Campus Safari #9: There really IS something for everyone.

I had attended the Involvement fair on campus earlier this month and it really surprised me how many clubs and organizations there are on campus. From the club fair during welcome weekend, I had already joined a club, Colleges Against Cancer (CAC for short), and I helped work the table at the club fair. Most people are familiar with CAC because they participate in Relay for Life in the spring; they do so much more than just that.  They hold many other events as well, such as the Great American Smoke Out and they help with Making Strides at Lighthouse Point. There are many fundraisers and associations that they are affiliated with as well.  One of the clubs that seemed to catch my attention was the Media Studies Club.  They aim to spread the word on how the media and social networks can be beneficial and detrimental to society today.

Check out the Media Studies Club

Check out Colleges Against Cancer

And We're Progressing Forward

Video projects are something that I’ve got very little experience with, but from watching countless YouTube videos, I’ve decided to style my video as if it were a vlog. For my video, I decided to focus on the topic of Campus Life when it comes to campus activities and clubs. I feel that it’s important to get involved and know what’s going on around you this way you can do more than just sit in your dorm or spend time doing not much of anything with your friends. The questions I’m trying to find answers to are: “What is there to do on campus?”, “How easy is it to find stuff to do on campus?”, and “How easy is it for commuters to find clubs to join when some of the meetings take place later in the evening?” I feel these questions are important because there is quite a lot to do and get involved in on campus, and most people aren’t very aware of what there is to do. It took the club fair for me to see what was here, and it took me by surprise how much there is to do and get involved with. It also occurred to me that a lot of these clubs have meeting that take place at night, and I have quite a lot of commuter friends, so I wanted to know what they would do if they wanted to join clubs that have meetings later on in the day. These questions seem important to first year students because getting involved early on is something they can add to their resumes and it will show that they’ve become more knowledgeable about the campus from the very start.  In my video, I’ve decided to ask everyone the questions, and see what their responses are. Most of the people I’ve interviewed are a mix of residents and commuters, so it’s nice to see both sides of the spectrum.

Where does all the time go?

I never realized where my days went and what I was doing with them until last week. Ever since I started college, I felt that my days became a routine, doing the same thing over and over again every day. When I was asked to chart out my schedule for a week, it gave me a chance to see where all the hours of my day actually went. This study showed me that there’s actually a routine in my day. I really am doing the same thing every day and there isn’t much variety, or much time for me to change anything. From the looks of my chart, it seems as though I spend most of my days focused on homework. There is a lot of free time in my day, and that’s usually when I do homework, but I tend to combine homework and personal time, which isn’t the best thing to do. Usually about 5 to 7 hours a day is spent on doing homework while maybe 1 or 2 is spent on personal time for myself. There isn’t any one thing that took up most of my time; all my activities seem pretty equal and balanced. On my chart, I included sleeping hours, which makes it look like that takes precedence. I feel that I did procrastinate quite a lot, especially when it came to my history essay (which, I’m working on at the moment because of how bad I procrastinated). I knew it had to get done, and when I saw how much I had to do for it, it scared me because of how much there was to take in. So, I put it off until the last minute so I knew that I would do it. I tend to have a better idea of how to organize it when I wait. Time management is something that I really need to work on, in order to better plan my time, I should probably go through my syllabus, and write down all the homework assignments that I know need to get done at the beginning of the week this way there won’t be any surprises. It’ll keep me focused and stop me from spending my time doing not much of anything. From this, I can take away that I need to learn better time management and prioritize assignments and other activities. This can be applied to the remainder of the semester, and in life as well. 

Campus Safari #17: Keep Calm and Serve On

Today I participated in the Day of Service. This event is held every year around the same time. Waking up at 7:30 to be there for 8 am wasn’t the best thing, but it was well worth it. There was a bigger turnout than I had expected there to be, the entire ballroom was crowded with people. Most of my day was spent cleaning up the streets in New Haven, picking up cigarette butts, plastic and glass bottles, and mostly leaves. Overall, I enjoyed it. I got to see more of New Haven than I have before and was able to help out the community as well.

It's like being on the X Factor, there's only one winner.

