Final Post! (with out music) :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXDe6SYMzFo&feature=youtu.be

Final Post!

The first semester of college was a memorable marking point in my life. The tough decision of choosing a school has paid off in my mind because I am very content at SCSU. I think my first semester went well; however, it definitely had its ups and downs. As a college athlete, I found it difficult to manage a full course load and balance a sport because at times I felt like there was not enough time in the day. At times, I felt over whelmed and stressed because I did not have enough time on my own to explore other aspects of the university or even time to sit back and watch some television.

                I struggled at times with my health. This I know is far out of my own control; however it was still frustrating to  miss class, miss gymnastics and try to play catch up in a lot of classes. In the end, I think it was a learning experience to have to miss classes because it taught me how to get involved and talk to my professors about how to get caught up. I think this is a good learning experience because I may need to do this in the future. Hopefully, I do not have to experience this through getting sick again.

                Another problem I encountered through the semester was getting a heel injury in gymnastics. This was a huge struggle for me because not only was I trying to push through an injury, I got extremely worried about holding my position in gymnastics. I did not want to fall behind and either lose my scholarship or be forced to drop. Six weeks passed and I was finally cleared to do all the events again. This time period, though it would seem easier and more relaxed was far from it. during this six weeks, I still had to attend all of my practices which made it hard because I wanted to be participating in my sport. However, the time passed and I got back on track in gymnastics.

                Academically, I was very pleased with my efforts. I believe, I have all A's if not... very close to it. I think even though my schedule was extremely packed, I did the best I could do with time management. I think one way I could improve my time management is by going home less because it would give me more opportunities to get caught up on the weekends, but this was not my choice. I went home mainly for appointments. I think that my high grade average is one of my highest achievements this semester.

                Next semester, I hope to attain the same grade average despite the classes I am taking. I will be taking harder classes next semester which include Calculus, Biology, and Spanish. I know I have chosen a had major, but I hope I will still be able to keep up all of my grades despite the difficulty level. My goal is to graduate in four years. I will be taking courses over the summer to make sure I attain this goal. My advisor reminded me just how many classes I must take to graduate in four years and I hope I can achieve this.

In four years, I hope to be graduating SCSU with a high GPA, a well rounded education and the education I need in my career. I know there will be many bumps and I will try to prepare myself for them; however, I know if I continue down the path I am heading I will do just fine! First semester down; seven more semesters to go! 

Final Video

Final Campus Safari!

          As a final Campus safari, I attended a athletic lecture. It was presented by employees at Enterprise car rental. The focus of the skills enrichment speech was how to write a good resume, and present yourself as a good employee.  Because only athletes could attend, it was focused on why athletes make such good employees.  Being a college student athlete really enhances a resume because it shows the employer that you have good time management, commitment and focus. The speech went over the do's and don'ts at an interview. The do's included dressing to empress, being prepared and being knowledgeable about the company you are applying for.

          I thought the presentation was very helpful and definitely beneficial. I will not be using those skills for a few years because I am only a freshmen but the presentation reminded me that, though sometimes it may be difficult, I am differentiating myself from others by being a student athlete.  Hard work and dedication in gymnastics will help me in more ways that I think of. Being part of the lecture was beneficial to keep me motivated and remind me to stay active in student life, athletics, and community service because they will all be helpful in the long run when I go to get a job. Very few people can say they were a college gymnast. I think being a college athlete will help me with my future job in particular because I want to be an orthopedic PA. I will constantly be working with athletes, and I will have an understanding with what they are going through. 

Learning Communities

          Part of the new Southern learning  program included be part of a learning community. A learning community is group of people who you have two classes with. I had Anthropology and Inq. with my learning community. I liked the idea of a learning community for freshmen because it allowed me to become closer to a group of people I would not normally be affiliated with. I definitely branched out within my learning community because I became more comfortable with the people in my class. I interacted more with my peers and I was able to form study groups with my classmates.

         Learning the concepts of a study group was very beneficial to me in both of my classes. In the study group I was able to ask questions or review material. Sometimes we were all equally confused and when this happened it all of our brains together seemed to make sense out of the impossible.
         We have spent a whole semester together joking around and learning. I think I have made some good friends in that class; friends I hope I will keep as our four years continue. I really enjoyed being part of a learning community. I see friendly faces around the school and I say hi. Without the learning community I would be extremely shy and I know I would not do this as much. I enjoyed my first semester at SCSU. I have a long road ahead of me and I hope it goes as smoothly academically as it did this semester.

