College Friends

            I encourage all of the incoming freshmen to make as many friends as possible among each other and even upper classmen. This is because college friends are really your lifelong friends that you are going to spend your memories with and enjoy life with. You may find some amazing people who will help shape a path in your life to more of a better future than you could have ever imagined. Sure you will find people who you don’t appreciate and are possibly too much, well; we all can’t like everyone in today’s society. It’s better to find and make connections so you can build a successful future. You can be a famous anything with the help of friends. The assistance of friends leads to finding out who your real and fake friends are. Although some people mention to not trust anyone, you need to understand that everyone wants friends and a successful future. Therefore, chances are, everyone is friendly and want real friends, too.

You build feelings of missing each other if you have a friend who is an upper classman. There you would hope to keep contact for when you all grow up to have your careers and want to catch up at a reunion or dinner for 2. Eventually, you will find Mr. Right, and build feelings and build a family together. This is a potential possibility if we all build connections, be real, and share important and well experienced memories. I hope you all enjoy your time in college, the best 4 years of your life all offered by SUNY Oswego!

            Many of us students here at SUNY Oswego have two different reactions for April 9^th, 2014. One of them being: “Hooray! No classes!” and the other being: “I’m going to check out some of these presentations going on around campus.” If we all are honest, we are more than happy to hear we don’t have classes scheduled and have the opportunity to catch up or relax for that day on your school workload. I encourage everyone, including myself, to at least go to one or two of these presentations going on because so many of them look very interesting. They all range from multiple subjects ranging from Meteorology, Software Engineering, and Physics to Mass Communications, Anthropology, and Studying Abroad. All of the presentations are scheduled throughout the day from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. We have a keynote speaker for Quest 2014: Bruce Coville, who is a 1973 alumnus and author of more than 100 books. I would totally try to go to his speech and check out what he has to say. Enjoy the day guys and enjoy the sharing of scholarly and creative pursuits of faculty, staff, and students here on campus!

On Monday, April 7 in Lanigan 102, PRSSA will be hosting its annual What’s Next Session, which features a panel of professionals from a variety of different career paths. The event is centered around public relations and marketing.

Those who attend the event will have the opportunity to watch the panel discuss various topics and issues relating to their profession. Following the panel discussion, time will be available for the audience to network with the professionals. During this period, refreshments will be provided.

The What’s Next Session, aptly named, is designed to give students a sense of direction and an understanding of the years following graduation. It does this by allowing students to learn more about the different niches of PR and marketing.

Graduation can sneak up on anyone, so it is important to think about life after Oswego. I am only in my second semester, and while it may seem like graduation is far off, it will come up quicker than I expect.

The panel discussion begins at 7 p.m. and goes until approximately 8:30, when networking opportunities will begin.

If you’ve lived in Funnelle Hall on the SUNY Oswego campus any time in the last three years, you would at some point, no doubt, run into the friendly face of Resident Assistant Christianna Miller.

Being an RA can be a challenging and time-consuming position. It is not exactly common for an RA to remain an RA for the remainder of their college career, let alone in the same building. The duty of an RA is to communicate with and guide and mentor students, as well as maintain the law and safety on their individual floor. Miller has mastered all of those challenges. She was the recipient of the Community Connector Award in both 2011 and 2012.

Miller said her initial interest in the position was for financial reasons. RAs are compensated with free room and board from their tuition costs.

“Since I was fortunate enough to have the luxury of my parents taking care of my expenses, I felt a moral obligation to do whatever I could to alleviate some of the costs, because as most of us are aware, college is not a cheap experience,” Miller said. “However, what made me stay an RA was all of the enriching experiences I had.”

Miller getting “pied” at a “Pie Your RA” good cause event

An RA position requires hours of training and the hours of on-call duty vary from week to week. There are also approximately three to five hours of program activities RAs are required to do throughout the academic year.

“You also have to account for floor meetings, staff meetings, hall council meetings, decorative duties, such as door decorations and bulletin boards, and also the abundance of planning that goes into everything,” Miller said.

Miller is a communications major and creative writing minor and still has the responsibilities of being a full time student as well as those of being an RA. She is enrolled in six classes this semester and has a full time job in the Campus Center and does volunteer hours as well.

“If I did not master time management a long time ago, I would be a hot mess,” Miller said. “I am a big “to-do” list person; these have made time management a cake walk. I recommend list making to everyone. Sounds so cool, right? Also, knowing when to ask for help is equally important. Sometimes I cannot take on everything and there is nothing embarrassing in asking for help. What is embarrassing is having a bad final product because I spread myself too thin.”

