Andy Burrows

Hello readers!

I’m sorry it has been so long since I have gotten a chance to share. It has been such a wild couple of weeks for me and my world got turned upside down. I’m sorry to have abandoned you! I have been so tied up in school and my band especially that I just have had zero time and have been moving constantly. The Burrows Four and myself played last weekend and opened for the Cold War Kids and Ice Cube (yes the rapper) at The Rave in Milwaukee. I have just been getting huge offers from labels like Warner Studios and Aware Records and my second album is releasing soon, so needless to say I have been a little overwhelmed and swamped. In fact, while writing this I received an offer to headline a 1,000,000 person festival in West Virginia! I really can hardly believe I’m handling both school and my bands ascension through levels of growing recognition. It has been really a wild ride so far this semester and I have been struggling to maintain everything.
Due to this hectic nature, in all honesty, my grades have suffered somewhat and I really need to work hard to get them up to where they need to be. I have been taking steps to correct this lapse in my grades including meeting with my teachers and attempting to allot more time into studying than I had been.
Apart from this, I have been doing some amazing things with my fraternity Kappa Sigma and working with Beyond Borders, The Japan Club, and The Peace and Justice Center to raise at bare minimum $2500 for Japan to donate to The Red Cross. This is really what I started this group for and I just love to see it coming together. It really is a magical thing to see. It is an amazing and shining example of what good being involved in student orgs can bring to the world and the community. It is heartwarming.
So the bottom line for the rest of this semester is that I am going to continue to work on my studies and keep working on balancing all of the wild things going on in my life at the moment, and I’m going to rock and roll!

Hello Readers!

I have had a very busy couple of days and I will not be slowing down at all in the coming ones before break. I took three tests last week which really took a toll on my brain. It was a lot of studying and preparing and it just made the week drag on in a real big way. Along with this, as always, I had my wild extracurriculars going on and kicking my butt outside of schoolwork. I took twenty of my Kappa Sigma men to Marquette University in Milwaukee. We all attended a leadership conference and learned about how to be better gentlemen and overall stronger men. I cannot say much more than that, but it was a wonderful experience. All of our guys were really moved by the experience and invigorated to dig deeper into the worth of the connection provided by our brotherhood. Kappa Sigma has really become a very important aspect of my life. I feel like I have grown a lot in terms of my understanding of manhood. I have been able to watch men who may not have been very strong when they joined, grow and mature side by side. It is has been more rewarding than I ever could have hoped.
My job with the radio has been very stimulating and challenging. The new add campaign is starting to take shape which is excellent. I have never felt so involved and like I matter so deeply to a community than I do here at SNC. If you work hard and put yourself out there, you can get involved in some truly amazing things here on campus. I have found a wonderful outlet for my love of working with people, delegation, and projects. I cannot wait to see what next week brings!

I have had a couple really fantastic days here on campus and I am so glad I have finally found the time to sit down and tell you about them. Last week I got to hand out bids for Kappa Sigma and this week we had some guys from the chapter at Marquette come to help us pledge in the new members of the group who accepted our bids. It was an amazing time bringing them through the same tradition we went through. This upcoming weekend the Kappa Sigma gentleman and I will be going in a large group to Marquette for a leadership conference and brewery tour! I am very excited for a darned good time!
This week in academics has mainly been studying and the return of some very lovely test scores. I am doing fairly well in all of my classes and I am kicking butt in my extracurriculars. I really cannot complain about a darned thing except that I’m starting to get sick (as a lot of people are). Being sick on campus is a very unique experience from being sick at home with your family or caretakers. In this environment, as in any college environment, you are dealing with a large amount of independence which brings both positives and negatives. This happens to be one of the negatives unfortunately; dealing with sickness is much harder when you only have yourself and if you are lucky, you have your roommate to rely on. I have never really been sick on campus, until now.
It all started this Sunday morning. I awoke for another Kappa Sigma rabbit hunting outing which we do to build some core values of what we believe a gentleman should possess. I didn’t dress warm enough for how long we were out in the cold and I ended up catching some sort of bad virus. By yesterday I was so tired and weak that I had trouble getting out of bed. Luckily I have wonderful roomies and friends who support me and don’t just consider it a “circle of life” thing and leave me to die. If this were not the case, I’d like to take a second to mention how you would deal with this on campus if you perhaps don’t have a roommate. You can go to the health and wellness center (if you can make it there) and they will aid you in whatever ailments you possess. They are located in Main Hall in the center of campus. Now I am just doing some holistic things to get better, trying to focus on my studies, and getting to class.
I have a big test Friday in Marketing I have to study for so that should be a big hoot and potentially stressful! I will do my very best and hopefully I’ll rock it! I’ll let you all know how it goes!

Hello Readers!

