ago with a so-so credit score you can’t do anymore.”

There are six ways to improve your credit, Bielagus said. These include paying off debt, establishing a payment history and no longer applying for credit cards, among others. The first and easiest way to improve your credit is to check your credit report for mistakes. Around 70 percent of people have mistakes on their credit reports, Bielagus said.

“Anybody in this room or if anybody tells you that you don’t have a credit report because you never borrowed anything is full of garbage,” Bielagus said. “You may have a report simply because there’s a mistake on it.”

Most students said they were unaware of how credit scores worked or how to build credit.

“I didn’t know anything about credit scores, or how to check them, or even really how to build credit before I listened to his speech,” said Ben Graham, junior recreation major. “He did a good job and was actually pretty funny.”

Bielagus recommended using www.annualcreditreport.com to check one’s credit and he said it’s the only truly free credit report Web site.

Bielagus said that most credit cards from retail stores are usually not a good idea for students. They have become more popular over the past several years and include most major retailers.

“Studies have shown that the savings you get (using store credit) are mitigated by your tendency to keep spending,” Bielagus said. “Most people think I can go spend thirty more dollars because I saved thirty dollars.”

Bielagus said that most students don’t save or invest because they simply don’t think they have the money to do it.

“Too many college students think they can’t save or invest,” Bielagus said. “Most of them tell me, ‘Oh Peter, I can’t save $100 a month,’ and I tell them to save fifty cents a day or a quarter a day.”

Bielagus concluded his speech by sharing a personal experience. Bielagus spoke of his college days at the University of Miami where he admitted to spending large amounts of money to impress and basically “buy” friends. After recently learning the news that he was going to be an uncle, Bielagus said there are many things in life that money simply can’t buy.

“You know I could probably fill a book with all the things in life that I do not have, and when I think of those things I get frustrated, I get angry, I get upset and I feel like life is not working out the way it should be,” Bielagus said. “A little over a year ago when my mom told me I was going to be an uncle, I felt like the wealthiest man alive.

“So maybe when I say start before you should start maybe I don’t mean credit scores and budgets, maybe I mean start by realizing that the feelings we try to create by buying more stuff, well if we’d just take a look at some of the wonderful things around us we can create those feelings for free.”

Bielagus speaks to over sixty high schools, colleges, and military bases each year. Outlines of the speech as well as a free e-book on the stock market are available by e-mailing him at peter@peterbspeaks.com.

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