Hard Work Will Pay Off

         People dream of the perfect house with the white picket fence and a husband and children. Everyone has an ideal future. Some choose to go to college to achieve their goals and some people launch right into their careers. I choose to come to college in order to complete my ideal future. When I am older, I want to be in the medical field. This will entail a lot of hard work and school. I wish to be involved in sports recovery, probably something dealing with orthopedics. A long career of gymnastics throughout my childhood inspired me and steered me into the direction of the medical field.
         Although a solid career is part of my ideal future. I really want to be happy and enjoy life. I do not always want to be on a demanding schedule because I have such a demanding schedule now; however, I do realize scheduling will be crucial in the future. I would like to enjoy a future with a husband and start a family of my own. Family plays an important role in my life now and I do not ever want to loose that. I do not believe there is such thing as the "ideal life". Each individual is different and wishes to attain a different future. The work we put in now will lead us to our future, which is why I believe it is so crucial to work hard now and look into your future and make goals. 
          It is never too late to redirect your future. I do not think it is to early to start planning. We are beginning a new period in our lives and in three and one half short years we will beginning a new part of our life. It comes faster than we think.
       

Community Service!

         It was something I was originally less than thrilled about. My extremely busy and nonstop day just had something else added to it. Last week my coach told me about a community service project that the SCSU gymnastics was proud to hold. It was mandatory for all freshmen. On Monday, after a full day of classes, then a full work out, we squished ourselves on to the Southern athletic van. We were driven to the YMCA in Hamden. 

          Our goal was to lead the children in some fun exercised that would be sure to get their hearts pumping. The lesson was focused on a gymnastics back ground so all of the warm ups and stretches came from the SCSU gymnastics warm-ups. When we arrived we came face to face with about twenty-five eager and ready to go children. They ranged in age from six to twelve. All of the children were so excited to meet us and get some exercise and gymnastics in. The children really looked up to us, which I thought was really cute. 

         We spent one hour warming up stretching out and then playing some games with them. All of the kids had different personalities. Since being in school, I have not had the opportunity to work with kids. I love working with kids and although my major does not involve working with kids, I would really enjoy some kind of part time work or community service with kids. At the end of our night when we were leaving some of the kids asked for our autograph. This was something that I will remember for a long time because sometimes I forget what a huge roll I play for parts of our community. So many of the kids, who I have never personally met, looked up to us in ways I did not even realize. Next week, I am squeezing time into my day to do this community service again.

Video Project

          This video project was hard for me to start because the topics to choose from were so open. Once my topic was chosen I started to fly threw the basics. My topic, why students go home on the weekend, was a popular one for the people I interviewed to talk about. I noticed a huge difference with the variety of interviews I got. This definitely helped that portion of my video. The major difference I am making with this video compared to my first video is my the details I am putting into it. I am spending a large portion of my time working with the introduction of my video. I believe this is important because it really captures the audiences attention at the begging of the video, which will lets the audience become captivated  in the video. 
 
          I think paying extra attention to my begging will pay off because it will keep the view interested. Putting extra effort into the begging will turn my work from good work to college work. Another way I am going to turn my work into more professional work is by adding varied music to my video. In my last video I only put two songs that played throughout the entire video. This time I am going to split up the music so it keeps the audience intrigued. In the last video, I covered all of the required material; however, I am going to do more to keep the video visually intriguing. 

Experiencing the Library

           One of the school course requirements is to take a history class. The history class I am taking this semester is Western Civilization. I have an awesome professor who really make the class interesting. Sometimes making history interesting is hard especially when your teaching it to kids who are less than enthusiastic to learn the material. A few weeks ago my professor talked about a list of books he wanted us to pick from. The assignment was to go to the library pick a book and write a book report on it. I picked the book Flags of Our  Fathers.

          The book was a good level read for me. The book was based of World War II specifically the Battle of  Iwo Jima.  It was a very bloody battle that killed many American lives. The book was a good read. It kept my interest. I was worried that when I was reading a history book, I would find it boring and unable to read. However, if you have to read a history book, I definitely recommend this book. It offers a great insight towards the time period. It was relevant to the time period we were learning about in class. 

