Leaders

These past few weeks have been very positive for me. At my job we now have a new Executive Director who took charge the second she got in the door. I have to give credit to our Regional Director for making a good pick for our school and choosing the right person for the job. The lesson learned in this for me in major.
After spending a few days with Jennifer, who is the new Executive Director I have learned how important and hard it is to find the right management for companies. There are many things that have to be considered when finding the right person for the job. From what I was able to observe you have to make sure the individual matches the personality of other co workers, has great team building skills and knows how to be firm but respectful to people.

Another important thing that I have observed is how one person in an organization can change the atmosphere of the workplace. When your employees are happy, they become a lot more productive and they take pride in what it is that they do. Once we got a new leader I could see a total change in the atmosphere in the school. I feel like the educators are a lot more willing to collaborate with each other, students feel proud of their school and our image is slowly changing in the community for even better.

The best thing though is that everyone can now focus better on their job. I am very excited to get back into doing activities for students and getting more involved. Every year students have an annual competition they attend in Hersey Park where they compete nationally with other students in different hairstyling categories. If they win, they can get certain trips, money prizes and other incentives to become great cosmetologists. Due to the hefty cost of the trip we are looking to have some fundraising done for the students so that the whole trip does not have to come out of their pockets. In February we are planning on having a hair show where the students show off their skills and present a hair fashion show for the public. Our last show was very successful and I am very excited to run another one!

Holiday Season

The Holiday Season has come and gone and I hope that everyone had a wonderful week. I hope that everyone got to spend the days that are important to them with the people that they love and cherish the most. I am very fortunate to have people around me that care and love me and helped me get to this point of my life.

Sometimes I wish that we were able to have a holiday season every month of the year. It’s interesting how when this time of the year comes around people get together with family, enjoy a time together and take the time out to be grateful for what they have in their lives. We should be happy every day for what we have and the people that are around us. One thing I have to mention that I am most grateful for in my life is my education. When you think about how many people in the world don’t have a chance to go to school yet alone college you begin to realize how grateful we really are. Thank you Berkeley College for providing me with quality education that I can carry with me for the rest of my life.

This Christmas I had a lot of adventures. My family and I normally celebrate Christmas Eve for the Polish tradition of “Wigilia” which is a traditional meal where a family gets together for with specific foods. This year we ended up having Wigilia in Queens, NY and getting there was a nightmare. I had to work until 4:30 therefore by the time I got home and then drove to Queens it was 8pm. I spent a good time with my family and finally got home around midnight. The next morning at 5am we left on our journey to North Carolina to see other family members. The drive was about 10 hours and it was our first time bringing the puppies Ella and Samson with us. Lucky for us we didn’t hit any traffic along the way but we did notice that this year we had a lot more people on the road than last year. Tomorrow we are leaving bright and early at 8am and hope to get home around 5pm.

Once again, I hope that everyone had a great time this holiday season. It doesn’t matter what you celebrate as long as you are surrounded by good people and people that care about you. Be grateful for that you have and not for what you are missing because happiness does not depend on your circumstances, it’s a choice that you make.

Holiday Season

Here in New Jersey we are having our first winter storm today. Some people dislike the idea of snow but for me it means fun in the snow! Living in Central New Jersey is surprisingly much different than living in North New Jersey. We usually get much less snow and the weather is a little warmer. I am ready for the holidays and I cannot wait until the end of this week for celebrations to begin!

Today I was supposed to go to NYC and go see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. I was a little upset to see that its going to be snowing all day and night because it has been my long time tradition to go see the tree before the holidays. If the roads are cleared tomorrow we will see if we can go tomorrow instead of today.

Around the holiday season there are so many things to do and see in NYC. During Thanksgiving you can see the Thanksgiving Parade and enjoy the different holiday decorations in Central Park. Once Thanksgiving has passed the Christmas craze kicks in and everyone gets into the spirit. My two favorite things to do is go see the tree and look at the window decorations at Sacks 5th Avenue. If you are in town or attending Berkeley, Id strongly recommend going to visit.

