Tag Archives: change

Kayla’s Journey…

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Hey Lakers! My name is Kayla and I’m a second semester senior that loves going to SUNY Oswego.  Every single night, the sunset over Lake Ontario creates the most beautiful skies, that you need to soak in.  Below is a picture of Lake Ontario and my dog, Bentley 🙂  I am a non-traditional and transfer student that commutes from Sterling and is here to spread positive vibes, help others and share my stories to those who can relate.  College wasn’t really something that interested me right away out of high school, and I thought that ‘living a little’, was the choice I decided to take.

Something that was so scary at first, was the best thing that has ever happened to me and this was choosing to take an adventure. I enjoyed life, before I decided to go back to college at SUNY Oswego. After high school, I decided to leave my families dairy farm that I had grown up on and take this adventure to join the US Navy in a Naval Mobile Construction Battalion called the Seabee’s. I was a Petty Officer Third Class Equipment Operator and I first was stationed out of Mississippi, then New Jersey and then I served training in Guam, and I had my license in just about every type of equipment in the military. I absolutely enjoyed traveling, the experience and the friends I have gained from serving the 5 years. Although the military is not for everyone, but I felt honored to be able to serve and protect our country.

After the military I moved on to the next chapter of my life back to Sterling, NY and I decided to go back to college for the first time at Penn Foster, with a major in Veterinary Technician. It was an online degree and I was able to find a part-time job at an Animal Hospital in Fulton. I think I went to every animal hospital within a 30-minute radius and gave them my resume and my enrollment into the Veterinary Degree. I loved working with animals, and I grew up with plenty on the farm. I quickly moved to full-time and over the years my responsibilities grew more and more. I then graduated with my Associates in Science and I was able to practice Veterinary Medicine on animals while I was enrolled in college, after graduating with a Licensed Permit and up until I passed the Veterinary Technician National Exam. That New York State board exam was one of the hardest exams that I probably will ever have to complete. After working there for six years and working for two different Veterinarians, is when I took my chance to go back to SUNY Oswego for my Business Administration degree. It wasn’t the easiest decision, but I’m so glad I took that leap for the change in my career.   I’d like to go into Pharmaceutical or Medical Sales, and I will have my credentials and experience to lean back on.

I started in the summer of 2017 with on-line courses and a few part-time jobs, and at that same time I was planning mine and my husband’s wedding; that was planned two weeks after the fall semester had started. Not only was it an adjustment from not being used to being in a classroom setting with younger students, but I also became very good at multi-tasking between the two and being organized. I couldn’t be happier on how ‘our’ day turned out.

I first remember going to visit Glynn, at the School of Business, with a thousand questions. Not only was I proud that I was the only one out of my ‘big’ immediate family with a degree, but also that I was accepted into one of New York’s top universities. Since my first semester I have been a member of the Alpha Sigma Lambda, Chapter ETA National Honor Society, and I have been giving it my all to achieve the dean’s list every semester. One thing that I honestly can say, is that I appreciate school “way” more now being older, and I am glad I didn’t choose to go right after high school. Sometimes starting early on assignments or a project is a better feeling than cramming it in the last-minute, or if you have to choose between going out with friends or working on school at home.

I hope you all enjoyed reading about my past work experiences and I’m eager to hear of others.  I’m so thrilled to be a student and a Social Media Ambassador for SUNY Oswego.  This college has opened up so many opportunities for myself, and I still can’t believe all the things they offer to all their students and alumni.  It’s been quite the journey going back to college (for the second time ha-ha) and there have been obstacles, such as all things in life.  But, I can’t explain enough how excited I am to graduate in May and move on to this next chapter of my life, with the hope to help others.

“The sky is the limit.”

Circle Of Sisterhood

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The SUNY Oswego National Sororities on campus have adopted their first philanthropy. This philanthropy is called “Circle Of Sisterhood Foundation”. This foundation is not for profit that is ran by sorority women who intend to remove those barriers all over the world. Giving women and children all equal opportunities to educate. Without proper education you are far from likely to succeed.

