What's Cookin': Fall Highlights 2025

Another fall semester has flown by! I think fall is our busiest season, and we're heading into a busy winter, too, so I wanted to capture a little bit of what we've been up to before this calendar year is over.

Teaching

I was a bit nervous about this fall because I was teaching the undergrad ESOL writing class that was so hard for me last fall. Thankfully, my group of students this year was lovely. There were a few minor issues here and there, but I really enjoyed teaching all of my classes this fall. I had the undergrad ESOL writing, an undergrad ESOL speaking, and two sections of a first year writing class (this is like English 101).

Alongside the usual teaching, a professor from the Spanish department asked if I'd like to collaborate with her on a proposal to team-teach a class. This never would have occurred to me, but once we talked about it a little more, we decided to go for it! We met for an hour or so most weeks throughout the fall to work on our materials for a brand new class about language learning. Right now, our proposal has cleared the first round of review, and we've submitted additional materials to be reviewed in January. If everything goes well, we'll get to teach the class together in Spring 2027. In the meantime, it's already been so fun working together and getting to know each other more.

first day of class selfie

my listening/speaking class doing an activity on the board

my writing class doing an activity on the board

last day of class selfie (I almost forgot to take it!)

FMB

It was another big year for the Falcon Marching Band, and especially for Mark, who transitioned into a new role at work. He's still doing everything he did with the drumline last year, but now he's full time with additional responsibilities. There wasn't much of an onboarding process, so he's been figuring things out as he goes along, and the marching band season is so intense that there wasn't much time to do anything else. This spring will be an interesting time for him to see what the job can be like when he's able to work ahead and focus on some things that they've wanted to do but never had the time for.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed seeing another set of amazing halftime shows and other performances around town. And we hosted the drumline again twice: at the end of band camp in August and after the BG Holiday Parade in November. I really enjoy having them here! The FMB season ended with the banquet in December; no bowl game this year.

me in the stands at the first football game of the season

pirate themed halftime show

Mark in his new office on campus

me posing in a homecoming photo cut out

homecoming halftime show, celebrating the 75th
birthday of our mascot Freddie Falcon

the Rainbow Connection from the
Muppets themed halftime show

the new tower and turf field for the band

partial view of the field from the tower

selfie with Mark from the tower
(he'd just finished running the rehearsal)

Broadway themed halftime show with
the BGSU Men's Chorus (in black suits)

drumline feature

Sounds of the Stadium concert
(this happens in our basketball arena)

Mark walking with the band in the BG Holiday Parade

some of the food for the drumline

two of the drum majors hosting the banquet
(photo from FMB social media)

saxophone section performing a medley,
with puppets of Prof Waters & Dr Cook
(photo from FMB social media)

Friends, Family, and Fun

Meanwhile, I tried to keep up with my friends, but there's definitely some people I wasn't able to connect with this fall. We did have a fun visit in October from Mark's parents, and a few other outings just the two of us. We've also been attending a small group again with our church (this is the original group we tried in Spring 2024; we tried a different group from Fall 2024-Spring 2025, but it didn't end up being the right fit). I'm so thankful for our community near and far!