As an Alumni of Berkeley you have plenty of opportunities to stay connected with people from Berkeley. Every holiday season Berkeley has an event called Breakfast with Santa where past students can get together, bring their families and enjoy some time together. Whether you are a current student or a past student Berkeley always has some type of event for you to enjoy with your peers.

Black Friday Madness

The long weekend that started this holiday season has passed by and now the holiday madness has begun. Most people had a nice 4 day weekend which I was able to utilize very effectively on cleaning and getting all my holiday shopping done! I am very impressed with myself that for the first time in history I have ALL my holiday shopping done the first weekend after Thanksgiving. Impressive right?

As I’m sure everyone knows this weekend was Black Friday. A day that is filled with crazy people lining up in front of stores at 3am for a deal, people willing to fight over children’s toys and totally loose human courtesy to get what they THINK is a good deal.

Friday morning I was off from work and decided go buy some decorations for the apartment since now I live on my own. I wanted to decorate the inside and the outside of the apartment to give us a nice warm holiday feeling. First I went to the Christmas Tree Shop where I bought most of my decorations. Christmas Tree Shop is a really great store where you can get decent quality things for a VERY cheap price. I have never seen a store beat prices of competitors like the Christmas Tree Shop does. The store itself isn’t the best when it comes to customer service or everything being beautifully on shelves but hey you have to sacrifice somewhere for a good price.

After the Christmas Tree Shop I said oh what the heck lets go to Walmart and see if they have any ornaments for our first Christmas tree. When I got to the store they had all this equipment outside of the store to control lines and customer flow but lucky for me most of the crowds were already gone when I got there. The store was a disaster! Nothing was in its right place, people were scrambling for any leftovers of electronics, nothing was marked with the right price so needless to say I got frustrated and left empty handed.

On my way back home I thought back on the prices of things and realized how silly people are on Black Friday. You think you are getting a deal on things but in reality you are not. If you are a smart, clever shopper you know that you can get everything cheaper online these days. Shopping on places like Amazon or E-bay saves you a lot of money if you know how to shop well. For example I am getting my dad a GPS for Christmas. At Walmart the item was $193 but on Amazon it sold for $153.

If you want to be an event smarter shopper I would recommend not only shopping online but to also look for savings coupons on websites such as Dealigg, FatWallet or CouponCorner. There you type in the store that you are sopping at and it gives you all the coupon codes you need to save on certain items. It’s really that simple.

In conclusion on my Black Friday ranting, please do your researches before you buy. Everyone loves savings and if you can save $20 on each gift you guy this season more power to you. You can get yourself something nice with your savings so that you have something more to show off to your friends than grandma’s sweaters! Happy holiday shopping!

Bermuda, Bahama, Come On Pretty Mama...

I haven’t had a chance to write a blog in a while because I have been away for a few days. I have been fortune enough to take a 7 day cruise to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands. We had beautiful weather and a great ship. The vacation could not have been any more perfect than it already was.

If you are looking to go on a vacation I would strongly recommend going on a cruise. Cruises in my opinion are worth the most for your buck. In one price you get all the food and entertainment for free and you literally have a buffet of food open for you 24/7. Not only do you have unlimited amount of food but you also have entertainment every night also for free. The time goes by slow because you are doing so many things that you don’t notice the time. At the end of the day you realize how many things you have done and surprise yourself that you fit it all in one day.

First we arrived in Samana, Dominican Republic. The country is beautiful but outside of the tourist areas it was very run down and poor. On the boat they offer island excursions but I would strongly recommend waiting once you are off the boat to do tours through the locals. Yes, it may be less reliable sometimes but you almost save 50% on all the activities off the boat. For example a tour on the boat of the island cost $69 per person but off the boat we paid $50 for 2 people. I think that the tour off the boat was a little better because we were shown around by the locals who really know and live the culture they were able to pass onto us.

The second island we stopped at is St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. This island was mostly for shopping and seeing around town. It was basically like Key West, Florida. Since it is owned by the USA, not much was different than Key West. We did some shopping and came back on the boat to explore and spend time in the sun by the pool.

The third island was Tortola, British Virgin Islands. On this island we took a tour with the locals of the island and the island was just beautiful. The island was mostly made out of huge mountains and a lot of palms. When we were driving though the town the roads looks very dangerous. It made things a little awkward because they drove on the opposite side of the road. In addition to that change they didn’t use any road signs like we do. If they were going to pass you on a street or turn you don’t use blinkers you just honk your horn really loud.

