Lessons Learned, Final Blog Post

     All that crosses my mind when I think about the beginning of college is completely dreading both of the orientations. The one in May with our parents, and the one right before school started. It was partially because I was nervous and partially because I just didn’t want to start school again. I have never been good with change and starting a whole new school for 4 more years is a drastic change. I had my mind set before I even applied to colleges that I was going to commute. I knew I wanted to go to an in state school, but Southern was my last choice. I guess it worked out for the better that I ended up going here. Coming into college I already knew what I wanted to major in, so I put it on all of my college applications. I was already a step ahead by knowing and actually being interested in what I wanted to do. Working with kids was always one of my passions so I decided to be a speech therapist in an elementary school.

     I remember one of the first emails I got was for this class. I read it and literally started crying. I was so overwhelmed by what it said and felt like I wasn’t prepared to start college, never mind start homework before I even stepped foot in the classroom.  But I calmed down and anticipated for the first day. I only had two classes so it wasn’t that bad. I got to know my professors and adjusted to the classes fairly well. I ended up dropping my communications class within the first week, and I don’t regret that decision even though I ended up taking a class I had absolutely no interest in.

      I learned a lot about myself in the last 4 months than I did in the last 4 years of my life in high school. Socially, mentally, and work wise I figured out a lot that I never knew.  I’ve made friends, and lost old ones, gained knowledge, and expanded what I already knew. One of my greatest successes is passing 4 math tests that I NEVER passed in high school. Sounds silly, but I was never the best at math, Now in college, I have almost an A+. That is totally shocking to me and I could not be more proud of myself.  I’ve always been good on the homework and class work aspect of school; I think that’s what always kept my grades up. As much as I study, I do not do well at all on tests. That is what always jeopardizes me in all my classes.

            Since I knew what I wanted to do before entering college, I had person goals that I set for myself. In order for me to get into the CMD program, I need to keep a B in all my classes, and get a 3.0 gpa by the end of the semester. So that was one of my biggest goals. After we took midterms I reached that goal in almost all of my classes, since then I feel like I achieved those goals. But we will see after finals come around.  Till this day one of my favorite things we learned in this class that has stuck with me is the 10,000 hours theory. You need to work at something for more than a day, more than 24 hours to become a master at it and I couldn’t agree more.  This can also go along with what we learned about Twyla Tharp. In order to be creative you have to work at things to improve yourself. Even though these are two little things we learned in class I connected with them more than I thought. I will definitely take these two discussions into my next 4 years because I can use them with anything I do.

“ I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets record of successful experience behind him”

          -Eleanor Roosevelt



My family is what keeps me motivated. They are the only ones that I can truly count on, and the ones who I know will always will be there. My family expects so much from me, and they believe in me. When my whole family is together and they ask me how college is going they give me nothing but encouraging words to finish these next three years.  I don't think I could have started college without them and hope every single one of them is still here to finish this long journey with me.

Last Campus Safari

Since I've been slacking on my campus safaris, I knew I had to do the last one. In my politics class, we have a term paper due the day of the final. One of the requirements was that we go to the Writing Center and get our paper revised. I made an appointment yesterday, and went today at 11:00.  At first, I didn't really think a lot of people actually went there, but then i realized it is necessary to make an appointment in advanced because they are booked! I didn't know that when you go in there you need to have a specific reason of why you want them to help you with your writing. That sounds stupid but I just thought that they helped you with grammar and punctuation and the obvious things wrong with your paper. But the man that looked over my essay was very helpful. I explained to him what the paper was about and what my professor was looking for. He also gave me handouts on how to do proper MLA format to help me with my citations. I am very pleased with my visit there and Im happy I went regardless that it was mandatory. I would definitely go again for any other type of paper I had to write.

video re post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fo85S6u84E&feature=youtu.be

Take what you learned, and use it.

