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October, 2013

  1. Traditions

    October 31, 2013 by cpl5093

    This week we will be talking about traditions.  Just recently I have realized that I will be missing out on big events that are happening around my town and traditions that are going on in my family.  I missed my high school’s homecoming and marching band competition.  These are traditions that my friends and I all used to go to together and listening to my sister’s stories about the events has really made me home sick.  Also, I will be away from my mother’s birthday for the first time in forever and I will have to miss out on the fall formal dance preparations that my sister will have to go through.  It is hard to believe that life goes on when you are not their!

    But thinking positively, we are all making our new traditions and experiences and having a rockin’ time at Penn State!! There are so many new activities we can get involved in and start new traditions.  People from home are missing out on our awesome experiences we are making here.  Also, everyone at home is still having fun and happy.  Everyone is happy for each other!  Moral of this blog post: don’t be too sad when traditions go on without you because you will be having a great time here at PSU!!


  2. Catching Kony

    October 31, 2013 by cpl5093

    kony

    It has been a few years since us Americans were shed light on the whole Kony atrocity that was happening in Africa.  For those of you who forget or are unaware, Joseph Kony is a “notorious African warlord” who has “used his LRA (Lord Resistance Army) to decimate villages across the Congo region and abducted and tortured young children.”

    Since it became public of the horrible acts Kony has been starting, there has been a “57% decrease in abductions.”  There are rumors that he is hiding in Central African Republic and the Ugandan troops are gearing up to hunt him down.  The US is in full support of trying to find Kony.  Two years ago the US formed an alliance with Invisible Children and are also paying for tracking dogs to accompany the forces searching for Kony.  Now, the rumors have it that the warlord is in the Congo region and progress is being made!


  3. Pirates of Nigeria

    October 24, 2013 by cpl5093

    When people hear the word pirates the first thing that pops into their mind is Pirates of the Caribbean or Peter Pan.  However, real pirates are a major problem and can be quite dangerous.  CNN.com recently posted a story about two people who were seized by Nigerian pirates.

    In the past, the pirates from Nigeria have been known for stealing boats, goods and taking humans as hostage.  They are now at it again.  The article says that two Americans, a captain and chief engineer, have been kidnapped on Wednesday.  Not a lot of information has been released about the abduction.  We know that the ship was carrying oil which is what makes the ships more vulnerable to attacks because the oil ships are slower.

    Statistically, the US imports over 30% of oil from The Gulf of Guinea daily.  There have also been forty attacks from January to September of 2013.  With that, there have been 132 hostages and seven hijacked ships.

    The US’s main concern is that the two hostages are returned safe and sound.  They are working as diligently as possible and hope to have this situation under control as soon as possible.

     

    http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/24/world/africa/nigeria-vessel-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


  4. A Thousand Miles

    October 24, 2013 by cpl5093

    This week I am going to discuss how large our campus is in comparison to a high school.  My high school was created by a prison designer.  It has three floors with an east and a west side.  It takes about three to five minutes to walk from one side to the other.  This campus can take up to twenty minutes to walk across!!

    In high school, we wouldn’t have to walk outside all day, whether it was rainy or sunny.  Here at Penn State, we have to be aware of all types of weather.  I suggest bringing rain boots, scarves, mittens and a heavy jacket.  Classes do not stop for the weather so if it is raining sideways, you will be expected to walk half a mile to class.

    Walking to class is a mini work out! There are virtually no obese people that I have seen on the PSU campus.  However, on those chilly days it is a chore to get up out of bed and walk to your 8am class.  But the bus is a great way to get around on those brisk mornings.

    Tips for walking to class:

    Bring your ipod! It is less of a burden to walk to class when listening to fun tunes!

    Have a walking buddy! The chances of you going to class are higher if you know someone is waiting for you than if you just responsible for yourself.

    Make sure you have time to walk from one building to the next! Running to class is not the best way to get to class, give yourself time to walk from one end of campus to the other!


  5. The Lucifer Effect: Beautiful Souls Discussion

    October 17, 2013 by cpl5093

    lucifer effect

    This evening, I attended the Beautiful Souls event that discussed the first chapter of the book.  We first talked about how we explain our behavior.  The group’s consensus was the laws that we follow.  We follow the law because they are considered socially acceptable.  However, we realized that the laws do not define ethics.  Similarly to our class discussion about Martin Luther King, we realized that the laws that are made are not necessarily ethical. We also decided that the environment we live in effects the way we act and behave.

