Capstone Blogs

Capstone Conversation:
Earlier in the year (I think in September) I went to The Naked Roommate by Harlen Cohen.  Much to my surprise, the event that was supposed to start at eight was supposed to be over three hours long!  As much as I enjoyed his presentation, my friends and I had to leave early -- we had a big chemistry test the next day.  However, while I was there, I found Harlan Cohent to be really funny.  He approached even the most sensitive topics with comedy, which had us all at ease.  He made fun of a few people, and I found the whole event to be really entertaining and fun.  After going, I wanted to read the book.  I actually had forgotten how much I wanted to read the book until I went to do this blog.  I'll be requesting it at the library soon! :)


Capstone Cinema:
Throughout the semester, I've been to two Capstone Cinemas.  The first one was about a boy with a muscle disease (I think) who ended up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  His friends took him on a journey across the United States to find the TV show Pimp My Ride.  They were hoping the show would pimp his wheelchair.  Sadly, I can't remember the name of this movie though. The second movie was Zomebieland!  It was a great, really funny movie and Capstone ordered Insomnia cookies and milk to go with it! The cookies arrived fresh and hot.  This was by far my favorite Capstone event I went to, because the movie was a less serious topic and obviously the cookies were amazing.  There were these chocolate cookies with white chocolate chunks -- definitely my favorite.


Capstone Social Event:
All of the Capstone social events are on Friday afternoons and every Friday I go home to see my friend Megan, so this particular requirement was hard to fulfill.  My classes end at 10 AM on Friday, so I found it pointless to sit around until 2 PM when I could go ahead and leave and spend the day with my friends.  One day I did though, and I got to Hot Cookie Friday at 2:20 PM.  The cookies were already gone.  Epic fail.  Jessi (my roommate) and I were extremely disappointed, although at least we got the Social Event point.  After about five minutes, we decided to just go ahead and leave and go buy our own cookies.  We went to Gibbes and used our lunch meal plans for 4 cookies and a drink each.  I'm pretty sure the check-out lady thought we were crazy, but oh well.

Blog #26: LAST ONE!

When our class originally got the service learning assignment, I was kind of dreading the experience.  I figured we'd end up with children who were difficult and didn't want to work.  However I was pleasantly surprised when I got my assignment.  My mentee is respectful and hardworking; she just had a few areas of weakness.  I found it interesting that our personalities matched up so well.  Her weaknesses (math and organizing) so happen to be my strengths.  I don't know if that was done purposefully or not, considering I didn't put anything about math on my application, but I think it would prove beneficial to match mentors and mentees up with their strenghts/weaknesses in the future.  I chose to continue my mentoring throughout the rest of the semester and possibly throughout the spring as well.  One of my favorite parts of this whole experience was seeing the difference I have made.  She came into this with F's in almost all of her classes.  Now (from what she's told me) she has a B in history, her biggest accomplishment.  Sam and Danielle attributed that to me, which was an awesome feeling. :)

Blog #25: Thanksgiving, again?

Over Thanksgiving break, I had wanted to focus on family and friend time.  I planned on writing my reflection paper #3 today and I've gotten a good bit done.  However, because I know next week I will be focusing most of my energy on studying for chemistry, I will probably be spending a lot of time over this break working on my U101 final. 
One of my best friends goes to Clemson and will be visiting! I'll get to spend some of Friday with her, I hope.  Today and tomorrow both include family lunches.  At least tomorrow's will be at Carolina Wings.  Saturday is my boyfriend's birthday, so I'll be at his party Saturday night. Sunday I'm hoping to escape my house and come back to the dorms around twelve or one.  Then I can focus better on school work for a little while before the majority of the people come back from break.

Blog #24: Sustainability

When I think of sustainability, the first thing that comes to mind is school work.  Throughout high school, taking multiple AP classes at a time was definitely a challenge.  There were plenty of people who couldn’t keep up with the work load.  Being sustainable, to me, is being able to get through something difficult – like the workload multiple AP classes.  Not only was it important to keep up with the work, it was also hard to balance homework time with social time.  So overall, I do think I live a sustainable lifestyle.  To become more sustainable throughout my life, I will need to put more effort into choosing the foods that I eat, as well as exercise.  I’m great with those types of choices in the summer, but when I have school every week day, it’s difficult for me to keep making healthy choices in those areas.

