so even though my summer seemed to end a lot faster that i had expected, this semester has been awesome! i've been so busy but its been an amazing busy. i'm taking 19 credit hours this semester. that includes painting, lettering, capstone, pre-thesis, digital photography, sociology, and applied leadership. what's really cool about applied leadership is that it is focused on student development. i am amongst a small group of selected students to work as peer leaders for the first time students of the school. this means that not only am i getting credit hours for this applied leadership course but i am also receiving a stipend for the peer leader position. its really cool! i have quite a few other paying positions on campus. in addition to being a peer leader and this blogging position, i also work as a campus activities board publicity co-chair, admissions office caller, phonathon caller, and an activity assistant at the bayley place. on top to these classes and jobs, i also am a FiSH leader, project excel student ambassador,  and a campus ambassador this semester.

what's so amazing is that of all of this, i have no classes or work sessions on fridays. that doesn't mean, though, that i don't work on fridays. i still take that whole day to update my tutors on my school week, meet with different instructors and such for advising and also to complete any work that i would otherwise do on the weekends.

so while my schedule is busy, i still have my weekends for a bit more free time, even though i do end up extending my friday work sessions during the weekends. i haven't had too many cases at all of procrastination this semester so lets hope it says that way and just keeps improving!

Hello everyone!  This is Megan.  Just wanted to let y'all know that I was here and that you can be expecting some interesting topics to come out of my blogs.  Right now I'm at work, the kids are in specials (computer class this week) and Ms. Byes and I are just getting some loose ends tied up, sharpening pencils, grading homework, running copies, checking attendance, etc..  Gotta LOVE the life of a third grade teacher!  Can't wait until I'm the teacher and not the aide :)  The Mount's IEC (Inclusive Early Childhood) program is helping me out with that dream of mine... some day soon I'll have a class of my own!  Well, okay maybe not THAT soon, but soon enough.  I'm in several classes this semester that are for education majors only and I may be a sophomore in the program but I'm holding my own.  Next semester I should be just about caught up to where I would have been if I had started the major as a freshman.  I'm super excited about the opportunities that the Mount is offering me and am confident that I will land solid on my feet after graduation because of my experience here at the Mount.

The kids are coming back now... Until next time... Have a WONDERFUL day!

It truly does not feel like it but we are 1/2 way through with the 4th week of the semester already. only 11 more weeks of classes - yikes! I've come to the conclusion in the last week or so that I am capable of a lot of things and even though i'm not the best at anything i'm still able to make my way through everything as long as i try my hardest. Friends, classes, programs, trips, health - I'm finally on top of it! Today I just worked on my stats assignment with my tutor and we figured out that as long as i do as well on my assignments for the rest of the semester as i did on the first (95/100) I can still get a B for the class even if i get a 60 on the final exam. how amazing is that!?!?!?! plus, i just signed up for a time for my portfolio review on saturday. i'm so nervous. my pieces aren't nearly as strong as i would hope at this point but you can definitely see improvement from august 2006 to now as you look through the pieces. all i need now is to print some of the photos and make them look presentable for the review. i also need to write the paper - yikes - not my strongest area. thankfully it doesn't need to be a 10 page speal on something i don't care about. this is a 2-3 page paper researching an artist from my field and then reflecting on my own progression as an artist. - very important material to me!

i'm also applying to be an orientation leader for the summer. the apps are due this friday so that is more work for me! how exciting! i'm curious to see how this semester is going to lay out for me when looking at the summer. If i am offered an RA position in March after the decision process goes through, I am planning on staying at the Mount over the summer break. Therefore, if I get an orientation leader position - it will be the best summer ever! i'm keeping my fingers crossed. and at the same time, I am trying to remind myself that everything happens for a reason so that if i don't get offered one or either of the positions it will just be a blessing in disguise! i'm praying for the best of it all!

 well i have to get back to paper work for the next week or so. thanks again for reading!

The past month has been a bit of a roller coaster for me - emotinally, mentally, physically, academically, all in more than one way. The big thing about this adventure though, is that I am learning something from every bump and curve and turn around because I've been trying my best to look at it from a higher perspective. For being 20 years old, I have been in plenty of the average life situations, including relationships. I do not regret any choice I have ever made about the relationships I have been in because I have been able to gain something from each guy I have been with and would not trade any relationship for anything. It is because of these guys in my life that I am able to understand myself better in what kind of family I would like to have once I am ready. In addition to my emotional life choices, I am trying my absolute hardest in my classes to get the best grades I can possibly get so I can raise my GPA and of course there are road blocks that are difficult to overcome but I am making my way through it. I have been meeting with my teachers outside of scheduled time to make sure I am caught up with everything, and am making sure every day to not over-schedule myself with my activities while classes are my first priority. The phrase, 'when it rains it poors', definitely comes in to play with these aspects of my life right now. While the heavy load is causing head aches here and there, I try my best to not look at it all as stress but as a sign that I am finally working at what I am meant to be doing. Unfortunately with the heavy homework load and such, I am unable to work out as much as I would prefer but I AM working on at least keeping a healthy diet: no pop, less deserts, more fruits and vegetables and of course more water! To add on to the physical, it is getting closer and closer to winter. I am not a person who likes to be cold so you can guess that I love to bundle up in the sheets and hoodies when possible. But I hate shoes. So try to picture me as wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts and a hoodie and a coat with a scarf and flip flops - walking in the snow. I don't like shoes . But anyway.

