Mike’d up: Stephanie Vedral loves Seton Hall … and sleep

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This weekly editorial column showcases a particular writer’s university and its traditions and student experience. This week’s edition features Seton Hall student Stephanie Vedral, who discusses her campus, the school’s athletic teams, and some obscure superstitions.

 

Mychal Anderson: Hello there, Stephanie. We’ll go ahead and start with your campus, since I know very little about Seton Hall and would love to hear more about it. If you were to give me a tour, where would you take me? What are some of the distinctive aspects that make Seton Hall different from other universities?

Stephanie Vedral: The first stop would definitely be the Green. The Green is just an open part of campus that is filled when the weather is nice. You will see people studying, reading, hanging out with friends, getting a wiffleball game together or just playing catch. It is relaxing and fun at the same time.

Second stop would be the gym. In the field house there are five basketball courts where you can jump into a pickup game or just shoot around. There are two rooms to work out downstairs and the locker room has a sauna. If you need to cool off after breaking a sweat, jump into the pool which is open to all students.

Third stop would be the Cove to eat. It is set up like a sports restaurant and the food is really good.

MA: Take me through a typical week for a Seton Hall student.

SV: For me, my class days consist of Mondays through Thursdays. Business majors don’t have Friday classes, which is glorious. After class, I go to the gym unless I have an intramural game later that night. Gym sessions happen about three to four times a week, not including intramurals. Intramural sports are huge on campus; pretty much everyone does them because there are multiple levels of competition. Thursday nights are when most of the parties are, followed by Saturdays whether they be at a fraternity house, sport house, bars or just a friend’s apartment.

MA: For those unfamiliar with Seton Hall athletics, is men’s basketball the most popular sport on campus? What are some other sports teams that have been successful traditionally?

SV: Most definitely, men’s basketball rules athletics at this school. It is fun to watch people get excited when the basketball players walk by, like they are celebrities or something. Most students don’t realize that they are just regular guys. I’ll admit it though, when I was a senior in high school visiting Seton Hall, I met Jordan Theodore, now a senior leader on the team. So, when I came in as a freshman he remembered me and said “hi” in front of my new friends. Let’s just say I bragged about it even though he has no idea who I am anymore.

Our volleyball and baseball teams are the two others that get a good amount of attention at school. Volleyball is a consistently competitive team, while baseball shocked the school last year by winning the Big East Tournament. Hopefully this will translate into a bigger following for the team.

MA: What is the experience like at the Prudential Center? I know that it’s a professional arena that houses franchises like the New Jersey Devils and the New Jersey Nets. Does it take anything away from the collegiate atmosphere on game day?

SV: I’ve gone to a large share of both Devils and Nets games where, overall, I have observed the consistency of home team fans is much higher when it comes to Seton Hall. In New Jersey, there are a lot of people who are fans of both New York and Philadelphia teams, so the fan base is split. When you are at school, though, Seton Hall is what you get. Going to another school’s games regularly is not as feasible. Sure, you watch it on TV and consider yourself a fan. But, when you are on campus, you’re much more compelled to join the fan base. It’s what your friends do and it’s what everyone talks about.

MA: You did a piece on Seton Hall’s student section a couple of months ago. What’s it like being in the student section, and how would you estimate it compares to other schools in the Big East?

SV: The Seton Hall student section has improved tremendously in only the two and a half years I have been a student. Players are constantly saying on their Facebook, Twitter accounts and in newspapers that the “Hall’s Hecklers” actually affect their play positively. Something that is really cool about our section is seeing how close-knit all the student athletes at this school are. Whether it’s the swim team posing in the front row only in speedos or the volleyball team making shirts for the games, the support is apparent. The Hall’s Hecklers have a Facebook group where the players are also members, which enable communication and innovative support. There may be some student sections that have more energetic cheers or different traditions in the Big East, but I have no doubt that the recent success of the team and greater fan unity will only help the section grow.

MA: Who would you say are the Pirates’ biggest rivals? What are those rivalries like?

SV: Rutgers is hands down our biggest rival. Last year, we had shirts for spirit week that said “The 11^th Commandment. Thou shall not lose to Rutgers.” The Rock gets pretty insane when we play them. The chants that people come up with are unreal.

St. John’s is another big one. Last year, I went to the game at the Prudential Center against St. John’s when the Red Storm was on fire. The arena was wild throughout that game, especially when the buzzer sounded and we won. I was co-covering the story for the school newspaper and it was so difficult not to stand up and cheer … objectivity at its worst.

MA: Are there any school traditions that are unique to Seton Hall?

