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.