Blog #23: Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving I'm going home to Irmo (about 15 minutes away) and spending most of the break with friends. Other than that, there are three family lunches I have to attend on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, one of which is in Greenville.  
Growing up, I've always known I wanted to be a nurse. Both generations before me on my mother's side have been nurses as well.  In elementary school, I went through a phase where I wanted to be a teacher though.
I think a nursing internship would be a great opportunity over the summer. However, my family goes on several trips so it would be hard to find an internship that would let me go on my family's outings.
I had no idea that the USC website had information on how to complete a resume and helpful tips for interviews. That was the most useful part of the presentation, by far.

Blog #22: Financial Responsibility

Although I do not have a personal budget right now, I still see myself as financially responsible.  I have a checking and savings account.  Twenty percent of every paycheck goes into my savings account, no matter what, and I haven't used my savings account for anything yet.  I'm saving it for emergencies, etc.  I like to keep a certain amount of money in my checking as well.  Once I get below that certain amount, I stop spending any unnecessary money until I can build it back up.  I plan to put off getting a credit card for as long as possible.  It'd be nice to never get one, but I feel like eventually I'll need it to help get a house or something big like that.  While the video in class suggested keeping your credit card in a freezer, I highly doubt I will do that, but I do plan on keeping it somewhere at home -- like a jewelry box or something -- where I can't get to it when I'm out shopping.

Blog # 21: Stress Management

School in general stresses me out, especially around exam time.  Overall though, papers have the worst effect on me stress-wise.  I almost always wait until a few days before to start, and then go slowly from there, knowing I still have a few days to complete the assignment.  Come the day before the paper is due, I am stressed beyond belief and trying to write my paper as fast as possible to just get it done.  I deal with stress by listening to music, usually.  Working out helps as well.  However, when I’m pressed for time with an assignment due soon, I block everything out with loud music, sit at my desk (as opposed to on my bed), turn off my phone, and completely focus on whatever assignment is due at the time.  It works well, and then I turn my phone back on when everything is completely finished.

Blog #20: Time Management

Overall this semester, I think I have managed my time extremely well. Other than writing papers at the last minute or studying the night before a test, I usually get my homework done way ahead of time. Next semester, I need to work on planning better for papers. Waiting until the last minute to write a four-page paper does nothing but causes extra stress. If I made a schedule and did an outline one day, and a page a day for a few days in a row, my paper would be done early and without the extra unneeded stress. I wish I had been able to make more time for studying. I feel like if I studied a certain amount of time each week, by the time an exam came I would be much better prepared. Also, I wish I had more time to work out.

Blog #19: Healthy Carolina

Overall, I do view myself as being healthy. It's hard to stay healthy though with the food choices on campus. I thought I usually ate really well until I looked at the calorie count on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in Gibbes! Just the sandwich itself has 570 calories! I can only imagine how many calories their french fries and sub sandwiches have. I've done good staying away from Burger King and Chick-Fil-A though. New friendships I've made have helped me stay healthy too. A lot of my friends enjoy going to the gym, so I usually tag along. They encourage me to stay healthy in a lot of ways. For instance, if I can't decide between two things to eat, they always encourage me to choose the healthier food. We push each other at the gym as well. It's much easier to work out when there's a little bit of friendly competition going on.

Blog #18: Spirituality and Faith

Personally, I view religion as something that you can see or an act -- like for instance, going to church every Sunday or wearing a cross around your neck. Faith and spirituality are more personal experiences. I don't feel like someone can look at you and see that you're really spiritual (as opposed to the cross around your neck for instance). Faith doesn't necessarily have to do with religion, either. You can have faith in many different things. Since I've been at the University of South Carolina, my views on such topics haven't changed. I really don't attend church services very often, but I do have my own opinions and certain beliefs regarding religion and spirituality. However, out of the three topics, I am least familiar with spirituality.

Blog #17: Study Abroad

If I were to study nursing elsewhere, I would choose somewhere abroad as opposed to nationally, with the one exception being North Carolina. I have a lot of friends in North Carolina and it would be cool to get to visit them for a whole semester. Otherwise, I would probably choose Spain. One of my huge goals throughout college is to become fluent, so visiting Spain would certainly help me with that. I would love to go to Australia too, although I have no reason other than because I like it.
My favorite part of my service site has definitely been how much I've been able to help my mentee. She really seems to look forward to when I come. I helped her make a huge study sheet one day for her math exam. She hasn't gotten her grade back yet, but I'm really hoping what I did with her helped!

