this is it. this is my last blog as a student voice for the college of mount st. joseph. i've been thinking about what i wanted to say here for quite some time and then it hit me - advice. yea, its cliche but i've taken a different spin on it. i've chosen to walk around the dorm building with a notepad and pen at hand and ask some of the students to share some advice. i had given them some background for my reasoning and then stated that it could include quotes, lyrics, inside jokes and more and could revolve around academics, college life, relationships, and humor. the statements i received revolve around a wide spectrum of these topics:

Honesty is the best image.

Be prepared for shattered expectations. It doesn’t always mean broken. It can be a growing experience.

Don’t let your schoolwork get in your way of a good education.

Think with your head, not your heart.

If the ocean were whiskey and I were a duck I’d float to the bottom and stay there.

It’s true what people say; patience is a virtue. But without taking risks you are not guaranteed rewards. If you see something worth fighting for, NEVER turn down that opportunity… you gotta live to learn. You gotta crash and burn. You gotta make some stances, and take some chances. You gotta live and love and take all life has to give. You gotta live and learn so you can learn to live.

Don’t let somebody be a priority in your life if you’re only an option in theirs.

A life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

I’m not afraid to be who I am.

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day. And I believe in miracles.

I have learned that your college friends become a kind of family: you eat together, laugh and cry and do absolutely nothing together – until you can’t remember how you ever survived without them.

Tough times don’t last but tough girls do.

Even a broken clock is correct two times a day.

Success is a peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best.

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.

Regret nothing that once made you smile.

To coxify: to complicate simple matters.

When you see the light at the end of the tunnel get off the tracks.

Talking in a British accent while intoxicated makes your time worthwhile.

Being different is being normal.

Its something unpredictable but in the end its right, I hope you had the time of your life.

I hope you dance.

Live life for those you love. When you get the chance, do it for someone else.

Prayer in action is love, and love in action is service.

Dance as though no one is watching you, Sing as though no one can hear you, love as though you have never been hurt before, live as though heaven is on earth

Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.

Be still and know that I am God

Let go and Let God

The hardest thing is loving someone and then having the courage to let them love you back.

In life never stop dreaming... for in dreams, we never stop living.

Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting

We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and call it love.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

The greatest thing you will ever learn is just to love and to be loved in return.

God only brings on this challenge in our lives because he knows we’re strong enough to handle it.

Live your day with no regrets. A year from now, are you going to look back on today and be proud of the decisions you made and be happy with the memories of your actions?

No matter how bad a person is, there is something good about them so be like the humming bird and pick the sweetness of virtues.

I am more than happy to be leaving on this note. Constant encouragement to succeed and be the best you can be is the strongest love and that will go on forever.i wish nothing but absolute success in all of your endeavors and will part with the pride that I have earned a degree from the mount and that the education i've been rewarded extends so far past the classes. thank you, everyone, for your time and interest.

 Class Dismissed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIVyRjAI0pI&feature=related

Every year within the last couple weeks of school, Project EXCEL will put together a Graduation Gala to honor the graduates of the year and recognize their accomplishments in the admirable program. This time last year I had been recognized as a junior to receive one of the three Project EXCEL Merit Scholarships. I had hoped, very much, for my parents to be present at that ceremony because it truly was an announcement of honor in my life. It was the first scholarship I have ever received, or even felt reason of earning.

Today was a whirlwind.

I was getting ready for the Excel Graduation Gala around lunch time and I got a phone call saying that I had to pick up a package at the door. I have never received a package at the front desk in the four years that I have been here so I really didn’t know what it was… perhaps flowers, a balloon, edible arrangement… I didn’t know

But I had a really big hope.

[[ In these last few weeks of school I had hoped someone in my family would surprise me because of the senior thesis reception and choir concerts that I’ve been working so hard for. ]]

Well when I got to the front desk I told the officer on duty that I was there to pick up a package. He looked around for something like it was dropped off in a weird place and then said I had to walk around the corner to pick it up. [[I knew someone was here.]] As soon as I saw my parents sitting down I began crying. I couldn’t believe they were here. One of the first things I said was ‘this isn’t a dream, is it??

My parents got to see my thesis today and were the amazing guests to sit with two of my best friends and boyfriend as I was recognized for my accomplishments. My parents got to see their last child in one of her most glorifying college moments.

More importantly I got to see them. I feel that I’ve seen more of my parents this past school year more than the last few but today was definitely the most important [[next to graduation of course in a couple of weeks]].

