Other Activities
- "Weekly Wind Down", camping, kickball, holiday party, annual bowling tournament
- Geography Outreach/Community Service
- Geography Awareness Week, including a campus-wide Geography Bowl
- Big Red Welcome (an event for incoming UNL students held every August)
- Multiple Sclerosis Walk - Lincoln (2005, 2006, 2007)
- Books for Africa (2004, 2005)
- Playground Map at Norwood Park Elementary (March 2003)
- Repainting of Playground Map at Norwood Park Elementary (September 2005)
- Playground Map at Atkinson, Nebraska Elementary School (August 15-16, 2003)
- Cultures of the World Nights at Holmes and Hawthorne Elementary Schools in Lincoln (May 13 and 20, 2003) and Hawthorne Elementary School on May 12, 2004
- Nebraska State Museum Family Day "Cultures of the World" - February 15, 2003
- Adopt-a-Highway - Interstate 80 mile markers 410 to 412 (2003-2005)
- Sandhill Crane watching - every March
- 2011 GSO Activities
- Geog. Awareness Week 2010
- Geog. Awareness Week 2009
- 13th Ann. Geog. Bowl
- Dr. Susan Hanson
- Prescott Elementary
- AAG Cent. Fund
2011 GSO Activities
September 14 - Welcome Meeting/Pizza Social 5:30pm at the City Campus Union
October 12 - Geocaching! 5:30pm, meet at Hardin Hall 202.
November 9 -Highlights of Undergraduate & Graduate Student Research at UNL 5:30pm in 207 Hardin Hall, Free pizza!
November 14-18 - Geography Awareness Week at Hardin Hall
November 17 - Geography Bowl 6:30-9:30pm in the Hardin Hall Auditorium/ Refreshments will be served!
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Geography Awareness Week (GAW) was held from November 15-19th, 2010 in Hardin Hall on UNL’s East Campus. GAW is part of a national effort sponsored by the National Geographic Society to promote geographic education. UNL’s GAW activities, sponsored by the Geography Student Organization, included a Student Photography Competition open to all UNL students which had 60 entries. Students at all levels and in all departments were invited to submit a photo that represents some aspect of the field of Geography and this year’s theme: Freshwater and You. The photos were on display during Geography Awareness Week in the first floor lobby of Hardin Hall on East Campus and were judged by faculty from Geography and the School of Natural Resources, as well as an open student vote.
On Wednesday, November 17th, 2010, Dr. May Juan Geoinformatics Program Director of the Center for Spatial Analysis at the University of Oklahoma presented a special seminar GIScience Approaches to Understanding Geographic Dynamics in the Hardin Hall Auditorium.
A Geography Bowl was held Thursday, November 18th in the Hardin Hall Auditorium. The event attracted 80 participants and pitted 40 teams of students from across the university against each other. Teams answered true & false, multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. The winning team '3165', was composed of Mike Walter & Ben Green, undergraduate students in Business.
The week wrapped up with an Awards Ceremony for the photo competition on Friday, November 19th in 228 Hardin Hall. Prizes were presented to the first, second and third place entries as decided by the judges and student vote. Winners were 1st Place: Kody Unstad, Master's student in Natural Resources; 2nd Place: Nick Benner, Junior, Education & Human Sciences and 3rd Place: Heidi Christensen, senior, Fisheries & Wildlife.
This semester the Geography Student Organization really showed their stuff during Geography Awareness Week. The annual Geography Bowl attracted 70 participants and an estimated 30 more people in attendance to watch the event. All of the participants walked away with a prize ranging from posters to gift cards from Applebee's. The geographic battle royal lasted almost 2 hours and culminated in a sudden death overtime elimination round for the final two teams. A new competition was added to this year's festivities to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the first Geography Ph.D. at UNL. The first annual Geographic Student Photo Competition attracted 83 students from throughout the university to submit personal photos in reference to the theme "Places and Faces." The photos were on display all week and open to judging by UNL Students as well as faculty from Geography and the School of Natural Resources. The top 4 entries received prizes ranging from Starbucks coffee to a new GPS Navigation unit. All total, an estimated 400 people participated in Geography Awareness Week events.