Miller’s  run as an RA has taught her how to be a great communicator and said she has wanted the people that have lived on her floors to know they could always count on her.

Miller during an RA outing to a museum

“I would want them to see me as someone they could go to if they had an issue, a concern, a need to simply vent, or a complaint,” Miller said. “I’d want them to know there is no situation I would not help them with. I’d want them to know that my room is a bias-free, no-judgement zone.”

Miller has been an RA on three different floors in Funnelle Hall and has offered her services to many residents during that time.

“Christianna is a great RA who I now consider my friend,” former resident Jessica White said. “She was always there for me as an RA and after she changed floors she continued to be the person I went to with my problems. I trust her and she has helped me through so much. I truly believe that without Christianna, my college experience just wouldn’t be as awesome.”

Miller will be graduating this spring and said that while the big things, such as residents doing nice things for her after she did nice things for them, mean a lot to her, it’s the little things that she will remember most from her RA years.

“I enjoyed spending time at the front desk, whether it was dancing, giving baked goods to visitors, or cleaning and finding odd knick knacks. I enjoyed all of the programs we have hosted as a staff. I enjoyed the excitement of move-in day and the sentiment of move-out day. I enjoyed training sessions with my fellow RAs. I could go on forever. When I graduate, I will be taking so many memories with me that have made my time at Oswego worthwhile. I would do it all over again. There have been so many people I have met here that have changed my perspective, my opinions, and in some ways, my life.”

Back to school

We all had quite a variety of experiences coming back from our Spring Break. From experiencing child birth on bus rides back here to a quick and relaxing plane ride over. I’ve heard many people having quite an adventure coming back and we can all be thankful we arrived back safely. Now that we’re back, we all have to get back into the mood of getting used to school after a 1 week break. For some it can be rough, with a side of rude awakenings or it can be just another day for those who stayed on campus during the break. Some midterms are unfortunately still going on and we have to be rushed into the mood of studying for them. I have an essay due plus two midterms and a quiz due in this one week, and it feels overwhelming as I find the time to write this blog describing my thoughts.

I am not as stressed as I could have been if I had all my tests due before the break. However, I didn’t quite use my time during the break to study or really get any information from my classes in my mind. I’m surely not the only one who does this, but I do hope to get rid of that habit of procrastinating. Although many of us can work well under pressure, it feels overwhelmingly risky in my opinion. This Sunday was the day we could all notice that people tried to get their last minute homework in and some found out, they couldn’t beat their forced limited time.

The break, for me, was probably one I couldn’t ask to be any better, even though I really didn’t want it to end. Fun times with friends are the best moments you will experience in your life. To be able to share memories with others is the best. I feel like you will be able to smile more often and be happy. This ability could win the battle over the stress and sadness you can evidently feel if you had oops on your homework and study time.

Now that I’m back, I had a mix of feelings being back here in Oswego. The first was the weather difference! Again I almost forgot just how much colder a 10 degree difference feels like here in Oswego compared to New York City. Second, the lights in the hallways are much brighter! It causes my eyes to squint much more when I have to use the restroom in the middle of the night. I do like how I can almost call my hall one of the brightest dorms on campus. Finally, third, the upsetting fire alarms going off. They sure bring back memories. I think we all hope we don’t get caught taking a shower when it goes off. It is probably all of our greatest fears.

I think it is great to be back to be able to spend time and make more memories with friends in here SUNY Oswego. I’m glad to be back and continue pushing on to my goals. Enjoy your time here everyone, it’s definitely worth it.

Committing to SUNY Oswego

I have noticed some of the admitted students wonder whether to commit to attending this university and the answer is: they definitely should! Well why? Well, SUNY Oswego has a wide variety of activities, clubs, sports, and dorms to try out! Especially the fun orientation over the summer! Oh how I wish I can be a freshman again next year… As a current second semester freshman, I definitely love it here and wish to live and study here quite lot more. When you think about graduating sooner and sooner, you are getting closer to living away from the best 4 years of your life, give or take a few more years if you’re going to graduate school.