    A big part of the discussion was the Ted Talks video we watched.  The Lucifer effect is a transformation from good to evil and vice versa.  Not everyone who is good stays good which is why it is called The Lucifer Effect, acknowledging the angel who disobeyed God and was sent to Hell.  The man in the video was talking about how the line between good and evil is “permeable”.  There are situational and systematic reasons as to why people can cross the line. He told us about the Stanford Prison experiment he conducted and how it dehumanized the innocent participants.  Something that really sunk into my brain was when he said that when people change their appearance they are more likely to do what they are told and follow not so moral laws, as if they are a new person.  It then ended with the man reassuring the audience that Heroism is the antidote to evil and that every ordinary person can do heroic things.


  6. Confessions of a Marching Band Addict

    October 17, 2013 by cpl5093

    hscg                      bbs

    Council Rock High School North Color Guard of 15 girls verses Penn State Blue Band Silks, a strong 34 person guard!

     

    Ever since high school I have been immersed in my school’s marching band color guard (you know, the girls with the flags) program.  I have fallen in love with everything about the activity.   Learning all of the drill and the flag work were some of my favorite past times.  Now, ever since joining Blue Band, my love of marching band has grown.  However, the time commitment for a college activity is much more than high school.  In order to keep up with school and extra activities, you must manage your time very strategically.  A lot of time and effort must go into practicing for a college activity.

    For marching band in high school, we practiced Monday, Wednesday and Thursday with football games on Friday and competitions on Saturday.  In Blue Band, we also have two days off but the amount of practice and the difficulty level is so much more intense.  On Tuesdays, the band has practice from 7:30-10 BUT the silk line has to go in up to an hour beforehand to learn and memorize the show’s work for that week.  It is very strenuous, especially on top of school work.

    However, after surviving the stressful week of learning a whole new show in one week, going to the games and performing in front of the Penn State crowd is incredible.  During high school band performances, we would play during half time while the crowd left the stands to go get food.  The only people watching us were our parents and the people who came for the band.  Now, people go to the football games at Penn State and love seeing the band! Working hard throughout the week is definitely worth the cheers we get from the fans after our performance at the football games.

    Advice for students who want to continue an activity:

    Make sure you absolutely love it! College activities can be a lot more intense than in high school so make sure you put 100% into the activity or you are just wasting your time, and everyone else’s too!

    Make sure you do not overload your schedule! It is great that you want to join 7 clubs and join an IM sport along with taking 15 credits a semester, just make sure that you are not overloading yourself with work.  School always comes first, remember, that is the main reason you came to college!

    Have fun! Whatever activity you chose do, make sure you are having a blast!


  7. U.N. sued for Cholera Outbreak

    October 10, 2013 by cpl5093

    It is crazy to think that already two years ago Haiti was impacted with an earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands of people and leaving more than one million homeless.  The United Nations has been helping Haiti with cleaning up and getting Haiti back on its feet for about two years now.

    Recently there has been talk that the United Nations has brought over cholera to Haiti in their recent travels.  Human rights lawyers are now filing a class action law suit against the UN for misconduct and negligence.  The cholera outbreak started in 2010 and has resulted in 83 hundred Haitians death.  There are also a count of 650 thousand survivors of the sickness.

    The Institute for Justice and Development in Haiti has a Boston branch in the US and is suing the UN for financial compensation of the deaths of the Haitians back in 2010.  There is argument about whether the Haitians have the right to sue the UN for the outbreak.  The UN argues that they have legal immunity and cannot be sued.  They went to Haiti to help the victims and the cholera outbreak was not purposeful.

    A scientific investigation concluded that the outbreak came from a sewage leak for a UN base house and the sewage went downstream into a river by a Haitian town.  Because this outbreak was at the hands of the UN helpers, the Haitians believe that the UN should help clean up the mess.  A UN representative says that, “The United Nations has a moral responsibility for the eruption of the epidemic”.  There are now strict rules where health authorities must screen the UN workers for cholera before they can work.

    I believe that cholera in a country like Haiti with minimal health officials and poor sewage makes it easy to spread.  It is definitely the UN’s fault to blame for the break out and they should be tying lose ends with Haiti and fixing what they have done.  Many of the Haitians believe that they are being betrayed by the UN because the United Nations are declaring diplomatic immunity.

    Currently, this law suit will be the strongest action Haiti has taken to fix the cholera outbreak since 2010.

     

    http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/09/world/americas/haiti-un-cholera-lawsuit/?hpt=zite_zite3_featured

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/world/americas/rights-advocates-suing-un-over-the-spread-of-cholera-in-haiti.html?_r=0


  8. WE HAVE… SCHOOL SPIRIT!!

    October 9, 2013 by cpl5093

     

     

    THON  images

     

    THON and Football, two of the many activities on campus that students get excited about!

     

    There were many criteria for which the college I went to had to fit under.  There was the size and the location but the most important aspect that the school needed to have was pep.  Yes pep.  It sounds weird, but many universities I toured were boring and the students did not seem like they were having a good time.  The positive energy was lacking.