          The book was easy to locate in the library. Although, I did ask for help because I wanted to make sure I found it quickly. Next time I go into the library to retrieve a book I will probably be able to do it entirely by myself. I am definitely familiarizing myself with the library. 

Class Led Discussions

        On Tuesday, two groups held the floor for a group discussion. One group's topic was healthy relationships, and the other group's topic was personality types. Both groups did a very good job getting the class participating and active in the class discussion. Here is a little bit about my opinion on how each group did on Tuesday.
         I thought the topic healthy relationships was a great topic to pick. It was something everyone could relate to, everyone had an opinion, and everyone cared about. The presenting group had the class split up into groups according to the color everyone picked. Each group was presented with two different scenarios which a person could be confronted with at some point. I thought this was a good exercise because it was purposeful yet it was something we all enjoyed and laughed about. I thought that even though the presentation was a fun one, I still learnt information about what if situations in a relationship.

          The other group that presented on Tuesday was a group that made a class discussion on personality types. I thought this was also a good topic because people are always interested in learning more about who they are as a person and how their brain functions. The survey the put online was interesting in finding out personality types, and it was interesting to see who had what personality type in class. I also enjoyed the optical illusion they did in class because it was an interesting to have a different way to determine what side brain I am. After I took that test, I confirmed I was left brain. This is not something new to me but it was interesting to see a different way to confirm that; however, I do not think this test worked as well for others, so perhaps it was just luck it was correct.

          Over all, I thought both groups did an awesome job with their presentations. I think by doing these presentations we are coming closer as a class because we are interacting more. I am liking the class led discussions.

Parenting Styles

           There is no denying that my childhood is vastly different for the childhood of my parents. We are coming from a time where physical punishment was a good way to discipline children. Today, it is likely if a parent were to correct a child physically, the child would call the police on the parents. Children today also have a lot more luxuries compared to the children fifty years ago. Children today have TV's, ipods, cell phones, and computers. Do you think this freedom is causing a dramatic change in the behavior of children?
           This was the class discussion topic on Thursday. I thought the group who led the discussion did a very good job incorporating the entire class into a discussion. The games that they had us play were creative and informative. The class as a whole did believe that new technologies and freedom is leading to a change in child behaviors.

           I think children today have too much freedom. Children as a whole have less respect for authority and they take a lot for granted. Children five and six years old have their own cell phones. This I just do not understand. How many five year olds do you know that need to make an important call? Children today expect too much, and consequently they do not have an understanding for working for something. If every child gets an Ipod when he or she is seven, what is the motivation for the child to work for it? I think that technology is great but when I have children of my own I will not be spoiling my child with the technologies. They will have to earn their privileges. There is no reason young children each need there own laptop. When did you first get your laptop? Did you need a laptop when you were six?

The Writing Center

          Are you a strong writer who may just need a quick proofread? Or are you a writer who needs help making sure your on the right track? Well, Southern Connecticut offers the writing center located in Englman Hall on the bottom floor. The writing center may be the perfect place to bring your papers to ensure you are doing the best you can be doing. 

         This Friday, I brought my history paper to the writing center. My paper was a five page book report. I thought I did a good job on the paper; however it was worth twenty-five percent of my grade so I wanted to make sure it was the best it could be. I was a walk in because I was unsure at first on how to go about it. They were booked all day but they managed to squeeze me into an appointment after my last class of the day. 

          I had a professor check my paper. It was good; however, I had a lot of grammatical errors that the teacher fixed for me. I was glad I brought my paper in because I worked hard on my paper and I would have hatted to see my grade drop a letter grade because of little proof reading mistakes. 

          I would recommend that if you have a paper due, to call a head to the writing center. It is a good idea in case they are booked all day. Do not leave it to last minute because you may not get a spot. This is especially important because we are approaching finals. We will have a lot of papers to be passed in and the writing center will be booking up quick! good luck writing, and remember the writing center is there for your benefit! take advantage of it. 