It has been quite a wild and stressful week for me. I handed out bids for my fraternity this past Thursday (way later than they should have been handed out) and we actually got a good response. My father unfortunately had been in and out of the hospital from last Monday to Wednesday for some sort of blood issue so I went home this weekend to see him and make sure he was doing all right. All of that on top of my schoolwork has been rather hectic for a man of 19 such as myself. I am looking forward to our service projects with Kappa Sigma this week which will involve us doing emergency shoveling in front of schuldes and campus buildings to cope with the snow! Along with that, we are pledging in our new members this Sunday and doing all kinds of fun things this coming weekend. I am very excited and I believe my brothers and myself are laying the foundation for a beautiful tradition.
I am meeting with E2K tomorrow afternoon to plan some crazy awesome events for campus and some serious entertainment for campus which should be great. As it turns out, some of my outside of school life stylings may be showing up here on campus. I have to do some work and talk with a few more people but my band should be here April 22nd.
You heard it hear first, The Burrows 4 is coming to campus April 22nd as part of our big ten college tour! We are going to swing up after we play Madison so get excited and get ready to rock! There won’t be a place on campus you can’t hear us. Rock On!
I apologize for the plug in the blog, but as a musician if you can’t promote you’re dead! Anyhow, I am looking forward to all of the crazy activities coming up and all the fun things the coming weeks have in store. I will be working diligently on keeping my grades up this semester and making sure I rock all of my courses. I can’t wait to see where this semester goes!
Live long and rock,
Andy B.

Readers,
Hello ladies and gentleman! It has been far too long since we have shared a moment together! This semester has been wild and crazy for me so far. I have been working really hard on my academics and also extremely hard with my fraternity and extra-curriculars. I have been trying to balance all of this with my band which has been growing in popularity and gaining a small amount of recognition in Chicago and other places! I have been off campus every weekend so far this semester for gigs. It has been difficult balancing all of these things with my education and extra-curriculars. I’m here however, and I am still fighting!
My school work has been going well with my communication courses really shaping the way I work with the rest of my life which is a nice change. I am taking a sculpture and architecture class to round myself out and gain that famed liberal arts education where you can be a jack of all trades. I am excited to see this come to fruitition and see where these fun classes go.
Along with academics, and I’m really having a great time with my fraternity. Just this past weekend we went to “Restore” which is a company that works with Habitat for Humanity providing money and essential things for the homes they build. It is really a beautiful project. Well nevertheless we got a verifiable army of Kappa Sigma guys to show up there and unload semi trailers and all kinds of manual labor tasks for them. It was a really good time. We are doing many more service projects this semester as is our goal, and I am excited to bring the gentleman in these men out for people to see. I have already seen so many men become stronger, more resilient, responsible, more trustworthy, outgoing, and just all around better men than when they joined this group last year. It has been a magnificent ride so far and I cannot wait to see where it goes.
As for now, I am going to continue to work hard on all of my studies and continue my journey towards a successful, well rounded education.

Hello all! I am back and I have had a fantastic winter break. I really hope all of you have as well. I finished my second album with my band (The Burrows 4) and we are booked to play a bunch of amazing shows this summer and played some really cool ones this winter. This Friday I will be playing at Kinetic Playground in Chicago where artists like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, and Fleetwood Mac played back in music’s hay-day. I cannot wait to play for another big crowd!
I had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and got to see my family and friends from high school which was very nice. I spent 90% of my break gigging or in the studio however, so I did not get to do my normal supply of camping or outdoors type stuff but I did manage to go for a nice hike in there to let off some steam. It was truly one of the greatest winter breaks I have ever had, but I am extremely excited to be back in the great white north at SNC.
But anyhow, I’m back at St. Norbert and I am registered for some very interesting classes. I decided to branch out into the far reaches of the liberal arts education this semester and take an art course and concert band. Part of receiving a liberal arts education is getting a well-rounded understanding of all mediums so that you can be a highly diverse graduate. I am very glad that I was able to do this and broaden my horizons. St. Norbert offers great course options for those who wish to take courses outside of the normal for them.

Hello Readers!

This is my second to last blog for the year and I am tightly wound in my bean bag chair and bankets as the world turns white outside my window. It is snowing like mad! It seems like just days ago it was sixty degree sweater weather! I have had an absolutely amazing week. Kappa Sigma, the Fraternity I have been working so hard to get off the ground was officially announced…..as a student organization and official fraternity on St. Norbert Campus for as long as it shall be maintained! My guys and I are overjoyed and over the moon about this current development. It is absolutely fantastic news, but we must continue to work hard and grow and be better than ever. My men and I will only look forward to bigger, and better things. I cannot say enough how important this step forward is for our morale and overall standing on campus. We have taken so much abuse from other groups who said we could never do this, but oh boy did we show them!…by which I mean…humility is crucial to being a strong leader. But seriously, it is an amazing feeling to have started from nothing and grown to the biggest and arguably strongest fraternity on campus. I say strongest because I am unaware of any other group that would have continued to fight through the hardships we did to get where we are. I am so proud of every single one of my brothers to be.
On a more scholastic note, I am studying in my bean bag chair tonight listening to Carmen Suite No. 2 and going over my communication notes for my first final on Monday. I am so excited to get the ball rolling and power out these finals! However I am not excited for the stress and terrible moods around finals time. I am going to try and stay healthy and happy these next couple days until Christmas break and just do my thing! I am probably most stressed out about communications and my history exam. Math and other tests I know I can do well on but am still pretty nervous about. I am going to spend this entire week studying and making sure that everything on my mind is in order and ready to be spilled onto a test page!
Anywho, I have a very large deal of work to do tonight in preparation for these upcoming tests and all of the Kappa Sigma stuff I must do for the end of the year! I will talk to you next week for my final blog of the year! Be merry!

