experiences

This semester was horrible for me. I don't think I've ever done so poorly in school. There's just so much going on in my personal like that takes me away from school and I dislike that but things happen I guess it's apart of life. My grades aren't to my best ability. Previously in school I was on honor roll and had perfect attendance so many times, I want to go back to that place. I've learned so much from this semester I've learned how to adjust in different environments, I've learned how to take responsibility, and I see now the things that I have to do differently in my future semesters.

I really want to do well and succeed, I've worked hard and overcame a lot of obstacles so I know that I can get through this. I have to work harder, I've made changes so next semester will be less difficult for me.

Assesment

As I look back on the beginning of the semester I feel like in some ways I'm meeting personal goals but life happens and things happen that we can't fix or change sometimes. I feel like I could be doing a whole lot better I'm trying but I know I have to definitely kick it up a notch. I have to find solutions to something's that I deal with so that it doesn't affect school. I really want to do well and obtain my BSN.

I feel like I'm doing better than I was in the beginning of my language class. I struggled a lot to understand the material but I'm getting there i understand it's a process and I just have to give it my all. In other classes I think I'm doing well, I'm not that verbal in class but I do understand the material , I do take notes it's just how I learn I learn by just listening to the professorate other students thoughts . 

In next semester I'm going to definitely turn it around. I'm going to be in the classes of subjects that I enjoy and I'm not going to let myself, my daughter  or people that care down. I need this I need to do great and im going to give it all I have . I know I can do this. 

Out of my comfort zone

Something that I did outside of my comfort zone and new was go to a boot camp class. I'm not really in to working out but I've always wanted to really get into it . I've always said I wanted to get back into shape like I used to be when I was in dancing school. I was in dancing school for years and I stayed active and healthy. I feel like that has changed since I gave it a break, I really think about joining again sometimes.

The boot camp made me feel as though I was back in dance because in the beginning of classes we always work out and stretch . I decided to go to the boot camp because my mom and her friends are into it. I see there results and they've changed their lifestyles as far as eating habits and exercising. 

In the boot camp class consisted of running, climbing,jumping jacks, workout routines...etc.  this was just a trial run for me I'm thinking of being fully committed to it . It's hard work but I'm used to this kind of workout. I really need this because it'll help me get back on track and stay healthy 

Mindset

So far I think Mindset is an interesting book. It speaks a lot about how people think .  So far it's an easy read. It's not to complex it's easy to understand and it gives a lot to think about and consider.I think the main idea is about this book is about what kind of midset you have. It breaks down the different mindsets and shows how what mindset you have affects you in everyday life . In chapter two is success about learning or proving you're smart It talks about how were all born with the intense drive to learn , infants stretch their skills daily and they never decide if something is to difficult. They put in the effort and strive to accomplish the most difficult tasks of their life , they get up and keep going. This relates to motivation because of the time and effort that infants put in to move forward in life. When we get older and are able to evaluate things that's where fixed mindset can come in and we can become afraid to take opportunities and we somewhat lose that learning ability when we were once infants. We have to get into the growth mindset and not be afraid to take chances , put in time and effort and work toward making our skills better. This books really helps us to evaluate what mindset we have and gives a lot to think about so we can have the growth mindset .

Movie

I ran into a lot of complications while doing this movie. At first i've never done this so I didn't now what i was doing at all. I had to use iMovie and it seemed so foreign to me I became very frustrated. I didn't Have a camera so i couldn't record anything. My phone's camcorder is not good quality so i was unable to use that. Students that i had asked to interview were too bust or they just declined. I finally was able to interview through text of two students that i know that attend SCSU. It's kind of funny how we're all majoring in the something Nursing. I wasn't able to interview faculty. I emailed the health center to see if i could get an interview. I didn't get a response yet. I really dreded doing this but i tried to make the best out of my resources. For the future project I am going to really be on it the first day I can't afford to be stressed like this again I'm going to definitely make sure i'm able to get interviews with faculty.

Video project

I thought alot about how I am going to be able to do my project without a video camera. My phones built in camcorder is not that great, so I am going to have to structure my video with lots of words, music and whatever else there is to make it decent. My topic is going to be on what SCSU has to offer as far as clubs and organizations. I like the fact that there are clubs that focus on Ethnicity and culture. There are alot of clubs/organizations that are Hispanic, Black, Carribean..etc There is something that everyone can be apart of and if there isn't it is possible to start your own. I'm going to ask members and possibly presidents/ representatives the clubs questions about what their club offers, what times of things they do within the community, when were they founded and why should people join. This will help alot with letting students know whats out there. I've organized alot of my ideas i am just going to start asking around to build up my project.

