Club Convention

Week two has already approached, and it seems like this quarter is going faster than the previous one. The summer quarters have one less week than any other one, so we lose a week of classes. Due to the lost week, professors are more flexible with testing. They give students more take home tests, and sometimes even allow take home final exams! Yesterday in my Graphical Business Presentation class, our teacher realized that this quarter is shorter and decided to give us a take home midterm and a take home final exam! This made me very excited.

Today was the Club Convention at Berkeley College. My Statistics class got out a little early so Alex and I were able to get there and set up our table ahead of time. I was surprised that we had the convention outside instead of the Student Center since it was so hot and humid out. Luckily we were able to get a table in the shade. Activity period lasts an hour from 11am to 12pm. Since it is a summer quarter we didn’t have as good of an outcome as we would have liked to. Many students take a break, and some want to do as little as possible because it’s the summer. In the fall we are hoping to have a much greater outcome with new freshman, and people coming back to school.

After about ten minutes into the Club Convention, pizza arrived! Berkeley College bought pizza for all the students that attended the Club Convention. It was a very nice gesture, and everyone enjoyed it.

Alex and I


Alex, the clubs Vice President


Myself, clubs President


Pizza Mob!

Back to School

Wow, I haven’t written on here for a while. That’s because of my break from Berkeley as well as my mini vacation I took camping. The Berkeley College break lasts a week, and it was a nice break from everything I had going on.

So, several new things have been going on around the campus since I left. The newest thing that has entered the campus is a Berkeley Advantage Card. With this card, students can use it as a credit card, learn to manage their finances with an easy to operate online account and parents can also put money on the card for you. These are only a few of the benefits that it offers. Another beneficial thing I noticed about the card is that it is really easy to use and register online.

Since I took an interest in the card, I decided to speak to some other students about the Berkeley Advantage Card. To my surprise, students were not all that thrilled about it. Some felt that they do not need the card because they already have other credit cards with advantages that fit into their lifestyles from other companies. They felt that they should have had an option of signing up for the card instead of cards being mailed straight to their homes with their name on it. Many were confused, concerned that the college gave away their personal information to credit card companies and that’s why they are receiving the card. However, some students may not have noticed that the card is not activated until you go through an activation process. Some students felt that the card really has no advantages for them and some were even confused as to where this card even came from and what it does for them. I guess everyone has a different opinion when it comes to this card.

The other day I was walking from class to another class, and I noticed that a whole wooded area was chopped down behind one of the buildings! There was a gazebo by those woods, and I’ve seen some students sit there sometimes with their friends. I remember two or three quarters ago we filmed a project for one of our classes in that area. It’s really sad to see it go, but I wonder what they are going to be building there next.

So far I have had three classes for this quarter. Thursday is going to be my last class that I have not yet been to. This quarter I am taking Forensic Science, Statistics, Graphical Business Presentation and Macroeconomics. So far my professors have been really nice and very understanding. Sometimes professors tend to not be reasonable, but Berkeley College professors are very easy to talk to. Hopefully this quarter will go as well as the last one has!

All Done

Well, the spring quarter has officially come to an end. So far I have found out that I have an A in Abnormal Psychology and a B in Algebra. This morning I took my math exam, it was 33 multiple choice questions. I thought it was going to be a bit harder, but I handled it pretty well. When we were done with the final exam we were allowed to leave class and go home. My plan was to stay in school until my second final exam at 6pm but it didn’t work out that way. I have Bronchitis and I forgot to take one of my pills so I had to drive all the way home and come back.

I really enjoy staying around campus. Not only because it’s really pleasant and nice, but because you can always find someone to talk to. When the campus is pretty empty, there are tons of things to do around it as well. For example, all within a 5 mile radius you can go to the mall, movies, mini golfing, food shopping, and so on. Back in the day when I was not involved in any clubs, my friends and I would always go to the mall during activity period and then come back for our next class.

