The Learning Resource Center
August 29, 2008
Filed under School Information
Tags: class, Quincy University, resource, study, studying
So, maybe you’ve heard of it and maybe you haven’t… But it’s one of the greatest resources you will ever encounter at Quincy University (or other schools… I’m sure they all have something like it).
It’s the Learning Resource Center (also called the “LRC” by us cool kids). Basically all it is is a place to go when you’re having trouble with a class. There are tutors available for almost any class you could possibly take who will help you with any problem you could possibly be having.
There’s a schedule of when tutors will be available in the LRC posted in the hallway outside the room. There is also a tutor list complete with phone numbers so you can call or contact them to schedule a time outside of their regular tutoring hours.
And listen to me when I say this- you don’t have to be a complete dope to use the LRC (in fact, you’d be a complete dope not to utilize it). You can even come in just to work on homework if that’s all you want. It’s completely up to you. Either way, it’s an awesome resource for any college student.
Sports and Athletics at QU
August 25, 2008
Filed under School Information
Tags: athletes, athletics, College, QU, Quincy University, school, sports
Is it creepy that I’m staring out my window at the football players practicing out on the Athletic Field (called A-Field) on campus?
Well, I don’t care because it’s more entertaining that work or anything else that I should be doing now. But it also brings me to another idea. Athletics. Sports are a big part of this school called QU and that’s simply because we do a lot of recruiting for our sports teams and give a lot of scholarships to athletes.
Granted, I don’t play a sport nor have I since, well, third grade when I played soccer with the park district. Okay so I did cheerleading in sixth and seventh grade but shh- I like to keep that hush, hush.
Anyway, given that I am the anti-athlete type it may seem like I wouldn’t fit in on campus… that’s definitely what it seems like when I think about the fact that the school is about 75% student athletes. Really though, it makes no difference in my daily life. So my boyfriend plays golf and does basketball stuff, some of my best friends have soccer practice every freaking day, and everyone else plays intramurals every time they come up. Whatever. I’m cool with it.
We actually offer a lot of sports, and many of them will take walk-ons if people are interested (I’ve known people who weren’t recruited to play a sport but ended up getting on scholarship for it anyway after they walked on the team and played well). Here’s what QU offers in terms of sports:
Men’s Athletics:
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Football
- Golf
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Volleyball
Women’s Athletics:
- Basketball
- Golf
- Soccer
- Softball
- Tennis
- Volleyball
Some of our teams are actually pretty decent too. I’m not really sure about a lot of it given that I really don’t pay attention to sports standings but you can find out more at http://www.quincy.edu/Athletics/index.php.
Do Classes Have to Start Already?
August 22, 2008
Filed under Communications Info
Tags: class, communications, journalism, schedule, school, Summer
It’s that time of year again- summer fades away faster than you know and suddenly it’s all back to dorm rooms, classes, study sessions, and college life. In a way, college is strange. You want to go back… but not school. For me, I hated being at home after that first year away at school. I had so much freedom and then all of a sudden I had my parents constantly around telling me to be home by midnight. Um… excuse me? It’s a lot for a girl to get used to and by the time August rolls around I’m about ready to pack up the car 3 weeks early and move my butt on down back to school. Granted, that so doesn’t mean I want the classes to start up again.
This semester is interesting for me because for the first time since freshman year I have no communications classes. At all. None. Instead, this is what my schedule looks like:
- ART111- Intro to Drawing- Monday and Wednesday from 10:10-12:05
- ART256- Commercial Illustration- Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-10:45
- MKT338- Advertising- Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:05-9:55
- PHI327- Business Ethics- Monday nights from 6:30-9:00
- PHI391- Aesthetics- Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00 3:15
- SYE400- Senior Year Experience- Tuesday nights from 6:30-8:00
It’s going to be an interesting semester, that’s for sure. And where does any of this fit in with my major? Very minimally… Marketing is about the only one since I need it for Professional Communications. The rest? Well, my minor is the reason behind those lovely art classes, I’m taking Aesthetics as an honors course, and any well-rounded liberal arts education cannot be complete without an Ethics course somewhere along the lines. At least SYE is only 8 weeks long.