The traveling, specifically from New York City to here can be a pain in the neck if you are using the bus(es) to travel here. Using both Greyhound and Centro is probably the best way by bus since Greyhound has outlets within the bus, from what I know of. It can take a total of 9 hours adding waiting time and the time to arrive to the bus from whichever borough you live in using the MTA. The actual bus rides would take 6 to 7 hours. However, you should realize you aren’t the only one! There are many city kids here in Oswego and they enjoy coming back every semester to this university. The friends you make is really hard to let go once you commit, especially when you go back home for vacations. You’d have to wait to come back to the university to live with them again in your respective dorm halls.

It’s also great to find out you have quite a number of things in common with others within the SUNY Accepted Students Class of 2018 page. The same hobbies, sports, etc…! Take note that your college friends have the most potential of being your lifelong friends!

When it comes to choosing a dorm hall, this all depends on how you feel like living. All dorms have something unique about them but here’s some basic information. East campus dorms are Scales, Waterbury, Riggs, and Johnson. Scales and Waterbury do not have a dining hall, thus, you would have to walk to the lakeside dining hall that is connected between Riggs and Johnson. Johnson is the freshman dorm hall that requires you to do some community service type of classes (I’m not completely sure what they are since I haven’t really chose to live there) in order to stay there.  The one dorm I have never been to Riggs. The middle campus dorms are Hart and Funnelle, Hart is the international dorm, the dorm that invites those who come from different nations and come here, and just like Johnson, you need to do some sort of community service classes in order to stay. Funnelle seems to be the dorm many students favor because of the wide rooms and the fact that it’s so close to all the academic buildings! You will most likely be eating at the Cooper dining hall connected between Hart and Funnelle when you come for orientation.  The West campus dorms are Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida. Seneca is a huge 10 floor dorm hall while Cayuga is the 4 floor dorm hall with the amazing RA’s! But I’m probably only being bias. Both Cayuga and Seneca share Pathfinder Dining hall and there’s a tunnel connecting both dorms. Similarly Onondaga is like Seneca only for upper classmen and full of suites, and Oneida is like Cayuga only with lounges on every floor plus a computer lab to print stuff out. The Village is the farthest place to live on campus, unfortunately I don’t know much about living there.

Overall, the choice is yours and we are lucky to be given the chance to choose where we want to live and with which roommate specifically. Hope we all can be friends and enjoy making your commitment to SUNY Oswego worthwhile!

I have to say that during my freshman year of college here, I was pretty intimidated by the overwhelming amount of things that happen at SUNY Oswego. I came from a high school that was connected to its middle and elementary school and graduated in a class of 61 people. The only thing I ever participated in besides academics in high school was drama club. It was definitely worth it. I was able to snag two lead roles in that time and know the ways to make a proper performance.

When I first came to SUNY Oswego, I knew I wanted to do more. And everyone that I had talked to about college had told me to get involved in things besides academics. From the start, I joined The Oswegonian newspaper and a few clubs but only went to their general interest meetings and then fizzled out over the next few weeks.

Over the last year or so, I’ve just begun to notice just how much SUNY Oswego can do for someone and where it can take them. I made it a goal of mine last year to not say “no” to things so suddenly when they come up. There were a lot of opportunities that came up that I simply refused and others thought, “yeah that would be cool, but I’ll probably never do it.”

That changed last year and it has rewarded me ever since. One of my favorite things to do is travel. I’ve been to almost half of the U.S. states and have seen some wonderful sites of North America and close to home in New York State. I befriended the president of the history club last year and she told me over winter break that the club was going to Washington, D.C. later that spring. She knew I was a huge history buff and asked if I might want to go. I had wanted to go to Washington, D.C. since I was in fifth grade. I wanted to see the Washington Monument and the original Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, along with all the spectacular monuments. This was one of those “yeah that would be cool, but I’ll probably never do it” moments. But then I went…

It was one of the best trips I’d taken in years and was everything that I expected it to be. I also met some people that became my best friends this year and became a full time member of the history club. We are going to Philadelphia in April, another place I’ve always wanted to go. The whole trip just opened my eyes as to what I had the ability to do now.

In November of this year, I was told about “Alternative Spring Break” that SUNY Oswego offers. I’d heard about it before, where students have volunteered to go down to New Orleans to help in the still on-going repairs from Hurricane Katrina. I was told that the trips this year were going to Mississippi, Alabama, and Iowa. I thought, “Well, I’ve never been to those states before” and I love helping people so for only $150, I was gladly able to jump on that band wagon. I was placed in the Alabama group, which is volunteering for Habitat For Humanity and I leave for that in just a few days.

I’m hoping to go international next year, whether it be the international trips that Alternative Spring Break offers or a Communications quarter class where students can go to Paris or London over spring break.