      I feel like in a lot of these blog posts I'm repeating myself. But, this semester was all about adjusting to change. Next semester we will already be used to the college life. The only thing that we will have to adjust to again is new professors and their style of teaching. I think one of my greatest successes was how well I managed my time. I had to balance school, homework, work and trying to keep a social life because that is still important. In the end I passed. I never fell behind in any of my classes and always had work done in advance so I had more time to do other things. If I knew things were tough I would start them earlier. I have always been good at that even in high school, and I am happy to say that is one of my better traits. Even though these classes are semi easy, I still did very well and I was surprised with myself. I wouldn't necessarily say that I had major failures this semester. I feel like I did well especially for the type of person I am. One thing I can work on is focussing more in certain classes and giving it 110% and nothing less. I also learned and realized that in some classes if you don't care from the beginning, it can ruin the whole semester for you. You can get one bad grade, and jeopardize your final grade for that course. So its better to just give it your all from the first day, all the way to the very end. I will take what I learned in the past 4 months and use it in the next four years.

Thoughts and Ideas

For our final project I have decided to do the 600 word blog post. Even though I got good grades on my video projects I don't feel as successful in them as I should be. I have always felt like I was a good writer so by writing about the semester I think I can get a better grade. When I am interested in something I know I can do very well with it and writing is something that I love. In all honesty I haven't really started it yet, or gave it THAT much thought, but I have a vague idea of what Im going to do. basically I'm just going to talk about this semester and my successes and failures. In the beginning I will talk about the transition from High School to College, and talk about what was most difficult, and what was the easiest. I learned a lot in our inquiry class with the books we had to read, and the articles online and mostly our discussions we had in class. I will try to incorporate some of those in as well. That made me get a different view and different aspects from other people on what they thought about different topics such as the10,000 hours theory, or Twyla Tharps The Creative Habit book. At first I thought this class wasn't important but it really does help you understand college a little bit more. You learn things that some people would never teach you if you didn't have this class. But hopefully my final project will be more a success than any of my videos because I am more intrigued with this and can be more descriptive in my writing than any old video I would made.

Video 3

I will admit, this last video project before our final was not my best out of the other two. I think it came out ok, but could have been better if I prepared more for it and thought it through more. There are hundreds of problems that first year students face, but I connect with the social life problem more than anything. Which is kind of sad being in college now. But that is just the type of person I am.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMhvZheAQJ0

"Creativity is just connecting things" -Steve Jobs

    Everybody has a different imagination, and different ideas. Thats why no two peoples work will ever be the same. I don't believe you are born with creativity, I think you need to be brought up throughout your whole life with creativity. If you do something since you were a little girl or boy, then you will become better at it throughout the years. That to me, is creativity.
  The Creative Habit, is a book that I believe should be read by all different types of kids and even adults. Musicians, artists, athletes, teachers etc should read it. It gives out all different messages to people who have different interests. In the end we all have a passion and want to do nothing but succeed and make others happy, but sometimes we do have to fail to see the good. I believe that her perspective and outlook is something we should all admire. Creativity is important in a person because it makes them who they are. You can let yourself be who you want by the things you do. To go with discussions in class I do believe that creativity is lost in schools. All the way from elementary school we are always taught specific ways to do something and if we didn't do it that certain way it was wrong. Which I think is not fair. Everybody's brains work in a  different way and as little kids we can figure out more than one unique way to solve a problem. I think everybody at least once in their live should go out into the world and do something different. Do something out of your comfort zone and be creative about it. We shouldn't have to live life worrying about what other people are going to think. You never know how different your life can be just because of creativity. From what I have noticed by other people, its a whole new world and you experience things you would never imagine. 

Autonomy

Tuesday was my first experience in the library. I don't really stay on campus much and when I do I'm either in class or in the student center during my breaks. I've obviously seen the outside of the library but never the inside. During our activity I learned information about the library that I never knew, partially because I've never stepped foot in there. I learned that each floor has different books, and which ones you can and can't check out. Also learned how to look for a book and other reading materials on the library website. All while doing this we were researching Autonomy. I went and found a book called The autonomy of myth: a theory of dependency. I didn't really read it, i just flipped through the pages and then read the summery on the inside cover of the book. It seemed like the main focus of the book was talking about the people and society and becoming independent. The author of the book also talks about the workplace and adapting to new things and surroundings. This applies to first year students because your starting a whole new school in a new town with kids you haven't been with since elementary school like most of us have. You have to adapt to new professors who have different styles of teaching, thousands of new faces, and possibly living away from home if thats what you choose to do. After you figure everything out while at school, you learn the ins and outs and everything becomes a breeze. Some people love it, and other people hate it. But its all what you make of it. College is a place where you can succeed and be who you are. There are plenty of people around you who are willing to help and make you understand more and all you have to do is take advantage of those people.