Here’s a thought though- while these classes don’t have a darn thing to do with communications which is technically what I am writing about, I’ll just take this time to let you know what you’re getting yourself into with a communications major. Just kidding, there are actually some really fun classes.
Obviously not all concentrations within the communications major need the same classes. But there are some core Comm. classes that everyone has to take (they tend to be huge classes as the major is actually quite popular).
Freshmen Orientation
August 18, 2008
Filed under School Events, School Information
Tags: College, freshmen, orientation, school, transfer student, University
So it was quite a busy week this week. Care to know why?
Well, let me tell you anyway. Freshman orientation. Seriously, if I knew how much work went into this one little weekend I probably would have been much more open to it my freshman year. Or at least tried to be…
It actually sounds like it could be a lot of fun though… for me! Just kidding. There are a lot of activities planned for the incoming students (388 of them… intimidating for a small school) that sound like tons of fun.
Friday- Move in. Maybe doesn’t sound like fun but here’s the thing… the Orientation Crew has to help move the new students into their dorms. So basically they can lounge in their air conditioned rooms while we slave away with their things (or, you know, we carry the light stuff and rely on brothers and dads for the heavy things… whatever). We then have a dinner arranged for the students and their families before they all go home and leave their student behind. A couple of ice breakers are in the mix for Friday night but hey, what would orientation be without ice breakers, eh?
Saturday- Some interesting shows and such are arranged for the new students, including a show called Sex Signals which is this intense show about date rape and other college issues (but it’s weird because they’re a comedy duo too.. so it starts off all funny and everyone’s laughing and then it’s like- BOOM!- date rape?). Some get-to-know-the-campus type activities are also planned for the students, including a scavenger hunt complete with awesome prizes.
Sunday- Best. Day. EVER! Okay so it starts off with informational sessions about setting up your schedule and e-mail and everything… but that night rocks. TCBY provides ice cream for an ice cream social, a band and a DJ are coming to play music, and there’s going to some awesome events going on in the student center- all for free! What are these awesome events? Well, a digital photo booth, a wax hand sculpture making thing, sandy candy stands, and a caricature artist. I’m not going to lie- that’s a lot better than the ice cream and movie social they had for my class freshman year…
Monday- Nothing really… Just a poster sale going on by Beyond the Wall posters. It’s a great place though to buy pictures and things for your room. They actually have it set up on Monday and Tuesday from 9-5 so there’s plenty of time to squeeze that in your busy, busy schedule.
Honestly though, orientation is a lot of fun. I met a lot of my best friends at the random events held during orientation. Who knows who you’ll meet.
For more info on that you can go to http://www.quincy.edu/CampusLife/neworientation.php
And classes start on Monday night. I don’t really feel ready at all but, hey, what can you do? Summer suddenly ends and you’re back to the world of tests, papers, and portfolio projects. Oh joy!
It’s a QUEST!
August 15, 2008
Filed under General
Tags: College, freshman orientation, orientation, QUEST, school
So I wasn’t part of the QUEST program when I was a freshman. Basically what it is though is a college preparatory course the week before freshmen orientation to help students get adjusted to the idea of college work and college life. All I know is coming into freshmen orientation I was so jealous of this one group of about 20 students who all knew each other and seemed like they were the best of friends. Meanwhile the rest of us had to struggle through forming friendships with our room mates, floor mates, and orientation group members.
QUEST actually stands for Quincy University’s Early STart program. Creative, eh? Anyway, the QUEST programs covers a broad spectrum of topics in a compressed weeklong format. Because the course is compressed, they also have the option of seeing tutors, talking with the professors outside of class, and other academic support from the Learning Resource Center. They also participate in workshops designed to promote the knowledge and skills essential for success during the first semester at the University level. They also plan out leisure activities for the QUEST students, so it’s not like it’s all work and no play. Hardly.