Not everyone has an easy time putting what they want to say into words. And what we do, we say in different ways.  So when I was asked to find a blog or two that I feel deserve an A grade, I knew I was in for a task.  I’m not an expert on blogs, which ones are good and which ones aren’t. So who am I to judge? When choosing the blog, I asked myself the following questions; “Would I follow this blog? Does this blog have content that I enjoy reading and do I have an interest in this person’s opinions/ views?” After looking at several blog, I found one that answered all those questions with a ‘yes’.  I chose Jillian’s blog, “When in doubt. Be brave” to receive an A. Her title alone, while it’s creative, it tells something about her and how she views things. Looking through her posts, I noticed that her writing had a good flow to it and she puts her own opinions into it. The pictures she chooses to add tend to summarize what she’s trying to say. While her post titles may not be the most creative, the actual content is. One of her posts I found the most interesting was “Hard Work Vs. Talent”. She compares a student here at Southern to another at Yale, and gives us her definition of the word ‘smarter’. I found her opinion and honesty that “money can bring you happiness” very interesting and well put. While this statement in my eyes seems controversial, she mentions that hard work and success are factors in that statement, which even I agree with.  Jillian makes her opinions clear in her posts, which I like. It gives you a chance to see what people are really thinking, whether or not they say them out loud.

It's time to make some big changes.

This is before a schedule and learning time management.

Over these past few weeks, I’ve gotten a ton of information practically thrown at me and was expected to take it and run. From tips on quick ways to get around campus, joining clubs, getting involved, and making the most of your time here; one thing I’ve learned stands out above all the rest, time management. Time management is a difficult concept to grasp when you’ve never really had to use it. In high school, the teachers would constantly remind you of assignments, papers, whatever, and when they were due. So, time management wasn’t as big of a deal. You also spent more time in the classroom than you do now, which means you are expected to do more studying and homework outside of class. I feel that time management will definitely be implemented in my schedule, because now I actually have one. Unlike before, free time is majority of my day. And with that free time, I have to make time for work, studying, and leisure, along with other things that I decide to take on. Finding quicker ways to get to class is useful, but when you’re already very early for each class, it doesn’t seem as important. Once you get to know the campus, it just becomes habit and you know where everything is. In order to make sure that I’m fulfilling these goals, I use a planner to write down all of my assignments and details about them so I know what to do when it comes time to complete them. Writing down any club meetings, and other important events helps me schedule my time and plan my day accordingly. By scheduling my day, I can make sure that I’ve got time to fit in everything that needs to be done and enough time for each assignment or activity. Keeping up with this schedule and making it a habit will help me find more time in my day for things that I might want to do. As far as personal goals, I tend to work on those as the days go on in each and every part of my day. 

Campus Safari #18: We are Owls

Do you remember in high school where if you joined a club, and held some sort of position, you’d have a ceremony of some sort? For example, I held the position of vice president and then president in a club,Writer’s Block, at my high school. When I took over as president, I was inducted and went through the ritual that we upheld. Well, that was similar to the Convocation ceremony that was held this past Wednesday.
This event started out with a procession of the new president, the provost, and other members of the faculty who held high positions at the school. There was much welcoming of the Class of 2016 and our new President. Some announcements of upcoming events were made such as the club fair and Southern’s Day of Service. Several people had spoke and given speeches. When it was time to induct the new students, there had been candles set up along the front of the stage. Six students were chosen from our class to represent us and speak at this induction. After each student had spoke, they had lit the candle in front of them until all six were lit. When this was all said and done, they had asked everyone in the auditorium to stand and join in to sing the Alma Mater. I didn’t know that our school had a song until this day, which I found pretty interesting.
Overall, I feel this was worth attending because it felt like an actual ceremony where you “officially” became an Owl. The atmosphere that was set in the auditorium was very inviting and I felt very much a part of the entire Convocation.

"Life could be better if I let me in, but I force myself towards departing"

There’s always that nagging voice in the back of your head that you can never get to shut up. No matter how hard you try, you somehow can’t avoid it. That little voice is always feeding you negative thoughts, words, and feelings about yourself. As someone once said, “but the thing about negativity is it stands out from the good.” I find this statement to be true.

High school is the precursor to the beginning of the rest of our lives. Whether it’s going to college, the military, straight into the workforce, whatever; if you don’t at least attempt to figure out who you are, it’s guaranteed that you’ll have trouble later on. For those people like me, who struggle to voice their opinion and take a backseat to everything, figuring out who you are is definitely difficult.

All my life I moved from place to place. I was never in one place for more than 5 years. So it was hard to settle in and try to make friends, knowing that it wasn’t going to last. I’ve always tried my best to make friends and figure out myself wherever I was, and it didn’t end well. I would always try to conform and fit in with the people around me. Like the old saying you can’t fit a square into a circle, that was essentially what I was doing for the first 3 years of high school.

