Final Blog Post... Reflection...

Overall I think that I have improved tremendously my first semester freshman year. You always hear the horror stories about the kids that throw their college career away for one thing or another and I was determined I wouldn’t fall into that trap and I didn’t. For that alone I can be proud. I think being a college student is more than just learning math and English it’s about finding yourself. So far as a college student I would say that I learned a lot about myself. I have tried so much harder now that I’m here than when I was in high school. I always just slacked off and cut corners then. Now I think that I know that my college education is worth money that a lot of other people can’t afford. It just makes me grateful for having the opportunity. I think that as far as my learning process in just in the beginning stages. I’m still feeling out the school and what it takes to be a successful college student. I’ve definitely had some downfalls thinking that I can wait until the last day to do an assignment and then not doing as well as I wanted to or cramming for the tests the day of. I would definitely say that studying definitely needs to become more of a priority. Eventually I figured out which classes needed more attention than others and what I should and shouldn’t be spending the majority of my time on. I now know that classes like bio need at least a few days of really intense studying. On the other side I think that my biggest achievement is my level or organization so far. I have yet to miss one big assignment or hand one in late on purpose because I wasn’t able to finish it on time due to poor planning. I was always missing assignment I never even knew about and now I literally have months all planned out. This way I know when there’s a big assignment coming up that I need to start working on and I’m not remembering two hours before it’s due. I do this by my desk calendar and an assignment book that I update multiple times a day. I haven’t really used any of the other resources on campus that could further help me succeed. I probably should to improve my grades even further but I’m sure that at next semester ill be visiting a help place. I’m in a really high math class so even though I got an A this semester there is a high chance that I will need to get some help in that class. Another aspect that keeps me successful in college is my time management which also plays into the fact that I have become ridiculously organized lately. ( I think my roommates OCD is beginning to rub off on me.) I think that I have put a lot of time and effort into all my classes but especially math. I enjoy math so I try hard and that allowed me to receive an A in the class. Even though not all my classes are favorites I still think that I was able to apply myself and learn a lot about the subjects and myself. I try to get the most out of all my classes and some of them I just have no choice but to learn a lot of the material, such as BIO. In order to learn the most I possibly can I have to find a way to make the material interesting to me. Looking back at this semester I’m really proud I believe that I met my goals the only one I didn’t meet way getting at least a B in Bio, but I still passed it. In taking it next semester and I plan on pulling a B off for the second part of the class. I have that goal and many more I want to get all A’s and have the highest GPA humanly possible for myself. I want to work my ass of as far as academics and my body because last semester killed me I gained way to much weight. To get back on track though, I just need to stay focused and determined that I will do well and with a little hard work and effort I believe I will meet all of my goals.

Final Video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U35GEOPT7gg&context=C37a27aaADOEgsToPDskLI_7ZTMo_KViMYsRYsuSJ6

Last Campus Safari Ever #3

This week I went to the Health Center. So before I went there I was thinking about common health issues of college students and I guessed that it was stress. I figured every college student must be really stressed, I know that I am, especially because its finals time right now. Apparently I was right. College students get really stressed out which eventually will make them sick and just not feeling like themselves. I completely agree. It’s so true because when I’m stressed I literally make myself sick. My mom always told me but I never believed her until now.

Learning Community

As far as the implementation of a learning community among the freshman class, I believe that it was a success. Even though we saw each other only Tuesdays and Thursdays we still created a bond in my opinion. By seeing each other we got to know one another fairly well, at least better than anyone else in our other classes. Being able to see the same group of people every Tuesday and Thursday created a very comfortable environment. Coming into college I was really nervous. Not so much about how well I would do or the classes I was going to be taking but the fear of the unknown. In high school I knew everyone in my classes on a first name basis. I’m sure that this wasn’t the way for many other students but I come from a very small town. This meant that literally everyone knew everyone. What is worse is that they didn’t just know your name but they knew exactly who you were, who you hung out with and what part of town you came from. Even though I hated growing up in a town like this it created a comfort zone and allowed everyone to have a huge support system. My graduating class definitely had its differences but we were all friends in a way. This is completely unlike going to college. I did have a few friends coming to SCSU also but they weren’t in any of my classes. The first few days were nerve racking because I was walking into unknown territory. This learning community allowed me to find a comfort zone at southern. I made friends with people almost by force because we spent so much time together. I think I’ll miss this idea of comfort and everything that came along with being in a classroom with people that I got to know really well.

I can dream can't I...

What would my ideal life after college be like? I think that everyone has an ideal life planned out for them. Ever since I was a little girl I had an idea of what my life would be when I was older. I knew what kind of car I would drive and what my house would look, how many kids I would have, and what my wedding dress would look like. Now that I’m older I think that I have a completely different idea of what my life will be like after college. I plan to graduate as a nurse with a career ahead of me. I hope that I will be able to land a job in a hospital setting with children. We all know how chances are you’re not going to get the dream job right after graduation, but that’s why it’s called a dream job. So with a little hard work hopefully I will be able to get where I want to be when I graduate. I plan on getting my own apartment near the hospital that I’ll be working at. I assume that I will hopefully get some help from my parents because chances are I won’t be able to afford my own place right away. I plan on doing the whole career thing for probably a couple of years and then maybe try to settle down. If that doesn’t seem to be happening for me I want to become a physician’s assistant. This means another two years of school and more student loans but it will be completely worth it in the end.  That’s the plan so far. I hope everything goes well as far as me become a nurse. If not I’m not really sure what I’ll do but I’ll deal with that if and when the time comes. That’s my overall goal for after I graduate from college.

Final Video Update

How are you going to make your final video interesting, creative, distinctive, unique?

-After our last class on Tuesday I finally know some ways to make my video these things. We threw out many ideas during class to help me out, some of these ideas being a game show or a music video. What I know that I want to do so far is have some skits either in the middle or at the end of my video of some of the problems that college students run into when they commute to college or live in a dorm setting.

 How are you going to make it a step up from your midterm video and how are you going to make it stand out from others in the class? Be specific?

-I plan on taking into consideration all of the tips that they class gave me when I showed it to them and also most importantly take into consideration my professors tips on how to improve. The biggest thing that I know will help is having someone besides I watch my video. This is for the purpose of proofing my text and making sure that everything is understandable and the slides don’t move too quickly. Another big thing is making sure that you can hear the interviews and skits clearly.

How exactly are you going to add originality to your work?

-well considering that there are multiple people doing a very similar topic this is going to have to be a very important part of my video because I want it to be different. I am hoping that the skits will add some originality also im going to put in my own personal views.

Final Video Project

I’m not exactly sure what I want to do my video project on. I know that I want to do something interesting, and by interesting I mean something that isn’t just an interesting topic to meet the requirement but something that goes further. I was thinking about doing something like commuting vs. living on campus and how it affects the current freshman at SCSU. This Idea interests me personally only because I am living on campus now and want to commute. I was trying to remember some of the topics that we covered in class but I really couldn’t.

The Structure:

Beginning- I want to start with a title slide obviously and then I will introduce the topic I chose. The last video project we did I wrote too much on some of the text sections so I will either have to condense or I will have to videotape myself introducing it.

Middle- I plan on doing an interviewing section. This will most likely go here where I will get people’s ideas and opinions on my topic.

End – I will summarize and then give a solution. So for the commuter vs. on campus student topic I will give a solution to both of the issues each student may face.

Artistic Proformance #14

This week’s campus safari is about the speaker I chose to go see yesterday night at the Lymann Center, Wes Moore. As this year common read the freshman class was assigned the book The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. I thought his speech was really great. He wasn’t all inspirational; he chose to just be honest and to the point really enjoyed it. I liked how he made the point that no one is going to ask what you got on a test or what your GPA was graduating college, but that what matters most is why you are remembered when you’re gone and that you are remembered. That really meant something to me.

Class Presentation 11/17

This Thursday’s presentation is about commuting and dorm life. Kevin, Kenny, and Merril's group assigned two readings on the positives and negatives of both.  Currently I am living in a dorm here at SCSU and next semester I have decided that I want to commute. Before moving into the dorms here I thought that I needed to live here to get the full college experience. I was probably right but apparently the whole experience for me is just completely miserable. I think that a lot of people really enjoy coming and living away from home because their parents are controlling or not even more than they should be, maybe everyone has normal parents, but to get away from them. I know that some of my friends from home are having a blast at college. They are living it up and loving every second but for me it is quite the opposite. They were always being told what they could and couldn’t do and I would say that my upbringing wasn’t any different. What I am trying to say is that some people like living in dorms to get out of their parents grip and be independent but for me, my parents guiding me along the way really isn’t that bad. Another reason that I personally believe that commuting is a better option for me is because I’m not that involved on campus because I would rather be more involved in doing well. I have chosen my academics as my priority.  I know that being involved is supposed to make you connect with southern and the people here but personally I have plenty of friends without it. I came here over the summer and met new people though the program I was in and I have friends that came here to Southern with me. So between the two I think in doing just fine. Those are only some of the reasons that commuting for me isn’t such a bad idea.