The QUEST program for this year just started but it’s funny because I’m not used to seeing people on campus again. I guess the school year is starting up again but I feel like there should be another month of the summer ahead. Going to Ireland seriously ate a chunk out of my summer… not that I regret it but man, I am so not ready for school. Oh well.
Next step is Orientation, which started this week… The freshmen move in today and we get to help them move (by help I mean carry all the lighter things while the fathers and big football players declare that it’s not your place to be carrying TVs up 3 flights of stairs… thank god!).
Textbooks… Do I Have To?
It occurred to me today that the summer is rapidly coming to an end, seeing as freshman orientation starts this week and I was recently suckered into helping out with it once again. But with the start of school comes that horrible time of year that eats away at all the money I just made over the summer- buying the textbooks. I finally checked and they’re officially up on www.efollett.com- ugh.
Now, sometimes you’ll get lucky and some of your classes won’t require any books at all. But here’s the tricky thing… some professors will list books for the class but never actually use them for class work. Major bummer- and a huge waste of cash. That’s why, what I like to do is this- know what classes are most likely to actually need a book and buy those first. The rest can wait until you’re absolutely sure you’ll be needing them.
Business classes, math, science… those are typically no-brainers- buy the book. But art classes? Books aren’t always a necessity. In fact, the book for art classes is often listed as “optional”… so just why couldn’t it say that on the bookstore website? I don’t know…
English and Philosophy classes are pretty much guaranteed to need books but not always all of them at once. Literature and English professors will list all the books you are going to read throughout the semester. Obviously you can’t read them all at once, so if you’re strapped for cash you can always wait until you get to class and find out when you’ll be reading each one and in what order. Then you can just buy it as you need it rather than all at once.
And if you still aren’t confident you can always e-mail the professor before class begins just to be sure.
Here’s a tip that I’ll tell you now because it took me 2 years to figure it out for myself- books are a lot cheaper when you buy them used on amazon or half.com or some place like that rather than in the bookstore. Even buying used books at efollett.com or in the bookstore aren’t worth it when you compare them to half.com prices. I just wish I had realized that a little bit earlier in life… Oh well.
Getting an Internship
August 8, 2008
Filed under Communications Info, School Information, Uncategorized
Tags: College, intern, internship, job
Common misconception: Internships are only for those college seniors who are trying to get a leg up into a full-time job post-graduation, or even for those looking for a starter job after they graduate. FALSE.
Anyone in college can get an internship in almost any field and, in fact, I would most definitely recommend it. Internships allow you to try out the skills that you are learning in school and give you experience in the field that you are aiming to work in for a large portion of the rest of your life. On the other hand, an internship may show you that you actually can’t stand the field that you are studying and allow you to change your major before it’s too late.
You can actually hear a testimonial on that in this clip from Joe Palumbo, who was an intern at the Quincy Herald-Whig for sports writing.
It is possible to bounce around with your internships- that’s what’s so great about them. You are basically just trying out different angles of your course of study. I’ve had 2 internships already and it’s possible that I might get a third this coming year in graphic design just to give that a try.
The good thing about QU is that it’s such a major city for the southern Illinois/eastern Missouri area. Companies in Quincy are looking for interns all the time and they come to QU first because, well, it’s easiest. Why force a student to travel all the way from Western Illinois University in Macomb when you can have a QU student travel 15 minutes down Broadway, or wherever the office is located. Not to mention the grant that QU has that gives employers back half of what they pay their interns, which is also always nice for them.
I’m so glad I’ve been able to have the 2 internships that I’ve had. They’re both so different though so they were good experiences in their own way.
My first internship was with the Quincy Society of Fine Arts and they had me doing a lot of office work mixed in with various marketing and public relations things (I wrote more press releases than I knew anyone was capable of there).
