Eventful Thursdays

Today was a very eventful day at Elmira College. Elmira occasionally has representatives from different graduate school come to recruit undergraduate students for their programs. At 12:30, I met with a representative from the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester in the campus center to discuss my post graduation plans and the programs and opportunities at Simon. Although the meeting was only twenty minutes long due to the amount of students that requested a meeting, I was able to submit my resume, learn first hand what student life is like at Simon, and I received information packets to review on my own time. Tonight, the Elmira College Dining Center set up an '80's themed dinner for students. They decorated the entire upper level of the campus center with memorabilia from the 1980's including gaudy fabrics and patterns, bright balloons and tablecloths, pacman cakes and cookies, and they were playing popular movies and music from the '80's. They even had a DJ on a stage with a runway and all of the dining staff dressed up in outfits and hairstyles from the '80's including leg warms, side-ponytails, crimped hair, off the shoulder t-shirts, and jean jackets with buttons. They served pineapple splices, chips and bean dip, ham, lasagna, ziti, rolls and butter, and chicken dumplings, and a potato skin bar, all free of charge for the attending students.

They also had a variety of candy and treats on each table and tinsel wigs, rubber spike jewelry, plastic sunglasses, and mesh gloves for students who wanted to fit into the '80's setting. Also tonight held in the Speidel Gymnasium was Hoops Hysteria. Hoops Hysteria is an event to showcase our school's cheer leading teams and basketball teams in an informal, entertaining environment. There was a slam dunk challenge for the men's basketball team in which they competed against each other the be the slam dunk champion by performing outrageous stunts in addition to slam dunks.
They had one teammate pass the ball from across the gym to set up for the dunk, spun in an 180 degree turn before dunking, and jumped over obstacles and people as they were dunking. At on point, they had one teammate on all fours acting as a leaping platform towards the hoop with our school mascot, the Eagle, as an obstacle to leap over. Throughout the event, they read off raffle tickets for prizes including ipod touches, flat screen televisions, a futon, and tickets to a Bills game. The event was a short and sweet break from homework and it was very fun to watch and be with friends. I'm getting sad as events like these pass and my time left at Elmira grows closer and closer to the end, but I'm enjoying every minute of them and I'm creating a lot of great memories in my final year here.

End of Term 1 Events

The end is near, and the usual term-end events are underway on campus. Friday I met with a Counseling and Career Service Representative to review my resume and discuss my options after I graduate in June. I have made a definite decision whether or not to continue my education and go to graduate school or to begin searching for jobs and join the workforce. The advice I was given was to take the GMAT test (a common grad school test requirement for business majors) and apply to some graduate schools and also submit applications and resumes for careers of interest and see what options come my way. At first, I thought I was finally done with school and wanted to jump right into a career to start paying off some debt, but Elmira College has a special 4+1 program agreement with several graduate schools in which students can earn a bachelor degree at Elmira College and attend one of the dozens of partner schools for one year to achieve a master's degree. The Counseling and Career Service office is always very helpful with guiding me in the right direction and assisting me in making these important, life changing decisions. Yesterday I registered for classes for the last time, and was able to get into all six of my term 2 classes without a problem. Also, yesterday afternoon, my class ring (that my wonderful, awesome parents bought for me while they were here for Parent's Weekend) came in the mail! I am usually not the kind of person that buys things like that, I never bought a high school class ring, but Elmira College has become my second home and I wanted something to have all my life that would remind me of the wonderful opportunities I was offered, the knowledge I learned, and the life-long friends I have made here. This afternoon was the Elmira College Career Fair on the second level of the campus center which has dozens of representatives from local businesses that are looking to interview, hire, and acquire student interns from Elmira College. I actually worked at one of the booths with my store manager and district manager of my current part-time job and internship at Family Video. We interviewed some of my fellow students and I explained my experiences as a full-time student with a part-time job and internship at the store. The fair was an overall success and a great time to meet new people and think about possible career opportunities. Next to come is my Thursday meeting with a representative from the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester and Hoops Hysteria Thursday night!

Opportunity at EC

No matter what major students at Elmira College choose to pursue, a lab science is part of the general degree requirements for graduation. Since science is not really my cup of tea, I chose to take an Animal Behavior class where the topics are more general and not too heavy on complicated science theories and methods. I would highly recommend the class to anyone of any major, and it has been very theraputic and enjoyable since many of the labs are outside and off campus. Earlier this term, we traveled to Eldridge Park to observe the behavior and activities of ducks for a lab. We also went to the Gleason Meadow site at Tanglewood Nature Center a few weeks ago with insect nets and caught bees, butterflies, praying mantises, spiders, beetles and grasshoppers and observed the behavior of butterflies in a meadow environment.










This Tuesday for lab we took two school-owned vans to the Binghamton Zoo and saw cougars, bears, goats, crows, penguins, reindeer, and wolves. Also, last night was the annual Elmira College Big Event show featuring OAR. The tickets were free for students and $20.00 for anyone else that wished to attend. The show was held in the gym, but the atmosphere and massive stage transformed the room and made everyone forget that we were still at school. They performed at radio quality and everyone had a lot of fun taking a break from the stresses of being students to be with friends and enjoy the show.

Yesterday, I also met with my advisor to create my last full schedule at Elmira College, and we recieved our dates and time to register for term two classes next week. After these little, much-needed and well-deserved breaks from being students, we are all back to the grind to finish mid-term tests, homework and projects and everyone is counting down the days to go home for our week-long Thanksgiving break in 14 days (told you we were counting). Friday I am meeting with the director of the counseling and career services to review and edit my resume and Monday I register for term two classes, so stay tuned!