Class Presentation 11/15

 So for this Tuesdays class assignment for Sam Paige Tori and Allison’s group presentation they wanted us to figure out which side of the brain is our more prominent side. I would have to say that after reading the article I think that I am left side dominant. There really wasn’t one thing that contradicted the way that I am in the description about the characteristics of the left brain. The descriptions in the article from the website, http://web-us.com/brain/LRBrain.html, fit me perfectly. But in reality I’m definitely not completely left sided. I won most creative in school so that I think counts for something. I have always been really crafty. I took so many art classes and crafts classes in high school and passed them all with an A. So it’s kind of weird that I thought that the left side was more me. The beginning of the article said to see which side of the brain sounds more like you and ten focus in on the other side. It tells us to do this because to become the best thinker one could be he or she must create an equal balance between both sides. It’s not good to only use one side of the brain. This is probably because to be a well-rounded person you have to be able to see things in multiple perspectives. I should probably take the test at the top of the reading to see how I personally balance out. I mean for all I know my assumption could be completely wrong. I could be more right sided then left. I definitely think I used to be because I was never very organized or had some of the characteristics that the reading said about the left side.

About My Group Project..

Tomorrow’s class presentation will be done by me, Krista, and Casey. Our project is a spinoff of Krista’s video project on Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles. One of the big questions that we tried to answer was: is there a connection between multiple intelligences and the way that you learn. In my opinion I think that there is. I have learned that intelligences can change just the same as learning styles. I feel as though there is a deeper connection. There’s the obvious connection that a Bodily and Kinesthetic Intelligent person would learn in a kinesthetic way or that someone with a visual or special learner would have a visual learning style. What is conflicting is all of the others which don’t have a direct connection to a learning style. Which one would they fall under, I’m not sure. I feel as though if there is no connection between just one than there can’t be a connection between all the others. We are going to try and see what the class thinks about this. We plan to have them take a quiz so that they are able to see which learning style that they fall under then we will ask them after this what type of intelligence that they fall under. I wanted to give them a quiz because I feel like we need to focus on the intelligences because they are harder to understand than the learning styles. However all of the quizzes that I found were ridiculously long and they would have taken up too much time or people would have just not done the quiz. Maybe someone out there has studied this and knows the answer but I am still not sure. It interesting to me because I feel as though knowing what type of intelligence or intelligences I fall under and what learning style I am will help me do well in college.

Community Service #17

So for this week’s safari blog post I helped in the making of cards for the soldiers overseas. My CC Maggie is really into giving back during the holiday seasons. She told us that she would be doing this and I was so excited because I know how much it means to the soldiers that the people back at home haven't forgotten about them and what they are doing for our country and that we are thankful for everything that they do. So far 50 cards have been made and she’s still collecting them until some time in December. Even though it’s a small thing it means a lot.

Class Presentation 11/8

After reading the article about stress and ways to cope with stress itself, I would have to say that I disagree with meditation as a way to deal with stress. In my opinion the second that you’re done with meditation or yoga the stress you felt prior to it will just return. This is my opinion because I’ve tried techniques to cope with stress and relieve myself from stress. I’ve always been really stressed out for whatever reason. I think half of the reason that I get so stressed out is that I do it to myself. I tend to only get stressed out over school. For instance, I had a huge lab exam tonight and I’ve been studying for days now but I was still freaking out. I’m way too concerned about my GPA apparently because my mom, who has always drilled into my brain that I need to do well and get good grades, talked my down and said that It wasn’t the end of the world if I didn’t do that well. She told me that half of the stuff that I need to know in college I’ll never use or need to be able to apply to my work as a nurse.  However the way I see it is that I need to have a high GPA to get in the program. So if I have a low GPA and I’m stressed out about it, meditation is not going to help me what so ever. Even though I may feel somewhat relaxed during yoga or meditation the second that it is over I’ll remember what was stressing me out and be just as stress possibly more because now I’ve wasted time doing something that hasn’t helped me at all. That’s why meditation or yoga could never work for me.

SCSU Social Event #10

I also attended a social event that the CC’s threw in my building. I went to this haunted house that they made. They pretty much came up with this elaborate story about a girl that went missing. They tried really hard to make it creepy but unless you were a complete baby then it was more funny than scary. The one thing that I would have to say is that their makeup was really good. Apparently, they had someone from Fear Factor come in and do all of their makeup for them. It looked really good. At the end my roommates and I took a picture with our CC.

Visit a CC #4

Last week I was unable to post a Campus Safari post because my power was completely out until last night but I chose to go to see one of the CC’s in my dorm. I used the same Community Coordinator as my video project. I had always thought that a CC didn’t really do that much. I knew that they had to help with problems around their floor, they did room checks, and had to work the front desk. After talking with Tom he told me that they had so much more that they had to do. He told me all these responsibilities that they had. He showed me his room because I was kind of curious as to how big it was and he has a king size bed in there!