The last island we arrived to was a private island called Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. This was by far my favorite island. The water was as clear as post cards truly show it and the water was really warm. We went snorkeling on this island because I couldn’t pass this clear water. Even though we didn’t go snorkeling deep we saw a ton of beautiful fish. I think I even saw Nemo! At the end of the trip I felt that 7 days is a perfect amount of time on a cruise. If I was to be there any longer I wouldn’t appreciate the adventure as much because you get too spoiled.

Tomorrow is back to work day! I probably have a ton of work and e-mails piled up for me so I better lift up my sleeves and get to work! It’s always good to bring your best foot forward after a vacation in a work place so people see that you can handle a large load of work.

Life Lessons

Every day you learn something new that you may not have known before. It always seems that whatever age you are, you know everything but that is far from the truth. College teaches you theoretical things but little do you know how much the work force teaches you. I myself have learned certain lessons lately from watching people and getting involved myself and I have to share them.

Lesson Number One: Promote Teamwork
We were taught since we were children to work as a team, share and that there is no I in team. As we grow up we get teamwork homework assignments, work as teams in groups and learn how to better interact with others. You would think that by the time we reach adulthood we got this teamwork thing down right? WRONG! From witnessing people and seeing how some people really interact in a workplace its difficult to see how people still do not work in teams. There are certain people who will always try to be independent in hopes that it make them look better. There are people who will purposely do certain things to make another person look bad so that they can point out how great they. Little do they know that good managers will always spot the good guy without help from others.

Teamwork gets you further than working alone. When trying to work as a team don't look at each others and what one person is doing wrong versus what you are doing better. What is important in team work that everyone is looking in the same direction. As long as a team has the same goal in mind everything will fall into place. Coaching people along and teaching them what you know shines more to a manager than one person complaining about another. Being a team means supporting one another and making sure the work gets done.

Lesson Number Two: Don't Get Involved in Drama
Nothing is worse in a workplace than drama. Working with students I see a lot of drama on a daily basis. Whether the drama is between two students, students and educators, students and administration or between two co workers. Whatever it may be it never looks good on you. Drama causes issues which causes a team to loose its focus on the goal of the organization. Its one thing to be part of a dramatic event but its even worse when you get involved and its not even any of your business.

All in all, don't get involved! It is much beneficial for you to keep your name clear of drama and issues in the workplace if it does not pertain to you. When it comes to running programs and events your manager will be more opt to choose you for the job because he or she knows that you can get along with everyone. Not being involved in workplace issues shows that you can solve issues easily and you can be relied on. Then when some problems escalate to bigger problems you can feel good that you didn't have to be in the middle of it.

These are my two lessons for today. Sometimes we have to learn these things the hard way and sometimes we are lucky when someone warns you about them ahead of time. There are many times I think its best that we learn some things the hard way but this time, I hope you take my advice!

Berkeley College has been having quite some fun with all the creative ideas that SGA and Ms. Young, have been coming up with! When I was in college we started doing the JDRF walk and collecting donations for JDRF. We had a ton of fun doing this so I noticed that the tradition has continued. I have to find out how it went this year but I love their flyer and they motto that they came up with! Check it out:



From what I can see Berkeley has gone such a far way just from the time I have graduated. When I look at their website it looks so good that I cannot even remember what it used to look like. We now have all these events posted on the website such as plays, career fairs, art galleries, etc. where before you had to log into Blackboard in order to view any events. I am very eager to continue following up with Berkeley and seeing where it goes next.

One thing I have to give Berkeley huge props for is that it never uses models for its advertising to the students. I feel that Berkeley gets its warm feeling and a trusting feeling towards students because it has true Berkeley students that give examples to potential students on what the college is about. The students on the front page are Berkeley students, the career fair pictures are Berkeley students and event the professors on the page and real Berkeley professors.

You know you can feel good about a college when it’s not afraid to show its own students work. Berkeley is proud of the work that it’s done with its students and that makes us as students proud to be Berkeley graduates.