Breaking down my week

Ive never really noticed where time went. Alot of times it seems as though time just flies by. Ive noticed that I have to find a structured routine. Sometimes my days are all over the place. i need to figure out when im going to do homework or when im going to go to sleep. sometimes i only sleep for 5 hrs a night and sometimes i sleep 8 hrs a night. I dont  know when to tell myself its time to sleep i kind of just let it happen & i might not go to sleep until 3am. i learned alot about myself this week.

During the week from Sunday September 16th through Saturday September 22nd i found out alot about how i managed my time. I spent 49 hrs sleeping, 10 hrs studying, 15 hrs relating watching tv, 112 hrs taking care of my daughter, 12 hrs in classes, 2hrs exercising, 30 hrs socializing, 4hrs transportation, 7hrs personal grooming, 2hrs cleaning, and no work or family commitments this week. I used the my daily hourly schedule off of the website. This helped me realize that i spend way more time socializing than I do studying and this can become a big problem for me. Its hard not to socialize especially when you have a phone or other electronic devices. I want to spend a lot less time just relaxing. I need to focus on studying alot more. Ftting more time in to go to the library or find non distracting places where it's possible for me to study and do homework.So i'll take away about 10 more of from just relaxing and social time and use that to do school oriented things. I feel like i did procrastinate alittle, i know i cant just wait until the last minute to do things.

Involevment Fair

I went to the involvement fair and I found it to be very interesting and insightful. I got to speak to & meet with people that I haven't met before. I got slot of information about sororities. I've always wanted to learn more about them. I found out that they're very involved and hands on with the community. I think it's something that I want to be apart of. I also looked into the step team. I enjoy stepping its something that I did in high school. It helps you stay fit, it's fun and entertaining. Another group I looked at was the Public Health Club, I'm going into the health field and this gives me an opportunity to meet with other students who are going into the same field.

Tips and Info

Over these passed few weeks I've gotten a lot of advice, ideas and opinions from a lot of fellow students, graduates in my family and inquiry readings about college life. I've taken in and considered a lot of these things. My best friend attends SCSU and it's great to have someone that's been through what I'm going through right now because we're both majoring in Nursing and she's a grade higher. She let me know about ways to get books for courses for a lesser price and encourages me about staying on track of things and not to overwhelm myself. My mother is a great supporter as well she made sure I was prepared with all supplies and things I needed to get through my college experience. Just having general conversations with people in school just about how things are going with them helps me in a way to know how to handle my schedule and time. I really don't find talking to professors that useful nothing against them but I get a better understanding sometimes from people that are dealing with what I am at the moment or have recently went through it. I read some articles on www.howtostudy.org . I clicked on a guide for time management and then clicked on goal settings I read about setting tangible goals. I know that setting short, medium and long term goals will help me prioritize when I'm dealing with a lot of tasks such as homework and projects. Also, I read about managing distractions, I learned that distractions can be found external and internal study environments. I have to be aware of my surroundings of where I'm studying and be able to control my distracting thoughts.

Bundle of Joy

A challenging situation I've faced in my life was becoming a Teen Mom.... I never thought that this would be something I went through but that goes to shows it can happen to anyone. I had to face alot of obstacles. I had to figure out alot of things. Having a child really changes your life you have to grow up there is no room for mistakes.I don't want to sound like it was the end of the world because it wasn't. I love my daughter to death shes truly amazing, I wouldn't trade her for anything. I feel like having her has made me a much stronger and motivated individual. I wanted to come to college even more because I know I have to be all that I can, I can't waste my life. I'm here to be able to give my daughter a wonderful life, she deserves it. They is a lot of support out there for Teen Mom's even at SCSU, I recently found out that if you qualify you might be able to be reiemburst for child care. That's something to look into, there is a child care hot line alswell all you have to do is call 2-1-1 and they'll connect you, there's a lot that you can look up for help so not attending college shouldn't be an option, it can be done I'm doing it now.