SCSU and What Intrests Me...

Something that has always been an interest to me is snowboarding. I got into it when I was young and have kept with it since. I never really liked sports much. I can say that because I have tried absolutely every sport that was offered in Cromwell. In softball all I did was cartwheels in the field when I was little. Sports just never caught my attention. I started dancing when I was really young and kept with that until I was a freshman in high school. Then I decided I wanted to work so I couldn’t really do both and still do well in school. The only thing that I have been able to stick with is snowboarding. Probably because I can’t do it every day and when I usually go snowboarding it’s on a weekend so it does not conflict with school or work. This applies to southern Connecticut State University because they have a ski and snowboarding club here. I don’t really know how it works but I was talking to one of the CC’s and he told me that you can get lift tickets for really cheap through them. This is really cool because I doubted that I was going to be able to keep snowboarding while I was still in college. This is only because I’m not making any money as of right now and my parents don’t pay for lift tickets so there is no way I could afford a ninety dollar lift ticket and gas and everything else that goes along with it. The other thing that I can do because I go to SCSU is get a season’s pass that is good for a few mountains in New Hampshire and Vermont. Usually these lift tickets are really expensive, costing almost a thousand dollars. However because I go to SCSU I can get a pass for only three hundred dollars.

Stuck on My Mind..

This week’s post leaves us with a lot of room for creativity. I'm not really sure what to write about. I thought about some things that interest me like snowboarding or drawing but what I find myself consumed by recently is the death of a close friend of mine. She passed away about two months ago and it’s really taken a toll but I’ve learned a lot since her death. She died in a freak car accident on her way to her mom’s boyfriend’s house. There was never an explanation on how she actually passed. I've learned how to cope with such a severe lost, how to pick up the pieces and move on and how to let her live on. So I thought that I would do all these things with this post. I have learned that the best way to cope with such a freak accident is to talk. This doesn’t mean just saying how sad it is and how devastated everyone that was close to her feels, it means sharing with the people that did and didn't know her how crazy and loud and full of life Lauren always was, how her voice would carry through the halls of our high school so everyone could know how she really felt about something. At first we all felt stuck, we didn’t want to leave Cromwell where we were surrounded by our friends and family. However I learned that dwelling on the sadness that Cromwell ways surrounded by only makes it worse. By leaving and coming to school I got a chance to breath. So what is there to learn from all of this. The bottom line is that you just need to move on from the sadness because if you don’t it is just draining and completely unhealthy. 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/RIP-Lauren-Bedell/271009859582574

how I feel about my grades..

I’m fairly happy with my grades. I have all A’s in my classes except for BIO and INQ. I understand now why my grades in these two classes are low. In INQ I didn’t realize that I had to put a picture or a link with my posts. The reason I don’t have an A in my BIO class is because I was unable to study for my lecture exam because Vista was down at my house or there was something wrong with my browser. I know how to fix it now though so I should be able to do much better. I’m not really surprised by my grades except for INQ because I have been getting my grades back for all of my assignments. I wish that my grades were higher than they are in a few classes but I’m sure I will be able to improve them by the end of the semester. I’m just concerned about my GPA because I am a nursing major and it is really competitive. I think that being really organized has help me to maintain my grades. In high school I was really unorganized and I think that that reflected in my final GPA. Now that I am putting in a lot effort I can easily see myself getting all A’s or almost all. I just need to make sure in the future that I print out the notes for BIO and make sure in don’t the whole assignment. Some goals that I need to set for myself are to bring up both of my lower grades. Also, I need to maintain the grades that I currently have. Another thing that I definitely need to work on is my time management skills. I’m so bad when it comes to putting assignments off.

Outside My Comfort Zone...

The event that I chose to go to that is outside my comfort zone was the haunted basement in West Campus, my dorm. They set up what was supposed to be a haunted house type thing but it ended up not being too scary. I usually don’t go to any of the hall events so I didn’t really know what I was in for. Of course I chose to go to the event that was haunted. I usually don’t like going to the haunted houses and graveyards. I’ve only gone to one in the past. It was the one at Lake Compounce. There were parts in this haunted graveyard that were actually really scary. I was so scared because I thought that it was going to be legit. We waited for so long to go downstairs because they were only taking down a few people at a time. I found after that it was more funny than scary. They did their makeup really good though. Apparently they had someone from fear factor or something like that come and do their makeup. It actually looked real on most of them. Also, some of the people played their part in the haunted basement really well and go really into it. At the end there was a guy that was sitting at the stairs and he looked so creepy and this girl came out from under the stairs screaming. I didn’t really find it that scary but their acting was really good. I know that if it was me that I would have just laughed. Overall it turned out well, especially considering they had pizza and dirt cups at the end.