"People inspire you, or they drain you. Pick them wisely" -- Hans F Hansen

    Over the past few years I have met so many new people that have walked in and out of my life. While reading The Creative Habit, I stumbled across excercise 19: work with the best. I don't consider this exercise literally working but who you associate yourself with and the people you allow to be in your life. Between cheerleading teams, friendships, and work I met a variety of different people that have made different impacts in my life. I've always been told to surround myself with good people because they will make you a better person, and I realize that more and more. If you surround yourself with negative people, you will become negative. If you surround yourself with people who do bad things, (any type of things) they will influence you and you may or may not become like them. Everybody needs people to help you and make you become more of yourself than you thought you were. They bring out a different side of yourself that you never knew was there. They help you achieve and don't bring you down and are always there lending a hand to help you.   So many of my friends from high school have changed and aren't the person they used to be. But as the first sentence on page 137 says "if it true that who you are now and who you will be in five years depend on what books you read and which people you meet, then you need to think more aggressively about those thou invite into your creative life". I agree with that 100%. We are influenced by society, social networking, friends, T.V shows, etc. Seeing different things can change who we are and it may not always be for the better. But I believe that if you stick to what you know, and surround yourself with nothing but good people, you won't have to worry about who you'll be in five years.
    I know from experience that there will be people who you associate yourself with that aren't good for you at all. I have a friend that is 4 years older than me. We met at work, until he left. He then had no job for over a year, no car, no license and no motivation to do anything. But to this day I still talk to him. He has slightly changed but myself along with my family and friends knew he was no good. If he didn't have his life figured out what made me think he would be a good asset to my life.. he wasn't. But on a completely other hand, I have some of the best friends that I still have because they bring out the good. They know what they want along with what I want. For example one of the kids I work with is more passionate about music than anyone I have ever met. His dream is to go to Berkley and have a job that has anything to do with music. Not everybody in your life has to have the same interests in you,  but if they have the same ambitions and a good head on their shoulders then maybe they are somebody worth keeping.
 

You Are the Creator of Your Own Destiny

    Besides spiders, and sadly the dark one of my biggest fears is not being accepted and not achieving the things that I start. I feel like middle school and high school were a breeze and not challenging what so ever will all the classes I took. That made me nervous coming into college because its a whole new world with people you barely know. I was with the same kids every year since 6th grade, a majority even 1st grade. So when your put into a whole new world you need to adapt. and I am not the best with change. That also goes along with my fears.
 
 It is very easy for me to give up but a lot of the times I try not to because my parents always taught me when I was little that if I started something, then I had to finish it and always give it my best effort. In my 18 years of doing activities and what not I have only quit one thing in the middle of it, and I regret it every time I think about it. But school is a challenge for me. Its a struggle to get up and drive to school. Its a struggle to want to find all the right reasons to go to class, then to make up every excuse not to go. But when I was younger that was never a problem. I had perfect attendance all throughout elementary school, middle school, and even high school. I had never missed a day even if I was sick. But now thats completely different. Im not obligated to go to class and sit there and learn something I have the option to completely ignore. Now I choose what I want to do. And I do have goals for myself, and a future planned out in my head. But when I actually sit here and think about it, I don't want to accomplish it because I feel like I won't succeed or be the best I could be and nobody will accept it. If I fail at school I would disappoint my parents and my family because they believe that I could do it.
     I haven't really "faced" my fear, but to me I face it everyday. When I do homework, get up and go to class, pass a test, participate in class I am one step closer to getting a degree and fulfilling the expectations I have for myself. In a way I am a procrastinator, but I like to get things done fast and right away, which is kind of contradicting myself. But it takes a lot for me to do school work because I'm not all that into it. But I always like to look at the big picture. In 4-5 years I will graduate college, have a degree, hopefully a job and live my life knowing that I accomplished something so many people wish they could everyday. And thats what makes me more and more motivated everyday to keep pushing myself.