Being that the sorority women here at SUNY Oswego do have the opportunity to be educated they see how important it is for everyone to have that too. Every female in this world deserves to have the chance to be a change in the world. All the sororities that are participating in Circle of Sisterhood have been educated on why this is so important to us.

We are going to spread awareness, make a difference, and be the change.

 

A Transition

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It is so difficult for me to believe how quickly winter is approaching, and it kind of scares me. Today, I went to Penfield with a couple of friends to do homework at around 3:30 or so, and by the time we were done at the library and therefore heading back to Waterbury (which was a little after 5), it was starting to get dark outside, and by the time we were back at Waterbury, it really was dark outside. The days are beginning to get shorter and shorter, and night falls earlier and earlier. Winter is right around the corner.

I don’t understand and I have never understood why some people love Winter, but that’s just my opinion. It gives me a feeling of being sheltered. Practically everything in nature is covered by a cold, white substance which dominates the earth for months, and I guess that it makes me feel the same way. It makes me feel cold and sheltered. In addition, most plants and trees are dead, and everyone, myself included, is more inclined to spend more time inside since it’s so cold out (and here, windy, too), and I hate that. The season itself affects my mood for the worse, and that is why I say that the approaching months scare me.

Don’t get me wrong; I love Christmas, and I love the snow when it’s here around the holiday season, but I often find myself (every year, in fact) wishing that it would go away afterward. Right now, I am really happy, but I suppose that my fear is that this current state is the “calm before the storm,” if you will, and that I don’t have very long before an end is put to it. Last year, my most difficult times, not only of my freshmen year but of my entire life thus far, were spent during the winter months, and I really don’t think that that is a coincidence.

Everyone enjoys “alone time” every now and then, myself included. However, I am pretty sure that I’d go clinically insane, as I think a lot of people would, if most of my time was spent alone, and last year, that’s how it was for me. I was primarily alone probably 80% of the time, and that time alone was primarily spent doing homework and studying. It was just an all-around difficult year for me, and at the end of the year, I made a pact that I was going to do everything that I possibly could to make this year a better one, to make it exceed last year on so many levels, and so far, I have done just that. I have been getting more sleep, I have managed my time more effectively, I have had a lot more fun, and I have had a much more accelerated social experience.

It’s kind of sad when I actually stop and think about that, because as happy as I am now, if only I had had everything last year that I have this year, if only I could have been as happy. If I had been, a great deal of pain would most likely have been prevented, and next year, I have a couple of friends who want to live in the townhouses, and likewise, that scares me, because even though I know that the townhouses aren’t exactly in the same vicinity as the residence halls on that side of campus (Oneida, ‘Daga, Cayuga and Seneca), but they are still on the same side of campus, and I’m so afraid that being on that side of campus again is going to bring back memories. I left that side of campus to avoid the trauma, and I love this side of campus.

You, whoever you are reading this, that is, might be wondering why it is that I don’t just tell them this and stay on this side of campus. “Surely, you have other friends,” you most likely wonder, and yes, I do. I have plenty, in fact. However, this particular group of friends is the closest to my heart and has been since I first started here last year as a freshmen, and I really don’t think that I could realistically live here without them and be happy. I will follow them wherever they go, and sometimes, although not always, there are ways around pain. Sometimes, there is help available for you, and that is yet another reason why I have not said to any of them that I don’t want to live in the townhouses. I know that if I am in pain for whatever reason, they’d be there to help me.

In the meantime, I am just going to relax and enjoy life and enjoy this school year. My problem is, I suppose you could say, that I fear change. When my life takes a turn for the good, I fear that something is going to ruin it, and when I become vehemently comfortable in a certain situation, the idea that it isn’t always going to be like that, that it is one day soon going to be drastically changed, really scares me. I have a lot of friends that I know I won’t be seeing too much of next year, especially on weekends in the winter time when there are no buses available, and no matter where I want to go on weekends in the winter time, for that matter, I’ll have the choice of either staying cooped up inside or venturing out into Oswego’s Winter chaos. There are a lot of aspects to the experience, such as those just mentioned, that I’m really not looking forward to by any means, but like I said, for now, I think I’m just going to look to the future as a positive enforcement and hope for the best, because after all, what else can I hope for?