Remember that voice in your head I mentioned before? Those negative thoughts roaming around your head all day long? That voice got continually louder and louder each year until I decided to do something about it. It was senior year, I was taking classes that I actually enjoyed, I was graduating. My group of friends slowly but surely began to distance as we were planning our futures for ourselves. It came time for me to focus on myself and what I wanted versus how to fit in with people that I wasn’t going to be seeing anymore. Once I realized this, the transformation started to take place. I decided to take on more responsibility and get involved. As I started focusing on myself, the voice got quieter and quieter.

From doing this, I feel I’ve learned quite a bit about myself. I’m not as much of a wallflower as I thought I was. I actually like being around people and getting involved and doing things. Being in the background and letting opportunities pass me by was no longer my forte. I’m in college now, this can’t happen anymore. I’d be wasting my time if I let this happen. College is a chance to focus on yourself and do things for you that will help you get farther in the future.

I find the strategy of doing things for myself can help me in college by actively taking part in activities, clubs, and other events. If I’m doing something productive with my time , I won’t be so focused on the nagging voice in the back of my head.

What would you accomplish with 10,000 hours?

They say that practice makes perfect. And practice takes time, a lot of time. After reading the article “The 10,000 Hour Rule”, I was intrigued about what in my life I would take 10,000 hours to try and master.

Malcom Gladwell had presented this rule in his book “Outliers”. He gave examples such as The Beatles playing 10,000 hours in Germany before emerging as a band, Tiger Woods practicing for 10,000 hours on the golf course, and the countless hours Bill Gates spent on the computer.  All these examples have one thing in common; these well-known people have put in countless hours to master the task they are famous for. They’ve worked hard, put in the time, and made progress.

In the article, they illustrated a time table of how to possibly reach 10,000 hours. 20 hours a week for 10 years, 40 hours a week for 5 years, and an insane 80 hours a week for 2 and a half years.  I feel that putting in smaller amounts of time over a longer time span is far more productive than putting in an enormous amount of hours in a shorter time span. You get more done when you work in smaller intervals. It feels more enjoyable and less like a job or a project. Giving yourself a short amount of time to perfect something, makes it feel more hectic and it doesn’t end up being fun or even your best work in the end because of how you’re rushing to get it done.

Some things I feel that I would like to take the time and put this rule into effect would be my writing. I enjoy writing; stories, poems, anything that lets my mind explore. It’s my form of art and a way to get out my feelings in a positive way. Having a time cap limits me from producing my best work and a piece of work that I can be proud of.

There is something out there for everyone that they could perfect if they put in this much time. Be it a hobby, a sport, whatever, if you put in the time, you will see results.

Read the article for yourself, and see what you can come up with.

The 10,000 Hour Rule

Campus Safari #4, Exploring your campus: Becoming a CC

Every residence hall on campus has many Community Coordinators (CCs) with each floor having two.  On my floor, my CCs are Talia and Amanda. I had the pleasure of interviewing Amanda. She gave me some good tips on the process of becoming a Community Coordinator.

Some of the steps in becoming a CC are:

1.       Submitting an online application

2.       Making a resume

3.       Obtaining 2 letters of recommendation, one from a hall advisor and one from a teacher

4.       Attending a group interview; a mock interview takes place in the career center.

5.       Having an individual interview

6.       Being able to show your involvement on campus. The more involvement, the better.

There are a few responsibilities that a CC has to hold. Some of these responsibilities are having to keep track of 250 to 300 residents, depending on how large your hall is, they have to hold socials for residence on their floor and the entire hall, CCs have to help their residence gain knowledge about the campus. Along with the responsibilities, come benefits.  Being a CC entitles you to get free housing, your own room and sometimes your own bathroom,  you would get a stipend, your name would be out there as holding a leadership role, and it opens up many other opportunities for other jobs.

Because Amanda lives in the other hallway, this is Talia's door.  

