“Today, when politics is unconvincing even as entertainment, science has taken on the role of mankind’s deliverer.”

– John Gray

Hey readers,

Here we have it: this year’s Steinkraus Lecture! As science becomes increasingly intertwined in our everyday lives, it is ever more important to understand how it all works within the constraints of our society and culture. Heather Douglas from The University of Waterloo came to SUNY Oswego last weekend to talk about just that – the role of science in a democratic society, such as ours. Luckily, I was on hand to film the talk in case any of you wanted to go but missed it! So, here it is in it’s entirety and be sure to get a discussion going in the comments section below!

In the recent weeks, I have always had something to look forward to on Monday nights. No, I’m not talking about Monday Night Football, although that can be true as well. I’m talking about Monday night trivia in Cayuga Hall.

Six weeks ago, my RA convinced me to join her team in what would be a six-week trivia competition for residents of Cayuga. I joined, despite never being an expert in trivia questions. I also did not go into the six-week competition believing that I would set the world on fire, either.

Guess what? We lost.

We earned some points along the way, however. Each week, the top scoring team earns three points while second place earns two and third earns one. If you do not place in the top three, you walk away with nothing. At the end of the six weeks, the most points wins. The first four weeks did not go so successfully for us – we never scored a single point. However, the last two weeks, we scored one point each time. Not bad, considering it was not good.

Besides the agony of defeat, it was a fun six weeks. As a freshman, the first stretch of something new can be unsettling, but trivia night allowed me to quickly find a fun activity. I also got to know some people on and off of my team. Plus, late night was always a weekly routine following trivia. We celebrated our losses and small victories with food each and every time.

After six weeks, it is all over. While we did not quite take the championship – we were not even close – trivia will return next semester and give us an opportunity to redeem ourselves.

Watch out, Cayuga. Our team is just warming up.

September 18^th was a big day around campus and it had nothing to do with college. It was release day of Apple’s new operating system, iOS7.

When midday hit, the Wi-Fi across campus took a beating. Hordes of people began syncing up their phones to receive the highly anticipated update. For the iPhone loyalists out there, this day could not have come soon enough.

If you ask those who downloaded iOS7, they will tell you the process was no easy one. With so many downloading at once, the update took some time – time that many folks did not want to give up. The anticipation was high and the wait was long.

“The download was extremely frustrating and took forever to complete,” Dylan Galusha, a freshman, said. “As soon as it finally was finished, it then told me that I couldn’t install it on my phone, which was very annoying. I had to wait another few hours until it would let me install. It was definitely time consuming.”

It has now been over two weeks since the update went live and people are still eager to discuss the change, just as they were on day one. For many, the new style is refreshing and positive. Still, the opinions of iOS7 are not completely upbeat and perfect.

Laurie Werner, a freshman, has a positive view primarily.

“I think it’s really cool and advanced,” Werner said. “It’s more colorful and it is a lot better than the other iOS versions. This is one of the biggest changes I’ve seen before on the iPhone.”

Some students on campus, like sophomore Lindsey Moses, did not even download the update.

“I heard negative things about it and I kind of like my phone the way it is now,” Moses said.

No matter what the opinions are, iOS7 certainly has been a big topic to those iPhone savvy users on campus. The innovation by Apple has sparked talk on local, national, and international levels.

The Asian Student Association is one of many very fun clubs you will find in SUNY Oswego. President Thomi Kamilla leads the club with his Executive Boards who are alongside him to help ensure everyone gets to know one another while experiencing engaging events happening throughout your time here at SUNY Oswego!

The ASA welcomes every person of all kinds of ethnicity.  The purpose of the club is to go about informing and educating others about the Asian culture. Get to know us because we want to get to know you. I am proud already to be a part of this club after our first general meeting. Speaking of meetings, they are bi-weekly on Thursdays at the Campus Center in room 210 at 8:00 pm. There are plenty of programs Thomi and the Eboards have planned for every meeting ranging from games, movies, foods, and also community services! According to the Lakerlife website description of the club, “We act as a bridge of connection for others to connect through cultural experiences”. There’s even an event for those of you, including myself who miss or crave Bubble Tea! Members of the ASA enjoy meeting new people and learning other cultures and interests.

Personally, I love having an already good amount of friends made just after the first general meeting, I can’t wait for the next one and many more. Thomi and the Eboards did such great work having us step out of our comfort zone in a fun way that made us get to know at least one thing about everyone attending the meeting. So come join us and most importantly have fun!

-Javier Fernandez

Every college student has been encouraged to get involved and to make the most of their years at school – probably so much so that it may get annoying to hear at times. But people don’t just say this to be nagging; there really are benefits to doing something with your time. Surprise!

Not only is there the opportunity to meet new people and actually become social, there is the likelihood that being involved is…wait for it… fun!