SV: One that is related to basketball is Bounce and Trounce. This started two years ago 24 hours before our home men’s basketball game against Rutgers. The idea is that a basketball in the University Center will be bouncing for 24 hours straight prior to the game. Different clubs, organizations, or random students come and just dribble for as long as they want and pass it on to the next person. Crazy part is that there are clubs that sign up to dribble the basketball at 3 a.m. How someone hasn’t dribbled it straight off their foot yet is beyond me.

“Don’t Step on the Seal” is definitely the best known Seton Hall tradition/superstition.  There is a seal in the middle of the Green – in the middle of the most direct path to most buildings – which is “forbidden” to be stepped on. The superstition is that if you step on it, you have 30 seconds to sprint from there to the Pirate’s statue in front of the Rec Center and rub the Pirate’s foot in order to get your luck back. Since most people don’t have that capacity or are too lazy to do so, the superstition continues that stepping on the seal means you will not graduate at Seton Hall. May seem a bit ridiculous, but I haven’t stepped on that seal and I never will.

MA: I know what I’m doing if I ever visit your campus. It’s a good thing I’m fast. Speaking of the campus, for those of you that don’t know, Seton Hall is located in South Orange, New Jersey. What do you think of the area? What’s it like there? Is it similar to an average college town like Tuscaloosa, Ann Arbor, Athens or Madison, or would it be safe to assume that the campus is much more urban?

South Orange is not what you picture when you say “college town.” Seton Hall is very suburban. It’s a gated campus and once you exit those gates, you are in a small, regular town. You go a few miles to the right of the main gate and you’re in the city of Newark, so you do have that aspect as well.

MA: Let’s do some quick fire questions. Ready, set, go.

MA: Best restaurant?

SV: Stony’s has some of the best cheap, but delicious food ever, plus they accept Pirate’s Gold – a money system at Seton Hall through your student ID – and give a student discount.

MA: Best bar?

SV: Cryan’s is where everyone has gone for years, but Above is the up-and-coming bar, so we will see!

MA: Best place to study?

SV: When it’s warm out, the Green; when it’s cold, third-floor library.

MA: Hardest class you’ve taken so far?

SV: Business Finance. Getting a B in that class was literally miracles at work.

MA: Easiest class? Promise your professor won’t see this.

SV: Business Information Technology Management. Sounds like a doozy, but my midterm was to make a four-slide PowerPoint about my favorite hobby.

MA: Best place to hang out with friends?

SV: During the week, basketball games; on the weekends, any sort of party or get together.

MA: Favorite thing to do in South Orange?

SV: This may sound unexciting to some people, but every Saturday I spend most of my day at the local animal shelter walking and trying to get the dogs adopted. It is really relaxing and rewarding.

MA: That’s way cool. What’s your favorite thing about going to Seton Hall?

SV: The people, the spectrum of personalities is awesome, most people are very friendly and welcoming.

MA: Okay. Put on your saleswoman hat. Why should everyone choose to attend Seton Hall University?

SV: Seton Hall is in a great location for both fun and future endeavors. We are a 25-minute train ride from New York City, where some of the greatest internships can be snagged. Not to mention, you can’t ask for better nightlife than New York City. With this kind of thinking, you could ask: Why not just go to school in New York City? If working there is your dream, you do not want to get sick of the rustle while you are still in school. If you feel like staying in New Jersey, yet still having a good time, you have Hoboken. When the weather starts getting warm, the shore is only about 45 minutes away.

There are a lot of things about campus that you can’t find everywhere. Walking across the entire campus takes about 12 minutes total. Not having to wake up ridiculously early to trek to class or take a bus is something I consider a luxury; I really love my sleep.

Father John, the campus’s most popular priest, will be waiting outside of Duffy Hall every morning to wish every student “good morning” on their way to class. During midterms and finals, he has a basket of candy for students to pick out of to and from exams, which really comes in the clutch. For a cafeteria, our food is also pretty good. If you get to the café before 10 a.m., you have to go to Miss Virginia and get a breakfast sandwich. I am not joking, brave the line; it’s the greatest breakfast sandwich you could get and a great way to start the day.

The small campus allows you to know a lot of people and there is always something to do with the various organizations. If there is a club that you do not see, start it up. The average class size is about 20 to 30, so if you want to know the professor, it is easy. If you want to hide, there will be more than four people to hide behind.

The Career Center is great at providing internship opportunities and there are sponsored career fairs and speakers on campus very frequently. Education majors are put in a classroom by their junior year, nurses are put in a hospital or another care providing facility by their junior year, and sport management majors, like me, have an internship requirement to graduate. Seton Hall not only wants you to succeed, they give you no other option.

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