For the past month, I have been working on a drawing that seems to fit everything in my life right now:

It seems as if all of my classes that I am taking so far all go back to my psychology class and my sociology class. All I do is analyze things, while it can be very interesting it can also tend to be very boring. And anytime I am trying to get focused on my “analyzing” I always seem to get distracted, whether it is my friends, the internet, a new television show, whatever the case I get easily distracted. So I went to Susan Brogden, who is the director of the learning center, to get help with “distractions” and time management. I swear it was the best thing I could ever do to help myself! She helped me realize that all people can tend to get distracted but it up to the individual to get themselves back into focus with their studies.

I also learned that I needed to study alone in an area that helps me focus most, so my room would be a horrible place for me to study because I associate my room with so many other things like sleeping, watching television, and hanging out with my friends. I also got tips on how to make an effective “To-Do List,” by using Numbers for important areas and letters under the number for the specific thing that needs to be done. All of this information helped me so much with my time management and it also helped me focus on my work a lot better! I really hope, if you are thinking about coming to the mount, you meet Susan Brogden because I guarantee that she will be a big influence on your college experience!

So… the musical “Oklahoma” is over and now it’s time to move on with a regular life… YEAH RIGHT! LOL… Now that I’m done with my extracurricular activity for the year, I just now realized how much I have left to do. I calculated that I have 15 days left of school- just about three weeks. And I miraculously only have one day of exams- granted that’s two exams and one project to do in one day.   

The work I have to do? Too much… Um… I have an education lesson/project due next Friday; an education paper due on Monday; a 4-page history paper due next Friday; a math project due on my exam day that I have yet to update (it’s a continuous project over the course of the semester that needs to be turned in on the last day to be returned so we can use it for future teaching); a math lesson to teach not on Monday but the next Monday… and… um… something else that I’m sure I’m forgetting and will regret here as soon as I remember it… J  

 What else is new you ask? Well, I just finished registering for classes next semester so that’s exciting- actually the whole process was a bit stressful. I had the registration time of 6:30 AM but the system is about 8 minutes slow so I didn’t get on until about 6:38 AM (I love how precise I am in this haha).    I was able to register for four classes fairly quickly: EDU 172 Contemporary Perspectives with Drew Shannon (I have a class with him semester and I absolutely love his class! So I recommend taking one of his classes), EDU 205 Educational Assessment with Dr. Rick Sparks (teaching you how to make tests for your students- also ironically the HARDEST class you will ever take at the Mount for education because Dr. Sparks is a really hard teacher… oh joy right? No, he’s my advisor so I really like him), SED 305 American Sign Language with somebody? (there’s no teacher assigned yet but I am SOOOOO excited about that class! I love sign language and all I know so far is the alphabet), and PHI 200 Perspectives on Human Nature with Dr. Sontag (again I have no idea what this class is about).    

The class I had trouble with was SED 215 Human Exceptionalities with Dr. Santoro (don’t know who that is sorry and nor do I know what the class is other than I need 30 observation hours for it) but it’s all good now and then today I registered for PSY 310 Cognition and Memory with Dr. Jim Bodle (I had his psych class last semester and he’s an awesome teacher also so I would highly recommend taking a class with him too).   

So that’s that… I’m listening to “Free Bird” by Lynard Skynard right now… My thoughts are all over the place but now you know what it’s like to be inside my head sometimes… LOL J   I already told you “Oklahoma” is over but I put a picture of the cast and crew at the bottom so you can see who was all involved… O and my friend Alex is happy that she can talk to me again (*Alex* (8:35:21 PM): and u should write about how i get to see u again...lol) That’s the IM she sent me about the show and how much free time I now have in my life… Oh and a shout out to Maria- my future roommate next year… She’s gonna read this so “Hi!” to her as well…   

Um what else… O! I’m thinking of applying for a position on the Dateline staff for next year. Dateline is the school’s monthly newspaper run by Buffy Barkley and a team of students. It sounds interesting and I’ve never done journalism but sounds fun enough. J 

  I think that’s all that’s new right now… O wait! Get Acquainted Day is on Saturday, April 12^th, from some time to some time… No, it’s from 9:30 AM to about 3 PM or so… I’m participating on the Student Panel so I have no idea what I’ll be doing but it’s something about future students asking me what life at the Mount is like so that’ll be fun I hope… J   

Now I’m done… I think… so have a good day and a good weekend! See you on the other side! Shout out to the birthday boy too (Joe)!