I got to see two of the most influential people in my life today, and they surprised me. I wouldn’t be the person I am without them. Even in the most difficult of times, these two extraordinary people were there to support me because they had faith that I would pull through. I wouldn’t have made it through college without their constant reminders of how much they love me and care for me. They always told me they wanted to see me succeed and never, ever, not once, told me that I wouldn’t make it. Never did they tell me that I wouldn’t graduate college. They told me that I’d succeed and that they would support me no matter what because they wanted me to be happy and successful. I couldn’t be more honored to be their daughter and couldn’t imagine loving them more than I already do.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for granting me the life I’ve had and for loving me.

I’m human again.

ANDOHMYGOSHIWANTTOSCREAMITFEELSSOGOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I’m done with thesis. So yes, I’m human again. Thesis has taken over my life for some countless months now and as of 5:30pm on Thursday April 22^nd, 2010 I have been free.

As friends and family have asked about my completed thesis I’ve stated that I am human again because I can actually stop and breathe. I’m not staying up till 3 or 4 in the morning dry-mounting or editing the photos anymore. I’m not bending my arms in unnatural ways anymore to capture the photo I need for the alphabet. That kind of disagrees with my statement of ‘live simply so others may simply live’ but that’s okay. WHY? Because it’s done.

So what happens after thesis is done? Well the formal celebration follows about 24 hours later. Every year as the seniors complete their art thesis at the Mount they are recognized for their work and a reception is held in their honor. So on April 23^rd I dressed myself up all pretty to stand proudly for three hours by my final product and really address the accomplishment I made this year.

As my friends and peers came to see my thesis I held this inkling that my parents would come and surprise me from around the corner. That didn’t happen. I was still happy though because I knew they’d see it for my graduation.

Hey guys,

First off, let me say that this week has been one for the books, I’ll tell ya that.   Last Monday, the Education Department had its big unit plan presentations in which every senior student in the department had to present an entire unit with reflections and student work examples. Afterward, we had a nice little reception dinner with some really good food, some of the best I’ve seen around campus in all of my four years.  A lot of people were stressed out about this, but honestly, it wasn’t a big deal. I had taught a really cool unit in January and had collected all of my students’ work as I was teaching and wrote the reflections for each of my lessons the day I taught them. So really all I had to do was extend my lesson plans a little so that they fit the format the college likes and then organize all my work into a PowerPoint presentation.  Took a few hours the day of the presentation and …Viola! I was done. Presented it, got a good grade, and now I’m officially done with my student teaching and all the course work here at the college that goes along with it. One step closer to graduation.

The next day is where the craziness started. I was scheduled for another shoulder surgery to repair my left shoulder at 11:30 in the morning. I had the right shoulder repaired last May, so this made two surgeries in less than a year. AwEsOmE.  I arrived at Beacon Orthopedics, which is a great place, and did all the prep stuff and last thing I remember, I climbed off my stretcher and onto the operating table and laid there for a few seconds. Next thing I knew, I was all bandaged up and waking up in the recovery area. The cool thing was, I woke up fairly quickly and was home within 30 minutes.  I stayed up the rest of the day, watched a few movies with my dad, and waited for the nerve block they gave me in the left side of my neck to wear off.  If any of you have had this, it’s actually kinda cool. My entire left arm was completely motion and senseless. It’s an odd experience.

Here’s the crazy part. The next morning, my nerve block wore off so I had to start my pain meds. The funny thing is, I had an awards ceremony for a leadership award I had received at MSJ at noon. It was part of the Celebration of Teaching and Learning event going on across campus and there were a lot of honors to be recognized at this particular ceremony. I was able to maneuver my gimp arm through a dress shirt and managed to strangle myself with a tie and hopped in the passenger seat of my mom’s car and drove up to the Mount. I did well considering the circumstances, I only messed up once when I tried to walk up the wrong side of the stage. But the rest of the day was smooth sailing. I got back home a few hours later and sacked out for the rest of the night.

I’m not done yet.  The next day, I had my wrestling banquet and team outing to the Red’s game downtown. So once again, I managed to get myself in some decent looking clothes and hitched a ride up to school. The pain meds were a little rough, but once again, things went smoothly given the circumstances. Better yet, the Red’s actually won!  I finally got some rest on Friday and stayed in bed most of the day. 

That was my crazy week. I guess the moral of the story is to never schedule a surgery around the end of a semester or school year. Something will come up just when you need to stay at home and rest the most.  And the post surgery medications don’t do much to help matters. 

See ya!

>Eric M.

Hey guys!