Blogging Styles: Another Way to Show Individuality

Everyone has their own style, ideas, and creativity when it comes to their blogging style. Some people enjoy posting about their opinion, others like visuals and post more photos and multimedia than actual text posts, and some people like a variety. Blogging sites today allow for many different styles of blogging, and this is what makes each blog unique. I had recently checked out a variety of different blogs to see what kinds of blogs are out there. On the New York Times website, they linked to blogs such as At War, which is a blog about the post 9/11 era and gives insight and images on countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. They also link to a blog called City Room which consists of news stories and features that include Q and A sessions about New York itself. Aside from some of the other blogs they linked to, which focus on government, politics, and things of that nature, they also linked to a blog called LENS which is visual and multimedia reporting using many types of media and representation such as photographs, videos, and slideshows.  Each of these blogs appeals to different types of people; those who like visuals, those who enjoy more text based posts and those who enjoy a little bit of both.

 When it comes to searching for blogs on topics that you take interest in, you will find almost every type of blog on a certain subject. For example, I looked up blogs about one of my favorite television shows, Skins UK. The first blog that popped up was a fan site blog. Fan site blogs are dedicated to the show, and posts are mainly reviews, previews, and photos from previous episodes or upcoming ones. The fan site that I had found consisted mainly of photos from select episodes of the show. I found some reviews of characters and storylines as well. Having a good mix of things will help make a blog better known. Another blog that I found was dedicated to the first two seasons of this show. Majority of this blog consisted of pictures and animated gifs from the show that allows blog viewers to reminisce and maybe find their favorite part of an episode. This style of blogging is usually true for most types of media, be it a band, a famous actor, or a television show or movie.

Some blogs, like those I had mentioned before, pertain to a certain topic or subject such as cooking or productivity. Others are more personal and vary based on the interests of the person running the blog. Reading Tagan’s Kitchen, a blog dedicated to recipes using fresh fruit, I found myself intrigued by some of the recipes she blogged about. Most of them were of jams, jellies, and other interesting things you can do with food. She used a combination of pictures and text in each of her posts. I enjoyed the way she would talk about herself, and where she found the recipes, and then go straight into the steps on how to make whatever it was she was giving the recipe for. It gave us insight on her personal life.  A blog I had viewed about productivity wasn’t of much interest to me.  This blog mostly advertised products that help you become more productive on a day to day basis. Most of the products were planners that people could use. There was a good combination of video and text that talked about the products and tools, how they worked, and what people had thought of them.  Another blog that I had viewed focused on the last style of blogging that I am mainly familiar with; blogging based solely on everything you are interested in.  Rebecca’s Pocket was mainly filled with links that showed you what she holds an interest in, and it’s a variety of things. From celebrities, to links that take you to other blogs about other’s opinions on something. I didn’t really get to see much of Rebecca herself in this blog, just links that took me to other websites.

As for my blog, I tend to follow the variety style. I enjoy a variety of photos, text, and videos. I tend not to post just on one subject either, whatever is going on in my life, or whatever I’m interested in, I would more than likely post about it. Some goals I’ve set for myself is to include a wide variety of media and give my opinion on things. It’s something that I’m not very comfortable doing, but will attempt to do.  In order to make my blog appealing to others, I would focus more on the topic and try not to give my opinion on everything unless it’s necessary. Bright colors and an interesting title would make my blog stand out to people as well. Everyone enjoys something different, and appealing to everyone is something that is hard to do, but it’s not impossible.

Welcome to the World of Higher Education.

To some random person off of the street, college could mean a higher education and a chance for a better job. Other people see it as a time to make changes in their life and develop a greater level of thinking. For me though, college is a combination of these two things. I consider it a time to make changes in my life, acquire a higher education along with developing a greater level of thinking. College is a time to somewhat, reinvent yourself. You have the freedom to make your own choices and now all of your choice’s consequences fall solely upon you. Going to college allows you to accomplish many different things; you could pursue a career in a certain field, brush up on a subject you’ve enjoyed or had trouble with, or just take classes on subjects you’ve shown interest in.  This is a reason why you see a variety of students of different age groups on campus each day.  Being a college student, a freshman, means that it’s finally my time to take responsibility for myself. I can now take classes that will help me land my dream job in the future and classes that actually hold my attention.  My expectations were set pretty high for my classes, especially in the workload that I would be receiving from each class. Socially, I’d like to try and be so much more outgoing than I was in high school. I think it took me from 8^th grade until my senior year to finally get to know everyone. The personal aspect is one that I’d like to focus on the most. There is a lot about myself that I’d like to understand, such as whom I am and what I believe in. I would always be the one who rarely had an opinion on anything because I didn’t care or I didn’t feel like causing a debate. I feel that college is a time to discover who you really are as a person and set those things in place. College is like an entire world full of experiences that are vital to have.