          This week's assignment was to give the class a presentation in order to make a class discussion. On Tuesday, the first group to go was a group that gave their presentation on drugs, alcohol, and sex. Yes, it was a boys group. I was really impressed with their presentation. They really gave out a lot of information. It was very informative and a lot of the facts they presented to us were staggering statistics. I thought the only way they could have improved that part of the presentation was if they used a power point, it would have made the information and fact easier to retain. It was a lot of information.

         After they went over all of the statistics they had the class take a survey. They wanted to see how our class statistics on drugs and alcohol compared to the national average. Our class was lower compared to the national average statistics on Alcohol abuse. I thought this was interesting. Either some people were not 100% honest in the survey or we have a very well behaved class!

          They group presenting also had the class get into groups to discuss some questions. I found this to be very effective for getting a lot of people in the class participating and not just the same four people. Some people are definitely more outgoing when it comes to raising their hand. It does not necessarily mean that pay attention more. By getting us into groups, I thought it allowed a larger variety of voices to be heard. Over all, I thought that the group did a good job informing the class and getting the class to join together for a constructive class discussion. 

Class Discussion

          So you think directing a class is easy? Well this week we have the opportunity to direct the class for 30 minutes in a class discussion. We worked as a group of four in order to prepare a topic that would interest the class in a group discussion. We came up with the topic of healthy eating in college. 

          Many incoming freshmen fear the freshmen fifteen. Something that can definitely be avoided but only if you do not let the temptation of food buffets, fatty foods, and alcoholic beverages get the best  of your life style. Many students no longer have the option of their mothers home cooked meals. It is up to us what we choose to put into our bodies to fuel it.  Our presentation offers lots of advice for the incoming and returning student so they can make he or she is being healthy. 

                During our presentation we include a power point, personal surveys, and group discussion questions. I think we have prepared ourselves well; however the outcome of the presentation depends on how much the group participates in the discussion.  A lot of the discussion questions are open ended so there can be many different ideas that can be added to the discussion. Hopefully each answer will feed off each other to get the group to think deeper into their lifestyles. Another segment of our presentation will be focused on exercising. It is not always enough just to eat healthy; we must also exercise our bodies daily. In our discussion we will try to get the class to think or alternative methods of exercising other than going to the gym. Hopefully, people will help out and give constructive ideas. This group assignment was a test of how well we work in groups and how well we can lead a class. Join Tuesday's class for an informative group discussion on your health!

Slow Down!

          Blooming off the Industrialization period, the pace of the world has sped up as whole. Sometimes we forget that we are a part of nature; we forget we are not invincible and we forget we are just like the rest of nature. Humans are one of the only species in the world that has sleep patterns that we have developed. Our days run nonstop until night time where we crash for seven to eight hours and wake up to do it all again.

         Technology has completely changed the way of live all over the world. We have the world through our phone. We have fast pace travel such as planes, and even cars that speed down local motor ways. Technology is a great invention and offers the world great opportunities that we have never had before; however, it is also brining great stress to our society.

          It is crazy, we spend every minute of our day completely packed and scheduled. There is no time for rest relaxation, and personal time. I believe this is a major problem in America. There is no down time. Americans work long days than continue their work day at home. Even the time you have at your home tends to be spent on your phone either talking to someone, checking your email or your Facebook. I believe this is bad for our health and it is leading to an increase in anxiety. I know that I personally do not have enough time just to sit back and relax. Every second of my day is fully packed and I think I am beginning to see the beginning of some of the problems. Sure it does not allow me enough time to get me in trouble, but it does not allow enough time for me to maintain my health.

          I believe Americans will run into big troubles if we do not slow ourselves down. The website below agrees with the fact that Americans should slow down. They website offers a variety of different ways to slow down. The biggest recommendation is to enjoy nature. Go for a walk outside or invest in plants for the house. 

Travel!

         I love everything about traveling: packing the journey, the excitement of being in a new place away from home, and the experiences you will have. So far in my life I have traveled to three different countries outside of the United States, and may different states inside our borders. I have traveled to England several times because I have a lot of family who lives over there, I have traveled to Paris, and I have also traveled to Canada. Each trip brought new experiences and different memories.

          I believe traveling is important because traveling allows a person to become acquainted and familiarized with different societies. There is also a great amount of different historical points and landmarks, which are interesting to visit. A great program that southern offers is the travel abroad program. This is an opportunity everyone in the university should at least look into.