So as I mentioned in previous blogs, I’m done with my student teaching. And my undergraduate degree is rapidly coming to fulfillment. Now it’s time to find a job! And let me tell you, when I say it’s off to the races, I really mean IT’S OFF TO THE RACES!

There are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many students who are graduating with education licenses and looking for teaching jobs and SOOOOOOOOOOO many schools that are cutting back on expenses that it is becoming a very competitive job market. I had my first taste of this craziness at an Education Job Fair at Xavier University yesterday. I spent all day Wednesday compiling examples of lesson plans and unit plans, fine tuning my resume and cover letters (thanks to the help from Cara Cross and the Career Center at the Mount), contacting references, and printing out Praxis II score reports and transcripts.  On Thursday morning, I walked in to Xavier’s Cintas Center to see a whopping 60 school district representatives all set up at tables with a list of about 10 slots for interviews for later that afternoon.

The way the Job Fair was set up, you mingled for three hours and networked with future employers and attempted to get them to schedule you for one of those 10 interviews from 1 to 4:30 that afternoon. Now this doesn’t seem too crazy, but let me elaborate a little. Almost all of the Mount’s graduating education students were present, along with Wilmington’s, Northern Kentucky University’s, University of Cincinnati’s, and Xavier University’s graduating students and alumni from all five. There were A TON of people there. And the popular districts such as Oak Hills Local School District and Mason City Schools had lines across the banquet room the event was held in for teacher candidates to speak with their representatives. Take Mason City Schools for example, I waited AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES to speak with the ONE representative. Each person in line got a couple minutes with the rep so I was thinking there was no chance for an interview. But when I finally reached him, I guess I told him what he wanted to hear and he claimed that they had an oh-so-hard-to-find high school history teacher opening so he scheduled me for one of those precious interviews! I was pumped. I also had interviews set up with Oak Hills, Ross Local, and Ohio Connections Academy, an online school. These were pretty much the only schools that were looking to hire high school social studies teacher such as myself, so I felt like I did fairly well.  I also dumped off about 15 resumes to some districts, just in case something opened up at the end of the year.

After the networking session, we had a half hour lunch break and then the interviews began. I had Oak Hills first. The interview went great and they said that I was pushed through to the second step of the hiring process! This is HUGE for me because of a few reasons. One, Oak Hills is a great district with a great reputation for success and innovation. Two, I’m an alumni of Oak Hills and would love to teach there. Three, I am already very involved with their wrestling program and am currently coaching a spring wrestling club in the Oak Hills wrestling room, not to mention I already have pretty solid plans to coach as an assistant to the high school team next year. The other three interview went great as well and I’m looking forward to what is going to open up in the future.

For all you educators out there, I have a new found respect for how hard you had to work to get where you are. I’d shake all your hands if I had the time.  Until next week….

See ya!

>Eric M.

Today was the day that I made that ever so important decision to put my words from my last entry into action... 

I started bright and early.  Mr. Santoro's 8:15 class was canceled this morning and while everyone else was enjoying their free class period sleeping in I was on campus already.  I decided that if I set my alarm for 5:30 and got up and stayed home that it would be no time before I was sound asleep again and I didn't want that to happen.  I had things that needed to get done and I wasn't about to let that time that I was already used to being up for anyway just slip by.  So I got up at 5:30 and was out the door but 6:00 with a packed lunch and a full cup of coffee.

When I got to campus I was one of a handful of students just arriving and I got a really good parking spot (always a plus on a long day!).  I found the empty classroom where I would normally be sitting with my peers learning about the world of exceptionalities that will greet our every waking moment as teachers in the career field.  I picked a spot by the window where the cool morning breeze would keep my mind awake and my senses alert and I pulled out my worn copy of Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform by Diane Ravitch and began to carefully read and analyze the 12-page section that Dr. Green had assigned to us for the quiz we would be having in class.  It was nothing overly interesting, mostly just how radical progressive educators had gotten after the Great Depression and how many extremeist ideas there were out there about the role schools should play in society... it's worth a look if you like that kind of stuff.  I went through it once, nit picking and highlighting/underlining every important detail and then I went back and read straight through it one more time for fluidity and comprehension.  

At that point I was really getting sleepy.  I have been very sick since Monday afternoon when I came home from work with a temperature of 103 (not fun).  Anyway, I decided I needed to move, so I made my way to the lobby where I watched my fellow students all around me.  Some I knew, some I didn't; some conversations I recognized (senior thesis projects, a shake up in CAB and the very quiz I had just prepared for were among them) and some just failed to catch my attention.  I sat there for probably 10-15minutes thinking over what I had just read to myself so I could keep it fresh in my mind.  Then it was time for class so I made my way up to the 2nd floor of the classroom building and sat down in the front row of the stifling atmosphere of CL 206 and waited for the customary rhetoric of Dr. Green to announce his arrival.