I never even imagined I’d be doing any of these things during my college years. I’ve come to realize that now is when I have the time, the expenses are right, and the overall experience is always worth it. SUNY Oswego and college itself offers so much to do in a little four year span. All you have to say is “Yes.” In terms of my joy of traveling, it’s a wonder to think of all the places I’ve gone and all the places I might go, all because I decided to go to SUNY Oswego.

As one goes through their college career, they start to get busier and busier as they take harder classes and become more involved on campus. Everyone also has their “week from hell” every once in a while where so many important things are all due in the same week.

This past week, I had one of those weeks from hell. In a single week, I had two huge group projects due two days apart, a paper, and more (which is mentioned below) added onto my usual weekly workload. I had dreaded last week for this whole semester and it arrived rather fast. I believe I survived last week by doing the following things:

1. Leave Open Space for Unexpected Surprises:

While I knew I had a lot of assignments due last week, I knew there would be more than I was expecting. For example, I wrote a paper that was due in the middle of the week. Upon bringing the paper to class, the professor without prior notice says, “Now, you are going to switch papers with someone else in the class and critique their work. This is due two days from now.” Because I left open patches in my schedule, I knew I had to give one of those up in order to complete the assignment.

That week, I also helped a friend with a project and helped out with a video shoot. These two tasks were all on short notice. Every week is different and a single week is never set in stone. One’s schedule has to be flexible enough to change at any moment. Always keep a few hours free just in case.

2. Get Things Done Early:

There would have been no way to finish all of my work in a single week. I instead broke my tasks up in chunks and did small bits of each beforehand. One of my two group projects was actually completed the week before it was due. I met with my group members both online and offline and worked during less busy weeks to get it done. The paper I had due Wednesday was actually finished a couple of days prior because I wanted to use the time Tuesday night to work on other things rather than rush out a paper.

There have also been times in the past where I completed assignments a week or more before they were due, just because I couldn’t think of any other time I would have to get them done. Procrastinating is easy to do. I’ve done it plenty of times. When one has multiple assignments due day after day, procrastinating isn’t an easy option to choose. There’s no shame in getting things done early.

3. Make a To-Do List:

The most successful days and weeks I have are the ones where I have made to-do lists. I always have so many things to do during any given week that it becomes very hard to remember them all. To-do lists allow me to keep track of what I have to do. Making a to-do list also gives me satisfaction when I’m able to cross an item off of my list. I can get a visual as to how much progress I have made in a day or week. It also forces me to commit to a plan of action.

Throughout college, there are always so many things to do and so little time to do them. College students typically procrastinate, but sometimes, that will prove to be ineffective. This is especially true during midterm and finals weeks, I do follow the advice I gave above and it does lead to be more productive and relaxed. These strategies also give me time to polish my work rather than hand in the first draft of a paper and call it a day. Be wise with your time. Don’t waste it.

This semester, I am expanding my horizons by becoming a part of the TV world at WTOP.

I have no plans to be in front of the camera – at least anytime soon. Instead, I chose to be a part of the crew, operating a camera for the nightly news.

Joining WTOP is not something that I necessarily need for my career path – at least Public Relations. However, one of my biggest interests revolves around television. I am fascinated in what goes into television programming. From sporting events to ceremonies, to national news programs, to local programming, I love having a look behind the scenes of it all.

So, joining WTOP was something simply for fun. Just because it is for fun however, does not mean I cannot take away anything from the experience.

I look forward to learning what goes into a news program, how a TV team works together, what certain positions entail, and most importantly, how to perform at my best for my assigned position.

Working a camera may seem like nothing, but on the day of my training, I learned there was a whole lot more to it. Learning terms, controls, different cameras, and positions can be intimidating at first.

I tend to get nervous about a lot – pretty much everything, even the simple parts of life. I like to think that is what drives me at times. Jumping into WTOP, I was extremely nervous.

I was nervous about what I could control. I was nervous about what I could not control.

A friend of mine, who is a member of WTOP, got an earful of questions from me the week leading up to my debut behind the camera.

After training, a run through, and the first few weeks of live shows, I feel much more comfortable.

I am still far from perfect.

I have much to learn and I can only get better with practice. As a whole, I feel happy, comfortable, and confident, especially with the team of people around me at WTOP.

I am sure I will be getting a call from NBCUniversal any day now for a job behind the camera.

I am kidding, of course.

But down the road, who knows?