When I came back to school around 5pm, I decided to sell my books back. I hate selling my books. It’s depressing knowing you spent $120 on a book but you’re only getting $40 back. I learned something I did not know today though. The school is only allowed to buy back a certain amount of books back from students per quarter! I wish I would have known that earlier, then I would have sold my books back on the first day I could have. I found this out because my Abnormal Psychology book was the last one that was accepted and my Algebra book could no longer be taken back. After asking some students about this, I realized many are getting confused regarding the procedure with books being outdated. They think that their book is outdated and cannot be sold at all instead them trying to sell it again next quarter. Now I know not to procrastinate when it comes to selling my books back!

After I sold my books, I went to class about 40 min early. Luckily my professor got there at about the same time I did, and I was able to take the exam early. This exam had 42 questions and it was also multiple choice. I finished the exam in about 20 min, and I was done before the class even started. I finished just in time before the rain came, so I didn’t have to walk to my car in the rain.

This quarter has come to a happy end. I’m proud of my grades, but I think I could have put more effort into my work. I was so occupied with everything like work, substitute teaching, the International Business Club, and much more so it was hard to find time to put the extra work into my school work. In the summer I will have a lot less activities going on, so hopefully I will be able to dedicate more time to class work!

Finals Week!

It’s finally the Last week of the quarter! Monday was our last day of regular classes. Two of my professors were great, and gave us our final exams during the week of regular classes. We were able to hand in our final work early because of this. Blackboard is very helpful, I was able to check my grades, and now I am certain that I got A’s in two of my classes.

I only have two finals left. One is in Advertising and Promotion and the other one is in Algebra. On Monday I took my final test in Abnormal Psychology. The teacher was very helpful by giving us a whole review right before the test. This reminded us a lot of what we went over in class, as well as made it easier for us to understand the test questions. The professor let us out early, so I had some time to finish up my Algebra review packet.

The weather was so nice that I couldn’t resist going outside. The Garret Mountain campus is a beautiful one, with trees, plants, and walkways. They also have some picnic tables out on the grass where students can relax and sit. Since it was so nice outside, I took my laptop and homework, sat on the bench, and did my work there. It was so pleasant. I wish they had more benches out there so that more students have places to relax in the open.

Algebra class on Monday went well. Since I finished my practice packet, I was able to ask the professor questions that I did not understand for the final exam. She was very helpful to everyone in the class. After answering individual questions, she slightly went over each chapter. This really helped me remember everything we have done up to this point. I can’t wait till the final exams on Thursday just to get them done with!

Prep for Finals

Week 11, and the countdown begins! Well, actually the countdown for the end of the quarter has begun 3 weeks ago, but now I’m starting to get anxious. I’m sitting in a classroom at my old High School because I do substitute teaching and trying to work on my final paper for International Marketing. As I was mentioning in my previous blog, the professor never posted the final paper online for us to do. When I had the class on Tuesday, he said that he mixed up the posting dates and it never got posted. I now have to do this paper in 2 days and hand it in tonight instead of having a full week to do it. The paper is 5 questions and it has to be about 5-6 pages single spaced.

On Wednesday we had our last International Business Club meeting. We talked about what we liked and disliked this quarter as well as what we can do better next quarter. Since we got a lot of different offers from other clubs to join together, we think it will be a good idea to work together. We thought of doing another car wash, but I know some clubs get offended when other clubs steal their ideas, I know I would be!

The other day I got a message in my e-mail about a meeting this Friday that would be a continuation of the Leadership Retreat I attended in February. I only received the e-mail around Monday or Tuesday, so I likely won’t be able to attend because of work. If I knew about the event earlier, then I would have taken off from work. Hopefully people that do attend will be able to fill me in on what went on afterwards. I also hope to attend next year!

