Pumpkin Painting

This week is Halloween but on the looks of hurricane Sandy I am seeing that there wont be a Halloween this year. But the festivities are still on. I went to pumpkin painting on campus with a couple of my friends. Just because the storm is coming does not mean that we still cant celebrate. I love halloween and anything that has to do with it including scary movies and painting pumpkins. We were each given a pumpkin and paint letting our imagination go and doing anything you want with it. It was a chance to meet and interact with students that you've never talked to before. I felt like a kid again painting a pumpkin and I really enjoyed myself. 

All these Different Sculptures

I’ve always walked around campus and seen these amazing, different sculptures around campus and they really make you think of the meaning behind it. One specifically that I always go by is Mikyoung Kim created the sculpture near the Englemann Hall. It is a large sculpture that seems like it is made of wings. I honestly really don't know what the function of it may be like many sculptures have to it. It can be seen as many different things it really has to do with the artist. That is what makes art such a mystery because each person takes an art piece and makes up a the story behind it in which they believe is true. In most art no answer is correct that is the beauty of art that no answer is correct, it’s the way you look at it and want to interpret it as. Personally I see this a symbol of freedom and union. These wings as I see it are shaped the same but are somehow different. They have the same function as they are in the same way. What I find very interesting of this piece is the curves and the way it was put together. You can have so many interpretations and ideas of what this sculpture can be seen as or what the meaning of this. It seems like there was allot of thought behind it to catch the audiences attention and it really is amazing how it came out and what the people's reactions are to it. We walk by millions of art and sculptures and many of us don’t really see how amazing these are and how much thought is put behind it.

 Youre creativity is what makes this sculpture interesting and a mystery to all because there is no answer to it just take a guess and you make your own reactions and story to it. 

Midterm Grades

Although many teachers haven't put up grades yet my professors either posted them or told me what my grades were and I am pretty happy with where my grades are right now. So far i have 2 A's, 2 B's  and a C. I know with the 2 classes that I have an A with I worked a lot harder and studied more than any other classes. I found to be that both of these classes tended to be more interesting being more easier for me to understand and go over my notes easier and faster. Of course i am not very happy with that C thinking that I was doing good but not working as hard. Since my math class was just reviewing mostly I thought that i did not have to study, i just had to do my homework and I thought I would be fine with
that. As obvious as it is I didn't really know what I was doing because I have a C in that class. I need to learn to work just as hard for every class if i was all A's. The good thing is that our midterm grades are meant to help us know where we stand and what we have to do to get good grades. If these were my final grades i would not be happy because I don't want any C's to bring down my GPA. My goal from the beginning of this school year was to have a GPA of at least 3.5 and to get that i could not have any grades lower that a B-.  My grades really do represent the amount of time that i spent in each class because the classes that i tried the most in I got an A, meaning if I put in the amount of time that I put in both of these classes I can get A's in all my classes.

Alot of Fun Things to do!

I'm a commuter so I am not on campus for long, I go to class then I just go home. There are a lot of "fun" things you  can do here at SCSU like joining a club or going to a sport activity. This week I hung out with one of my friends who i went to school with and live on campus. Her name is Morgan Vallero and she lives on Farnham Hall with one roommate. I was able to meet her roommate and go out to lunch in the cafeteria and talk about how different it was to live on campus and the freedom. After lunch we took the SCSU shuttle and went downtown and did a lot of shopping. I didn't realize that there were shuttles that would take you to downtown for those students who wanted to get away for a little. After shopping we went back to her room and just relaxed and had a few of her new friends over and just walked all over campus. There are a lot of things that you can do on campus other than going to classes. We have a great library where you can do all your studying, we have the student center for those who want to get a bite to eat and hang out with a couple of your friends. Just because I lived off campus I never really had time to find other things other than going to class then going home.

Ah Midterms!

Midterms are just around the corner, students have already started studying for these exams that count double as much as an exam weighs. From the beggining of this year my goal was to study alot to get all A's and get all good grades. This semester I was started great i knew what i had to do and every chance I had I studied for all my classes. By the beginning of October i started procrasinating alot and disnt study as much as i should have and my grades started to slip a little in some of my classes.  In highschool we were able to check our grades on a website called Powerschool in which our teachers posted our grades and we were able to check them whenever we wanted. Now that i started college its kind of hard to know how I am doing because i dont have the grades right infront of me, so I dont know where I have to work harder. But i know in my classes like nanotechnology and English which are my best classes i have gotten all A's in my papers and exams because these are my strongest subjects so I dont have to work as hard as I do in my other classes. For my next semester I know I have to work harder and not let procrasination get in the way of my studying. I alao know I have to study longer than I have in the past. Since I know midterms are coming up I know i am going to study for days and take an hour or two each day to go over my notes and look over it as much as i need to until I feel comfterable with it.

Majors Expo!