Coming up for the spring will be Nebraska Night at the AAG conference in Washington DC. GSO plans to participate in the festivities and would like to invite all of our alumnae to join us for a fun night in our nation's capital.
The 13th Annual Undergraduate Geography Bowl was held in November of 2008. The first and second place teams are pictured to the left.
In a regular meeting of the GSO in October 2007, the members voted on asking Dr. Susan Hanson of Clark University to be a visiting scholar the following spring. Dr. Hanson graciously accepted and, on Friday April 25th, 2008, the university community as well as the public was invited to spend the day with the visiting scholar. Dr. Hanson's visit was made possible by contributions by the UNL Geography Student Organization (GSO), Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU), Department of Anthropology and Geography, Women's and Gender Studies, and the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Visiting Scholar Program.
The joy of geography. Local students enjoy learning with the newly created map.
GSOers Jad Callahan, Amy Callahan, and Nick Erickson.
On Saturday March 29th, 2008 the UNL Geography Student Organization painted a playground map at Prescott Elementary School in Lincoln. Pictured are (L to R) Ezra Zeitler, Trish Larson, Lesli Rawlings, Nick Erickson, Amy Callahan, Kenny French, Jad Callahan, and Becky Buller.
Download a short video of the Joy of Geography.
In a meeting on March 11, 2005, the UNL Geography Student Organization voted unanimously to donate $100 to the Association of American Geographers Centennial Fund for the second consecutive year. The fund seeks to stumulate innovative approaches that will reach the broader public and provide money for special training among AAG members. GSO members present at the March 25 meeting (when the check was sent) were (front, L to R): Matt Engel, Chad Smith, Paul Kelly, Kenny French, Jeff Nothwehr, Angela Pochanasomburana, (middle, L to R) Gerald Pruitt, Mark Steele, Michal Petr, Darr Street, Victoria Clouatre, Staci Blaschko, Robeto Bonifaz-Alfonzo, Lesli Rawlings, (back, L to R) Ezra Zeitler, and Marcela Doubkov.
On September 16, 2005 the UNL Geography Student Organization repainted a playground map done by the club in March of 2003. Pictured are (front, L to R) Kenny French, Ryan Weichelt, Angela Pochanasomburana, (middle L to R) Jeff Rhodes, Lesli Rawlings, Katie Hazelwood, Anita Clark, and (back L to R) Chad Smith, Matt Engel, Jeff Nothwehr. Not pictured are Sean Pummill and Ezra Zeitler.
March 2003
One of the Geography Student Organization's service learning projects was the creation of a map depicting the lower 48 states at a Lincoln elementary school. About six hours were spent to prep the playground before the colors were added. This included (in sequence) washing and sweeping the concrete surface, snapping a grid, drawing the outside border, applying a primer, resnapping a grid, drawing the state borders and painting them, and caulking cracks within the map.
The colors were added one week later. From left to right, Paul Kelley, Claire Brown, Joe Sather, Matt Engel, Matt Poehler, and Jenny Brackhan (cut off, sorry Jenny!)
The weather was perfect (72 degrees and sunny with a nice breeze), allowing the paint to dry quickly.
Although it was a Saturday, students attending Norwood Park stopped by to make sure we weren't messing up their beloved playground. Many asked where Alaska and Hawaii were. They now have great interest in getting on the roof of the school...
The use of the Albers equal-area (conical) projection made drawing the states a little challenging, but it resulted in a more accurate and aesthetically pleasing map.
These local tough guys, seen here displaying their bulging muscles, couldn't wait to play on the map.
Before leaving we had to get a game of twister in (some of us need a refresher in the rules). Another map will be produced during the summer of 2003 at Atkinson (Nebraska) Elementary.
