On Saturday night, law librarians and professors Karen Schneiderman and Vicki Szymczak joined Professor Anita Bernstein and SBA president Paul Molina in a fun, 1L mixer at Coney Island sponsored by the SBA. The Cyclones game has become a tradition during convocation weekend, attracting larger and larger crowds of upper class and 1Ls. This year, we were a group of about 30 people. We tried to pay attention to the game (which the Cyclones ended up losing in the 10th inning, 2-1), but used the beautiful summer night on the shores of NYC to get to know each other better.
We learned that people came from faraway places like Michigan, and really local places like Sheepshead Bay. Many people had Macs and were sorry to learn Lexis and Westlaw are not really Mac friendly. We all hoped that Lexis and Westlaw would grow up soon.
We also learned that at least one of the new students hated research. Naturally, that student will become a personal project for librarians Schneiderman and Szymczak. I can’t really blame the student. He hasn’t yet had the opportunity to take an Advanced Legal Research class with the librarians yet. If he did, he would know how much fun research can be. And how useful. He is just a 1L. He’ll learn.
Adding to the fun were the “Survey” people. We aren’t sure what they were trying to learn, but if you took their survey, you received all kinds of food – fried chicken, french fries, etc. So, we were a well fed crew and were quite chatty after a few beers. When we weren’t eating or talking, playing with our thunder sticks (thanks Paul) and made lots of noise to cheer on our teams (not everyone was supporting the home team).
The night ended with a spectacular display of fireworks! We ooohed and aaahd at the sparks and colorful streamers. Part of the group headed over to the Cyclone roller coaster for more thrills! Others decided to walk the boardwalk and try their luck at the arcades. It was a fun night and I would like to thank the SBA for inviting the librarians! We’ll see the other 1Ls during orientation next week.