"Some people find this moment,the moment before creativity begins to be so painful that they simply cannot deal with it" - Twyla Tharp

        I knew a little bit of what this book was going to be about since we talked about it a little in class, but I didn't really realize how much I would connect with it and understand where she is coming from.
      Ever since I was little I danced, but once my favorite dance teacher had passed away I sort of lost touch with it, and I quit. Ever since that day I have been doing cheerleading. Its not a sport in anybody's eyes but its something that takes a lot of hard work and creativity. That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the first chapter of this book. 12 years of my life played through my mind, and all the things I have learned from it. Unless you actually experience or are a part of a team you don't really know what its like to do cheerleading. We to have a choreographer. She works with us for a short period of time, but works with herself longer. She doesn't only choreograph my team, but a couple other teams to. None of her dances are ever the same. She gives it her own flavor and what she knows each team is capable of doing. Every year at competitions we get such great scores because she always comes up with unique moves that you wouldn't really see. She puts our whole routine together, from the dance, cheer to stunting and tumbling. I believe that we rely on her more than our coaches at some point because she is the center of our learning. Just like the dancers rely on their choreographer to teach them because without them they would be lost. You don't have to be special or go to school to be creative or to be a choreographer. our cheerleading choreographer is used to everything she does, and every year she gets better and better. I believe that when you have a passion for something you are better at it than someone who doesn't care to much for it. It is like that withe everything, singing, instruments, school work, sports etc.
       One of the points I like that she makes is in chapter 2 about rituals. she talks about how she does the same thing everyday and its not what she does thats a ritual, its actually getting up and doing it. She feels confident in herself because she knows that she can depend on what she does and herself if anything in her life fails. she believes that rituals prepare us and give us confidence and I agree. If you do something everyday you will only get better at it, not worse. That will boost up your self esteem ad make you want to do more activities.  yes, you will fail at things, and nothing will ever be perfect but you shouldn't not do something because of fear because then you'll always that "what if" feelings and what could have been.

Video Project 2: Creativity

Since this was the second video project we had to do, I was a little more prepared and actually had a clue about what to do. I kind of did it similar to the last one except with different information since it was a different topic. I'm actually not to sure if I did the project the right way, but my topic was the first thing that came to mind when I read the assignment so thats what I did. I think one of my weaknesses is that I put to many words on the slides. I didn't know how else to express what I had to say so by making multiple slides with explanations I got my point across.  In my opinion, I think that this project did turn out well, but there are certain things that could have been changed and added.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9WOF1TfoaU&feature=youtu.be

The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection - Michelangelo

This habit I have isn't really that good, but when I way around I don't really look at my surroundings or the people around me. So with that it was kind of hard to find a sculpture/picture around campus. I only stay in one building pretty much all day besides the student center.  But as I was walking out the Engelmann today, I saw a picture on the wall. It didn't have an artist but then i saw plenty of other pictures  just like it, except with different words.  All of these pictures were in the philosophy/english department of the 2nd floor. I think where this picture is placed shows a big part on what it means. Its a bunch of similar but different words that are clumped together. Theres big words, small words, red words, yellow words. Some are sideways, some are bold, some are longer than others. So this shows that they re all different, but used for the same reason. (in my opinion) Some of the words in the picture are really commonly used words, but others are not. I think because this picture is hung near the english department that it shows that everybody's writings and beliefs are going to be different even though we all learn the same things when we are in college. When people look at this picture of words, they will probably all have different interpretations because we are all different.

Always Room for Improvement

Most of the stress is over.... but now there is other stress piling on for the rest of the semester, and for the up coming spring semester. I only had three midterms out of five of my classes. I didn't do as well as I hoped but my grades are what was normal for me and what I should have expected. On banner, I only have three of my grades posted so far and they are three C+'s and a B+. For the first two months of school I guess I can deal with those grades but surprisingly with the type of person I am, I did have higher standards for myself and thought that I was actually on the right track and doing better than normal. I don't think my grades reflect my work, and I felt the same way all throughout high school. I always did what I had to do, on time and filled all the criteria. I know college is drastically different than high school, but you always carry your habits from one to another. Its obvious that some things weren't working in high school, so I should change them now, before I get to comfortable and mess up because thats what I don't want to do! Getting these grades now makes me nervous because I have to keep a 3.0 GPA and a B average in order to get into the program of what I want to major in. I do believe now though that the first semester is almost over, I'm used to the way college is, and how all my classes will work. So as all my old teachers and my parents would tell me, theres always room for improvement. I can still change my grades and they can get better. I think if I keep doing what I'm doing now with 10x more effort, then I will be ok. and whatever happens happens because only I can control my future.