Blog #16: Leadership

I define leadership as taking charge in a large group of people. For instance, when you have to do a group project, there is usually at least one person in the group who will step up and make suggestions. I would view that person as the "leader" of the group, so to speak. I've ended up being a leader in many projects, especially during high school. I always seemed to get stuck with people who didn't care about making a good grade, so I stepped up. My senior year in high school, I would have been eligible to be a leader in HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America); however, our teacher decided to stop having leadership positions due to bad past experiences. Becoming a leader in HOSA at the college level is definitely something I would consider as a junior or a senior.

Blog #15: Diversity, Part Two

Prior to coming to the University of South Carolina, when I thought of the word diversity, I thought solely of race. In my high school, racism was common and seeing it was an every day occurrence. While the same problems occur here at USC, there is diversity in other ways as well. Financial and intellectual diversity are common here too. Instead of being in an AP class where all the students study and strive to do well, I find in my theater class I am one of the few that actually takes notes. One girl actually told me the day before our midterm that she hadn’t kept any of our past quizzes, never took notes, didn’t read the book, and carelessly missed the study session. I can’t even fathom how someone could let themselves fall so far behind, knowing that they have to pass the class to graduate. Clearly she will have to retake the course, but she could have easily prevented that. It amazed me that there was such a huge difference between the two of us.

Blog #14: Diversity

As far as South Carolina traditions go, I attended First Night Carolina on the night of move-in. However, it did not go exactly as planned. It ended up raining all night and soaking everyone. I also participated in reading Into the Wild. While the book was somewhat interesting, the gathering at the Coliseum at eight in the morning was not. I would much rather have been able to sleep in. My favorite tradition will probably be the tiger burn. I have heard it’s really fun and exciting. Plus, a number of my friends go to Clemson, so hopefully we will win! I am also continuing the “tradition” in my family of going to USC. Most of my relatives have attended this college as well. Becoming a nurse also runs in the family and is related to USC. When I graduate in 2014 I will be the third generation.

Blog #13: Alcohol Education

During our Alcohol Education class discussion, I learned a few things, like how much alcohol counts for one drink.  I also had no idea that Four Lokos were actually four to six drinks a piece; this explains all the horror stories I’ve heard about them from my friends.  Next semester, I’ll be taking the required Nursing 226 (which I think is Nutrition), along with Biology 243, Sociology 305, and Spanish 122.  With one open class, I might take another math course.  I’m really good at math and I need the highest GPA possible to get into upper division at the end of my sophomore year.  An easy math course would certainly boost my GPA.  For fall break, I’m going back to Irmo tonight (Wednesday) and coming back midafternoon on Sunday.  Friday night some of my friends and I are going to the fair!  Other than that, I don’t have any specific plans yet – just seeing friends. :)

Blog #12: Service Site

So far, mentoring hasn’t been that bad.  My mentee (let’s call her Jennifer) is really sweet and talkative. This week, I helped her organize her binder (which was a HUGE mess) and her bookbag.  I got out of organizing her locker because she doesn’t use it – lucky me!  She said her biggest problem is organizing and math, two things at which I’m very good at, so we seem to be paired up well. I’m really glad I ended up with a mentee that is well-behaved.  I’ve heard horror stories from other people and the only problem Jennifer has with behavior is that she’ll draw during class instead of paying attention.  My strengths will definitely be math and organizing, which like I said are the two things she has trouble with.  Jennifer really wanted me to have this castle silly band for some reason, so I gave her a cocky one in return and she was ecstatic.  I’m thinking about bringing her some candy or something at the end of this if she keeps everything organized.

Blog #11: Mid-semester

It’s hard to believe I’m already halfway through my first semester at USC. The school year definitely goes by way faster in college than in high school. Looking back, one of my favorite memories has to be moving in. Jessi (my roommate), her family, and my family were all trying to fit in our small room. Everyone was moving furniture as Jessi and I were trying to decide how to arrange our room. It was absolute chaos, but reflecting back it was hilarious. :) If I could change one thing, it would be some decisions I made regarding certain friends of mine. One of my goals at the beginning of the semester was about keeping a really high GPA. I’m proud to say I’m definitely meeting that! I even upped my goal from a 3.6 to 4.0. With hard word and a serious study schedule, I certainly think that it’s possible. That hardest thing will be to make myself write papers. I tend to procrastinate with those because I hate writing them. I’m actually going to go start making outlines for the 3 papers I have due next week right now. Bye!