At QuincyNet, where I work now, I do a lot of different things. They kind of just give me opportunities more so I’ll learn new skills and not as much just so I benefit them.
Basically, while QSFA was more like the real deal business type place, QuincyNet is like a learning experience outside the classroom. Both have their positives and negatives but I would never regret either one in a million years. And if QuincyNet ever starts to be less then what I’m looking for in a job there’s always the possibility of getting yet another internship somewhere else. They’re always available at QU.
Big Bands at QU?
So… this past weekend I was at the Vans Warped Tour in Tinley Park (amazing fun!) but as I was looking through the set list and the list of bands I realized something- Quite a few of those bands I had seen before. Naturally my first thought was that maybe when they were just getting their start while I was still in high school I saw them at some outdoor festival in downtown Chicago or something like that. But then I thought about it… it was actually at QU. Very strange, considering students tend to laugh and joke that any band that comes to QU must be down on their luck and never going to make it anywhere.
So, I know the Warped Tour isn’t like top of the line “OMG, you’ve hit your peak!” necessarily. But still, most of these bands I expected to see playing at other colleges, and maybe some small venues. Warped Tour was the last place I thought I’d see them but there it was- Ludo (2nd semester, freshman year), State and Madison (second semester, junior year), and one more but I don’t remember who it was. So, basically, I paid $40 for a ticket to see people I saw for free during school. Alright so that’s a slight exaggeration considering there was WAY more bands than just those three. Whatever. You get the idea.
Actually, every other Thursday (or at least one Thursday per month) SPB sponsors Rock the Nest, which is an acoustic series of performers that’s free to students (and you get popcorn and soda too!). About a year and a half ago there was a performer named Cary Judd who performed at the Rock the Nest. Not only was he one of the best performers that we had at that whole series that year, he was also SUPER nice. After the show me and my friend decided to hang around and talk. Turns out performers don’t like to just go home after a show either- we ended up deciding to go bowling with Cary Judd, his friend, and the Vice President of SPB. It was one of the most random nights of my college life (and that’s saying something!) but it was also one of the most memorable.
That all just goes to show that, sure, we’re a smaller campus than, say, U of I, but we still have some pretty great entertainment that goes on long after the show is over. How often does THAT happen at U of I? Not very often, I’d think.
What to Eat?
Cafeteria food had to be approached at some point in time. What better time than now?
I’m going to be honest with you right now… Cafeteria food is not the finest food that you will ever eat in your life. In fact, I hope you never have to endure typical college cafeteria food ever again after graduation.
But, don’t worry. It’s really not all bad. Any cafeteria has its good and bad days, and QU is no different. In fact, there are some days that I just downright look forward too (seriously, I’ll arrange my schedule around dinnertime right at 5:00). Spicy chicken sandwich and curly fries, toasted ravioli (cheese is the best but I’m not picky), and chicken Caesar salad days are my top three for sure. Luckily Chartwells (the food providers) puts out a weekly menu so you know what days have potential and when to stay away. And on those really terrible days when you have no other choice but to go to the cafeteria, you can always go for the pizza, lunchmeats, soup, or salad bar to tide you over until later that night when you can just order takeout from somewhere else… with real food.
And then again, when the only options are tater tot casserole, meatloaf, something called “American Spaghetti”, or macaroni cheese leftover from lunch you can always go to the Hawks Hangout, also know as the University Center or UC, which is basically just a grill, deli, and tiny general store all in one. You can get mozzarella sticks and nachos for a quick snack or hot dogs, burgers, philly cheese steaks, grilled cheese, and fries for lunch or dinner. They actually have breakfast too but I’ve never actually woken up early enough to go to that… Apparently their breakfast sandwiches and hash browns are delicious though.
And the best thing is that it’s all part of your tuition so when you’re strapped for cash, all you need is your ID card and you have yourself a meal- a buffet-style meal complete with ice cream for dessert (or cake, cookies, brownies… I’m hungry).
