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.