INQ Midterm Video

Time Management..

a) brainstorming- 45mins - 1hr..none
b) interviewing -1 hr so far...I would assume another 2-3 hrs
c) gathering other materials like articles, quotes, facts, photos, music, etc.- none yet...about 1 hr
d) transferring all of your materials to your computer- none yet...30 mins
e) learning to use the video software- 2-3 hrs..hopefully ive got it all figured out but with my luck I don't
f) making the video, troubleshooting- 1 hr...another 2-3 hours
g) editing- none yet..about 1 hr
h) other time- not sure yet.. the above categories seem to encapsulate it all but i do need to think of a catchy phrase
Have you used your time wisely? What could you have done differently for a better result?
- I have tried to use my time wisely. Whenever I get a chance to sit down and start working I do. The one thing that I have been procrastinating on is getting my interviews. I know who I want to interview but I need to actually do it. I only have another 5 days before this project needs to be done and I'm going away this weekend so it really has to be done by Friday.

Troubleshooting..

So far I've just been trying my hardest to figure out how Windows Movie Maker works. Ive gone online and found some really useful tutourials that show me just how to navigate arounf the Movie Makers interface. Another issue that i was having is finding time to interview people. I have to work around my schedule and the schedules of others. Which has shown a challenge because I dont just want to pick a random kid off the side of the street. That and tracking down my CC whos never ever in her room. Ive learned that this assignment is going to take me much more time than i had originally thought and that i need to find more time to work on it.

Counceling Services #16

I always walk by the counceling services room but i had never actually walked in. I chose to use this as my safari post for the week. i found out that people use counceling services kind of like how in high school we had guidance councelors. People can go to counceling services to just talk to some one if they need it. Also is completely confidential. So if your parents or anyone called they couldnt say anything. This is unlike high school. Pretty much the councelors are there as someone to talk to iff something or someone is bothering you.

First Draft

So far its gone ok except for putting the blog together because i just dont know how. Im using windows movie maker and it seems difficult im hopeing i can get some helpful feed back tomarrow on good tutourials.i tried to find some but had a difficult time finding ones that were the new version of Windows Movie Maker. Overall ive got a good start but theres a lot more work that needs to be done.

Library Wkst Post

 

As part of our assignment in the library we had to write a short essay on critical thinking. To do so we were told to do some research on critical thinking. After figuring out how to do this research I was able to come across a book that had to do with both my major and critical thinking. I read the section pertaining to these two ideas and found that critical thinking has more to do with nursing than I had originally thought. The part of the book defines what critical thinking is and then goes on to tell me how it applies to nursing. Critical thinking has to do with many things. Conceptualization for one applies to nursing because a nurse you have to understand many concepts and be able to carry them out. Also, it’s reflective. Critical thinking is not about jumping to a conclusion and acting on it. You must look at all the options and weigh them to come to a thorough decision. I mean if you were in the ER because you had a gash that wouldn’t stop bleeding you wouldn’t want the nurse to freak out and just staple your arm shut. Another aspect of critical thinking that has to do with nursing is creativeness. By being a creative thinker you can come up with new ways and ideas to do things that may work better for you and you’re a patient. The book says in the past that nurses were taught to do things one way and only one way. But by being a creative thinker you may think of new ways. All in all creative thinking has much more to do with nursing than I had originally thought. It is almost surprising how much critical thinking has to do with being a nurse.

Library Book #2

This week as my Campus Safari I chose to use our class trip to the library. We had to find a book as part of our assignment. The book that I chose to use was Nursing Process in Critical Thinking. I chose this book because it pertains to both my major and the class assignment. I always was afraid to try and find books because I wasn’t really sure how the system worked. In reality it’s not as hard as I had thought I actually found it easy to find the book. The assignment was actually really helpful because now I know how to locate books really easily.

How I Manage to Mange My Stress..

So today’s blog is supposed to be about something that we did this week to relieve stress. One thing that I do every week is make a to do list. I find this helpful because I used to be really unorganized and I would forget things I had to do. this just essentially lead me to more stress. I think that making a to do list really helps to manage your time and things of that matter. Another helpful thing I do which helps me to keep my stress levels down is to write out my assignments on a desk calendar so I know what’s coming up. This way i can manage my time better. Its much easier to see what you have time for and dont have time for when all of your assignments are layed out in front of you. these two things are new ways that i am trying to stay organized which realy means stay a little more stressless, even though its impossible to be stress free.