Link to help with child care information in CT
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_nf=1&qe=Y2hpbGQgY2FyZSBhcw&qesig=PkYZ5TOb09ZdInW2LucYhQ&pkc=AFgZ2tl_sjU8ZzRNh8ugv_skHEd5wtwwHie-U048vvfLyVVv4VuyT9hc_BvForbMmogL98twVzMlbnKlc9F64_zy_hleGqF0jg&cp=13&gs_id=2f&xhr=t&q=child+care+assistance+in+ct&pf=p&sclient=tablet-gws&tbo=d&site=webhp&oq=child+care+as&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=511ff25d58ab78f7&biw=1024&bih=672

Deeper Thinking

The Learning Knights of Bell Telephone - " A well trained man knows how too answer questions, they reasoned an educates man knows what questions are worth asking." While reading this article it make me think a lot about Agency. The article spoke about junior executives of Bell Telephone of Pennsylvania  rising up the ladder of success and are capable of only following directions. They weren't deep thinkers. They were passive learners. They didn't take Agency and move forward on their own to help the company. To help these executives learn to take Agency a program called, Institute of Humanistic Studies for Executives was created. They had to complete a 550 hour course of a liberal arts education, They had to work through challenging readings, listen to lectures, visit museums and art galleries. At the end of the program the executives were more engaged and confident. They became deeper thinkers and Active thinkers. They were more involved in determining the course of their lives. We all should seek wisdom and broaden our minds, move forward and take responsibility for our learning experiences. Do more than just sit and listening, be an active thinker and take the time and effort to get more out of our educations and use these skills in our future with whatever career path that we choose.


The Link to The Article : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/opinion/16davis.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref

The Granoff Student Health Center

Campus Safari- The Granoff Student Health center

Student Sexual Health at SCSU - In college there is a lot of freedom given to students. We are all treated as young adults and we're expected to know how to be responsible. Sex is one of those things we are expected to know how to be responsible with. There's a lot that we hear in college about partying and being carefree about who we choose to sleep with, but their are consequences for every action. We need to protect ourselves and make sure we know the person we're dealing with. They're are many common STI's that are contracted among students because of carelessness and not being properly informed . They are :
Chlamydia, Genital Warts (caused by HPV), Gonorrhea, Hepatitis B, Herpes, HIV/AIDS, Syphilis,Vaginitis, Pubic Lice (crabs) and Scabies
It's very important that  we protect ourselves by using protections,getting vaccinated and knowing our partners with our minds not our hearts. Don't be afriad to drop by the health center they is staff available all year round. Being informed is so much better than not knowing

Hours:

Monday - 8:00am-6:00pm

Tuesday - 8:00am-6:00pm

Wednesday -8:00am-6:00pm

Thursday - 8:00am-6:00pm

Friday -8:00am-5:00pm

Blogging

I surfed the web looking for different types of bloggs to get a feel of what kind of blog I wanted to have. I found alot of interesting and creative things. There's alot of ideas and insightful things out there to consider when blogging. For example, what style of blogging are you interested in, is it going to be comical, strictly informative, personal...etc. I've decided that i wanted my blog to be informative, comical and interesting. I like blogs about things happening now, politically, socially and blogs about favorite celebrities.One of My favorite blog is Perez Hilton's blog, I actually found out about blogging because of his blog. I want it to be written in a way that I know readers are going to want to keep reading on, and coming back to read future post. Some goals for myself as a blogger is to get as many views possible and good feed back from viewers of my blog. I want to end my blogs with nice quotes of phrases aswell. Some blogs that i liked and found interesting were a blog about the olderst facebook user. It was comical and about something that many people use everyday. another was a blog about health and fitness. I liked that blog because its relative to me right now i'm actually joining the fitness center. I'm very in nterested in staying fit and healthy. Blogging is something I can see myself doing....

 

links to the bloggs I've mentioned
http://www.blogs.com/2012/08/31/best-in-blogs-worlds-oldest-facebook-user-sort-of-burning-man-online-and-obamas-ask-me-anything.html

http://greatist.com/health/must-read-health-fitness-blogs/
http://cocoperez.com/?from=PHnavbar

Transition

My first week at southern was nerve wrecking... I'm usually good at keeping my composure and easily working my way through tough situations but this week was very overwhelming. I stepped into an environment where I didn't know anyone and I didn't know where anything was . I was almost late for just about every class and I keep getting confused about what assignments are and when they're due. This is a big change from highschool. The thing is I thought I was prepared I went to college prep schools.... I thought it was going to be a lot easier, I was wrong. Its just so awkward to have breaks in between classes and to not know anyone. I spoke to a few people they seemed to have the same difficulties as i was, in a way we had something in common. I know some people that attend SCSU also, but our majors are different so I'm guessing that's why I haven't really seen them. It can also have something to do with the fact that Im a commuter .... I thought about trying out for a step or dance team to become more social and involved in campus social life . I believe that over the semester things will loosen up and become a lot better. It's just a change that I have to adjust to.

 

New life, New people, New EXPERIENCES - transition