Blog #10: Fair & Brain Rules

Overall, I thought the Student Major and Information Fair was really interesting. I was disappointed though because the College of Nursing chose not to attend.  The closest thing to nursing was exercise science, so I spoke to the woman at that table for a few minutes. I noticed that the classes were way different than those required for nursing and the lady explained that nursing students who transfer to other majors are almost always behind – good thing I’m staying with nursing! I also spoke to a woman at the pre-advisement table about becoming fluent in Spanish. I can’t minor in anything while being in nursing school, but I still would like to find a way to speak Spanish really well so I can put that on my resume. She told me about a program where you go out to lunch with a student who speaks Spanish and wants to learn English; so in a way, you help each other. Brain Rules looks good so far. Parts of the novel are medically related, which I found intriguing. Some of the parts get a little boring, but it picks back up with another story or scenario shortly.

Blog #9: Classes

Overall, my classes are going really well.  I have maintained a 100 in statistics! My nursing assignments have been really easy so far too.  Theater is by far my most boring class. I bring nursing work so I can have something to do during while he lectures. I’ve almost fallen asleep several times because my professor rambles so much.  Chemistry is easier than I expected, but our class is really far behind schedule.  We’re so far behind that the labs we do during recitation are on subjects we haven’t learned yet.  My favorite class at the moment is definitely Nursing 212.  For the next few weeks, we’re doing medical terminology, which I’ve always found fun and interesting. 

No, I haven’t met with any of my professors outside of the classroom yet.  I plan on taking Dr. Hickey to lunch and interviewing him for my University 101 paper though.  He’s done a lot of interesting things in his life and he’s in the college of nursing, so I figured he’d be a great person for me to interview.

Blog # 8: Service-Learning Site Visits

Last Wednesday I went to Hand Middle School for the required dry run.  We saw some of the students walking around the school, however we won’t actually meet our mentees until next week.  My brother is a 7^th grader at Dutch Fork Middle School, so I think it’ll be interesting to see what sorts of things pose problems for children in his age group.  While I’m excited to meet my mentee, I’m also a little concerned about possible attitude problems.  With my previous job experience with children, we always threatened time-outs and then they would behave.  Now since obviously I can’t do anything like that, I’m not entirely sure how to handle a kid if they turn out to be rude.  Regardless of that, I’m really looking forward to getting more experience with middle school children and helping them in whatever way I can to succeed in school.

Blog #7: Patrick Hickey

So far being a Capstone Scholar has been a positive experience.  Most of the activities they do are during class times for me.  I’ve been wanting to go to Hot Cookie Friday but my only class ends at 10am on Fridays and I’m usually out doing something with friends after that.  However, it’s nice to be surrounded by people with the same work ethic and study habits.  School takes up more time than I expected it to.  Some of the homework in certain classes is a little much.  There are larger amounts of material on tests in college, so it’s really important to start studying ahead of time.  I assumed college tests would have harder questions and be longer.  Nonetheless, the opposite is true so far.  Tests have been around 25, fairly easy, questions.  It’s just the amount of material you need to be prepared for that makes it so difficult.

Blog #6: Time Management, Goal Setting, and a Personal Challenge

On my Student Engagement Plan, my most important goals, in no specific order, were:  1) Get involved with HOSA, 2) Explore the Student Nurses Association, and 3) Keep a 3.8 GPA, or as close to 4.0 as possible.  Getting involved with Health Occupations Students of America will by far be the easiest goal to achieve.  The next meeting is September 28^th, at which I plan to sign up for the Sonic fundraiser.  HOSA members are going to Sonic at some point and being car hops for a night, and our club keeps 80% of the profit.  My GPA is the most important goal, and it will also be the hardest to accomplish.  I have to keep it as high as possible for the best chance of getting into Upper Division (I think the average for last years’ students was around a 3.8).

My personal challenge will either be climbing the rock wall or setting up a workout schedule.  I used to work out all the time and now that I’m in college it’s really difficult to make time to get to the Strom.  Most of the time when I decide to go to the gym, I end up having homework or something more important to get done first and I never make it to work out.  To accomplish this, I’ll have to make a schedule and really stick to it.