Staying Healty at Southern

I was here at southern over the summer and we had a couple of people from the health center here talk to us about staying healthy at southern. They told us lots of things but everyone got a kick out of the stress balls that they handed us as the end of their talk with us, which some people were later yelled at for because they insisted on throwing them and almost setting all the sprinklers off in the building. However they stressed that we find ways to deal with stress. As an incoming college student it’s a huge adjustment. Therefore this adjustment can lead to a lot of stress. Some ways that you can relieve stress are as simple as just taking a walk and getting some air. Also, joining a club, exercising or being on a sports team can be productive ways to relieve stress. Another key aspect in being a healthy college student is surrounding yourself with people who care about you and have the same goals to stay healthy. Also, everyone’s heard of the freshman fifteen. So eating healthy while being active is important. Now, what to do if you’re feeling sick. Some things that come to mind are definitely sleeping more or just trying to get to bed earlier. Another thing to do when you’re sick is to eat healthier, even though you should already eat healthy. Lastly, if you really need to a weekend home may help you feel better. Downtime is the key when you don’t feel so well. If you can’t make it to class you can’t forget to email your professor and make sure you get class notes from your fellow class mates.  If you pick and choose just a few things you’ll be much healthier.

Interfaith Office #15

This week’s blog I chose to go to the Interfaith Office. Before getting there I didn’t really know what to expect. I figured it had something to do with religion and faith. So after arriving I learned a little bit about what this office does. They told me that I had been on the right track. This office is there to acknowledge all different religions not just one. The head of all this is Jim Furlong, who comes from the Archdiocese of Hartford. Overall this group is at Southern to bring faith to students, and faculty also.

Q & A

After our class discussion yesterday I thought that I would ask people about how they liked their classes, as in are they hard or easy and how their teachers were. I have a combination of all of these things so I was kind of curious to see how other freshmen were adapting to college life. I came to find that there is no majority of people with the same type of experience. I got back a huge array of answers. A few people said that their classes were really easy and that it was just like high school, while other students told me that college was so much more difficult than high school was for them. What I found really weird was that one of my friends said that he felt that his classes here were much easier than high school. Whether he was just trying to make me think he was some kind of genius is beyond me but I guess that’s good for him. On the other hand, my roommate is kind of in the same boat as me. She has some easier classes than others but the others are really difficult. She found this out after taking her first physics test and not doing so well. I think that what it all boils down to is what you plan to major, or are majoring in. I may be incorrect. After looking back though at my fellow freshman answers I noticed something. Those people who are in a really competitive field such as nursing have a little bit more of a difficult course load. This has to do with the sciences that have to be taken as prerequisites. Other majors are just ones you decide you want to be in and you take general courses and some other courses pertaining to your major but usually not a heavy science load.

Distractions, Distractions, Distractions...

This past week I have been documenting how I spend my days. After looking back I spend around 18-20 hours outside of class on my homework. I figure that this is a fairly good amount because you’re supposed to spend around double the amount you’re in class on homework and studying. I would have to say that my biggest distractions are the internet and my phone. In high school my mom always used to yell at me because when I did my homework I always had my phone right next to me and was texting. I used to get absolutely nothing accomplished. I feel like everyone these days is always connected. I’m by no means any better. It gotten to be such a bad habit I have a hard time turning my phone off and just concentrating on one thing. I think that the most time is spent on school whether it is class, homework or studying. The next thing that I spend my most time on is my friends and family. I really have no me time at all. I’ve always struggled with my time management but I think so far I’ve been doing a much better time now than in high school. Being here at Southern I feel as though there are less distractions so I can be focused. At home all I want to do is be with my boyfriend. I’ve dedicated the majority of my issue when it comes to my outside of class work has to do with me procrastinating. I always make up an excuse as to why I can just push some assignment until later. It’s really not a good thing to do considering I’m only hurting myself.

Club Fair #9

After attending the club fair I learned how much is out there as far as clubs and organizations. I had no idea beforehand. After walking around there was one club that I found that interested me. I had no intentions in joining any type of club because I’m not always on campus. Also because I am trying really hard to keep my GPA up so I can get into the nursing program here at SCSU and when I asked the head of te nursing dept if they looked at how involved we are on campus as a factor in their decision to pick me, he said no its just GPA. My point is that I found and liked this club because of its direct correlation to what I want to do with my life. The club is a nursing club called National Student Nurses' Association. After asking a few questions I learned that they will help me to reach my goal. This organization will provide me with resources for education, assistance with careers and so much more!

Who deserves and A??