Campus Safari #16

I've realized with a lot of these campus safari's the SCSU website is very helpful. This week I decided to look at Career Services. I didn't know where that was located on campus so I went to the website. The whole point of career services is to help you find a major, and to know what your interested in. They think that its not about who you know, or what you know, its both and they are the "who part". They also show you the "what" and introduce you to many different things that you could pursue. You can meet with somebody one-on-one or you can just walk in in-between the hours on monday-thursday.

  Another important part of this service is to make sure that you stay in contact with people groups and organizations to develop job opportunities in your field. Any question that you have can basically be answered by going on the website. 

http://www.southernct.edu/careerservices/

Take A Break, and Relax

Sometimes for me, school in general, work and everything else that comes with life is stressful. Midterm time just adds more stress! It really sounds so stupid, but I decided to take a walk around campus. It has been so nice out lately that I decided it would be perfect. I put in my headphones and just walked around. I listened to music that I enjoy, which is mainly country and it just clears my mind of all the stressful things that are coming my way. This also sounds stupid but sometimes listening to certain songs makes me think of other things, so I did do some thinking on my walk. I enjoy taking walks ever since I was little. I used to go on one everyday with my grandma so I guess you could say thats why I enjoy them so much. While walking, I never really realized how big the campus really is. Since I only stay in one little area all ay 5 days a week, I got to see new scenery and other buildings. I like to do things alone, because I feel like if your with other people then nothing will really get accomplished. Most people would probably do this assignment with their friends or actually do something on campus. but this kind of thing just describes the kind of person I am. I like to be alone more often than not. You get to really know yourself and see what is good/not good for yourself.  I guess you could say this walk was much needed, and I might do it again because I enjoyed it.

Better Yourself, Make Changes

We have been in school for almost two months or so, and I feel as if I'm managing my time and study habits very well. I sometimes feel as if I'm doing 10x better in college than I ever did in my 4 years of high school, which is kind of shocking. So far I have only had one midterm, and another one approaching on wednesday & thursday. I can't say I did as well as I hoped, but I did do fairly well so I am proud of myself, I must say. Every class has its own level of difficulty which means different material etc. The one thing I know I can do 100000x better is study more. Yes I get my work done when it should be but I don't spend that extra time looking over notes, reading extra, and asking questions. A good majority of my goals have been reached because so far, I haven't failed anything, been lost, or not caught up on anything. I always seem to get ahead of the game with my classes which is what I hoped and wanted to do. The second half of the semester I plan on picking classes that i'm actually interested in and want to be in because most of my classes now I don't even want to show up, just being honest. I get all of my work done and get good grades which is a plus. The one thing I know I will plan to do always throughout my four years(+) is time management because that is the key to success in my eyes. If you know what your doing and how to manage your time and do things when they should get done then you will always have free time to do what you like, and something stress free. I went into college with a sort of negative attitude, but after i experienced a good amount of time my whole outlooked has changed. So with that, I believe that next semester the whole tone will be different and hopefully more progress will get done!

Campus Safari #8

Since we've been talking about advisors and majors in class, I decided to do this weeks campus safari on how to get an advisor in your major. Coming into college I already knew what I wanted to major in, and hopefully it doesn't change. I chose Communication disorders and I do plan on sticking with it. The office is located in Davis hall. I didn't get a chance to go over there, but all the e-mails I receive tell me how to get an advisor.  I get the impression that freshmen don't get an advisor just yet because they haven't gotten into the program, but they are more than welcome to go into the office and talk to somebody. But, freshmen can sign up to make an appointment by October 18th. It also says that if you have not met the requirements (3.0 gpa in CMD classes, and an accumulative gpa, then you must go to wintergreen for advising. To get more information, i decided to go on SCSU's website, and go to the communication disorders webpage.http://www.southernct.edu/communicationdisorders/
    It told me who the professors were, and who I could contact if I had any questions. It actually gave me a lot of information and I'm really happy that I decided to check it out. Hopefully i'll get a chance to head down to Davis and actually talk to somebody.