SUNY Oswego offers many opportunities to do something other than eating, sleeping, and studying. As a freshman, it was slightly overwhelming to see all the different clubs and organizations available. How did I know which club would be the right one for me?

I’m a Public Relations major, so I figured the top of my list should be the school’s PR club, the PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America if you have enough breath to say it). I took a look around at the club fair a few weeks ago and signed up for PRSSA. Quite honestly, I didn’t know much about the club when I put my name down, but I figured I would at least give it a shot.

PRSSA is a nationwide organization of students who are groomed in PR to gain more experience and to learn more about the field. Oswego’s group works closely with clients to help publicize and promote events. Members are given opportunities to work in all areas of the broad field, from making fliers to writing press releases and anywhere in between.

I have already attended two meetings (meetings occur every Tuesday evening) and so far, I am feeling good about this group. Not only am I getting a jump start on my PR studies through this club, I am already gaining experience which will only help me as I search for a job down the road.

I am going to make a shameless plug here, but if you are slightly interested in what Public Relations includes, check it out! Even if you think you may not have an interest in what PR has to offer, it wouldn’t hurt to look into it. You might be surprised to find out that this is right up your alley.

Even if it turns out that PR is not your thing, there are plenty of opportunities to become involved on campus. After only a month living here, it is amazing to me that there are so many different clubs for so many different people. A friend of mine, who is a freshman as well, is in the American Marketing Association club to gain experience in his major.

I’m sure there are clubs out there that I am totally unaware of, but are probably perfect for me. In my years here, you can bet I will be looking into as much as I can.

Computer Science, favored by many people, a subject that requires much attention in today’s world. Students in SUNY Oswego have all met someone who favors one of many branches of Computer Science. Whether it’s Software Engineering, Computer Graphics, Game Design, etc… The young adults going for such mind enduring courses have different reasons and backgrounds as to why they’d like to consider a deep push leading to these careers. Interviewing two individual students on campus, they each have their own distinct goals in mind:

Why do you find Computer Science interesting?

How did Computer Science stand out the most for you?

What career do you plan on pursuing/what are your objectives?

    “I find CS interesting because I am intrigued by the operations that happen in the background that enable electronic devices, software and video games to work.

    I am extremely interested in game development. Of all the things that go into making games like: artwork, music and sfx. Programming stood out the most to me because without it, a video game could never exist and it is through programming that the artwork can also exist in the game.

    Career? Well I am thinking that I will work for a company that develops games like dice or Ubicomsoft. But, I also want to gather a small group of people that I would lead to develop games for smaller platforms and hopefully later migrate to bigger ones as the group grows into a bigger studio/company.”

– Jeff Registre

    “Because Computer Science is more than just a programming language, it’s a way of thinking, a methodology with almost limitless implementations. Computer Science is the pain that an artist will learn to love and use and manipulate to create beautiful masterpieces like Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, etc…

    Computer Science has been a subtle layer in my computer with its alpha set to zero that slaps me in the face and bleeds out every time I mess something up, get the infamous BSOD, or don’t understand something. Computer Science for me was the story of big foot that ended up being true at the end since I had no prior knowledge to how computers even worked.

    I do not know which way I wish to go with my current knowledge of computer systems, whether it’s on File Systems, system formats, API’s, Reverse Engineering, Network programming,  System object code syntax(Otherwise known as x86 Intel syntax and x86 AT&T syntax), multiple Programming languages such as C++, C, LUA, HTML, And x86(Both Intel and at&t), but I do know this much, whatever I end up doing, I better be happy or else no amount of accomplishment will substitute the biggest failure of not accomplishing such a simple task as of being happy.”

– Brian Rodriguez

    It is self-evident that most computer science majors share some common goals, to be known for what can easily be frustrating and gruesome work. Personally I share a particularly common goal with Jeff Registre where I would love to work with the big gaming industries or be a part of a team of developers creating the next big thing! I can relate to Brian Rodriguez’s encounters with the Blue Screen of Death which can frustrate anybody who’s anybody. The hard work put into the software is what matters and is what handsomely rewards you in the end. The accomplishment is the pure goal for so many people interested in Computer Science.

-Javier Fernandez

When I was 16 years old, I did something profoundly stupid that would greatly impact my life several years later.

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The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man. –Euripides

Hi readers,

The end of the semester is almost upon us, and yet I’ve felt its ominous presence since day one. This has by far been the busiest three and a half months of my life, and I’d like to tell you about it.

My previous three semesters here at Oswego I feel had been building up to this one. Those were practice, this is the real deal – vice president of a student organization, pulling it up from the ashes (with the help of 5 great friends!), 5 upper division courses, 3 QUEST presentations, and one vendetta to make a real change in school policy later, it’s almost over. I’ve made more Prezi’s and pushed more code to Github in this one semester than I have in my entire life before it. And through all of this work, I’ve seen an alternative perspective, the other side of the coin on an important life issue: balance.