Blog #5 -- Academic Success

My LASSI results seemed to be pretty accurate.  I wasn’t surprised when I reviewed the results that self-testing was one of my highest scores.  Before major tests, I always go over all of my notes, highlight important parts, and rewrite on a separate sheet of paper the topics I know I need to spend more time studying.  After trying to memorize that list, I go back and rewrite it again, leaving some parts out; then, I go back later on and try to fill them in.  It’s a great way to see how well prepared I am and where my weaknesses are.

 I also agree with attitude being my lowest score.  I do think that the majority of things we learn in school, especially high school, are never going to help me later in life.  For instance, my theater class – as a nurse, I will never need to know how to critique a play.  I would go see a play to enjoy it, not to spend my time deeply analyzing every movement.    However, the description of a low attitude stated that I don’t believe college, as a whole, is relevant either.  That is completely untrue; college is the most important part of my life right now.  It’s just the classes I’ll never use later on that I think are stupid. 

I could improve my attitude about school by trying to enjoy the classes I don’t like.  I could also try to find a fun way of learning the material. 

Blog #4 -- Service-Learning Training

In high school, I was in a Health Occupations class where we learned basic medical skills and went to clinicals in the hospitals in the area. HOSA was the specific club for this class (Health Occupations Students of America). Through HOSA, my class scheduled a St. Patrick’s Day party at the Lowman Home to entertain the residents and give them something fun to do. I put together a fundraiser for the students in our school to bring in various items for the health center at Epworth’s Children’s Home. One of my clinicals was in the health room there and I noticed that the sick children who had to spend the night in the health center didn’t have anything to do. There were beds and a few toys, but that was it. Through the fundraiser I was able to collect blankets, toys, DVDs, books, and games/puzzles.



If I were to provide another type of community service, I would work with the Pediatric unit at Palmetto Richland. There are a number of children in that unit who do not receive visitors on a regular basis, and as a child, I’m sure it is scary to be in the hospital alone. It would be nice to put together something where students could go visit the children and read/play games with them.

Blog #3 -- Labor Day Weekend

Saturday, my boyfriend was supposed to come over, but he showed up at 9 in the morning. That was really early – my roommate wasn’t even awake yet. We ended up going to the mall in Irmo and shopping for a little while. That night we went to see The Last Exorcism.

Sunday I had the room to myself for a few hours, which was nice. One of my friends, Jennifer, wanted to come visit. That was a huge ordeal because she got so lost on the way here. Her GPS lied to her and took her somewhere random; I couldn’t even figure out where she was for the longest time. Anyway, she spent the night and we overslept and had to rush out of the room in under 15 minutes. I had no idea I could get ready so fast. Later that day I went to get surprise things for my roommate’s birthday on Tuesday. Cheesecake, yum! :)

Blog #2 -- Involvement/Student Org Fair

Overall, I enjoyed the fair. I was really hot outside though, so I didn’t end up staying very long. I might join the skydiving club next year, but I know I will join HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) this year; however, the students at the table didn’t know anything about the club. I was disappointed in the lack of information they were giving out. I was in the club in high school, so I know basics about what they do, but it still would have been nice for them to have flyers or something.
If I had to start an organization, I’d start something hospital-related. When I was doing clinicals in high school in the Pediatrics unit at Richland, there was this one little boy who hadn’t had any visits in several days. I’m sure there are a lot of children out there in that situation, so I’d set something up where volunteers could come and read/play games with those kids.

Blog #1

So part of this blog is supposed to be about our expectations for USC. I haven't really decided what I want out of this college thing yet, other than the obvious things such as a good education so I can make lots of money, meeting new people, etc. I was looking forward to actually taking classes that I enjoy, except the only nursing class that I'm able to take first semester is History of Nursing. I hate history; so much for enjoying that class.
First-Night Carolina was definitely not what I expected, considering it rained the whole night. Finally they stuffed us in the Russell House, which was pointless because all of the food places were CLOSED. So long story short, my roommate and I showed up at my friend Ryan's dorm soaking wet and starving. He was nice enough to take us to Sonic and feed us. :)
As far as unexpected events go, getting yelled at for using the elevator definitely qualifies. Considering I live on the 2nd floor, I usually use the stairs. They lock after 10pm though and literally every time I use the elevator after 10 some random person I do not know decides to get rude with me. They're just gonna have to get over it because I'm not going to be the one person to set off the alarm all over the whole building.