Dr Deborah Weiss (undergraduate advisor; weissd1@southernct.edu 203-392-6615
^ thats who I would contact if i had any questions about my major.

Be Uncomfortable

I am probably one of the most shy, not outspoken, quiet kids you will ever meet.... well thats how I am at first. But once you get to know me, and I'm comfortable with you I am the complete opposite. I don't have a problem with that except that sometimes its hard to make friends. I have to say that I have had the same group of friend since about 6th grade, but in high school my whole grade got along very well so we were all good friends. But coming into college was a whole new experience. Yes I did come here with my best friend, and a few others but she went her separate way and I guess I did to, so that caused me to make other friends. I became closer with other people, and actually started talking to new people. Coming to college was basically coming out of my comfort zone. I don't really do much out of the ordinary. I do a lot of the same things everyday. I can honestly say without getting ashamed that I don't talk in any of my classes which is probably obvious in our INQ class, but in high school I talked non stop in class. My teachers were like my friends and I can actually be myself in class. But not all my professors are like that and you have to be serious. So I guess coming out of my comfort zone would be making new friends, because I have. Maybe not as many or as fast as other people but I have. I don't like change so this was hard. Another thing is that I never open up and i just keep everything to myself. But I have a really good friend that makes that easy for me. She lets me talk to her whenever I need to and she gives me great advice. I've been having some friend trouble and she told me to just talk to her, and let her know how I feel, so thats exactly what I did.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ― Winston Churchill

A lot of people fear failure, and for that reason exactly, is why they don't try new things. In a way that is how I am. I don't like to do bad at things so sometimes i don't try them and see what new things are like. But in life, you wont get anywhere if you don't try new things. You need to fail in life. Failure teaches you so many lessons. And after you do fail, just get back up and try it again. If you have goals, you need to reach them but that process isn't going to be easy. Something along the way will go wrong and you will reach bumps in the road but thats all part of life. Its all normal. Its ok to fail. I'm sure we've all had experiences of failure but that is what makes us who we are and our outlook on school and life now. I know that when I fail at something I kind of shut down for a little and I don't try my hardest. But then I realize what I want and what is best for me and I try again. No matter how many times you try, in the end you will be successful even if it takes 10 times to get that one thing right. Also when your trying new things there will ALWAYS be different ways to do them. So don't just listen to one person on how to do things, get advice from other people and have them teach you different ways to get things done. Some may or may not be easier than others. There is plenty of examples of people in the world who have failed and got back up and tried again, and now they are so famous and good at what they do. For example, sports players, musicians, singers. Yeah, they may have natural born talent but they still had to work at where they are today. In my opinion, when you fail you have to change your mindset to do better. Think positive cause it isn't the end when something goes wrong.

Things Change, Think Different

 After reading the first three chapters of Mindset, and listening to the class discussion. I Do agree with what the author has to say. I connected to it a lot because I've been taking psychology since sophomore year of high school , and in a way it connects to what psychologist believe in.  This theory is similar to nature vs nurture, which is how the environment around us affects our thinking vs our genes and what we are made up to me. We have two different mindsets, growth and fixed. One will change, and one is what we always believed in. In the world around us we are always facing new situations and learning different things, so some of what we know is going to change and we are going to have a different "mindset" on that certain topic. Our fixed mindset is never going to change. in my opinion, its what we were grown up believing and what our parents believe in. I do think though that our fixed mindset can change. Yes, we may believe in certain things but I do believe that it can change. If we are taught something for so long (10,000 hours theory) then we may start to believe it. It may not happen to everybody but I think that it can happen. With that theory they say if you practice at something it will get better and you will become successful at it and an expert. I feel like there is always room for peoples minds to grow and you can't be stuck on one specific thing. If you are, then you will never experience life and all that it has to come with. This can go with motivation because different things motivate all of us and if we have an open mind then we can change our views, and become successful and whatever it is we want to do.