     

    The high school that I went to had lots of school spirit and I loved it.  I loved going to the football games and seeing the student section cheer on the team and storm the field when we won against our rival team.  Much like high school (but times it by about 1000) Penn State has lots of school spirit.

     

    The football games at Penn State are like no other football game I have been to.  There are thousands of us sitting in the stands and when we chant the WE ARE cheer or do the wave, it seems like those thousands of people are all excited to be at the game and are having a great time.  When the football team scores a touchdown and the girls are thrown up in the air and the crowd goes wild, there is no other way to describe the feeling but being proud of your school.  When we sing The Penn State Alma Mater and all link arms, the togetherness of the students brings many to tears.

     

    Many high schools across the country or at least in Pennsylvania, have been starting their own mini-THONs.  My high school raised over one thousand dollars for our THON.  The week preceding the reveling of the amount of money we raised, our school became so close and participated in all of the spirit week days.  Here, at Penn State, the amount of money we raise for our dance marathon is incredible.  In the BJC when the amount of money raised for pediatric cancer is announced, tears are shed and the whole school becomes one big happy family.

     

    The excitement at Penn State football games and the emotions shared during THON really bring this huge campus into one small community of togetherness.  The school spirit really makes The Penn State experience worth your while.


  9. The Newtown Patch

    October 4, 2013 by cpl5093

    Many small towns along the south-east side of Pennsylvania have recently created an online news article.  Newtown, PA, a small town located minutes away from the Delaware River has done the same.  These small online newspapers have a very common layout.

    After you type in “newtown-pa.patch.com” a very generic home page pops up.  There is a picture of Tyler State Park at the top of the webpage, along with the current weather temperature.  Then on the right side there are numerous different ads: some of which advertise small businesses in Newtown and some are the normal “singles in your area” type ads.

    The top article is centered on the page with a big picture and the title of the article underneath.  Underneath that, there are other articles that were written that day.  Then down below we have “Upcoming Events” that describe different activities happening in and around the town.

    Back up at the top, even above the park picture, there is a navigation line.  It includes: home, news, blogs, conversations, events, real estate, buy/sell/trade, weekender, jobs and business listings; all topics you would find in a real newspaper.  It also gives you the option to search what you are looking for.

    Most of the articles are about things around town.  The real estate is very helpful for interested house buyers and sellers who want to live in Newtown.  The Weekender is my favorite part from The Patch.  It writes about what is going around town that weekend or fun things that you can do to have an exciting weekend.  This small online news article is a great way to stay connected within your own community.


  10. No More Miss. Frizzle

    October 2, 2013 by cpl5093

    High school teachers are WAY different from college professors.  Throughout elementary school, I recall my teachers always breathing down my back.  They had to make sure that I wrote down that night’s homework in my assignment book.  Then I would go home and have my parents check that I am doing my homework.  My parents would get frequent emails updating them on my performance in class and if I was not up to par, I would sure hear about it that night at dinner.

    In high school, the teachers started to care less.  They would make a point to tell you due dates but not overwhelm us-that is until the due date arrived and people were not finished.  Then the high school teacher would freak out and take away points (just like they should).  These teachers cared about your grade only slightly.  You would be called after class to discuss different learning options if you were doing poorly.  They would make a point to give you study tips and hints to help you improve.  Also, if you skip class in high school, teachers freak out and give you a detention, in college, no one cares.

    Now in college I have learned that the instructors do not care how much effort you put into the class.  They do not even care if you don’t show up.  The professors do like to see improved grades and love to see a student put in extra effort into their class.  However, it is very easy to not go to class because you “have a cold” or slept through your alarm.  The instructor may not care your excuse for not showing up.  If you flunk out of a class because you did not try hard enough, too bad.

    In the end, during any year of school you are in, the amount of effort you put in will pay off in the long run.  Teacher and professors see the extra effort put into a class.  If you seem interested in the material and make a point to talk to the professor, they will appreciate you more than the student who sits in the back of class playing on their computer during the whole lecture.

    Tips for a successful relationship with your professor:

    Go to office hours! Even if you have a silly question, making the effort to go and speak with your professor outside of class shows that you are care about the class.

    Do the homework and extra credit! Especially if it is a hard class and you do not do well on the tests and quizzes.  Besides, doing the extra work outside of class will help you study for the next quiz.

    Go to class! So many people who do not go to big lectures miss out on what the professor is teaching.  Many instructors have clicker points which are silly extra points that count in your participation grade so if you do not go, you don’t get the points.  Also, instructors use youtube clips during lessons and if there are questions on the clips on the test, all the studying in the world will not help you get the right answer to those questions if you have not seen the video because you didn’t go to class.

     


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