As many do know my plan is to  become a nurse but what i've really been thinking about a lot is furthering my education and going to the graduate program and do another 1 or 2 years extra to become a midwife. Luckily for this weeks Safari i visited the Major's expo to learn a little bit more for other options and if i wanted to stop at 4 years. The Major expo took place at the Adanti Student Center Ballroom from 12-3 p.m. As soon as you stepped in each major or minor had its own desk set up with brochures and students and or professors in each station ready to answer your questions and give you a little information of each major. This helped you learn more about the major and options similar  to what you want to study. With each major there were options if you wanted to further your education or you just wanted something similar. For me, i was able to talk to an alumni and she gave me options if i wanted to go further and go into the graduate studies. This was a great way to learn more about your majors and have more options. 

Failure is one step to Success

This week’s blog I have to talk about "failure". Failure can be seen as many different ways; like failing a quiz, not getting first place in a competition or even failing sending a text message. This is when the book "Mindset" takes into place. In this book it talks about fixed and growth mindset, which are two completely different things. It depends if you are either fixed or growth mindset by the way you perceive failure. Those who have a fixed mindset thinks that getting 2nd place in stead of 1st place is good for them because at least they did not get last place. For those who have a growth mindset and get 2nd place see this as a failure because this is what they worked hard for. In the book mindset the topic of failure was mentioned a lot. In my opinion there is no such thing as failure if you tried your best and deep inside you know that you did what you had to do. 

Ever since middle school my mom has always said" only A's and B's on a report card, no C's". If I ever got a C I would get grounded because a C was not passing in her eyes, and a C meant you didn't study as much as you should. Other parents may see this C as average or passing and is good for them. We all have our own opinions or views on what is Failure. In the book they talked a lot about athletes and how they failed once but that pushed them harder to get that first place. Failure can lead to success a lot of the times because it pushes us to be better or work harder and achieve what we want as long as we try. 

Never Doing that Again!

This week i did something that i have never done but it was rather interesting. I work at FroyoWorld in North Haven and i am usually a cashier but this week i was asked to be a back person and cut some fruit. It isn't exactly what i was used to because i like working with people and a back person doesn't have time to communicate with customers or anything. I never really realized how hard the job was. I had to cut fruit, clean the machines, clean the whole back room, and stock everything. I asked to be a cashier for a reason because a back person has a lot more responsibility than we cashiers do. I am a very klutzy person and i know i would mess up tremendously and  was more than nervous that i was going to drop all the heavy things i had to carry. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal but it sure was a lot. I would honestly never do that again. Being a cashier you get to interact with other people plus meet new people and you don't have as much responsibility except clean our area and keep the front of the store clean. I was used to being just a cashier so for me to step out of my comfort zone i was nervous to mess up since i never had done it before. A lot of people, including myself, don't want to step out of their comfort zone for the reason that they are scared to try something new. Since they already know what they are doing and comfortable they don't want to change anything.  It was nice trying something new but i can surely say i would not do that again. Even tho it was different i am already used to doing everything a cashier has to do, i wouldn't want to start over by being the back person and learning all over to do that job.

Ofice of Study Skills Enrichment

Midterms start in a couple of weeks and i thought it was an appropriate time to visit the Office of Study Skills Enrichment office, located in Engleman Co16. This office is great to get help from students or teachers to help you both study better or note taking. They help you find ways to exceed your study abilities to better your self especially during midterms and finals.  They offer services for all students who want to improve their overall academic ability and learning. They even offer workshops that may include homework or study groups for example. They give you alot of information and resouces of other places where you can get help like the writing center of students. This office is dsigned to help students enrich their learning abilities for any students who need help. I am considering going here for my midterms as alot of students are going to!

Mindset

In the Mindset book the authors main argument is that  people exercise either a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. The growth mindset is the belief that basic qualities are things you can cultivate through effort. Fixed mindset is the belief that you have a fixed amount of ability and or intelligence and cannot change that. Those with a fixed mindset feel they are born with a certain amount of talent and sometimes believe it cannot be improved. People with a growth mindset believe their abilities can be improved through hard work. These people typically do not fear failure but instead they think they could improve themselves. The author goes on explaining that these mindsets typically begin during your childhood which extends to adult head, ranging by the way you were taught things and experiences.

This book relates to our class discussions involving motivation because now understanding both mindsets that the author talks about it explains both sides and how some can be more motivated than others by the way your mind works. For example, those with a growth mindset know they need more improvement so they do whatever they can to reach their goal and that is their motivation. On the other hand those with a fixed mindset might think that they don't need any improvement so they don't motivate themselves to do better or work harder. I beleive i am in the middle between fixed and growth minset. When it comes to certain classes i do not study as much because i beleive that i know everything i have been taught so i dont study but when it gets to other subjects i know i have to study because i want to get a good grade and move forward.

How do you study?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzYFi2B37Zo

I was very happy with how my video came out. I worked really hard on it and i spent about a week working on it. I interviewed two people a day, so i would do them and work on the video like putting it together so i wouldn't have to do it all in one day. Doing that really gave me time to get everything put together the way i wanted it to look.I wanted my video to be simple and not a lot going on so my audience would have the information rite in front of them as simple as possible. This video had a variety of different answers so students can have all different kinds of ways to study so they can figure out whats best for them.  I really hope this video helps those students out who don't have a study habit or haven't found a way that works for them.