"I think I may have actually gotten a 10 out of 10 on that one," I said to Chris as we headed down to the Excel department. "And you know what? I think I actually understood what he was talking about today, it didn't seem like a bunch of mumbo jumbo jibberish..." my voice trailed off as I saw the look on Chris's face (which meant that he did not feel the same way), so I decided to drop the subject for the more favorable one of what was on special at the food court today (it was buffalo chicken wraps).  After I dropped my notes off at Excel I stopped by to see Betheny and missed her, and then we headed down to the food court.  While I ate I tied up some loose ends with emails that I had out to some professors and some applications and the sort that I had unfinished floating around my desktop.  After that I put pen to paper and made out a to-do list for the rest of the semester, and let me tell YOU it's a DOOZY!  It hurts me to look at it, but at the same time it feels good to know exactly what has to be done.

Art class went smoothly, my group was understanding of my absences and Mrs. Dick cut me some slack on her grading policy, she thinks if I can continue my 'A' line of work from the beginning of the semester (before all hell broke loose) though to the end of the semester and do really well on my final that I can pull through with a 'B', but no higher than that... ugh, I wish there was something I could do about the classes I had to miss... anyway... her final will require a lot of time and effort, but to be completely honest I think I will have fun with it.  Before I left campus for work I added her final and my responsibilities for our group project to my list of things to do.... looks like thing will be getting hairy this weekend. 

Work went nicely, I hadn't seen the kids in awhile because I've been sick and Ariyanna was glad to have her Mancala partner back.  Alexus is on crutches and Aaron lost a tooth... they are so great, I love it when I go to the after school program after being on campus so long on Thursdays because they're so lively and refreshing... they just make my day!  The Howards were picked up right at 5:00 leaving Issa as the only one left.  His mother showed up at 5:15 and Ms. Dorris and I were free to go.  I-471 was shut down so I had to come home Columbia Parkway which was backed up all the way back to the city and it took me the better part of and hour to get home instead of the usual half hour.  I ate dinner and then my medicine knocked me out so I slept until 9:30 and now here we are.

Why is any of this important enough to me to be in my blog at all?  Well because just yesterday I didn't want to do anything, everyday "staples" were a big feat for me and everything I did, no matter how simple, required a great deal of effort.  But I reached that breaking point and I decided to keep pushing through no matter how hard things got.  So today "carpe diem" was my motto... and I think I did a good job of seizing the day!

Let's hope I can continue. 

P.S. I have been thinking about my first year here and all the fun I had.  This picture symbolizes a time when things were better and I was in a better place with my mind... this is what I'm striving to reach again... 

Today was the day that I made that ever so important decision to put my words from my last entry into action... 

I started bright and early.  Mr. Santoro's 8:15 class was canceled this morning and while everyone else was enjoying their free class period sleeping in I was on campus already.  I decided that if I set my alarm for 5:30 and got up and stayed home that it would be no time before I was sound asleep again and I didn't want that to happen.  I had things that needed to get done and I wasn't about to let that time that I was already used to being up for anyway just slip by.  So I got up at 5:30 and was out the door but 6:00 with a packed lunch and a full cup of coffee.

When I got to campus I was one of a handful of students just arriving and I got a really good parking spot (always a plus on a long day!).  I found the empty classroom where I would normally be sitting with my peers learning about the world of exceptionalities that will greet our every waking moment as teachers in the career field.  I picked a spot by the window where the cool morning breeze would keep my mind awake and my senses alert and I pulled out my worn copy of Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform by Diane Ravitch and began to carefully read and analyze the 12-page section that Dr. Green had assigned to us for the quiz we would be having in class.  It was nothing overly interesting, mostly just how radical progressive educators had gotten after the Great Depression and how many extremeist ideas there were out there about the role schools should play in society... it's worth a look if you like that kind of stuff.  I went through it once, nit picking and highlighting/underlining every important detail and then I went back and read straight through it one more time for fluidity and comprehension.  

