Advice to Spring 2009 Students

If you are taking English 304 next semester, you don't really need to know that much going in but I do have some advice...

1. Client based project- PICK A GOOD GROUP! If your group isn't good, you'll have such a hard time getting this project to come together. I know my roommates and I all dread going to group meeting when our groups for class have slackers and don't get along. My group was fabulous for this class and we all got along so it was easy to get together and work on our project.
2. Utilize class time- Angie gives time in class to do work and if you have time to work on something, why not use it and avoid doing it later? If you do this you'll have little to no homework and hardly anything to do outside of class.
3. Keep up with blogs- You have a whole week to do these but it's easy to put off doing them until Sunday when you might forget (aka like I almost did today). You're better off doing these when you get class time so you don't forget. These are easy to do and easy grades so make sure you don't forget to do them.
4. Check the class website- the class website has a to-do list that tells you what to do for the entire week so you never forget whats due or whats going on in class. This has saved me so many times when I have forgot what I needed to bring to class or what was happening in class.
5. Extra credit- Angie has a bunch of ways to help your grade out if it is faltering, don't forget about these. She gives extra points for commenting on other people's blogs which may feel weird to do but everyone knows that it's extra credit so why not? Also, in our class, if we attended this presentation by the english department we got extra credit plus we could write that we did a professional presentation on our vita for grad school so it was even better.

I hope these tips help, and with this you should have no problem getting the grade you want :) Have a good semester!

Client Project Reflection

Our team worked really well together on the service project. The greatest thing was to hear each others feedback on our ideas. For instance, some idea were not thought all the way through and we exposed challenges with the ideas as well as ways to improve the ideas. The best/coolest thing was our group all pretty much decided that we should do a fundraiser without much hesitation; at our first group meeting we all sat down and said basically the same thing. This was also really neat because we were the only group to think about fundraisers so it was even cooler that we all agreed right away about what we should do. However, I would say that our biggest challenge was making all of our ideas flow together when drafting the final proposal. This isn't a huge deal as the writer could revise them to make them sound similar and is a pretty trivial thing to be the biggest challenge since it can be fixed, but just goes to show you how well we worked together. The only other flaw in our dynamic was probably communication. We communicated a lot (texts, calls, meetings, and facebook) but we always ended up scrambling right before the meeting time to make sure everyone was coming; however, the team always feel into place. All in all, I think our group was awesome at collaborating for this project and I wish all my group projects went this smoothly.

Dual Coding- Nike Ad

In the Nike ad the first message you read is "Practice like Champions". I feel like is used in multiple Nike ads. These words signify that if you need to practice like a champion in order to win and how else would you practice like a champion than with Nike gear? Then, you read the words "We Believe" inside the doorway which I feel like a disclaimer. It's almost like if we practice like champions, we believe that we will win (but we may not). Basically, you need to practice like a champion (in Nike gear) in order have a shot and after practicing like a champion, you believe that you can win. I think this ad is a great example of dual coding because the "Practice like Champions" appeals to the "manly men" and very competitive as a sort of "be the best you can be" message while the "We Believe" is appealing to all competitors; they believe they will win the game.

