Video Assessment

            Overall I feel like my video turned out good, definitely better than my last video. I thought doing my video on the step team would be interesting because I feel many students at Southern don’t really know about the stepping up drill team or what they do on campus.  My goal by making this video was to make the step team better known around campus and introduce a fun team students can join. Advice I have to the members of the step team is to advertise about their team more to make them better known on campus. It was really challenging for me to find information on the team because of the lack of information provided on campus. I visited the club and organization office in the student center and they didn’t have a flyer on the step team, but they did give me the secretary of team’s email. I emailed her and never heard back. Luckily, I spoke to a few people in the residence halls that are on the team and they gave me some information. Also, I was able to find videos of their performances on YouTube.

            I feel my video was well organized and contained many strengths. It had an intriguing introduction to hold the viewers attention and present what the rest of the video is going to be about. I tried to gear my video towards the student population watching it. Despite having trouble finding information on the team, I found my video turned out to be informative also followed by many clear examples of the performances they put on. Comparing my video to the last one I made I found that this video had smoother transitions and flowed better overall.

            I would’ve liked to video interview some of the members of the step team but the two members I found and questioned didn’t want to be videotaped. I felt that this was one of my weaknesses because my video fell a little short because of it. Also, since I couldn’t videotape the performances live at school, I got most of my videos off YouTube, which tended to be a little blurry at times.

            Overall by doing these video projects I have gotten a better understanding of how to use iMovie. 

INQ Video Project #2: Step Up Drill Team @ SCSU

INQ Video Project #2: Step Up Drill Team @ SCSU

Midterm Grades

           The past few weeks I have been really busy studying for my midterms. I made sure I started to study a few days in advance to give myself enough time to go over all the material. Going into the midterms I felt confident and well prepared. I couldn’t wait to log onto banner web and check to see what I had gotten. I found that all of my midterm grades turned out to be a B+ besides math, which was a B. My current GPA right now would probably be about a 3.3.

            I am satisfied with these grades and GPA because getting used to a new school, schedule, and work load was a challenge but I feel that I handled it very well. Now that I am used to the routine I feel it will be easier for me accomplish good grades next semester because of on the groundwork I have already set for myself. I feel like my midterm grades do represent how hard I have been working and motivates me to do even better next semester.

            Next semester I hope to keep up with the same routine and techniques I’ve used this semester to accomplish these good grades. Although I am happy with these grades there is always room for improvement. Something I can work on for next semester is not leaving homework till late at night because by best effort isn’t shown in my work. For next semester and years to come, I’m going to shoot for at least an A- for all my midterm grades.

Campus Safari #10 Attend SCSU Sponsored Social Event

            Last Thursday I was able to attend the “Oktoberfest” event on campus. It was located in the basement of Farham dorm. I went with a few of my friends and had a really good time. During this event there were many fall/Halloween related activities to do.  Fall being my favorite season I definitely enjoyed all the activities they had planned for us. The first thing we did was get in line for some sweets and apple cider after that, we made our own candy apples. Looking around the room we noticed there was a photo booth, we got in and took a few funny pictures. After taking pictures we picked out and painted our own pumpkins then got in line for some fried Oreos and fried dough. All and all, I enjoyed going to this event on campus and I urge other southern students to take advantage of the activities Southern offers throughout the course of the year.  

Beauty On Campus

            Being on a college campus almost everywhere you look there’s talent. Recently I’ve noticed a lot of artwork walking around campus done by the students of SCSU. I was really impressed because I know how much hard work and patience they must have had to put in to it to create something great. However, one sculpture in particular stands out to me. Almost everyday I walk by a sculpture next to Engleman Hall. What I like about it is that it is very unique looking, and has somewhat of an abstract shape. So, I decided to do some research on it. Turns out, I actually found out some really interesting things.

            The title of the sculpture is “H2O: Liquid Zone” designed by Mikyoung Kim, an award-winning landscape architect and a faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design. This sculpture is about fifteen feet tall and eighty one feet long. I imagine something like this must of taken a while to make. It gets even better; this long sculpture changes its appearance with the seasons. How? In the warmer weather, rainwater collects in the mesh creating a micro prismatic effect. In the colder months, the collected water turns into ice, creating a whole different look.

            My personal interpretation of the meaning of this sculpture, besides something nice to look at, is that it represents change. All college students are at the point in their life now, where they can change the outcome of what they want to do or who they want to be. All of us on campus share the single goal to become successful, but how we all go about that is a lot different. I think in the real world and especially college, you are forced to make some changes within your everyday life. Some changes you may be unfamiliar with and some you might really have to work at. All and all, its important to take risks and step outside of your comfort zone because by changing nothing, nothing changes.

            I found this sculpture to be really intriguing and I feel like most students don’t take the time to appreciate artwork like this. Between our class discussions about agency, the arts programs, and my own interest in art, I am definitely considering taking an art class or two throughout my college courses. I feel like it would be interesting to learn about pieces of work people have made, and also to get the hands on experience of creating your own work.  

Campus Safari #1 Meet With Professor

            Because this week I had my math midterm I wanted to make sure I was prepared. I emailed my professor, Michaela Alexandru (alexandrum1@southernct.edu) , and asked if she would be able to stay after class with me Monday and go over a few problems I had gotten stuck on the practice midterm exam. Normally, her office location is in Engleman in room C 210 from 11:05-11:55am on Wednesdays and Fridays. I was glad she was able to fit me in because the midterm was on Tuesday, if I waited go to her office hours it would’ve been too late. While I met with her I asked her questions about how to solve a particular word problem using the quadratic equation. I also had her explain a graphing problem to me that I wasn’t sure how to do. I’m glad I took the initiative to ask for extra help because I felt a lot more prepared then I would’ve been while taking the exam. 

I have included a picture of the math problem my professor helped me solve: