Spring Activities

We just had our second meeting of SGA for this quarter and it was a lot of fun. We had soda, pizza and a good time. We were presented with t-shirts that were made for the officers which said President Kopec in the back and I’m in Garret Mountain SGA …and I’m celebrating EARTH DAY 2008! It was a very nice gesture and I will use this t-shirt for next weeks activity. Next week were doing a tie die event for Earth Day. We will be bringing in old clothing and tie dying it.



There are so many activities going on at the Garret Mountain campus this quarter. Some of the activities include die dye day, painting flower pots, picture collage and karaoke day, Habitat for Humanity, and the list goes on.

Another thing that the International Business Club is working on is to have a Family Day. Many times parents help students pay for school so we thought that it would be a good idea to involve parents and families in an activity. Ale, the club vice president, came up with the idea of a carnival. We thought it was a great idea. The event is planned to happen around May 10th but we will see how everything works out.

Its already that time of the quarter where we have to pick classes again. Right now we can only pick online classes because those fill up the fastest so they start them earlier. I’m still debating if I want to stick with online classes only or take on campus as well. I hope everything works out!

Weekly Update

I really can’t get used to this one time on campus deal. Since this quarter stated I’ve been feeling out of place not having to go anywhere. I think in the summer time event though I don’t have to take any on campus classes, I will do so anyway. I am the type of person that needs to get out and have that person to person contact.

One good thing about today was that today was my pay day! I can finally pay off the books I had to just buy. Today was the first activity period activity. Cesar Castro, who works in Career Services, presented a presentation about setting your personal goals and how to accomplish yours. I wasn’t able to attend because I was working on my internship, but I thought it was a great idea. Many students need a push and ideas on how to manage their time and follow through with what they do.

Tomorrow is our second SGA meeting. Last week we had good conversation and we got good input from students and other members. Ms. Young did not attend because she forgot about the meeting. We were surprised that she didn’t show up because she’s usually the first one there. When we found her after the meeting we found out that she was shopping for another event that night and the meeting totally slipped her mind. I hope she makes this meeting because we have a lot of questions for her.

If you’re interested in attending meet up tomorrow, Thursday at 4pm in the Multimedia Room.

Weekend Almost Never Ends

The weekend is almost over, but for me it always seems like the weekend goes on until Thursday. Thursday is my only class that I have on campus. For the past 15 years the weekend ended for me with school on Monday, but now it’s different. Even last quarter school sometimes started on Tuesday, but it was so close to Monday I almost never noticed the difference. Dont get me wrong, I still have a lot of work between all the work its just that it seems like I'm doing it over a long weekend!

I really enjoy my The Changing Family class. It’s really interesting and it brings up topics that people have very strong opinions on. Because of this, our discussions boards can get quite heated! Even though everyone keeps their cool, you can see how closed off people can be to other people’s opinions. When it comes to people’s cultures and ideas, some people are very ethnocentric. This really gives you an overview of how closed people can be in the world.

This week my integrated interview is due. We have to interview someone who is at least two decades older than us and get their views on race, sex, gender and sexuality. I have come up with my questions and already performed half of the interview. From doing so, I realized how different the world really was not too long ago. I never knew things have changed so much.

I am having an overall good experience with my classes so far. The assignments are hard, but fun and entertaining. It can sometimes get overwhelming trying to balance many things but it only makes me stronger.

Another Week Passing By

It’s already Wednesday, and the week is flying by. I have been driving myself crazy because I am not used to spending this much time home. Since for my internship I work from home, that’s 25 hours I spend at home extra! I’m used to running around, getting things done and seeing people. I only have one class on campus so that’s my only drive of the week besides work. It’s been hard being cooped up in the house, but I’m managing well.

With the weather getting nicer, I can do more outdoor activities. Today is the activity period. I am unable to make it because I have to work on my internship especially since we have switched gears to working on the business plan. I’m happy that they have a wonderful weather so that they can do it outside. I hope someone takes pictures for me!

Friday I have a meeting in Montclair for my internship. Ms. Ware is unable to attend, so it will be just me and Rebecca. It’s nice to have someone with me so that we can experience things together. We are getting so many opportunities to seminars it’s hard to keep track of them all. I already have another set up for April 22nd in NYC. It’s at 8:30 am, so I am dreading having to wake up that early! I’m sure it will be worth the effort.

Week 2 is Already Here

I must say I have the best internship! Not only do I work with great people, but it’s convenient. Get this, tomorrow morning I have a meeting at 8:30 that I can do from bed! Since everyone lives a good distance from each other, the best way for all of us to meet and discuss progress is online. Since it is early, I am SO working from my bed! I have even put in an order for a lap desk.

As comfortable as my internship is, it’s a lot of work. This week is week 2 and we are moving on to a new assignment. Last week I made two blogs for the company, created a template for newsletters, as well as e-mails. We had some issues with setting up the voicemails and e-mails but now it’s all fixed. I now have a new e-mail akopec@verify-ed.com and I have my own extension! I called it the other day to check it out and it says “You have reached the Marketing department, please leave a message”. It got me very excited! On Thursday I’m picking up my business cards which I need for Friday.

This week we are thinking of a new slogan for the new service as well as working on the business plan for the company. In order for the company to get investors, we need a business plan. This is hard work, but there is nothing we girls can’t do! Wish us luck! On Friday we have an opportunity to attend another workshop which is held in Montclair, NJ. The event is called “Women in Communication”. It will give us an opportunity to network and meet new connections. Ms. Ware cannot attend so it will be just Rebecca and me. Should be a great learning opportunity!

First Class on Campus

Yesterday was my first Advanced Spreadsheets class, which is my only class on campus. The class starts at 6pm, and it ends at 8:30. The professor is very friendly to the students. At the beginning of the class he explained the syllabus, and what is expected of us for the class.

We then began work! At first the class wasn’t very exciting because we went over the basics of Excel. I wish the beginning was more interactive. We sat in front of the computers and just watched the professor do the work on the projector. Even though I have taken a similar class to this one, everything was somewhat new for me since we have changed from Word 2003 to Work 2007. Many features are the same, just different location. Even though it is an advanced class, we did go over many basics of the program. I’m glad we did this because it can be very confusing if you originally learned on the old system.

As to my internship, things are moving on smoothly. I thought when you have an internship you only have to put in your 25 hours and that’s it. Come to find out there is a class to it too. Not only do you have to commit 25 hours a week to the internship, but you also have to post on discussion boards and do weekly journals like a normal online class.

Weekly journals are done in a strange way. We are supposed to write weekly journals, but we are not allowed to submit any of them until the last week of class. I’m not really sure of the reason, but I wish we could submit them weekly to keep up. In the end its going to cause everyone having to upload things all at once which will be quite time consuming. Spreading the work out over the course would be much more efficient.

I made my first post for the week on the discussion board yesterday. This was our introduction, and we got to read about what other people are doing. It’s really interesting to read what jobs other students have and what they are up to. It’s a good way to get ideas off of each other.

First Seminar

Yesterday was a very exciting, and educating day. As you know it was my first seminar for my internship. It was in Manhattan, in the Lehman Brothers building. As you know, Lehman Brothers is a HUGE investment company.

Ms. Ware and I met up together at her house at 7:30 and then drove together to the bus station. From there we caught a bus, which was packed, to drive through the Holland Tunnel and into Port Authority. We ended up getting there a little late because there was a lot of traffic as always. When we got to Port Authority we met up with Rebecca which took her own bus to meet up with us. We then took a cab to the Lehman Brothers building which was on 50th and 7th.

When we got there, there was a lot of networking going on. Rebecca felt a little out of her comfort zone, but quickly warmed up and felt ok. There were about 15 people that were there and we quickly started to network. The meeting was about ways to hire employees. We learned about different laws that employers have to watch out for and things to ask/not ask during an interview. They gave us a handout of questions that would be great for an interview. It was very helpful.

After the hiring presentation, it was Ms. Wares turn to do hers. I was excited because this was going to be the first time I would see her present. She explain to the audience what Verify-ED was all about, the new service we have called Verify-crED and different cases in the news that have affected small business owners not doing background checks.

After we were done Ms. Ware had a wonderful opportunity to meet some important people in the company. Unfortunately we could not all go, so Ms. Ware asked Rebecca and me if we would mind going out to lunch on our own. We didn’t mind at all so we took off and went to Applebee’s. We all then met back up Port Authority and went home. A really great day!