So... here we are... two weeks of classes left. The end is in sight. Everyone is getting restless, including myself. Oh how tempting it is to watch tv and relax during all my free time. This time, I am fighting procrastination!
Next week is the week of Easter. I'm really not all that busy next week. I am being inducted into Alpha Chi, which is a national honors society that accepts only the top 10% of the junior and senior class. Other than that, I just have classes, one presentation, one quiz, and work. This weekend should have been a completely chill weekend. However. I know that I will be super busy this weekend with church and working on the Triangle. Then, the last week of school, I have two debates, three projects due, and three tests.... so, instead of relaxing this weekend, I decided to get on top of things and work, work, work. So far, I've started studying for my one quiz next week, finished my presentation, and have gotten half of all my projects done (or I will have by the end of today). I hope to finish all my projects during the coming week so that I can devote my time to studying for those two tests and prepping for my two debates. Everything gets crammed into the last two weeks of school, which can be a bit overwhelming.
Finals week is always really nice at Trine. Student life does a lot for us... including complementary massages, yoga, meditation, and my personal favorite, midnight breakfast, served by teachers and administration.
The semester is almost over.... and then summer ensues
~Til next time
Sarah
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Busy, busy week-graduation, athletics update
I feel like a broken record, going on and on about how busy I am. It's truly only because I'm taking seven classes, half of which are 400-level.... and I'm working on my honors project, and I have an internship. College isn't always this crazy!
Campus is starting to smell like spring again. I can already imagine the flowers springing up all over campus and the trees starting to get their leaves back. It's been really cold the last few days but since spring break, all of us are getting ready for summer break. It's bittersweet that this is my last spring as a college student.
Our spring athletics have started again. The teams seem to be doing well. Men's lacrosse is 6-0. Tennis seems to be going well (7-4 men's, 3-5 women's). Baseball's gone 3-3 since spring break. Women's lacrosse is 2-2. The softball team is 14-2.
We just signed a new head coach for our men's basketball team... Brooks Miller, who was an assistant coach for Bob Knight at Texas Tech. He seems promising. Our athletics continue to improve and grow.
Campus is busy. Everyone is registering for classes, making sure they can graduate on time, etc etc etc.
The announcement of who will be delivering the commencement speech is always highly anticipated. Last year Bob Knight spoke and he tends to be a tough act to follow. This year, Lou Holtz, the hall of fame football coach, will be speaking. Holtz coached Notre Dame's football team from 85-96. He also coached at North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, and the NFL's New York Jets. Now he commentates games for ESPN and has written numerous New York Times best sellers. It should be a very motivational speech for students emerging from the school, out into the job market.
Well... that's all I have for now.
~Til next time
Sarah
Campus is starting to smell like spring again. I can already imagine the flowers springing up all over campus and the trees starting to get their leaves back. It's been really cold the last few days but since spring break, all of us are getting ready for summer break. It's bittersweet that this is my last spring as a college student.
Our spring athletics have started again. The teams seem to be doing well. Men's lacrosse is 6-0. Tennis seems to be going well (7-4 men's, 3-5 women's). Baseball's gone 3-3 since spring break. Women's lacrosse is 2-2. The softball team is 14-2.
We just signed a new head coach for our men's basketball team... Brooks Miller, who was an assistant coach for Bob Knight at Texas Tech. He seems promising. Our athletics continue to improve and grow.
Campus is busy. Everyone is registering for classes, making sure they can graduate on time, etc etc etc.
The announcement of who will be delivering the commencement speech is always highly anticipated. Last year Bob Knight spoke and he tends to be a tough act to follow. This year, Lou Holtz, the hall of fame football coach, will be speaking. Holtz coached Notre Dame's football team from 85-96. He also coached at North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, and the NFL's New York Jets. Now he commentates games for ESPN and has written numerous New York Times best sellers. It should be a very motivational speech for students emerging from the school, out into the job market.
Well... that's all I have for now.
~Til next time
Sarah
Monday, March 21, 2011
Science Fair, busy work
As we work our way into the last six weeks of the semester, procrastination starts to sneak up on students all over campus. That huge project your professor assigned in the first few weeks of the semester is suddenly almost due. It seems like just yesterday we were returning from Christmas break, bright eyed and ready for another busy semester.
I can say taking 7 classes is starting to catch up with me for sure. Some weeks I have two exams on the same day, followed by at least one more in the week, at least one project or presentation due a week, and a different paper, on top of normal reading and homework... what a crazy semester!
This past weekend, I volunteered through the Honors program to work at the local science fair Trine was hosting. At first I thought it would be pretty boring, but the kids all got really into it, with their adorable little suits and ties, talking about decomposition and solar energy and all sorts of things. They loved everything we were doing for them and we loved working with them.