Pizza and Movie

The International Business Club event Pizza and a Movie went great! We didn’t have as great of an outcome as we have wanted, but we still got a lot of people to come. I left class a little early so that Alex and I could set everything up for the event. She met me in the Multimedia room around 10:30am, and at that time I went to see Ms. Tripp to find out about the pizza and drinks that she has ordered for us. She said that the pizza may be about 15 min late, but luckily they got there just in time for the event.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, the posters I had made for the cafeteria were thrown away and there were no announcements on Blackboard about the event. To make up for that, I went to school early, ran to the computer lab, printed out about 10 copies, and hung them up on walls wherever it was allowed. After that I ran to my first class and luckily I made it on time.
Almost all of my papers for my finals are done, except 2. I still have to do a paper for Abnormal Psychology as well as finish a take home multiple choice test for International Marketing. There is only one problem with the International Marketing exam. Our class was on Tuesday, and our professor said he would have the test posted by Wednesday, noon at the latest. It is now 11:20pm on a Friday and the test is still not posted! My issue is that I hope he doesn’t post it at the last minute and think it will be get done by Tuesday. The test has 100 questions!

Next week is week 11, and the last week of classes before the finals. My Algebra teacher gave us extra credit problems to do, so I need to get cracking on those. I didn’t do as well as I wanted to on one of the tests, so I have to bring that grade up a little bit. Next week we will all start talking about summer activities for the International Business Club. We have gotten a lot of offers from other clubs to work together on projects for the school. I think it is a really good idea, and it will be a fun opportunity to meet other people. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I will keep you updated…

Connection!

Great news! I got a new laptop. Ok, so maybe it’s great news for me, but now I can tell you how great Berkeley’s wireless connection is. Today I brought my computer to school for the first time for a trial run. I am the least computer savvy person you will ever meet, so I knew I should go to the library for my first run. Once I got there I started it up, and of course I couldn’t figure it out so I went to the front desk and the woman helped me log in. I was so thrilled it worked! Berkeley College has wireless everywhere so later on when I went to the cafeteria to eat some food, I was still able to chat online with friends.
After I ate, I went back into the library because the air-conditioning in the cafeteria was so strong that I could not sit there any longer. Remember that big paper I had to write for International Marketing? Well, after a weekend of doing nothing but procrastinating and doing homework, I finally got it done, totaling 13 pages single spaced. Come to find out I have totally forgotten about the presentation that was due today as well. So around 5pm, I started making a short PowerPoint presentation to help me present my project.
So 6pm rolls around, and I go to class. As usual we don’t start till about 15 minutes after because everyone slowly strolls in late. When the professor started to speak, he somewhat upset me. He let some students slide with out having to hand in the paper until next week! I worked all weekend to try and get that paper done, as well as rush my presentation so that I can have it there on time, only to find out some students didn’t have to. Maybe I’m just acting childish but I don’t believe that’s fair.
Tomorrow is the big day for the International Business Club. We are having our Movie and Pizza Day! I printed out the posters and went to Ms. Tripp to get them approved so that I could distribute them. I put many on the cafeteria tables as well as on the bill board, but I noticed today that all of the ones from the tables were gone! This means that I will have to get to school extra early tomorrow and try to print more before the rest of the students get there. I asked Mr. Maher if he could get the message out on Blackboard, but I didn’t realize he sent me an e-mail back asking me what movie we were showing until today. Because of this the message did not get posted, so I hope that we will still have a good turnout after all.
The weeks are rolling by, and now we are already at the end of week 10. The other day I went to look at new classes that are offered in the summer time once again to review everything. They now display the classes in a better way than in the past. You can now view which classes are filled, and which are still available. This is convenient because now you don’t have to waste your time making a schedule that won’t work. I only had one problem with it. I noticed an online class I was interested in taking and it was not yet filled. So the next morning I rushed to the Advisement department so that I could get the class, to find out that the class is being only offered to the online students. They need to come up with a way to show which classes are available for everyone versus ones for online students only. It got my hopes up, but maybe next quarter I can catch the class again! Only 2 more weeks left, I can’t wait for my break to start!