Video Project & Reflection

Well, this is the first video project I have ever done. It wasn't that difficult for me because I am really good with technology, but to use iMovie I did go see one of my old high school teachers so he could help me. When we were first assigned this project I had bigger expectation and better ideas to use for the video. But as the week went on, none of those ideas were actually done. I don't think I managed my time as well as i could have, but still think I did a good job. For my first video I am very impressed and happy with the way it came out. I learned a lot about myself, and everyone else with what they had to say. I think my topic (making decisions) is a good one for a first year student because we are all faced with different types of situations where one choice can lead to another

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVFokNqf_b8&feature=youtu.be

Campus Safari #15

For this weeks campus safari, I deeded to go up to the MultiCultural Center which is located on the second floor of the student center. I had my first experience with them over the summer. I had to get a few of my books last minute, and a girl that my mom works with used to go to southern and coincidentally she used to work in the MultiCultural center. They do plenty of things, but something helpful is they give students books that they don't necessarily have to pay for. When I went up there, they lady was nice and answered the few questions I had.
     
      Q: "What is the purpose of the MultiCultural center on campus?"
      A: we promote different cultures and plan events so people can get involved. for example, this month is hispanic month. We gathered outside and just had a get together.

      Q: How do you play a role in helping kids on campus?
      A: like before, we basically just plan events and if the students want to come and get involved they can. its their choice.  all of our events have too do with the different cultures and we base everything off of that.

she also told me next month is woman history month.

Watch and Learn

After class on thursday, I was talking to my friend about the video project we are assigned. She obviously said that she would allow me to interview her as one of the Freshmen. Afterwards I was talking to her about how I wanted to make my project. I decided that for every group of people i'm going to do a different style: face to face, just voice, and then writing. Hopefully that would give my video a different look and make it seem more interesting. I decided that my topic is going to be "All about Campus". I was planning on just asking the basic questions any freshmen would have when they first start college. Surprisingly I know a lot of freshmen, and older students to talk to which also helped me pick out my topic. The people that I have decided to interview are older, some have commuted, transferred, lived on campus, done both, and may have pursued their major. So I figured that they would be good people to talk to and learn things from. A few questions i'm going to ask are:
*How did you get involved on campus?
*What made you decide to live on campus/commute?
*How did you decide what classes to take, or what major to go into?
*What helped you adapt to the new changes southern brought to you?
     and more.....
There is way more questions that I thought of, but I can guarantee that a lot of students think of those questions. Everybody wants to know how to survive their first year of college so they can make the next three successful. By asking questions you can learn a lot and most freshmen want to know all they can learn from whoever will give them advice. I don't really know if those questions are going to make the video interesting, but I'm hoping that the responses will also make it better.

Time is a created thing. To say "I don't have time" is to say "I don't want to." (LAO TZU, O Magazine, Jan. 2007)

       Since sophomore year of high school, I have realized my life is nothing but a routine. I always find myself doing the same things everyday, week after week. I have nobody to blame for that but myself, but who said I was even complaining? I love my life, and everything I do I do it for a reason. If I didn't like the things I was doing daily I would change and/or stop them. I realized all of that more than ever while doing the self study.

        During this week (if my calculations are right...) I spent about 5hrs and 15 minutes doing homework, and about 30 hours in class. In-between my classes, I have plenty of breaks which is when I like to get a lot of my work done. I am not a procrastinator at all, so that amount of hours doesn't really surprise me. I like to do a lot of things ahead of time, so I have the rest of the day/week to do other things I want to get done. During this time, I'm also with my friend but we are nothing doing work. I find it easier for myself to get things done knowing she is also doing work. Having a lot of long breaks works in my benefit and before starting school I thought they would be a waste of time and I would be bored, but boy was i wrong.

     I also found myself spending a majority of my time at work. I've had a steady job since the summer of my junior year and I love it. Its your basic teenage work place and it has taught me a lot of responsibility because during these times i've had to juggle other things going on. I don't plan on spending the rest of my life their but you learn a lot from the jobs you have while your in high school and college. I also feel like working as taught me the most important: time management. I work nights, and weekends so on these certain days I don't have time to do homework. Which is also why I feel like I don't procrastinate.