My particular station was on how to make a biomass gas depressor. Using a graduated cylinder with some water in it, we added beads, to simulate organic materials. Then the kids put a "bacteria" powder into a funnel and down into a party balloon. When I helped them put the balloon over the graduated cylinder, the kids shook the "bacteria" down into the water. This resulted in a reaction that produced a lot of cool fizzing and a gas that blew up the balloon. The reactions on their faces, especially the younger ones, 1st and 2nd graders, was absolutely adorable. It was so rewarding to be able to talk to them about biomass and how through decomposition we can harvest a natural energy, in this case, the second most widely used renewable energy source.
It was a great opportunity to volunteer my time.
Now it's back to papers, tests, and projects.
~Til next time,
Sarah
I can say taking 7 classes is starting to catch up with me for sure. Some weeks I have two exams on the same day, followed by at least one more in the week, at least one project or presentation due a week, and a different paper, on top of normal reading and homework... what a crazy semester!
This past weekend, I volunteered through the Honors program to work at the local science fair Trine was hosting. At first I thought it would be pretty boring, but the kids all got really into it, with their adorable little suits and ties, talking about decomposition and solar energy and all sorts of things. They loved everything we were doing for them and we loved working with them.
My particular station was on how to make a biomass gas depressor. Using a graduated cylinder with some water in it, we added beads, to simulate organic materials. Then the kids put a "bacteria" powder into a funnel and down into a party balloon. When I helped them put the balloon over the graduated cylinder, the kids shook the "bacteria" down into the water. This resulted in a reaction that produced a lot of cool fizzing and a gas that blew up the balloon. The reactions on their faces, especially the younger ones, 1st and 2nd graders, was absolutely adorable. It was so rewarding to be able to talk to them about biomass and how through decomposition we can harvest a natural energy, in this case, the second most widely used renewable energy source.
It was a great opportunity to volunteer my time.
Now it's back to papers, tests, and projects.
~Til next time,
Sarah
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Last Spring Break ever
Well, back to school. My last spring break until I have kids of my own has come and gone. I worked 40 hours, wrote two papers, and studied for a couple tests. Oh the life of a college senior!
It's great to come back to campus and see all the huge ice mounds melted away from the sidewalks. Our beautiful campus looks alive again!
Campus is sure to get crazy busy from now until summer. The Humanities department has their free movie series running again. They show a wide range of movies, some new, some old, some foreign, some indy. It's a great opportunity to see movies for free on campus, in the lovely Fabiani Theatre.
Advising week is coming up. It's always pretty crazy, and I expect this to be the most chaotic for me ever, seeing as how it is my last advising week before I graduate. Luckily, the advisors on campus tend to be really helpful and mine, Dr. Jones, is great at helping me make sure I have everything I need to graduate on time. I've looked over the class schedule for next semester and it looks like I should be able to get all my classes needed for graduation in pretty easily.
Off to study some more!
~Til next time,
Sarah
It's great to come back to campus and see all the huge ice mounds melted away from the sidewalks. Our beautiful campus looks alive again!
Campus is sure to get crazy busy from now until summer. The Humanities department has their free movie series running again. They show a wide range of movies, some new, some old, some foreign, some indy. It's a great opportunity to see movies for free on campus, in the lovely Fabiani Theatre.
Advising week is coming up. It's always pretty crazy, and I expect this to be the most chaotic for me ever, seeing as how it is my last advising week before I graduate. Luckily, the advisors on campus tend to be really helpful and mine, Dr. Jones, is great at helping me make sure I have everything I need to graduate on time. I've looked over the class schedule for next semester and it looks like I should be able to get all my classes needed for graduation in pretty easily.
Off to study some more!
~Til next time,
Sarah
Thursday, February 24, 2011
pre-spring break craze
Sorry it's been a little since my last post. Things always pick up just before spring break. Well we had a huge snow storm, followed by a week of the 50s, followed by an ice storm, followed by a snowstorm, followed by a thaw, followed by an ice, followed by a mini-thaw, followed by.... well they say we're supposed to get 6-8 inches tomorrow... that's weather for you. Coming from Michigan, in an area that consistently gets lake-effect snow, this is nothing new. It's always nice to go to bed thinking it will be 45-ish in the morning, and waking up to five inches of snow. Oh well! It could always be worse.