I really hate having to critique peoples work but giving some people an A for effort isn’t so bad…I thought that the following blogs and posts were really cute and showed hard work. I really liked Nicole’s blog. She has some interesting posts. The one that I liked the best was the one about the fashion magazine that she reads. She is obviously really into fashion but she gave a bunch of pictures to show what she liked specifically. I read this blog and thought it was really interesting and packed full of information. I usually don’t like reading things but her post I didn’t mind because it was interesting and had plenty of pictures to go along with what she had to say.  Another blog that I thought was really good was Tina’s blog. Her posts had really creative titles, by using quotes not just generic titles. I like this idea and didn’t see anyone else with the same idea for titles. I thought that her posts were really good but a bit long. However, after reading one I realized that they weren’t the types of posts that dragged on for forever. They were actually interesting and she had some important things to say. They would definitely deserve an A. The last blog that I came across was Paige’s blog. I actually just met her and talked with her the other day so I was interested in seeing what her blog was like. I thought that it was just like her. I really liked her post about yoga and cupcakes I thought that it was kind of humorous. The two are so opposite but she made some really valid points about the two being similar also. Overall I think that these three posts and blogs deserve some credit because I at least liked them.

Blogs! for Mon. 9/19

I chose to look at these blogs: http://www.whoasnow.com/ and http://mediblogopathy.blogspot.com/

I chose blogs about the two subjects that I enjoy learning about and doing, these two subjects being nursing and snowboarding. The first blog I found is the one pertaining to nursing. What led me to look at this blog was its URL. I liked how the word blog was incorporated. This blog is about nursing obviously. It’s not specifically on one aspect of nursing but anything that has to do with nursing. It’s written in a really laid back tone. The first post I read was a person venting about their job situation. This blog isn’t really current though. It has posts from 2010 and then 2007 on the homepage. So it’s not a very well used blog but to me it stood out. It didn’t have too many pictures but it did have a lot of text. I think that anything in this field is interesting because I love reading about it. The second blog that I found was a blog about snowboarding.  I also though this blog had and interesting URL but after clicking it really caught my attention because it had a really bright vibrant background and image at the top. They say that the first thing that catches people’s attention is how it looks then what something is actually talking about.  After looking into the blog more I found that the creators had another blog that they decided needed updating so they created Whoa Snow. This blog differs from the other blog on nursing because it has much more pictures and visuals. So it’s much more visually intriguing than just the content. The style of writing is the same as the nursing blog, however. It is very laid back and relaxed. I found this blog interesting because of its visuals. It looked really interesting just by looking at the first page so I knew that I wanted to read more.

Office of Study Skills Enrichment #11

I was only able to do something really quickly this week so I decided to go to the Office of Study Skills Enrichment. When I first walked in I didn’t realize that this place could actually become really useful to me. That and it tied into our class discussions so far really well. I was wondering what they could help me with and was told that they could help me with my time management and other study skills. Also something that stuck out to me was that they could help me with my test taking abilities. I tend to freeze up sometimes when I’m stressed out over a test so if they could help me overcome this issue I might be a better student.

Response to Articles #2

After reading more of the New York Times articles two of them stuck out to me. They both touched upon the same idea, tips and hints as to how to get through college. The first one, “The Hunt for a Good Teacher” gave two tips. The first was to find good teachers, this is crucial to me because I usually need to be able to talk to my professors. I once got a D in a class and had to switch down to an easier level , not because I wasn’t smart enough, but because whenever I would try to talk to my teacher he would completely ignore me. It began to be so frustrating that I just gave up completely. This wasn’t the best way of dealing with the situation. The other advice in the article was that I should take a writing course.  I think at Southern we have to take writing classes as curriculum but the author advised it even if we don’t have to.  I found the last line of the text kind of funny. I think that the author put this in to lighten the mood. Usually when you’re a freshman you’re really excited but also nervous for classes. This line was especially needed after the authors line about not being able to do anything if you can’t write a good English sentence. This is a little bit drastic considering your born and able to breathe and not able to write a sentence. I get what the author means however, the standard English sentence is a major building block in being able to do many things. The other article that I read has more to do with the other side of college, the social one. In “Off-Campus Life” the author discusses how reading a newspaper can teach you lots of things about the word but what I found to be most interesting is how it can teach you how to write also. I never really thought of a newspaper as a writing tool but it makes sense. People say all the time that reading books can make you smarter and especially increase your vocabulary. Another thing that the author mentioned was that we should meet teachers outside of class to build a connection with the real world not just class. Making a connection with teachers outside of class is really important. I know in high school I was close with a few teachers and it became really helpful because I was able to turn to them if I needed help. These two articles together show how college is about more than academics it’s about being connected and social also.