At that point I was really getting sleepy.  I have been very sick since Monday afternoon when I came home from work with a temperature of 103 (not fun).  Anyway, I decided I needed to move, so I made my way to the lobby where I watched my fellow students all around me.  Some I knew, some I didn't; some conversations I recognized (senior thesis projects, a shake up in CAB and the very quiz I had just prepared for were among them) and some just failed to catch my attention.  I sat there for probably 10-15minutes thinking over what I had just read to myself so I could keep it fresh in my mind.  Then it was time for class so I made my way up to the 2nd floor of the classroom building and sat down in the front row of the stifling atmosphere of CL 206 and waited for the customary rhetoric of Dr. Green to announce his arrival.

"I think I may have actually gotten a 10 out of 10 on that one," I said to Chris as we headed down to the Excel department. "And you know what? I think I actually understood what he was talking about today, it didn't seem like a bunch of mumbo jumbo jibberish..." my voice trailed off as I saw the look on Chris's face (which meant that he did not feel the same way), so I decided to drop the subject for the more favorable one of what was on special at the food court today (it was buffalo chicken wraps).  After I dropped my notes off at Excel I stopped by to see Betheny and missed her, and then we headed down to the food court.  While I ate I tied up some loose ends with emails that I had out to some professors and some applications and the sort that I had unfinished floating around my desktop.  After that I put pen to paper and made out a to-do list for the rest of the semester, and let me tell YOU it's a DOOZY!  It hurts me to look at it, but at the same time it feels good to know exactly what has to be done.

Art class went smoothly, my group was understanding of my absences and Mrs. Dick cut me some slack on her grading policy, she thinks if I can continue my 'A' line of work from the beginning of the semester (before all hell broke loose) though to the end of the semester and do really well on my final that I can pull through with a 'B', but no higher than that... ugh, I wish there was something I could do about the classes I had to miss... anyway... her final will require a lot of time and effort, but to be completely honest I think I will have fun with it.  Before I left campus for work I added her final and my responsibilities for our group project to my list of things to do.... looks like thing will be getting hairy this weekend. 

Work went nicely, I hadn't seen the kids in awhile because I've been sick and Ariyanna was glad to have her Mancala partner back.  Alexus is on crutches and Aaron lost a tooth... they are so great, I love it when I go to the after school program after being on campus so long on Thursdays because they're so lively and refreshing... they just make my day!  The Howards were picked up right at 5:00 leaving Issa as the only one left.  His mother showed up at 5:15 and Ms. Dorris and I were free to go.  I-471 was shut down so I had to come home Columbia Parkway which was backed up all the way back to the city and it took me the better part of and hour to get home instead of the usual half hour.  I ate dinner and then my medicine knocked me out so I slept until 9:30 and now here we are.

Why is any of this important enough to me to be in my blog at all?  Well because just yesterday I didn't want to do anything, everyday "staples" were a big feat for me and everything I did, no matter how simple, required a great deal of effort.  But I reached that breaking point and I decided to keep pushing through no matter how hard things got.  So today "carpe diem" was my motto... and I think I did a good job of seizing the day!

Let's hope I can continue. 

P.S. I have been thinking about my first year here and all the fun I had.  This picture symbolizes a time when things were better and I was in a better place with my mind... this is what I'm striving to reach again... 

Alright. Last night was really THAT good. After watching the bucket list i've officially decided to make my own bucket list. I've got a very unpredictable road in front of me as i'm going in to my first summer as a college graduate. So what can i do with this spare time other than look for a job that will hopefully fulfill my career goals? I need to have some kind of a plan! So here it is. I'm making myself a list to keep myself productive and active.

 Host a prom reunion (i love playing hostess and i would really like to relive prom with some of my favorites)

 Find my life's passion

 Learn how to swim (yea i can barely doggy paddle)

Swim with a dolphin (they're my favorite animal)

Learn how to surf (my boyfriend keeps nagging me)

 Live out Dr. Seuss’ 'oh the places you'll go' (well why wouldn't I?)

Write a song (i've secrety been trying to write my own song since the 7th grade)

Learn to dance (i have ZERO rhyth)

Understand politics (i know what i know but its not much at all)

Write a children’s book

Keep my orchids alive (it's my favorite flower and i've had three. i've kept one alive so far)

Get married at old St. Pat’s in Chicago (it is GORGEOUS)

Attend TED (www.ted.com      see for yourself - its more than worth it!)

Heal my past

Have a fondue meal

Start a journal and actually write in it every day (i've started many but haven't got far in any)

Do something every day to be proud of (for my Grandpa)

Do something every day for someone else

Start my book making business (stay in tune to a future blog to learn more of this one)

[[maybe it won't all happen this summer. i'll be adding more as it comes ]]