Miscommunication in Work

I have some fairly recent experience with miscommunication at work; this summer I was working at a pool as a lifeguard/swim instructor at a local pool in Clemson (not Fike). It was a pretty easy job and I didn't work very often so I was thinking about keeping the job during the school year as it was an indoor pool. However, through a series of miscommunications, I ended up quitting. First of all, I was only scheduled to work on Tuesday and Thursdays because on the other days I have class from 9-4 and would not want to work following such a long day in class, and on those days I don't has class at all. Anyway, on Wednesday during sorority rush week, I got a text message from a number I didn't know asking if I was coming into work. I responded by first asking who that person was and then saying that I wasn't scheduled to work that day. The person told me that she worked at the front desk (not even my boss) and that someone had written down that I was going to be working on Wednesdays. I told her I couldn't come in because I had a commitment to my sorority and thats why I wasn't supposed to work in the first place. She texted back "so you're not coming in then?" and I told her no that I couldn't. Then, my boss called me and told me I was on the schedule to work on Wednesdays. I told her I wasn't, I was only scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was then told that the schedule had been revised and she thought she had e-mailed it to me. I'm not the type of person to just not show up to work and I had never recieved an updated schedule. She apologized for not sending and told me I need to make sure I'm there next Wednesday because I was now on the schedule.
The next Sunday morning, the staff received e-mails saying to come to the pool at 5 for training but if you couldn't, let someone know and you would have to swim laps before or after your shifts every day for the next week. I couldn't make it to the training as I had a meeting for the executive members of my sorority at that time, so I e-mailed my boss to let her know and said I would be fine swimming the laps because I don't mind swimming. She did not respond until the next afternoon when she called me and told me that I would have to be at the pool at 8 that night to make up for the training I missed the day before. I didn't get the voicemail until after class (so like 4:15) and was kind of irritated because she hadn't told us training was mandatory and also I have chapter meetings for my sorority at 8. I decided to call and tell her I quit.
The whole situation could have been avoided if there had been better communication between us. I had never gotten an e-mail telling me I had to work and was never told the training was mandatory. I felt that I explained that I was a full-time student and had other obligations at school that I could not miss, and besides, it wasn't like this was a legitimate job, it was just a way to earn some extra money. I ended up quitting because there was not effective communication between the workers and our boss. We should have been informed of decisions way ahead of time instead of the day of and should have made sure we knew what was going on when. Furthermore, I thought it was very unprofessional to have the person at the front desk contact me instead of herself.

Follow Up to the Interview

1. Were you nervous? How did you deal with this?

I was a little nervous because I never have gone a real interview before and had no idea what to expect. Also, the job description I gave you was my dream job and even though I knew this was not a real interview I wanted to do my best.

2. Did you get any questions that threw you? How did you handle those questions?

The question that threw me the most was "What are you most proud of that you have done?" I answered truthfully but in answering I felt sort of childish and that my answer was trivial. I talked about planning my sorority's philanthropy events and how stressful it was to be in charge and have something so huge riding on your shoulders. When I was asked how I could handle the stress I talked about this again which I felt like made me look like I had no other commitments.

3. If you could do the interview again, what would you do differently?

If I could do the interview again, I would definitely ask questions at the end. When asked if I had any questions I completely drew a blank so I would need to research that ahead of time to make sure I knew what I was doing.

4. What did you learn from this experience?

That I handled the interview and the stress associtated with it pretty well. Even though I was nervous, I played it off and did not let it show through.

Presentations

My top three favorite presentations (in no order):

1. Will's presentation was hilarious because he took something like drinking games and presented it seriously. He clearly explained how to play Circle of Death and did his presentation in a very organized manner. I especially liked how he stressed the discrepancies between the rules among different people because it is really common to sit down to play and find out that everyone plays by different rules.

2. Morgan's presentation made me so jealous! I wish I could go and ski around Europe for Christmas vacation. I'm studying abroad next semester and her presentation just made me even more excited to go. The coolest thing about her trips was that they aren't the typical places (Slovenia?) and her family went off the beaten path.

3. Adrienn's presentation was really neat because I didn't know anything about pouring wine or even how to open it. This weekend I was at home and my mom was trying to open a bottle for dinner and broke the cork and I told her the proper way to do it (she was not amused). Anyway that was really cool and when I went out to eat I noticed the way the waiter poured the wine also.

My Family

My family is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but we moved to Cary, North Carolina when I was about six months old. My little sister, Julie, is three and a half years younger than me and is a senior in high school. She is just starting the application process and is kind of freaking out about it. Yesterday she called to tell me she submitted her first one. For a while she wanted to go to Clemson but she's only taken two years of spanish and Clemson requires at least three years of a foreign language so my family and I are trying to convince her to take it this spring. She's really into art and wants to be an elementary school art teacher but we'll see how long that lasts (she changes her mind a lot) My dad does something really complicated and I'm not really sure what but he is definately a work-a-holic and a perfectionist but he goes by the motto "Work hard, play hard". He absolutely LOVES tailgating at Clemson and so he has my mom and my sister coming down here almost every single home game. My mom just went back to work when I was a senior in high school (so I guess it isn't just went back) but wants to find a new job. Our whole family is really close and I talk to almost all of them every day but especially my mom; we call each other constantly. Family is extremely important to me and I miss them terribly; the distance is the one thing I don't love about Clemson. Although I'm only four hours from home, it's still too far to make random trips home for dinner like some of my friends can who are from Spartanburg and Greenville. Basically my family is what holds me together.