Response to Articles #1

The article in the New York Times titled “Go the Wrong Way”, was really short and sweet but makes sense after having a class discussion that actually was really relevant to the article. We discussed in class how we are in school not just to be getting and education for our job but to make us into a better-rounded person. I think this article really encapsulated this idea. The article explains how college is an opporitunity to think about your whole entire life. It’s completely true, even though we are told that you’re supposed to go to college and focus on your school work, there is more to being a college student. It’s about transforming yourself into the kind of person you want to be. Another article that picks up on the idea that what we are told in high school is not always true is “10,000 Hours for Success”. It talked in one section about how quantity makes quality. I can remember being told over and over again that quality work is always better than quantity. Apparently doing something over and over makes you perfect your work. I completely agree. You cannot just try to do something for the first time whether it be write a paper or make a pot and expect it to be perfect or high in quality. After thinking I believe that high schools maybe should have allowed us to try to do things over and over. It would’ve helped me at least to be a better student in college which would’ve allowed me to further succeed. I’m sure that there is a method to high school curriculum but these articles have opened my eyes to a whole other view point.

Convocation #12

I along with the majority of the freshman class I attended the freshman convocation ceremony. This ceremony took place on Wednesday, September 7, in Lyman auditorium, from 1-2 p.m. during this ceremony many people spoke to us however one speaker stood out to me, the President of SCSU, Dr. Battle. During his lecture to us he discussed multiple points. He talked to us about staying on track. He made it very clear that we need to graduate in four years. This is something I really need to be focused on especially because i have a really tough course load because I am a nursing student. He also stressed that we need to stay focused on our work. He said that nothing less than a 3.0 is expected considering we are paying for our education. Lastly he told us that we should all find our place in the university, whether it be a sports team club or organization. Dr. Battle told us that by getting involved we can find our support system, or our family, here at Southern.

Setting the Tone for the Fall 2011 Semester

College in my eyes is a time for new beginnings, not only academically but socially also. In high school people are still looked at as children but the second one is in college their on their own, it’s time to grow up and own oneself.  In going to college there is the possibility to accomplish many things. College forces one to be on their own and make mistakes therefore one becomes more independent. There is a chance learn a lot academically if one takes it. For me, being a college student means a lot academically, socially, and personally. All throughout high school I was really unfocused and was much more into my social life than my academics. Southern has allowed me to prove to myself that I can succeed. I’m trying to become a nurse and understand that there is a lot of work to be done to accomplish this goal. The Southern campus is so huge to what I am used to back at home. There are so many more people here to get to know. I’m from a really small town where everyone knows everyone so it’s kind of exciting knowing that I can meet someone that I’ve never heard anything about or talked to in the past. The toughest thing about being a college student to me is being away from my family, friends, and boyfriend.  I’m so used to having people really be there for me or help me out of a bad situation that it’s hard to feel, in a sense, alone. I’ve definitely set some high goals for myself academically. To become a nursing student I’m going to have to maintain a really high GPA so that’s the main goal. Other than that I have promised myself that I would make it through the year in dorms. I really hate everything about them but I want to get the freshman experience. As far as my classes go, I do expect them to be very difficult and the homework to be much more than I’m used to. When I think about my first year of college I get really stressed out. There has been a really huge weight that has been put on my shoulders to do well. On the other hand I feel free, free to be whoever I want to be and do whatever I want to do.

Getting to Know Me, Katie.

Spontaneous…

Spontaneity is acting on impulse and not thinking twice before you act. I would describe myself as a spontaneous person because I like to do things without worrying about all the bad things that may come of it. Life is much shorter than we could ever imagine so there is no point in over thinking everything that I do. I believe that by being spontaneous I’m just living life to the fullest.

Creative…          

Being creative is more than just being good at arts and crafts in my eyes it’s a way of being. Since I was a really little girl I’ve always had a really creative or inventive mind. Its stuck with me over the years. I guess I just have a really good eye. I won most creative in the past and last summer I won best layout in a design class that many people took. For a while I thought it was really embarrassing but it really just makes me unique in a way.

Perfectionist…

A perfectionist likes things to be a certain way, which in their eyes is the perfect way. My father is a great example of a perfectionist and that’s probably where I got it from. I like all my things to be very organized. It may be odd but everything has to be balanced and symmetrical looking. For instance when I was organizing my dressers in my dorm they had to be in a certain order by color.

Caring…

 

To be a caring person you have to be unselfish you have a certain type of love for other people. I have been told all my life that I am a mother. I look out for everyone, even if ive never met them. This is probably why I want to be a nurse so bad. I like to help people and to make sure everyone and everything is okay.

Mature…

 

Maturity is something that someone grows into. Someone who is mature is conscientious of others and acts like an adult. I used to be really immature when I was younger and made some bad decisions but now I feel as though I have grown and learned from my mistakes. Therefore I have reached some point of maturity.