         When I looked into the program I thought the study abroad trip to Guatemala looked interesting. It looked like a good opportunity to both explore a new country, and gain experience in the medical field. I have always wanted to go to a foreign country to help out medically. There are so many countries who are not well equipped in the medical field. I am a biology major and I want to go into the medical field. Traveling to Guatemala would offer me a lot of experience and it would look great on resumes.

         I think it is a good idea to do you traveling while you are young; before you have the full time commitment of a family. It is sometimes to do the traveling you want when you have economic and family commitments. I hope to do a lot of traveling when I graduated SCSU. There are so many place in the world that would be great to visit. I hope I have the opportunity to get there, and I would encourage anyone who has thought about traveling to try to follow through with their plans. It will be an experience you will not forget.

Swishh!

On Thursday, I attended the Southern Connecticut basket ball game. This game was the basketballs team's game to celebrate home coming. The game was a scrimmage, which means they played against each other for a practice game. The game was exciting and it came to a close score. My team and I attended the game together. The game was held at the James Mores Field House. It was definitely a fun entertaining bonding experience. I originally thought that I would be bored at the game because basketball is not my favorite sport to watch on the television. However, once I got there and started to watch the game, it ended up being a lot of fun, and i got into the game. The final score of the scrimmage was 110 to 111. It was definitely a close scoring game.

I would like to attend a football game sometime soon. I really like football and I think that would be another good game to watch. I think it is important to go to school games because it shows support, which is nice, especially at home games. I hope when it come around to my competitive season, we have a lot of supporters. We will do our best trying to get people to attend the home meets at be supportive of the gymnastics team. We start competing in January so keep your eyes open for when our meets are posted! Be a proud owl fan! The games are fun, I enjoyed my time at the southern basketball game. 

Midterm Video Project

The semester so far.

Midterms were this past week. It was stressful without a doubt, but my hard work and dedication definitely paid off. I did not have too much time for myself, but it was worth it in the end. I did well on all of my midterm tests.

The week of midterms I also received all of my grades in my classes. I was happy with all of my grades. I have straight A's. I know I am doing well but it is important to me that I maintain my grades and dedications. I can see it in some of my friends and teammates that their dedication towards their school work is not as high as it was  at the beginning of the semester. I need to keep my grades up to me because it will be nothing if it have high grades at midterm; it's all about what your grades turn out to be at the end of the semester.

 

I know I am capable of doing well so I do not want to do anything less than what I was capable of. In order to maintain my grades, I will continue to do what I am doing. I will try to cut back on my stress because I need to try not to get as worked up. I need to constantly remind myself that everything will work out, and I will only do as best as I can. My time managing is working well for me; I just wish there was a little more relaxation time between school and gymnastics but there is not too much I can do about that. I will just keep pushing through, knowing the rewards will be in the future. I am thoroughly enjoying my time at SCSU so far. 

The bus...

          Drastic times call for drastic measures or so they say. Well I would not exactly call taking the bus a drastic measure; however, it was a new a and scary thing I experienced for the first time this weekend. Thursday night I got the call that no one ever wants to hear; my boyfriend was very ill and being admitted into the hospital. I was scared, but knowing there was nothing I could do Thursday night. I just prayed that he was in good hands. I knew I needed to get home though. The earliest I could leave was Saturday morning.

          The only way I could get home was by taking a bus because my parents were working. I booked the earliest bus on Saturday leaving to Boston. There was not going to be anything stopping me; I needed to be there for him when he was sick. I was at first nervous to take the bus but I knew it was my only way home. I first took a bus from New Haven to Hartford. In Hartford I had a 45 minute layover and I changed buses. From Hartford I continued on to my destination of Framingham Massachusetts. This was were by boyfriend Anthony was hospitalized. It was all together a four hour trip. It was long, but well worth it. I was glad I was able to see Anthony who was very sick. Anthony had appendicitis and bacteria in his blood which led to more complications. On Sunday night, I had to head back to school. Anthony was post surgery and stable, however I wish I did not have to leave.

          The bus ride was smooth. I was nervous at first but it was pretty straight forward. I would definitely take the bus to get home again. Although I hope in the future I hope I don't have to come home on such upsetting news.