It all started at the end of last semester, when Students for Global Change was in shambles. The officers had stopped coming to meetings, and worse, had entirely given up on the organization without telling anyone. I had been sitting at the club table that semester (since no one else wanted to), promoting my policy proposal for a change in how we handle public art on campus. All of a sudden, I was asked to help get the club organized and back on track. This was no easy task, but I managed to gather a ragtag group of friends to help me out and act as my officers. Since then, I (along with them) have been working nonstop to bring this club back to life. It exists for a good reason, and we showed that to a lot of people on campus this semester. We worked really hard with absolutely no budget to put on a weeklong series of events for Mother Earth Week, culminating in what was possibly the most anticlimactic tree planting ceremony ever put on for Arbor Day. But, what is important is that the tree was planted. It was difficult, but we got it done.

The week previous was QUEST week. Many students are unaware of exactly what QUEST is, which is a shame; thankfully, however, just as many not only are aware, but are active participants in that day-long celebration of knowledge that we share with our community every year. This year, I presented two class projects and my own public art project, and in between presentations I manned a table at the sustainability fair, which was also happening that day.

In between my long nights working on classwork this semester, I spent my days making connections and pushing for a real change in the way this institution treats the visual arts. After lobbying Student Association all last semester, I focused my efforts this time around on the faculty and the administration, asking them to think about making a change. And while significant progress has been made, the lesson I’ve learned is that I am only one person, and I can’t do everything – as much as I would like to. I quickly realized that I do have limits to my energy and ability, and I quickly became overwhelmed and exhausted for the first time since arriving at Oswego after being here for almost two years.

Before coming to Oswego, I believed my problem was that I didn’t want to work enough. Now I find myself a workaholic, and am stressed out in the same way, just for a different reason. I was one way before, and now I am on the opposite side of the spectrum. An interesting side effect is that by having experienced both ways of life now, I can more clearly see the center that I need to be at. So, my friends, if I can give you one piece of parting advice this semester, it would be this: find your own personal balance. Find a way to do some things that interest you, and do them well. If you focus your efforts, you will find a new kind of freedom that is better than any other: a mental freedom from yourself.

Thanks for reading, and may you find something insightful or meaningful from this post and from your studies at SUNY Oswego.

Good luck on finals, and have a great summer break everyone!

-Mark

As a soon-to-be college graduate, all I can seem to think about is how to start a career after graduation. I’ve asked several alumni and other professionals the best way of going about landing that dream job and everyone has the same answer: networking. It’s all about who you know. And the majority of these people agree that one of the best new ways to connect is LinkedIn. It’s where recruiters and employers are searching for you, not the other way around. It is where people can look at who you are professionally without the need for physical contact or a resume.  As a college student, a LinkedIn account is crucial and every student should have one. This may sound like a generalization but in today’s digitally social world, almost every profession has HR or recruiters on LinkedIn that are waiting to help you land that dream job.

Make sure your profile is complete. The more you put in your profile, the more an employer is likely to find you. LinkedIn uses keywords so that when someone searches for a specific skill, education or previous experience, people with more applicable information will be at the top of the list. List as many special skills as possible that apply to you. Be descriptive in your previous work experiences section. When LinkedIn prompts you to complete a section at the top of your profile, do it until you get the All-Star profile rating.

Update your information frequently. Think of your profile as an active resume. Every time you do something worthy of a resume, or maybe something that doesn’t quite make the cut for an extensive resume but is something employers might want to know, add it. Make your skills and experience marketable. In college, you will get the opportunity to have a lot of resume-building experiences. Take advantage of them and let employers know what you did.

Get solid recommendations. You don’t want to have a recommendation from someone down the hall that thinks you are a good guy. This is a professional digital document. But if you had a job or volunteered, ask the most credible person to write you a recommendation or endorse your skills. At SUNY Oswego, you have the chance to work with professors that have done some amazing things and even the chance to work with extremely successful alumni. Take advantage of them! Most would be more than happy to write on your behalf. The same goes for your boss at an internship. Don’t be afraid to ask if it will help you get to where you want to be after graduation.

Branch out. Some people argue that you should make as many connections as possible. Some people say to connect with only people you know. I think it should be a combination of the two. Connect with as many people with value as you can. Connect to reputable people that you would not be afraid to talk to in person. LinkedIn has a feature where your connections can “introduce” you to their connections. If you can connect with someone that knows a lot of people in your field, make sure you take advantage of that and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.

Put your LinkedIn profile link on your resume. This is a chance for employers to get an even better idea of who you are. It will lead them to those great recommendations and all the information you want them to see that you can’t fit into your resume or elevator pitch.