Hello Readers!

I hope all of your Thanksgivings went swimmingly! I had a blast visiting with family and eating more food then I had in a whole semester in about four days. It has been VERY interesting coming back to school this week. I had the opportunity to film Kunkel for a promotional video for the radio, which was quite exciting. I did a sweeping shot across his office and of him against his bookcase stating his points about why the radio is important. I was more than happy to meet the man who runs my college and see what he is like and how he leads. It was truly fascinating!
Getting to work with a man such as President Kunkel is an honor, but at the same time took away all of the idolization surrounding him. It was interesting to see him as a person instead of just the leader of the college. It really gave me a great deal of insight into not just him but how I see other leaders as well, I do not usually work with people of high stature so this was really enlightening.
Kappa Sigma has also been going very strong and are well over forty members in number. I am very excited for second semester to roll around and for recruitment to start officially. I am very excited to get the fraternity even bigger than it already is. We are having our first service project tomorrow which is bell ringing all day for salvation army. I am so excited to be reaching our goals of service. I cannot wait honestly, it is one of the coolest things I have done here on campus and I hope to make it a long lasting and sustaining tradition here at St. Norbert.
I have had a very difficult week academically and taken so many tests I can barely believe it is legal. SNC is a very stimulating and challenging school, and tests me everyday, whether it is with exams or just challenging ideas. I feel constantly like I am working to gain knowledge and better myself here at SNC.
I have a great deal to do next week. It is the week before finals and I have to study my brains out. I will likely spend about forty hours next week studying for any number of tests and things. I am truly overwhelmed with the shear volume of work I must complete. As a dedicated student, and as what I like to think of as a scholar, I am very prepared to do this. St. Norbert College is always testing my abilities and pushing my academic limits to their outer reaches. I cannot wait to finish up my finals and finish my year strong!

hello readers!

It has been a wild and crazy ride getting to this Thanksgiving Break. I finished it. I completed the video that I had to make for this Wednesday on Tutor Training and I felt so relieved! My director really liked the content of the video and was very excited to have a contemporary training video not from 1968. This is completely understandable, the original was incredibly boring and outdated. I attempted to create a video that was more engaging and interactive with pause points where the teacher could quiz the tutors watching the video. It was a really amazing experience getting to compile this video. Not only did I learn an immense amount about professional video editing, but I learned a lot about working with learning impaired students and how to help them overcome their issues. I have really been blessed with the opportunity to do these jobs for the college and that SNC has the facilities to allow me to do such cool activities. I actually was commissioned by SNCRadio this past Sunday to do another video. I am the creative director and engineer and all around master of a promotional video for them! So. Cool. I get to work with President Kunkel and film an introspective video segment with him about why he thinks radio is important. I then get to film a huge scene showing SNCRadio storming Campus buildings and recreation facilities with multiple cameras and hundreds of people. It is going to be a viral video to some extent for the college. I am very excited to get started (and finished) with this project. I have to get it done before classes end. I now have just as much on my plate as before but it is almost turkey time at the Burrows household which means soon I will be homeward bound!
I just have to finish up a few tests and quizzes and then I will be driving home and going to eat mama B’s turkey dinner. I cannot wait. I will then return back and will be getting into finals time and then sooner than I can fathom right now, it will be Christmas Break!
I hope you all have a wonderful turkey day and continue to keep up with the blogs!
Sincerely,
Andrew C. Burrows

Hello Readers!

So I just got done today with going to see my mentee, Alberto. This school has provided some seriously awesome opportunities for me to serve my community. For as a famous man once said “You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.” I have been blessed to do some amazing things in my life, including climbing the tallest peaks in the Americas, producing an album (with a second on the way!), riding raging rapids, and just doing some beautiful things. Nothing however will ever compare to the amazing power and life changing weight that my service has brought to my life. I cannot say how privileged I feel to have the opportunity to give back through St. Norbert. It is a magnificent reflection of what this school is about and its mission statement and Catholic ideals. I get to add a level of consistency to this child’s life, and though I might never actually change this kid’s life, I can at least provide some wisdom and male role model values. I am so glad to have been providing this for Alberto. I am so thankful to St. Norbert College for providing this magnificent opportunity.
Sorry for going on about that, I am very passionate about service, and it can turn a short conversation into a multi-day sermon! This week coming up I will be doing a lot of work on the video for Academic Support Services, I need to have it done by next Wednesday! Which is a lot of work to get done by then. So we will see how it goes. I am definitely going to need to start drinking coffee in order to finish this work. I am also excited for getting finished with my math project and doing all the fun things surrounding that with my group. I have a lot of work to do and a lot of service things to finish! I am so excited to get started on my next week and do all my work! Again, I just want to articulate how wonderful this school is for its service opportunities. I cannot articulate more how great the service community is here at St. Norbert College. Have a great weekend!