     Looking at my schedule, I wouldn't really change anything and I feel like I can continue this type of schedule throughout my first year of college. yeah we will all hit bumps in the road and things will get tough, but thats when you change things. I wouldn't necessarily take things out of my schedule, maybe just spend a few more hours on homework/studying but for now things are going well and everything is playing out successfully 

Campus Safari #7

So for this weeks campus safari, I decided to take a trip to the fitness center. I was hanging out in the student center with my friend during my break so I figured why not. If you didn't know, its located on the second floor of the Student Center. When I went up there they kind of expected me because other people have gone up there too, so they were already prepared with the questions. They handed me a brochure of all the information, and then I looked up their website online. 

Hours:

Monday-Thursday: 7am-10pm

Friday 7am-8pm

Saturday- 9:30am-4:30pm

Sunday 2pm-7pm

The cost is very reasonable for a college student, its 60$ for one semester, and 120$ for two semesters. A class I would be interested in joining is Zumba which is on Monday, Tuesday and wednesday nights from 7:15pm to 8:15pm. Another class that i might be interested in is Yoga on wednesdays from 5-6. In order to attend classes you need to sign up 15 minutes before class at the front desk. 

Everyones Different

I have never been a blogger, I never looked at blogs, I never wrote on blogs so all of this is new to me. We are required to blog three times a week on all different topics and sometimes I have no idea what to write. So after reading the assignments for the week I think about the topic, and then I go look through an assortment of blogs on the home page.  That helps me get a better understanding of what to actually write about and how I should start writing. I do have my own ideas, but reading how other people feel or what other people think helps me out. So for this week we had to pick out somebody's blog that stood out and was "A" material. But for me I can't pick out a certain person. Everybody has their own style of writing, and everybody's creativity level is going to vary. Yes we all have to write about the same things, and add pictures or links but everybody is going to have something different which to me, makes their blogs unique. When we have to blog, something different pops into all of our heads to write about, no blog is ever going to be the same. One thing I can say is that when I go look at the blogs I don't just click on random ones, I click on the ones that have an interesting title. The title can say a lot about a persons blog and how they write. Then I read what they write and see the designs on their page. To me, if they follow all the requirements and show that they tried then that is A material. If their blog has a design and isn't just plain then I would give them a good grade. I feel wrong just pulling out a specific student because everybody does the blogs, in their own ways.

Past Three Weeks

College is definitely a HUGE change, compared to high school. I can honestly say that in high school I took the easy way out of everything, did my work, and still passed with nothing lower than a B, and in the end I graduated. But in the past three weeks, not only in my INQ class, but my other 4 classes I learned so much about myself, and school in general. The one big thing that I learned and am taking full advantage of being good at is time management. Between having a job, school, homework, and everything else that comes with life you have to make time for everything. With most things in life I don't like to wait till the last minute to do them all so I do a lot of work ahead of time. With that being said, I'll keep up with that in my schedule, and also spending more time on a lot of my school work. In order for me to get better at the classes i'm taking more time needs to be spent on what I don't understand rather than what I do understand. If I am successful at doing all that, my goals for the end of this semester will sure to be met. I have to end the semester/year with a B average in order to get into the program I want to major in. So hopefully by the end thats what will happen because then I can start taking classes that I am actually interested in. Because of the type of person I am, and my personality something that isn't useful for me is getting involved. So far all upperclassmen I have talked to have told me to get involved, join club, study abroad, etc. But all that is not something I'm interested in doing. since i commute, I'm content with going to school, going to class, doing my homework, going to work,  and seeing my friends. I don't feel a need to join a specific club or do sports. If something is meant to happen for me in college it will, Im not going to go searching for it, which may or may not be a problem. I am really a shy person around people I don't know which is also why that isn't something that I'm willing to do. But we've only been in school for about a month and sooner or later i'll find my place and come out of my comfort zone.

Campus Safari #1

For this weeks campus safari I decided to go and talk to my math professor. She doesn’t have an office, so we talked after class because that’s when her office hours are:

Professor: Elizabeth Hart

Contact info: harte4@southernct.edu

Ehart221@yahoo.com (home email)

Office hours: Monday/Wednesday 9:15-11:45am

Question 1- Is the online math homework on My Math Lab mandatory for all teachers at southern or is it your personal preference?

-       anybody who teachers 095 has the option to do online homework, so its basically up to the professor.

Question 2- How come you are all for calculators in class?

 - Calculators are optional for every teacher. I allow you to use them all the way through. 

Professor Hart also teaches at gateway community college, and has taught the middle school math level.