Last weekend we had another scholarship day. High school seniors interested in coming to Trine who qualify for the honors program and one of the many academic scholarships Trine offers come to campus on a Saturday. The scholarship day includes an interview, an essay on a topic assigned immediately before writing it, lunch, and a student panel. Honors students of all years and majors are chosen to answer questions from potential students and their parents. This year I was asked to be a part of the panel. It's always great to be able to give some of your real-world knowledge and advice to potential students. Even if they don't come to Trine, you hope that some of the advice you gave them will help out. We got questions anywhere from Greek involvement on campus to the food in the cafeteria to roommate issues, class schedules, and graduation outlook. It was encouraging to see so many parents interested in what their children's potential college life would be like.
One of my professors always says that students, especially seniors, never return from spring break. She's probably right. When we return from spring break, we're basically halfway done with the semester. In high school, the end of the school year is much closer to spring break than in college. This probably has something to do with it. Our brains are trained to prepare for summer post-spring break. Personally, I'm not going anywhere but back home for break. I get to work 40 hours, which will help pay some bills. I'm also attempting to save up some money for after I graduate and find a place of my own... but that's a little hard to do very often while I'm only working part time. We'll see how everything goes and how school post-spring break pans out.
~Til next time,
Sarah
Last weekend we had another scholarship day. High school seniors interested in coming to Trine who qualify for the honors program and one of the many academic scholarships Trine offers come to campus on a Saturday. The scholarship day includes an interview, an essay on a topic assigned immediately before writing it, lunch, and a student panel. Honors students of all years and majors are chosen to answer questions from potential students and their parents. This year I was asked to be a part of the panel. It's always great to be able to give some of your real-world knowledge and advice to potential students. Even if they don't come to Trine, you hope that some of the advice you gave them will help out. We got questions anywhere from Greek involvement on campus to the food in the cafeteria to roommate issues, class schedules, and graduation outlook. It was encouraging to see so many parents interested in what their children's potential college life would be like.
One of my professors always says that students, especially seniors, never return from spring break. She's probably right. When we return from spring break, we're basically halfway done with the semester. In high school, the end of the school year is much closer to spring break than in college. This probably has something to do with it. Our brains are trained to prepare for summer post-spring break. Personally, I'm not going anywhere but back home for break. I get to work 40 hours, which will help pay some bills. I'm also attempting to save up some money for after I graduate and find a place of my own... but that's a little hard to do very often while I'm only working part time. We'll see how everything goes and how school post-spring break pans out.
~Til next time,
Sarah
Friday, February 11, 2011
Career Fair
Well it's been a pretty uneventful span of time around here. It gets that way sometimes as we settle in, full of tests and projects and presentations. Last Friday was Trine's career fair. It was ok. Career Services is still growing so we don't have as many businesses as some schools, but for a school our size we do really well. Per usual, a large majority of the employers were looking for engineering students. There were a few for marketing, a few for business, and a few for finance and accounting. However, that being said, Career Services identifies which majors (like mine) weren't represented, and since there were so many students who attended, they hope to get more businesses for a larger variety of majors in the coming years.
One of the great things about our career services is how much they want to help. I'm attending the career fair at Western Michigan University (where I'm from) next Thursday (since it got snowed out during out Snowpocolypse). Career services called to make sure it was ok if myself and some other students who are interested in working in that area attended. They also help with mock interviews, resume workshops, etc.
~Til next time,
Sarah
One of the great things about our career services is how much they want to help. I'm attending the career fair at Western Michigan University (where I'm from) next Thursday (since it got snowed out during out Snowpocolypse). Career services called to make sure it was ok if myself and some other students who are interested in working in that area attended. They also help with mock interviews, resume workshops, etc.
~Til next time,
Sarah
Thursday, February 3, 2011
work work work
So we did end up getting a snow day yesterday. I literally did nothing all day. It was extremely boring and for the first time, I didn't really want a snow day. Oh well. The clean up crews around campus have done a wonderful job keeping the sidewalks clean. I posted some pictures on my flickr stream so you'll have to check those out.
Tomorrow is the career fair. While there are going to be a lot of companies looking for engineering students, there will be a handful looking for business and other majors. Hopefully as those who come get good interns and employees from Trine, more businesses will start to come to our career fair. I'm going to use it as a practice round for a really big career fair I'm attending at Western Michigan University in a few weeks. One great thing about Trine is that they work hard to make sure students have job opportunities no matter where they hope to live.
~Til next time
Sarah
Tomorrow is the career fair. While there are going to be a lot of companies looking for engineering students, there will be a handful looking for business and other majors. Hopefully as those who come get good interns and employees from Trine, more businesses will start to come to our career fair. I'm going to use it as a practice round for a really big career fair I'm attending at Western Michigan University in a few weeks. One great thing about Trine is that they work hard to make sure students have job opportunities no matter where they hope to live.
~Til next time
Sarah
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